Buying a Laptop for WebDesign

[JoPo518]

Hello everyone...

I am planning to purchase a new laptop which I will be using for web design. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what kind I should buy. I am a beginning web designer and I was wondering what key features should I look for when purchasing a laptop for webdesign such as screen size and type of display, recommended memory(512+?), recommended processing speed, chipset, etc.

I was looking into purchasing a G4 Powerbook however I've been a Windows user all my life. Should I get a mac/OSX ? If I should get a mac for webdesign, what would be the key reasons? Through my college I can get a G4 Powerbook 12" 60GB hd, 256mb ram(will upgrade from somewher else),OSX Panther for approx. $1500. I also know that for $1500 I can get a really nice windows laptop.

My price range is approx. $1000 to $1500. I want a laptop of quality and great value. I've been doing research but I want to know what you webdevelopers recommend and what type of setup/hardware you all are using and what you all recommend.

These are also some ex. questions I have of the MAC vs. PC:
Since most of the market is Windows, is testing web pages on mac's internet explorer a breeze? or should I stick with windows since it is better to test? Also, the color differences on the displays, does it really make a difference? You can set a mac to display colors that are similar to PC right?

:confused: JP

[James L.]

Hey,

Great questions, and good for you for doing your homework before buying.

I have a dell laptop, and an Apple iBook (waiting for the G5 powerbooks to come out before I upgrade). I also have a pc desktop.

In my humble opinion, designing on the iBook is far superior to pc land for one reason only... i HATE Windows. People don't realize just how poor of an operating system it is. Having said that...

I love designing on the Mac for several reasons.

1) The OS does not crash. I have had my iBook on for over 6 months, without shutting it down. I simply close the lid when I am done, and open it when I want to use it. I have had applications crash, usually Microsoft ones (though I used to have a problem with an old version of Flash), but they never take out the OS.

2) Aqua, the display aspect of the gui, is easy on my eyes.

3) With Virtual PC installed and a Windows OS within it, I can test my pages in all 6 of my mac browsers, and the 3 pc ones I test in, all on the same platform.

4) You can get the Powerbooks with built in, slot loading DVD burners. Great for backing up if you don't use an external drive.

5) The doc types are the same, so you don't need to worry about cross platform issues.

6) OSX has a built in Apache Shell so testing server side scripting can be done directly on the platform (according to my partner... I don't do server side right now). Also, the free developer tools work well for Java, C, etc.


Here are some notes on your thoughts:

1) Make sure you don't use Win IE as your main test browser. A quick browse of these forums will let you know what most of us think of this browser. Having said that, you can test on it using Virtual PC with Win IE.

2) Personally, I find working on a Mac better for testing. My partner usually only tests on a pc. I test first within the Mac browsers, then the pc browsers to ensure cross platform viewing.

3) The color difference (gamma) IS different. PC's are darker, I think they have a gamma of 1.8, whereas the Mac is 2.2. This can be set to whatever you want, however. I use a custom gamma that is right in between the two.

4) Remember, the achitecture of the chips/MB means that clock speed for clock speed isn't a straight across comparison. In personal tests I have found the 1ghz G4 Mac to be the equivilent of a 1.8 - 2.0 Ghz Pentium chip.


These are simply my opinions, and definitely mean no disrespect to others who don't agree. Some people feel the mac a small markey not worth worrying about. I think of it this way: Apple has the equivilent market share that BMW does. Some people want the Honda, some want the BMW. Same with Apple versus the Wintel world. There is some awesome PC hardware out there, but as soon as you stick Windows on it it suffers... look at all the major crashes, bugs, security holes, worms, blasters, crappy IE browsers, etc. Apple ships approximately 2.5 - 3 million computers a year. Small market share? Probably. great machines. Yup.

...one man's opinion. Hope this helps.

[James L.]

One other note:

The Mac 12" is restricted to 1024 x 768 resolution (well, it can go lower, but who would want to except for testing in 800 x 600).

If you like a wider resolution than that you may find the 12" Powerbook a bit small. Personally, it doesn't bother me, though I do envy my buddy who as a 17" Powerbook... now THAT'S a screen!

[spufi]

I have a Dell laptop. It's got a 15 inch screen and the max resolution I get that works good is 1400X1050. I can change it all the way down to 640X480 if I want to, but I usually just go down to 800X600 for testing.

In terms of speed, I would look at what products you want to use and what is recommended for them. Don't go with what's required. You want room to breathe so to speak because when I use my laptop, I never have just one application running unless it's a game. I can run Photoshop 7 with 256MB ram, but I certainly wouldn't mind having 512 so it would load quicker.

Also think about how long you want to have your laptop, and the possibility of it becoming out dated. My previous computer was WAY old, but it ran everything I needed at the time. If you don't mind that, then you don't have to go busting your butt getting a high end system. I know I'll have my laptop for years, so if I get stuck with "old" programs, then I'm ok with that. I've got DW 4, Flash MX, and PS 7 so I'm not exactly hurting you know? ;)

[James L.]

Good advice!