giljones Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Over the past weeks I have been interested to watch and read about the specifications for a laptop computer and the need for a good graphics card and non fan cooling systems. I must here point out that the next remarks only apply to the UK not anywhere else, just to avoid confusion. I have been searching for a new laptop when my existing one stopped when trying to play extended dissolves made on PTE5 and at the same time I observed that even when playing shows that had been created on Ver 4 and beyond things did not always go to plan with the projected result was sometimes not quite right. My search for a laptop has involved in me consulting the boffins amongst us as to what spec I should look for and one thing has become immediatley apparent, what we ideally would like is not readily available on the general market and to date I have only found two companies that would quote me anything like what I asked for. The local shops did not want to know, and even the one who has made my previous PC's declined, offering me a run of the mill item which was not suitable. I have eventually got two prices, after a lot of emails and phone calls, one of which is just twice the price of the other. Now I am faced with just what to buy, one this is sure no one can offer pipe cooling technology until sometime next year , so I am told. One company can only offer me a hard drive running at 5400rpm whilst the dearer one can offer7200rpm this same company also offers a NVIDIA Geforce 7950 GTX 512mb card whilst the cheaper one offers a GEFORCE8600GT card both items are fan cooled. If I buy the more expensive machine I shall have to buy a new bag to put it in as it is very much larger than my present machine. To say that I am confused now is putting it mildly. One thing that has occurred to me in all this is - does the laptop computer need to have a higher or similar specification to the PC on which the programme was produced. I took advice from our experts when I had it made and to date it has served me well. Anyone got any ideas as to what I do next.? Gilbert Jones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fh1805 Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Hi Gilbert,I'm in a similar situation to you. My current laptop is showing clear signs of not being upto the task of running complex multi-object animation in PTEv5.I also have a desktop system and based on the dual ownership I would make the following general observation: If you build the PTE sequences on the lowest spec machine that you have, then they are more likely to run without problem on a higher spec machine. I'm speaking from experience because I've fallen into this very trap myself. My desktop machine on which I now do all my building is vastly higher in spec than the laptop that I use for playback to audiences.That's why I'm in the market for a suitable new laptop.From my own researches through the Forum archives the one essential seems to be having the right capability in the graphics components. From past posts that would seem to mean either nVidia or ATI Radeon but not Intel. As I want a laptop primarily for playback and some limited interactive demonstration work, the amount of RAM, the speed of the CPU and the size of the harddrive are less significant factors than they would be if I wanted the laptop to be my primary or sole computer.I've seen some very competitively priced laptops in my local Tesco superstore - but they will not allow me to "try before I buy" - and I'm not willing to spend a few hundred pounds on a "sight unseen" item. Thankfully my local camera club has a thriving digital group so I'm arranging to try out my sequence on a variety of laptops owned by the members. I just hope this gives me the confidence to then go out and buy one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giljones Posted October 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Hi Gilbert,I'm in a similar situation to you. My current laptop is showing clear signs of not being upto the task of running complex multi-object animation in PTEv5.I also have a desktop system and based on the dual ownership I would make the following general observation: If you build the PTE sequences on the lowest spec machine that you have, then they are more likely to run without problem on a higher spec machine. I'm speaking from experience because I've fallen into this very trap myself. My desktop machine on which I now do all my building is vastly higher in spec than the laptop that I use for playback to audiences.That's why I'm in the market for a suitable new laptop.From my own researches through the Forum archives the one essential seems to be having the right capability in the graphics components. From past posts that would seem to mean either nVidia or ATI Radeon but not Intel. As I want a laptop primarily for playback and some limited interactive demonstration work, the amount of RAM, the speed of the CPU and the size of the harddrive are less significant factors than they would be if I wanted the laptop to be my primary or sole computer.I've seen some very competitively priced laptops in my local Tesco superstore - but they will not allow me to "try before I buy" - and I'm not willing to spend a few hundred pounds on a "sight unseen" item. Thankfully my local camera club has a thriving digital group so I'm arranging to try out my sequence on a variety of laptops owned by the members. I just hope this gives me the confidence to then go out and buy one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giljones Posted October 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Thanks very much for your reply to my speal about laptop computers. Quite frankly its a job to know which way to go when one hears of some of the horror stories members can tell about laptops they have used. The problem is, it is almost impossible to try before you buy, because what we are looking for has to be made to order and there is no way you can refuse it once you have paid your money for it as I assume you have to if you order it to be made.I really don't know what to do as once ordered Im stuck with it and just suppose it did'nt work.Maybe Ivan can cast some light upon a confused situation. Incidentally dont get carried away with the description of me as Junior Member Ive been making av.s for some 20+years and am now 77. I do about 20 shows each year in this area to all sorts of groups and remarkable enough I get invited more than once or even twice to some groups. I'm not interested in competitive photography but I do get great pleasure from making sequences adding the music and then showing them to others. Every good wish and thanks again for you input. Gilbert Jones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjdnzl Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 For what it's worth, I have just been through the same experience. Off-the-shelf machines seldom have proper graphics cards, mostly they have the Intel Accelerated Graphics 900 or 950 which is adequate for simpler graphics, but not for the demands of PTE.I wanted a machine with a separate graphics card, as high-end as possible. The only course available was a custom-built to order machine, so after a couple of false starts, I ordered a Dell 1520 with Windows XP - no Vista for me, thanks - note Microsoft has relented, and XP will be available until June 2008.I specified an Intel Duo core 1.8 GHZ CPU, 2 GB ram, 160 GB 7200 rpm HD, geforce 8600GT graphics card - not the top, but damned good, a 1680x1050 LCD screen (there's also 1280x800 and 1440x900 if you prefer).The computer is of course fan-cooled, there aren't too many heat-pipe laptops around, but cooling is ok.Performance is stunning. Lin Evans' 'Puzzle' show is a real test of a computer system, and this machine runs it effortlessly. Also, the sound was a surprise. Most laptops have tinny sound, naturally, but the audio from the Dell is the best I've heard from any laptop.Have a look at the Dell website. I am very pleased with mine.Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Hi Colin,Congrats on the New Laptop ~ you made a very good choice there. That PC was also featured in myrecent Post:- 'LAPTOP COMPUTERS' (reviews) from Digital World Expo 2007 (Topic below this thread). I do hope it will help resolve some of your other issues with the Flash Drive problem.Best regards,Brian.Conflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjdnzl Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Hi Colin,Congrats on the New Laptop ~ you made a very good choice there. That PC was also featured in myrecent Post:- 'LAPTOP COMPUTERS' (reviews) from Digital World Expo 2007 (Topic below this thread). I do hope it will help resolve some of your other issues with the Flash Drive problem.Best regards,Brian.Conflow.Thanks, Brian, nice to have confirmation of my choice. It goes very well, and the surprise is the battery lasts for more than 4 hours even with the 8600M GT graphics card. It also runs cooler than the Alienware, whose battery life was only about an hour and a half.Regarding the stalling problem, I haven't had it since from the same memory stick, so maybe XP has seen the exe files and all is ok.I saw your other post about spending all day trying to get Vista to behave - I bet the bloke dumps Vista and goes for XP!Kind regards,Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Hi Colin,In fact it was a large Semi-State Company in the Transport sector ~ and yes you are correct the PCs were promptly replaced with XP-Pro. Concerning the Memory-Stik it seems that the PC has finally recognised its existance and registered the contents toits 'File of Types' Library.All the best...Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fh1805 Posted October 16, 2007 Report Share Posted October 16, 2007 Hi everyone,Further to my previous post above...I've now had an opportunity to tryout a few different laptops courtesy of friends and members of my local photographic society. None of the laptops was older than about 18 months. Some had NVidia graphics, some had ATI Radeon graphics - and the PTEv5 animations ran smoothly on them all. One had Intel 915/Intel 910 graphics and the sequence ran smoothly on this as well. The majority of the laptops were Acers and I chose to buy an Acer TravelMate 5514WLMi which has the ATI Radeon graphics.I bought it from a local PC specialist shop that has developed an excellent reputation with its clientele. If I encounter any problems I'll make a fresh post to the Forum. Otherwise, assume that "no news is good news". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
symond steve Posted June 27, 2008 Report Share Posted June 27, 2008 hi, i think you can find new style laptop at cheap pricehttp://dealzfirst.com/Notebook+Computers-46.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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