How to Shop for a Laptop: A Buying Guide for the Photographer or Digital Artist

Until recently, desktops conquered laptops in the digital art scene, being the only option for a powerhouse computer that can meet the high demands of processing large files. However, with technology becoming smaller, more portable and wireless, notebooks are rapidly becoming the more preferred alternative. While shopping for my laptop, I noticed some tricks that the big companies try to pull that make their product seem outstanding while getting jipped in critical, but often overlooked, areas of your computer. So let's get right to it.

RAM

The biggest trick that I've seen the Big Companies use to persuade the consumer is that if you purchase a laptop with an insane amount of hard drive space and the latest processor, you'll be getting a laptop speed demon. WRONG. Those things don't mean jack unless you have enough RAM to process the information. 2 TB's of hard drive space and the latest Intel are both contingent on how much RAM you have. If you're looking for a fast computer, and all digital artists are (especially video and animation editors), the more RAM the better. Look into this and don't take anything under 2GBs of RAM.

And this brings me into another aspect of computer speed:

Hard Drive RPM

What really ticked me off when looking through the Big Companies was that the RPM was often not even listed for the hard drives included with their laptops. So obviously it's not good. Hard drive RPM determines how fast the information is pulled from your hard drive to be processed by the computer. The slower the RPM, the poorer your performance: short and simple. Not much more to say on this other than do not look at any notebook with a hard drive under 7200 RPM. However, don't assume that the super-incredible fast hard drives (15,000 RPMs) are worth the money. If you like numbers, check out this article and how they break down the myth of ridiculous speed +more money = best performance: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=322

Video Cards

Before I get into this, I just want to clarify that when you buy a laptop, you are making a lifelong commitment to the graphics card that comes with it because it is often smoldered to the motherboard and can NOT be replaced. However, recently a few high-end laptops have come out with interchangeable video cards, but for the most part, this isn't the case. So for obvious reasons, it's always wise to invest more money in this area if you plan on using your laptop for more than a few years. I recommend purchasing a reputable card with at least 256mb. And by reputable, I mean ATI or Nvidia; steer clear of manufacturers that do not specialize in graphics accelerators (such as Intel) as they are often sub-par in comparison. Unfortunately, the Big Companies often use poor graphics cards with their laptop models in hopes you'll overlook it when you're blinded by the number of GB's they put into your hard drive. And that is a nice segue into the next area.

Hard Drive Space

A 2 TB hard drive sounds awesome, right? While it's nice to have all that space, please don't use it all. The more information you put onto your hard drive, the slower it operates, despite how much storage space you have. If you're anything like me, who works with 200+mb photoshop files, invest in a portable drive. You'll reduce the amount of wear-and-tear on your new notebook, and people will think you're an important person if you need an external hard drive. However - and this is crucial - external hard drives are NOT crash proof! They're subject to the same types of failures as your internal hard drive and can explode with no warning whatsoever. Well, not literally "explode", but you get the point. When you transfer files over onto your portable drive, back them up on a data DVD. In fact, back everything up on a data DVD. It's better to have it an not need it than vice versa.

Package Deals

"You can get Microsoft Office, installed, for only $300! You save over $400 off retail!". Seriously, does anyone buy this bull anymore? With the growing numbers of dedicated computer programmers who donate countless hours to open-source freeware programs (open-source meaning that anyone can have a go at programming the application themselves, and freeware meaning, well, free) have made it possible to have completely free alternatives to the most popular programs offered at "discount" bundle packs by the Big Companies. Do NOT buy Microsoft Office. Period. OpenOffice is a completely free, and often updated and improved, alternative to Microsoft Office. I have been using it for 2 years now problem-free. The best part about programs like these is that they accept the fact that most computer users still use the mainstream applications, so OpenOffice offers the option of saving files as Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and many other file formats, and it can also read those files as well. So, basically, there is no drawback to using OpenOffice, unless you enjoy having to deal with that god-forsaken, and utterly useless, animated paper clip.

This is what I did. I bought my laptop from a small company who values quality and service above all else. No, I am not a paid sponsor (though I wouldn't mind it), but a satisfied customer of two years. My laptop was built with high-quality components, tested repeatedly before shipped, and came with a free 3-year service warranty on all parts. Best part about this place is if you're a real customizer, you can pick out all your own components (including laptop shell), and they will order them and build your computer for you. I could go on, but I won't. Check 'em out: http://www.pugetsystems.com/

My advice is to stay away from the Big Companies. They rip you off, their outsourced support service should be trained in suicide prevention techniques, and they often use cheap, bottom-of-the-barrel parts that are bound to fail eventually. Why do you think they charge you so much money for service plans? Because their products DO fail, and often. If their computers were fail-proof and built solid, shouldn't service or product replacement plans be free? $300 for a 3-year warranty doesn't exactly scream "I'm so confident with the performance and integrity of my product!".

One more note. If you do go with a small company, check out their reputation first on Reseller Ratings (http://www.resellerratings.com) or a similar consumer-contributed company review site. Some of these places offer "too good to be true" dirt-cheap prices on their products because they are; they're scams and they will rip you off. Know your company, and know them well before buying from them is probably the best advice I can offer.