NP7680 | Web Designer/Developers Opinion

What's happenin' guys? I've been from brand to brand searching for a laptop to replace my E1505 and I've found myself here, looking at some Sager/Clevo machines.

I'm curious how the NP7690 would work for a guy like myself who spends a lot time in CS4 mainly doing web design & development work. I rarely use the laptops to game, but I know the new version of Photoshop is GPU accelerated.

So, is this machine a good fit?

 

that system should easily do fine for your purposes.

And its well-priced for getting it fully loaded with a dedicated videocard.

 

Photoshop CS4 is set to run with certain GPU's, but you need to know which ones it will specifically work with to take advantage of it. Specifically, it uses OpenGL to use the GPU for Photoshop's Redraw process rather than the system CPU, freeing up more system resources.

GPU and OpenGL Features and Limitations in Photoshop CS4

There's a list on the Adobe site that you can view that will tell you which cards/vendors are approved:

List of Tested Graphics Display Cards for Photoshop CS4

If you weren't aware, Adobe started making its programs 64 bit compliant with the release of Acrobat Pro 8. As of the release of CS4, all of their main programs are also now 64 bit compliant. Photoshop CS4, as well as LightRoom 2 have specific 64 bit versions.

As far as systems go, I started looking for a suitable notebook when I still was using the CS3 Master Collection (I've since updated to CS4 Master). The system I eventually chose, as did many designers, consultants, developers, etc., is the HP Pavilion HDX Dragon 20.1", which comes with or without a full 1080p WS monitor. They discontinued the 20.1" Dragon, but are still making the HDX in an 18" WS model. You can find refurbished Dragons around for a lot less than they originally cost. I've got the fully maxxed out configuration, and even with an HP Employee discount it came to around $4200. They're a lot less if you can find a refurbed model.

Assuming you're just using the Web Design CS4 Suite, and not doing any HD video with Premier or After Effects, you can get away with a smaller configuration, but my own experience with my system says you should opt for the fastest you can afford and in 64 bit to take advantage of the added RAM capability. My own system supports up to 8gb's of DDR2, and even though Photoshop uses the GPU RAM it's still a RAM monster, especially if you're running it concurrently with Dreamweaver and Fireworks, or PS, DW, FW and Bridge. You can never have too much RAM with the CS4 programs. The 64 bit version of PS also performs better, at least from what I can tell. My system is 64 bit from the ground up so that didn't really surprise me.

I can also say that I've not experienced any of the known issues so far noted by Adobe with PS CS4 or any other CS4 programs, save for HD video work which takes time at any level of RAM or processing speed. It's clear also that Adobe has fully committed all of it programs to 64 bit, so think about getting any system with Vista Ultimate 64 as well. After using mine, I'll never buy a new system that isn't 64 bit again.

Working with a 1080p display is also fantastic, and even though they discontinued the 20.1" monitor HDX's, the 18's aren't that much smaller. You know as a designer how much it means to have that extra screen real estate, and I love it.

The HDX 18 is also a lot lighter than the Dragons, by about 7lbs. The Dragons, even though they're notebooks, are considered by all of us who own them as more of a desktop replacement, which when you get right down to it is what you're looking for anyway when trying to find a notebook for any serious design work that requires the kind of processing power required for the kind of programs that we use. The only thing about the HDX 18 that I don't like is that its GPU isn't as powerful as the Dragon's - it comes with an 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT, which isn't quite as powerful as the 8800 GTS. Its also not on the list, but keep in mind that the list of GPU cards on the Adobe site is for those that were tested prior to the release of the CS4 suites, so it may in fact be okay.

The other thing you need to consider is support options - check any system you're interested in and go to the vendor's Support Forums and Support Site, and see what's available online for the system in question, and what kind of problems those systems may be having. Knock on wood, the HDX line has a pretty good performance record. If I could find another system like mine I get it in a heartbeat. It has everything a designer, engineer, developer, etc. needs, and then some - but that's why we got it to begin with.

Having once been associated with HP Support many years ago, I can say how bad it has become today. However, online information available is actually the best out of the other vendors I've seen. Since I work on systems both remotely (Webex) and locally, I've had to search for support info on a lot of different systems, and some are unbelievably lacking. HP by far has the most information available - you just have to know how to get it and use it.

I know that's not the systems you were looking at, but as web developer myself, I can only tell you what I've found to be good since I've been using the CS3 and CS4 Master Collection programs since they came out. Before that, I've got all the old Macromedia programs and the Adobe programs as well before they merged. I even have the program that Dreamweaver was before it was called Dreamweaver - do you remember?

Finally, if you're not already, you should become a NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) member, if for nothing else just to get the discounts on hardware and Adobe software and others. They offer quite a bit for the member fee. The NAPP site is at http://www.photoshopuser.com