Time for a new......?

[knowledgegranted]

Hey guys,


On a regular everyday basis I deal with 1gb-4gb Photoshop files. My current Laptop Specs are:

CPU: T5450 @1.6GHz
Memory: 2038MB

When I open up a Photoshop file (which takes about a 1 to 2 minutes), physical memory usage goes up to 98%, and CPU Usage to around 65%. Is it just time to get an entire new laptop? Currently I'm rocking the Dell XPS M1330.


Any Ideas?

[BuzzKillington]

You can always look up the motherboard information to see how much headroom you have for upgrades.

You can pick up 4gig kits of 200pin for cheap nowadays and you can get insanely spec'd "ES chips" for a decent price on eBay but whether the laptop will accept anything over 3GHz, you'll have to research. A solid state drive wouldn't be a bad idea either... just make sure to get one with the higher end specs. Prices are coming down believe it or not.

On the other hand, isn't the 1330 the 13" screen? I couldn't imagine shopping on such a small screen, but that's me.

[xRyokenx]

Even though I'm probably going to be burned for saying this...

If you can afford it I suggest getting a Macbook. Prejudices aside, they seem to be fairly well made, the software comes already installed, and there's no bloatware. Games are more limited but some of what Apple does actually does make sense... I also dislike their marketing strategy but judging a product off of a commercial is relatively asinine. [/suggestion & rant together]

Buzz's idea sounds good too.

[x88x]

The T5450 isn't a bad CPU, in fact it's a fairly nice one. The problem is that you're trying to work with files up to twice the size of your total RAM capacity. After a quick look on Dell's site, it appears that the M1330 can support up to 8GB of DDR2-667, so... What OS are you running? If you're using a 64-bit OS or can switch to 64-bit, I would say stuff as much RAM as you can afford in there, and that would likely fix your problem. 2x4GB Corsair kit: ~$360 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145599) If you're locked into a 32-bit OS...well, you could go up to 4GB (2x2GB OCZ kit: ~$42 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227247), but I really think you would still have problems, especially if you're running Vista. If you can or already have gone 64-bit, but don't want to drop $360 on RAM without knowing it'll fix the problem, you could pick up a single 4GB stick (4GB Corsair: ~$190 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145600)) and pick up another if it makes a significant difference. Either way, it'd be a lot cheaper than buying a new, better laptop. As a side note, I believe that Vista license keys are interchangeable between 32-bit and 64-bit, so you should be able to just get a copy of the 64-bit Vista install disc and use the key that you're currently using (I could be wrong about this, you might want to check with MS if you need to switch).

[Oneslowz28]

I have yet to find a decent laptop to handle photoshop files that big. I used to design my wedding albums (1-4gb per page) and it was a painful experience. So I just use the desktop now.

[TheGreatSatan]

It's not the RAM, it's the video. You can go up to 8GB if 4GB laptop sticks exist, but video will still be the problem

[knowledgegranted]

Even though I'm probably going to be burned for saying this...

If you can afford it I suggest getting a Macbook. Prejudices aside, they seem to be fairly well made, the software comes already installed, and there's no bloatware. Games are more limited but some of what Apple does actually does make sense... I also dislike their marketing strategy but judging a product off of a commercial is relatively asinine. [/suggestion & rant together]

Buzz's idea sounds good too.


Oh jeez...where did you go wrong? JKJK....but Macbooks are not for me.


For the rest of you guys thank you so much for all of the input; greatly appreciated!

Although Now I'm thinking, what if I become a more experienced 3d modeler and am handling bigger files in that too. I will need a decent laptop.

I think I might just save up some money, and sell stuff to get a new laptop. Although its not the best choice I'll just take that route. For now I'll just buy 2 sticks of 2GB

[TheGreatSatan]

Is it 32 or 64 bit?

[knowledgegranted]

I'm sorry I forgot to answer that whole thing.. Its 32 Bit

[TheGreatSatan]

Then 4 gigs is pointless. The max 32 bits can address is 3gb

[nevermind1534]

Then 4 gigs is pointless. The max 32 bits can address is 3gb

More like 3.5GB, but close enough.

[nevermind1534]

You can still run windows on a mac.

[x88x]

It's not the RAM, it's the video. You can go up to 8GB if 4GB laptop sticks exist, but video will still be the problem

Really? I didn't realise photoshop used video at all. I mean, I know CS3 can grab a CUDA card and transform into a small god, but other than that, I thought it was all on the CPU. (Also, 4GB laptop sticks do exist, they're just crazy expensive. I linked to a couple in my last post) Along those lines, , knowledgegranted, when you're looking for a new laptop, you might want to look for one with a nice nVidia graphics card to take advantage of the CUDA processing that CS3 can do (if you have CS3, or come to think of it, I guess they might have released patches for previous versions, idk).

[mtekk]

Really? I didn't realise photoshop used video at all. I mean, I know CS3 can grab a CUDA card and transform into a small god, but other than that, I thought it was all on the CPU. (Also, 4GB laptop sticks do exist, they're just crazy expensive. I linked to a couple in my last post) Along those lines, , knowledgegranted, when you're looking for a new laptop, you might want to look for one with a nice nVidia graphics card to take advantage of the CUDA processing that CS3 can do (if you have CS3, or come to think of it, I guess they might have released patches for previous versions, idk).

That's CS4 that has GPU acceleration, I believe it is not limited to Nvidia (it tried to use them with my 4830 when I ran the trial, but I never really checked it out).

Migrating from a M1330, I'm assuming it has the Nvidia graphics, to a macbook will not give you much, if any, performance improvement above what 4GB of ram and a faster processor would. It just depends on what processor you can upgrade to, which to find out you have to go to Dell and see what they say for your service #.

[knowledgegranted]

Like I have stated before, I have actually owned a Mac before for about 2 Years. My school does a 1 to 1 program where every student gets and uses a laptop during class and everything. Didn't really like it, its just not my thing.

If I were to buy a Mac I would just uses their OS which isn't to bad but like I said not my thing.

EDIT:

I might just go out and buy a whole new laptop, although this dell is amazing, I just think its time now. Plus I need a new Graphics cards. The 8400M doesn't run Leadwerks engine at anything over 16 FPS, when I modeling and building I need to do it in "Real Time," Not half ass real time.

[x88x]

I might just go out and buy a whole new laptop, although this dell is amazing, I just think its time now. Plus I need a new Graphics cards. The 8400M doesn't run Leadwerks engine at anything over 16 FPS, when I modeling and building I need to do it in "Real Time," Not half ass real time.

From the usage you're mentioning.. is there a really compelling reason why you need to do that on a laptop? Because it would be much cheaper to build a desktop that could runs circles around that laptop than to replace it with a more powerful laptop.

[knowledgegranted]

Well I already have one of those, thats the problem though. I am near my desktop maybe 1.5 hours a week. Thats when I use it power to render things and basically thats about all the time I have to go on it.

I am on the road, school, ETC, and simply have no time to get on a desktop. Really thats why, but theres more.

[x88x]

I am near my desktop maybe 1.5 hours a week.

Ok, fair enough. :D