Designer Needs Help In Laptop Choice

[designerguy]

I'm a graphic designer doing mostly print work for an advertising agency. While i'm working there I have a great system but often need to take work home to my old G4 Tower / 400mhz. Since I need to replace my desktop system anyway I wanted to get something portable to either work at home or take outside to a coffee house/library/parent's place/living room...ect. I've read a ton of the posts on this forum already but havn't read many posts by designers.

Many of the posts stated that the ibook was the best bang for the buck and that it was cheap enough to replace every 3-4 years, small and compact enough to carry where ever, but powerful enough to do the job. And that if the screen size became an issue to buy a flat panel for the detailed jobs. Is this what I need/best solution?

Also is a super drive needed? And how much ram?

I do not have a ton of spare cash but I am willing to save for the best system to do the job.

My basic programs are: Quark, Illus, Photoshop, (occasionally Dreamweaver) while running itunes/Firefox/Thunderbird in background. I also need to run a PC emulator to run my Calender software that I can not live without...Plan Plus for Win XP by Covey. Would also like to view DVDs/downloaded TV shows too.

Thanks for any and all advice!

[Stevuh]

Using an ibook for the should be Ok, It may be slow but it should get the job done. I would Personally recomend that you at least look into a PowerBook 12" or best case a 15" RAM wise i would say 512 - 1G Depends on what your doing. I personally have a 15" 1.25 G4 with 512 RAM. I've done some big (3'x5') posters on it and it works fine(gets bogged down a little). Super drive isn't "needed" but I would reccomend one so that if need be you can sit down and make a DVD archive or even a DVD portfolio, As for RAM i personally would go for a Gig. Hope this helps.

Just so you know I'm a College Student and I do have to take some Print design classes so that is where this is coming from.

[designerguy]

thanks for the advice...

I think I will go w/the powerbook line...but the batter life issue is a downer. 2.5 hours is pretty weak.

I finally found a thread about laptops and design work on here and it mirrored your thoughts of 15" powerbook. I was hoping to get something for under 2K but looks like I'll be saving until at least 2006 to pick one up! :)

Thanks!

[ironlung]

Considering the superdrives are only 8x for dvd writing, what I did was to get a combo drive but bought a internal dvd writer with an enclosure. Works great for me, and obviously is cheaper

[Kyros]

thanks for the advice...

I think I will go w/the powerbook line...but the batter life issue is a downer. 2.5 hours is pretty weak.

I finally found a thread about laptops and design work on here and it mirrored your thoughts of 15" powerbook. I was hoping to get something for under 2K but looks like I'll be saving until at least 2006 to pick one up! :)

Thanks!
My friend gets over 4 hours on his powerbook with regular usage. It's the previous 12 inch model. iBooks get better life, but the powerbooks aren't as bad as people make it seem.

[Brad]

My friend gets over 4 hours on his powerbook with regular usage. It's the previous 12 inch model. iBooks get better life, but the powerbooks aren't as bad as people make it seem.
I do too. Under the right conditions, I can easily get over five hours on my 12" PB. It all depends on how heavily you're using the machine on battery power.

[designerguy]

thanks for the battery info on the 12" PB. Puts my mind at ease...

Is this also the case w/the 15" PB? I'm pretty much set now on getting the upper end 15" model. Gonna take a Loooooong time to save but more of what's needed then what's cheapest.

Hey, FIGHTCLUB...any way you can get me the mode/enclosure you used for the DVD?

Thanks!

[Stevuh]

yeah the battery life on a 15" does vary by usage. Though i'm afraid mine may not be the best computer to judge by. My computer can get anywhere from 1hr to 2.5 or 3hrs of battery life. 1hr (my class is 50 min long and it is nearly dead after i sit there and use it to surf chat and take notes.) I get 2.5 - 3 while the screen is off and I'm using it as a normal person would use an iPod.

Mine may not be the best example though ( it's one of the first aluminum bodys that came out, and i think that there is an issue somewhere in it that is killing it's life), some of my friend have newer 15" and they do better in battery life than me. 2 hrs on average usage.