Photoshop and netbooks
- Thread starter WickedZJ
- Start date
off-roader
Expedition Leader
what kind of processor/memory?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7007462&CatId=4949
This is the one i was looking at. Im gettin one for school and for trips so i wanna make sure it will run photoshop cause im taking a digital photography class as well as wanting to edit trip photos.
This is the one i was looking at. Im gettin one for school and for trips so i wanna make sure it will run photoshop cause im taking a digital photography class as well as wanting to edit trip photos.
dwh
Tail-End Charlie
I have an Acer ZA3 (0751) with 11.6" screen and the low power (as in it uses less power and also is less powerful) Z520 cpu. Screen res is 1366 x 768. It has an 8meg Intel GMA500 GPU, which steals main memory, but my netbook has 2g ram so it's not much of an issue.
It runs Photoshop fine but it can get bogged down a bit with large images. The screen width on my netbook is fine, but the height is sometimes not quite enough. It's seldom a problem. For photo editing I hook up an external mouse - it's just horrible to to do it with a touchpad.
I don't often fire up Photoshop, but instead I use a freebie Photoshopish type software called Paint.NET which isn't nearly so much of a resource hog as Photoshop:
http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
Paint.NET's interface is VERY much like Photoshop's, and it has pretty much all the same default tools, and there are a LOT of plugins available. If you are familiar with Photoshop, then you can start using Paint.NET immediately with pretty much no learning curve.
Highly Recommended.
If you like it - and I very much DO like it - toss 'em a few bucks since it's a freebie which is supported by donations. They ask for $12 but I tossed a $20 bill in the kitty last year and will do the same this year because I WANT this software to continue being developed and supported.
SIDE NOTE: I picked up a 9-cell 7200mAh battery for my netbook from Amazon for 50 bucks about a year ago and it gives me a solid 8+ hours of runtime with the built-in wifi. If I'm using my external high-power Alfa wifi card, 5-6 hours. The stock 3-cell battery claimed 4 hours of run time, but in normal use in low-power mode it usually runs around 2.5. At least...it used to. Lately it gets down to around 50% and then the netbook decides it's dead and hibernates. The netbook was purchased on Black Friday 2009 so the original battery didn't last much more than a year.
If I were buying a new netbook, I would absolutely choose a netbook for which an aftermarket "BigggAsss Battery" is available. It does just about double the netbook's weight, but to me it's totally worth it.
It runs Photoshop fine but it can get bogged down a bit with large images. The screen width on my netbook is fine, but the height is sometimes not quite enough. It's seldom a problem. For photo editing I hook up an external mouse - it's just horrible to to do it with a touchpad.
I don't often fire up Photoshop, but instead I use a freebie Photoshopish type software called Paint.NET which isn't nearly so much of a resource hog as Photoshop:
http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
Paint.NET's interface is VERY much like Photoshop's, and it has pretty much all the same default tools, and there are a LOT of plugins available. If you are familiar with Photoshop, then you can start using Paint.NET immediately with pretty much no learning curve.
Highly Recommended.
If you like it - and I very much DO like it - toss 'em a few bucks since it's a freebie which is supported by donations. They ask for $12 but I tossed a $20 bill in the kitty last year and will do the same this year because I WANT this software to continue being developed and supported.
SIDE NOTE: I picked up a 9-cell 7200mAh battery for my netbook from Amazon for 50 bucks about a year ago and it gives me a solid 8+ hours of runtime with the built-in wifi. If I'm using my external high-power Alfa wifi card, 5-6 hours. The stock 3-cell battery claimed 4 hours of run time, but in normal use in low-power mode it usually runs around 2.5. At least...it used to. Lately it gets down to around 50% and then the netbook decides it's dead and hibernates. The netbook was purchased on Black Friday 2009 so the original battery didn't last much more than a year.
If I were buying a new netbook, I would absolutely choose a netbook for which an aftermarket "BigggAsss Battery" is available. It does just about double the netbook's weight, but to me it's totally worth it.
Last edited:
dwh
Tail-End Charlie
Hrmm. 1024 x 600 res will pretty much suck for photo editing. Width is fine, but 600 height is gonna hurt. It will also suck for web browsing since you'll have to do a LOT of scrolling down on pretty much every web site. These days so-called "web designers" all seem to stuff way too much useless crap "above the fold" (in the header).
It's got the Intel vidcard which has little vram and will steal main ram. With only 1g of main ram, you're likely to run into issues with memory pretty easily and Windows will start swapping. ReadyBoost might help some with that. ReadyBoost doesn't help any on mine because I already have enough ram.
The single core CPU shouldn't be a problem. Mine is also listed as a single core on Intel's site, but Windows and Linux both -think- it's a dual core. 1.6ghz is nice, but it won't often run at that speed. Mine is 1.3ghz but in power save mode it generally steps down to 800mhz. 64bit though, that's nice. I wouldn't trust that 8.5 hour battery claim. Mine won't do it and it's listed at 2w, while the N455 is listed at 6.5w:
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=49491
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=35466
But then, the Asus does have a smaller, lower res screen so that probably makes a big difference.
I would say it'll run Photoshop, but you're going to bog it down due to lack of ram.
Last edited:
OK I think I found a great alternative.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pavilion+Laptop+/+AMD+Turion%26%23153%3B+II+Processor+/+14.5%22+Display+/+4GB+Memory+/+500GB+Hard+Drive+-+Midnight+Blue/1258693.p?id=1218243760774&skuId=1258693
I think this should work! Its got the ram, Dual core Processor and nice resolution. What do ya think?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pavilion+Laptop+/+AMD+Turion%26%23153%3B+II+Processor+/+14.5%22+Display+/+4GB+Memory+/+500GB+Hard+Drive+-+Midnight+Blue/1258693.p?id=1218243760774&skuId=1258693
I think this should work! Its got the ram, Dual core Processor and nice resolution. What do ya think?
dwh
Tail-End Charlie
That thing is NICE! 4g ram, 128m ATI video. Very cool...except...the video resolution. Same as my 11.6" netbook, but on a 14.5" screen? Seems like with that much vidcard power it should have a higher res...
It'll be heavier than a netbook, but it looks like a sweet machine.