Its offical time to buy a new laptop

**doctormax** · #1 03-26-2010, 04:46 PM

Since december my laptop has been on its last legs first the cd drive went then the charging went mad. right now it charges once a day gives some strange bleeps and is really just not going well but have manged to nurse her to the end of March. The plan is to buy a new one tired of buying second hand machines so What am i looking for well advice. Does anyone know if Adbobe photoshop CS2 works with Windows 7? Yes i have adobe photoshop CS2. I was lucky enough to buy a new laptop bag and in the pockets were a few things that they just threw into it. Adobe photoshop CS2 was one and a few CD's of James Last or else there is some photographer or graphic designer out there that gave a laptop bag with some stuff for a donation and forgot he left his James Last cds in the bag. I am not saying what i done with the cds of James last.
price range by the way has to be under 500 euro seen a nice Acer in the Argos cataloug but god i hate that lot with their trying to get you to take them replacement offers besides the last things i bought i found from the manafacuturer were SECONDS. By new laptop bag i mean a second hand one from a charity shop for 3 euro

**spgifford** · #2 03-26-2010, 07:16 PM

Dell has some reasonably priced stuff. The last couple of Dell laptops I got weren't even overloaded with junk software. Customer support isn't what it used to be with Dell but then again, tell me of a company that still has top notch customer support. (And on the flip side I believe Dell is assembling many laptops in Ireland now also).
As for what works with Windows 7, couldn't tell you, I still like XP and am warming up to Vista. My understanding is that most stuff that is compatible with Vista will work with Windows 7. (I'll believe it when I see it)

**modelperry** · #3 03-26-2010, 08:13 PM

For reliability buy an Asus computer. I have one and am running windows 7. This is the best computer I have ever owned. I doubt I would ever buy Dell again.

Greg

**John Bowden** · #4 03-27-2010, 05:02 AM

Opions about PC and laptops are just like those for which Ice Cream is better, chocolate or vanilla?

I agree with Dell, good machine, good support........ but you do pay for it.

ASUS is also good. Been using their MB for a long time.

I can suggest staying away from HP at the moment. They seem to be having some problems with the parts they are using to build with at the moment. All PC companies seem to go though this one time or another.

Be sure which ever you settle on to get as much RAM (memory) as you can. Choose a smaller Hard Drive to save money if you have to. You can always add an external hard drive later if you run out of strorage, but you can never have too much RAM. Max out what the PC will support, you will not regret it.

Get the biggest processor you can also, using programs like PhotoShop and other graphic programs will work better with large files if you have a bigger processor and lots of RAM.

Those are the best things you can do without getting into an argument about which PC is better than the other PC.

Now for my opinion......... stay with Intel. AMD Processors are good for gamming and such, but IMHO Intel Chips are better for doing work........

Now that will stir up the pot.......... but from my building experiences Intel Chips have never let me down........ I really can not say that with AMD and the machines I have build with them.

john

**2Kamser** · #5 03-27-2010, 05:18 AM

i go with John
figure out what you want to do with the PC, i e gaming, work, entertainment, card models etc
then try to get as much RAM and HD for the rest of the money, a good graphic card aint to sneeze at
but it's a jungle out there and one is almost certain to find a better computer or offer when the new one is bought
so go for what you need and see which ones match that, within the range you can afford
good luck
/Håkan

**SCEtoAUX** · #6 03-27-2010, 06:03 AM

I have not ever used Adobe Photoshop CS2, but perhaps you can run it on a Windows 7 machine by running it in a compatability mode for the OS that it worked with before, if that option is available. I run PaintShop Pro 9 on a Windows 7 machine with no problems so far.

I have a niece and a grand-niece that both have Asus laptops and seem to be quite happy with them. They don't do a lot of heavy duty computing or graphics work, though, mostly for school work type stuff.