The oldie Posted December 17, 2004 Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 I am considering upgrading my ageing laptop to run PTE with a good quality up to date digital projector. As these bits of kit are expensive and I only want to have to buy once, any guidance please from the experts on a good specification would be really welcome.At the same time can I offer my very best wishes to everyone on the forum and at Wnsoft, for Christmas and 2005.Alan in NE UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisG Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 Hi Alan:You are looking for a new laptop right? All I can say is get what your budget will allow. The new wide screen laptops are nice. PTE doesn't need huge computing power, so you are able to have a lot of choices. Maybe someone could help and let him know if he needs a special laptop for DVI out. My laptop has a analog video out, but not a DVI. Do some have a digital video output?Good Luck!Dennis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alrobin Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 Hi, Alan,You don't need a special laptop for output to a digital projector. Most digital projectors I have seen operate from the "VGA" output which most laptops have these days. Some projectors also have a USB connector, but I have left this un-connected as I don't think I have the software to take advantage of it. Good luck in your selection!Regarding which laptop to buy, make sure it also has a good sound card, unless you are prepared to invest in a good external module. For this purpose it is good to have either a "firewire" port, or a high-speed USB-2 port. It's a good idea to test out the sound quality before you buy. After I had used it for a while, I found that there was an annoying hum on my laptop when the AC line is plugged in. It disappears as soon as I remove the power supply and run it from the battery.Personally, I would avoid the new "wide-screen" laptops, as I have found that they do not have enough of an increase in horizontal resolution to warrant the higher price. Unless you are going to create HDTV slideshows, you don't really need the wide screen for PTE, anyway. However, look for one with the highest resolution you can afford - up to 1600 pixels by 1200 pixels if you can afford it. That's the maximum resolution of my old Dell laptop, and I work in that resolution all the time, unless I'm presenting a PTE show at 1024 x 768, even though I almost need a magnifying glass to see the print. And a higher-resolution PTE show is very nice, too! For that you would need lots of RAM, a good video card, and at least a P4 processor. Also go for the biggest hard-drive you can afford.But, as Dennis said, select whatever you can afford. Most of the laptops today come with all the important bells and whistles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Overstreet Posted December 24, 2004 Report Share Posted December 24, 2004 Quick comment on widescreen laptops -- I got one recently (1920x1200 resolution) and find it wonderful for editing in Photoshop, it's the first monitor I've had in which I can fill the screen top to bottom with the image in Photoshop (maximized) and have room on both sides to accommodate the task bar and the palettes without any crowding over the image. Sure beats hitting the tab key repeatedly. Same advantage also in Nikon Capture if you work in that software. Haven't tried a 1920x1200 show in PTE yet but will at some point, though I'm the only person I know who could view the show correctly I'd second all the other comments, also get as powerful a video card as you can afford especially with the widescreen. On my machine DVD movies at 1920x1200 are almost psychedelic; on my old desktop with 32MB on the video card (big card in 1999 ) I could never run DVD movies at more than 800x600 which was pretty lame in comparison. However this can add a fair bit to the cost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alrobin Posted December 24, 2004 Report Share Posted December 24, 2004 Ed wrote:I got one recently (1920x1200 resolution) and find it wonderful for editing in PhotoshopYes, 1920 x 1200 would be a nice configuration. All the ones I looked at were only around 1200 wide - but then that was a few months ago. You should do yourself a favour and treat yourself to a 1920 x 1200 PTE show. Then bring it over and show it to me! I've done a couple of tests at 1600 x 1200, and the results are breathtaking!Myself, I don't use my laptop for photoshop as I prefer the dual-monitor setup I'm currently using. I can view the image at 1600 x 1200 on my 21-inch monitor, and still have room for all the PS tools, side-by-side with "IMatch" for previewing image thumbnails, on the second (1280 x 960) monitor - for a total width of 2880 pixels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveG Posted December 24, 2004 Report Share Posted December 24, 2004 Hi all,Here's something to perhaps consider...........While it is nice to have the higher resolutions on the Laptop (or desktop) I use mine to project via an LCD Projector for showing to a wider audience. It is quite common these days to find a good quality XGA (1024x768) projector for around £1000 whereas you would have to pay £3000-£4000 for an SXGA (1366 x 1024) projector. If you arrive at a venue with your 1280x960 or 1920x1200 Laptop expecting to project through their 1024x768 or even 800x600 projector it ain't going to show the way you planned! Lowering the (laptop) resolution doesn't always work and it still will not look the way you intended.By all means go for a laptop with a high resolution but if you want to project via an LCD Projector then you must work at the resolution of the projector you intend to use.Anyone else had these experiences?DaveG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ContaxMan Posted December 24, 2004 Report Share Posted December 24, 2004 I agree - unless you're going to buy your own digital projector, you need to plan for the "normal" (lower) resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels.Like Al, I too would never dream of editing images on a laptop. Their displays are not a match for the old crt (unless you're prepared to invest in a Victorian Photographer's head clamp so that you always look at the screen from the same angle!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alrobin Posted December 25, 2004 Report Share Posted December 25, 2004 Dave,You have a good point. In fact a friend of mine had a similar experience with the wide-screen laptop he purchased. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The oldie Posted December 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 Thank you all very much indeed for your very helpful advice. I have wighed it all up and I think decided on a suitable affordable spec for the new laptop.You know PTE is a remarkable programme... not only the workings of pte for our av's, but look at all the friendly people round the globe giving their time to help the aged !!I think 2005 is going to produce some remarkable new features in PTE.Very best for the New Year to you all !!Alan in UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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