Laptop Specification

[Guest Yachtsman1]

My camera club is trying to select a laptop to use for digital training and slide show presentations via a projector. We have a budget of around £600 and want to continue using XP. the question is, which laptop. If we use a separate graphics card, will the projected picture be any different to that from the laptops internal card, if we have a separate sound card will the sound quality show any marked difference.

Yachtsman1.

[Conflow]

Yachtsman,

Well your question has a simile.."How long is a piece of String"..

** Firstly forget comparisions to Desktops ~ Laptops & Desktops are two different species entirely.

** Different design, different mode of operation, different structures, different memory management.

Laptops come in 3 basic varients,viz:-

1) Totally Intergrated Systems (Lo-End Cost) you get a box that does a reasonable job ~ thats it.

2) Medium Intergration Systems where you have limited choices to its Manufacturing Specs (Graphics etc)

3) Hi-End Intergration ~ the Ferrari's of the Laptop World (Expensive).

Basic Specification

a) Look at Laptops that have Dual-Processors each with speeds +1.8.Gb/Sec and +1.0 Gb of Memory.

Hard Drive should be about 80~120 Gb. Resist the temptation of larger Hard-Drives which are slower.

c) The HD should be a Sata 7200 rpm Drive. You also need an Intergrated CD/DVD Burner Rom Drive.

d) Few Laptops have (swoppable) Graphic Cards. Look for the ones where you can specify your Graphics.

e) Many have 'Intergrated Pic-Bridge Chip Sets' ~ the best of these is the Intel Chipsets 945 Series.

Manufacturers: Hewlett-Packard - Acer - Dell - Asus - Gateway etc; and so on down the line.

(H.P offer 84 Laptops right across the range. They also have a Recon-Division 40% discount)

This will get you going..don't forget £600 is worth $1200 dollars in USA (nod), Have Fun...

Brian.Conflow.

Best Review of Laptops is below as a Link:-

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Home.49.0.html

[Ken Cox]

from my faq list

see

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....amp;#entry45382

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....ost&p=26440

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....ost&p=45963

ken

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Yachtsman,

Well your question has a simile.."How long is a piece of String"..

** Firstly forget comparisions to Desktops ~ Laptops & Desktops are two different species entirely.

** Different design, different mode of operation, different structures, different memory management.

Laptops come in 3 basic varients,viz:-

1) Totally Intergrated Systems (Lo-End Cost) you get a box that does a reasonable job ~ thats it.

2) Medium Intergration Systems where you have limited choices to its Manufacturing Specs (Graphics etc)

3) Hi-End Intergration ~ the Ferrari's of the Laptop World (Expensive).

Basic Specification

a) Look at Laptops that have Dual-Processors each with speeds +1.8.Gb/Sec and +1.0 Gb of Memory.

Hard Drive should be about 80~120 Gb. Resist the temptation of larger Hard-Drives which are slower.

c) The HD should be a Sata 7200 rpm Drive. You also need an Intergrated CD/DVD Burner Rom Drive.

d) Few Laptops have (swoppable) Graphic Cards. Look for the ones where you can specify your Graphics.

e) Many have 'Intergrated Pic-Bridge Chip Sets' ~ the best of these is the Intel Chipsets 945 Series.

Manufacturers: Hewlett-Packard - Acer - Dell - Asus - Gateway etc; and so on down the line.

(H.P offer 84 Laptops right across the range. They also have a Recon-Division 40% discount)

This will get you going..don't forget £600 is worth $1200 dollars in USA (nod), Have Fun...

Brian.Conflow.

Best Review of Laptops is below as a Link:-

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Home.49.0.html

Hi Brian

Thanks for that Brian, but the main question is still unanswered, if we buy a budget laptop with facilities for plug in cards (Graphics/sound) will the picture via the projector be superior to the basic machine without the cards, sorry to labour this but our Mr Delmonte (the man who says yes or no) needs this question answering. Sorry to labour the point.

Regards Yachtsman1.

[Barry Beckham]

Yaughtsman

I have just purchased a laptop to run animated slide shows via PTE5 and demonstrations of Photoshop CS3. Before I bought it I made a number of visits to places where many laptops were on show and I tried them. I took a USB stick and some demanding animated slide shows and played them.

My views?

If you wish to run animated slide shows you MUST try before you buy, it's no good just buying by looking at the spec. Laptops that looked a great spec failed miserably when tested. We tried loads of laptops and one thing is certain, you need a dedicated graphics card, none of this shared graphics memory. However, even that does not guarantee the laptop will perform smoothly as many didn't. What was also surprising was that many of the more expensive high spec laptops that you would think could handle a little animation could not.

We found one that met all my needs and ran our animated slide shows very smoothly.

Sony VGN-CD31S/L

Processor Type Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz

Memory Size 2 GB MB

Memory Type DDR2 SDRAM

Hard Drive Capacity 160 GB

Optical Drives DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM

Screen Size/Type 14.1

Graphics Card Type ATi Mobility Radeon X2300

Graphics Memory 831 MB

Wireless Enabled YES

No. of USB Connections 3

No. of Firewire Connections 1

Other Interfaces Express Card Slot 34mm

Battery Type Lithium Ion Battery

Weight 2.5 kg This is the weight of the appliance in KG

Width 335 mm

Depth 249 mm

Colour Blue

We then sourced this model on the net and got a price of £739.99. All those lower priced could not handle animated slide shows and we tried a load of them.

[Ken Cox]

Barry

first url in my reply

yours

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....amp;#entry45382

ken

[Conflow]

Yachtsman,

My very first sentence in my last Post was:-

* "Firstly forget comparisions to Desktops ~ Laptops & Desktops are two different species entirely"

There is no comparison,per se ~ if Mr.Delmonte is asking ~ "Will it give the same Performance as the Clubs PC on a Projector Screen"

That depends on the Clubs selection of Laptop -IT IS NOT A DESKTOP- If you make the correct selection it will probably surpass the

Desktop because its Technology is up to date. But don't expect it to hold 100 Gigs of Club Shows and so on...

Secondly, there are 3 Markets out there,viz:- Retail ~ Commercial ~ Industrial. The big name in the Retail Market is "Dell".

The big name in the Commercial Market is "Hewlett-Packard" and in the Industrial it is "IBM" and there are Manufacturers catering

for all sectors.

I gave you a "nod & wink" about Hewlett-Packard because they Manufacture for IBM, both Desktops & Laptops ~ what more can you

ask for ~ they make 84 Types of Laptops and in my Industry they surpass and outperform everything in the Retail Market.

I should know, having being in this Business for a very long time and we have 3 HP.Laptops, wouldn't touch anything else ~ then thats

my personal preference. (They also have a 'Factory Reconditioning Division' ~ All Products with up to 40% discounts).

Word of caution: "Whats big in the Retail Market wouldn't rate consideration in the Commercial/Industrial Markets" and you seem to

forget that you have $1200 at your disposal.

I'm afraid you and the Club Members are going to have to....'Sharpen Pencils get out the Notepads, make Comparisons' and decide.

Then make a 'shortlist' get into your Car and go and try them out...there is no other way.

Brian.

[Ken Cox]

Take some graphic intensive exe's with you to test -- play them at home first

AND

TAKE

Mr Delmonte

with you

ken

[Barry Beckham]

Ken

Yes, that first visit was a little while ago and I thought my first research may be a bit out of date so we did it again, this time with a USB rather than a CD/DVD.

At least I now have the confidence that when the laptop comes, next Monday it will meet my needs.

[cjdnzl]

My camera club is trying to select a laptop to use for digital training and slide show presentations via a projector. We have a budget of around £600 and want to continue using XP. the question is, which laptop. If we use a separate graphics card, will the projected picture be any different to that from the laptops internal card, if we have a separate sound card will the sound quality show any marked difference.

Yachtsman1.

There aren't many laptops that allow you to swap graphics and sound cards around; generally you can't change what the machine comes with. They're not like a desktop where you have four or five slots to play with. The internals of laptops are so tight that fitting a different card is generally not possible; and the cards do not have edge connectors like desktop models, they have wired plugs that mate with sockets on the card.

Your best bet is to aim towards a laptop with a dedicated graphics card, like a mid-range gaming machine, built to handle considerable graphics-intensive programs. Programs like PicturesToExe version 5.n make extensive use of the graphics chip (GPU), using the hardware rendering capabilites of such chips to give the outstanding quality typical of PTE, particularly PZR effects, but this demands a good graphics chip, preferably an Nvidia 8600M GT or better. The Nvidia software puts an icon on the taskbar which allows you to quickly select any of the available screen pixel sizes, essential when driving a data projector with dimensions different from the laptop

The GPU running graphics-intensive programs can run quite hot, so you need to avoid laptops that have potential overheating problems.

As you want to stay with XP - good choice there - you may need to go to a brand like Dell which allows you to specify what you want in your computer, including the OS. I think you'd have a hard time trying to buy an off-the-shelf machine with XP; they all come with Vista nowadays.

I went through this process for my own club last year, and settled on a Dell 1520 with 1.8 GHz duo processor, and Nvidia 8600M GT GPU, and XP SP2. This machine performs very well with PTE programs, and the sound from the Sigmatel High-Definition codec and the sound card is very good indeed. You could do worse than visiting the Dell UK website, and perusing what they have to offer. I have found their support outstanding; each machine they sell has a unique ID number, and when you log onto their Support Centre they know immediately all about your computer and can offer you the right upgrades and fixes necessary on-line. IMHO this beats hands-down taking the machine back to a retailer who then sends it out to a repair outfit somewhere.

Best of luck with your choice,

Colin

[Conflow]

Yachtsman,

Good advice from Colin and following on Barry's Sony Specification, here below is:-

A (Mid-Range Cost) of a 'Hewlett-Packard (Commercial) Laptop ~ WITH XP

So you can compare what you get for your money.

______________________________________________________________________

Hewlett-Packard 'Invent 5500'

(Mid-Cost Commercial Laptop)

Processor Types: Intel 'Dual' each 1.8Ghz

Bios System: Hewlett-Packard F.23

Op-System: XP-Sp2 (Version 5.1.26)

Intergrated Firewall & System Firewall.

Support Utilities: H.P Support/Bios Suite 300.Mb

Complete with Norton 2007 Internet Suite.

Full Suite of Microsoft Works 8.0

Powerpoint Viewer and Win 10 Media Player

RAM Memory: 1 GB.

Type DDR2 SDRAM

Virtual Memory: 2.Gb

Page File Memory: 2.Gb

Hard Drive Capacity 80.GB Sata 7200rpm

(1.Gb Pre-Installed 'Ghost' of Op-System)

CD-Optical Drive: DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM

Complete with Sonic CD & DVD Burn Software.

Screen Size/Type 15"inch.32bit

(800x600 ~ 1280x800 Selectable)

Brightness Buttons Up/Down.

Graphics Card Type: Intel-PicBridge 945

Graphics Memory: 2.Gb

VGA Output Socket: YES

Support

16 Bit-Program Support: YES

Wireless Enabled: YES

Telephone Enabled: YES

Ethernet Enabled: YES

Joystik Enabled: YES

Video Camera: YES

PC Memory Card: YES

Microphone Enabled: YES

Headphone Output: YES

Sound System: Altec-Lansing

Conexant HD Audio Software.

Volume Buttons Up/Down.

Memory Cards Read/Write:

Types: XD-SD-MS-MMC-SM

3 x USB Connections.

2 Express PC1 Card Slots.

Battery Type Lithium-Ion Battery (3 Hours operation)

Width 360 mm

Depth 255 mm

Colour: Black/Silver (Alloy Case). Keyboard:Silver/Grey.

QUESTIONS:-

1) Does it Run PTE: YES all versions 4.49 and 5.10

2) Does it Project well: YES in every day use in Video Conferences.

3) Can you run the Sound through 'External Amplifiers ? YES

4) Will it Play Pre-Recorded DVD Film Discs ? YES,superb.

5) Whats the CD Burner performance ? Very Fast 24x and 8x

6) Is it 'finniky' no its not, and its very reliable ~ Its H.P.

PRICE: 3 of them are H.P.Factory 'Refurbished Machines'

in the Mid-Range Price index. (We paid Euro525 - £412- $815 each)

After HP Discount.

NOTE: This is only ONE of their 'mid-range product' ~ just imagine what you could get for $1200

Brian.Conflow

[Ken Cox]

MAYBE WHAT WE NEED

is a few test shows that have proved successfull

some for desk tops

some for laptops

when posted they should include the system that they would/would not run on properly

once posted i would upload the compilation to mediafire, then when we are asked we can refer people to this source of info

this could also include the sort of thing that Barry posted the other day re pict size

Lin, Tom, Barry, Igor etc, should have some in their collections

with PTE evolving as it is the sooner we get this going the better

the link could be placed in

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showforum=8

under

Tutorials and Articles

Important Topics

ken

[goddi]

I have just purchased a laptop to run animated slide shows via PTE5 and demonstrations of Photoshop CS3.

We found one that met all my needs and ran our animated slide shows very smoothly.

Sony VGN-CD31S/L

Barry... I tried Googling this Sony model you mentioned but it is not listed even on the Sony site. There isn't even a "CD" model. It this just a British available model? Thanks... Gary (USA)

[davegee]

Hi Gary,

I am not surprised that you can't find it.

It is possibly UK only but also some models are store specific.

Here is a link to all of the UK models:

http://vaio.sony.co.uk/vaio/notebooks/en/?...ite%3Dodw_en_GB

Mine is the VGN-FZ38M and while I only bought it a month or so ago it is now not available from the UK store where I bought it.

If you are thinking of one of the VAIO range, the models with HDMI connection are well worth looking at.

DaveG

[Barry Beckham]

The Laptop mentioned in my earlier post has arrived and I can confirm that animated slide shows are super smooth.

[Ken Cox]

BARRY

can you recommend a show for testing purposes in future

see

http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index....ost&p=53865

ken

[JEB]

Hi,

 

Can anybody offer up to date advise on this topic. I can't find anything later that this (2008).

 

I’m looking for the least expensive yet practical PC laptop for using with a projector to show PTE sequences some of which may be reasonably demanding in terms of image resolution and speed of image transitions (i.e. three or so 1920x1080 per second). I may also use the machine for demonstration purposes of PTE, Lightroom, Audacity etc.

 

I am a very happy iMac user (with Parallels) for my production needs but can't justify the cost of a good MacBookPro!

 

Just a few up to date guidelines re Graphics would be appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Jeb

I've had my last 2 laptops & desktops custom made by PC Specialist of Wakefield. If you follow the link you can build your own spec up, if you make a mistake it tells you.

Regs Eric

Yachtsman1.

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

[tom95521]

I would suggest you look for a newer 2016 model laptop with a Thunderbolt 3 port. Then in the future you could use an external graphics card with multiple monitors.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/five-years-later-thunderbolt-is-finally-gaining-some-traction-in-pcs/

Devices

http://www.wegotserved.com/2016/01/11/10-great-thunderbolt-3-products-2016/

Windows 10 Laptop

http://www.winbeta.org/news/ces-2016-acer-travelmate-p648-aims-please-professional-road-warrior

Tom