Bethalan Posted September 4, 2004 Report Share Posted September 4, 2004 We are going to buy a new laptop to project our work. Can someone help. Does the quality of the projected show depend on the quality of the graphic card of the laptop or the quality of the graphic card of the PC it was made on. As we are only going to use the laptop to project our shows is it worth having a high spec machineThanksBeth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted September 4, 2004 Report Share Posted September 4, 2004 Beth'I would like to get back to you on this subject about a "New Laptop"-Be extremely careful about the "correct choice of Laptop" as both it'sHard Drive and CD-Rom Drive are by 'design necessity' -compromises-compared to the same functional Hardware you would use on a PC."Low-End Laptops" are notoriously 'unstable' with any form of A/V Showand this has absolutely nothing to do with PTE Presentation Programs.Brian.Conflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bethalan Posted September 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 Thanks BrianLooks like we will have to bite the bullet and pay out for a better oneBeth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ContaxMan Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 I'd be interested in details of a suitable specification too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRR Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 Count me in for the specs too please.We are in the market for a new laptop.Brand and model number that would make it real nice for us, but that is asking for too much I suspectThx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 Beth and Roger,Apologies fotr the delay in getting back to you about Laptop-Notebook PC's.As I said many times before on this Forum, Laptops are by nesessity a "compromise" betweenDesktop PC performance and Laptop performance when one takes into consideration just how'little' hardware the Manufacturer can physically pack into the Laptop enclosure - not much !The following are the fundamental criteria when selecting a Laptop:-1)...Size and Type of Display Screen.2)...The 'Processor(s) Chip(s)3)...Hard Drive Unit4)...CD-Rom Drive Unit.5)...Communication Ports.6)...Battery & Power Management.Everything else falls into line after those choices- Forget Weight & Physical Dimension'sScreenHas to be a 14" or 15" inch TFT Active Matrix Screen to handle 1024 x 768 pixels Full Colour.Anything else simply can not handle the quality demands of good graphic Presentations.Graphic Driver System has to be XGA-Graphics or WXGA-Graphics. Graphics System isbuilt on the Mother Board and is not an afterchoice - be careful.The ProcessorMinimum requirement is the new "M-Series Pentiums" or "Prescott-M Processors" type 705and upwards. Speeds of 1.4 to 1.8 GigByte are more than adequate. Its not the speed thatcounts its "sheer processing power within unit time" thats required in Graphic Presentations.Hard Drive UnitThe criteria here is "Reading Speed" or access time - the faster the better. The smaller the HD the faster the access time (generally speaking). 40 Gigabyte is ideal - 60Gig is upper limit.100 Gig and more and you are not at the races,simply because the Processor spends too muchtime trying to 'access your Data or Show'. The HD Interface should be EIDE or SATA Standards.CD-Rom DriveThis is the "kernel" of the Laptop - wrong choice here and you are in serious trouble.Best choice is a CD-DVD Rom Drive (Forget everything else). You want reading speeds in excess of 12X preferably 24-48X WORD OF WARNINGIT MUST HAVE ITS OWN MEMORY CACHE -(Most don't). This is vital on a Laptop because ofother limitations you need to "Stream your Show" into the Cache Memory so that it plays ina "Seamless Presentation" on the TFT Monitor. (No jerking nor loading delays)Comm PortsYou need at least 2 x USB Ports and a Parallel Port and a Mouse Port and a PCI Adaptor Port.You also need Mic Input, Earphone Socket, also a 'Plug-In Modem' - it must be plug-in typebecause in some applications you may need Wi-Fi (Wireless Comms).Battery & Power ManagementPlug-In Lithium Ion Battery is an absolute must - together with a "Universal Power Adapter" thats capable of running the Laptop WHILE Charging the Battery-Operating System I must admit my preference is for Win 2000 Pro - its extremely stable and is a 'much harder'and time tested system compared to XP-Pro and the new XP-SP2 which has lots of problems. Finally make up a small-tight 4 minute PTE Show (lenght of a Mp3 Music Track) as a Test-CDand use this on any chosen Laptop you may be considering.Keep in mind what you are looking for:- Its a 'Business Laptop' not a 'Domestic Laptop'Hereunder is a list of suitable Manufacturers and Model Types you may wish to consider:-HP - ACER - SONY - IBM - DELL - TOSHIBATop of the HeapHP.Notebook NC600 - Dell Lattitude D400 & 800 - IBM ThinkPad T42 - Sony VGN-A190The Dell 800 is the cheapest - The IBM is the smallest.Other good CandidatesHP 2720 US - Sony V505DX - Toshiba 8200 Tecra - Dell Inspirion 5150,9100,and 8600cACER tend to be Specialist Laptops.All these Laptops have been well Reviewed - BUT TEST FIRST Hope this can be of help to you guys,Brian Kelly.Conflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maureen Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 HiAldi have a "star buy" for laptops this week, if you are near their stores (or see their web site www.aldi.com) - they get sold out very fast as the offers are so good. Many of my friends have also bought them & had no problems. Several friends have also bought this week's model too.I have been using their last edition (Gericon) with great success and highly recommend their equipment. I use the Aldi laptop to project at demonstrations, festivals and Competitions and it coped very well with the "Mad World" sequence, which is a massive test for even the most modern PCs.Not so concerned about the screen, as you can plug a monitor in and I use a digital projector to show. (Aldi laptops have very large 15 inch screens anyway)Graphics cards are also 128mb & have had some PTE sequences to show, which really needed that ability.Hope this helps.BW Maureen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 Hi BethThouroughly endorse the recommendation for the Medion laptop from Aldi - you're unlikely to find a higher spec machine for the money anywhere else. You'll have to hurry though, the offer ends on Wednesday 8th Sept. If your local store has run out of stock (as it undoubtedly will have), they are allowed to take orders during the week of the offer.What happened to the Shuttle you were using last time I saw you?Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ContaxMan Posted September 6, 2004 Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 Thanks for the info, Brian. It'll prove very useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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