Computers & Tablets

[Squidmnd]

I am having a bit of trouble seeking a decent laptop. I do alot of graphic artwork, and I was given the option to do get a new computer..however, I don't know alot about them, and or need something reliable.

Any ideas??

[RealGeorgeW Valued Expert]

If you're doing heavy graphic artwork, and $700 laptop isn't going to cut it.

Are desktops out of the question?

[Entropy]

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@RealGeorgeW wrote:
If you're doing heavy graphic artwork, and $700 laptop isn't going to cut it.

Are desktops out of the question?

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Actually, the question is:

2D or 3D art?

The graphics chipset of the laptop basically becomes irrelevant if you're doing 2D still photo/art.

Graphics chipsets only matter for:

1)  3D (CAD, gaming)

2)  Acceleration of decoding of 2D high def video, however even the most basic chipsets on the market (like the Intel GMA X4500MHD) are capable of this

If you want gaming, $700 will get you something barely capable.

If you want to do CAD (any sort of 3D design), you need workstation-class graphics (NVidia Quadro or FireGL), $700 isn't going to get you anywhere remotely close.

[Squidmnd]

The sort of artwork that I do on my computer is very much so 2D, I use photoshop for my work.

(this is an example http://i55.tinypic.com/n6fkao.png )

I am just looking to find something a bit more efficient than my $500 Toshiba. (I don't know what the make is) It's about 3 years old now, and i've been through alot with it, and desperately need an update.

I am just looking for a more reliable computer.

[Entropy]

What operations are you finding slow/undesirable?

A 3 year old Toshiba should be decent speed-wise for photo editing unless you've got a malware infection sucking up system resources.

[StevePA]

Just about any modern laptop will be quite an upgrade to a 3-year old model.

I've found Asus usually has some of the best bang-for-the-buck laptops.  They have some nice AMD based laptops with Radeon discrete graphics cards for $500-$700 range that should fit the bill.

Keep in mind that most new laptops will have Windows 7.  if you have older software you will need to install and currently run XP, make sure it will work with Windows 7.  Most everything does if it's major title software.