1. What is your budget?
Up to $800.00 US.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Up to a 17 inch screen.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
1024 x 768, 85 – 100 dpi or better and an anti-glare screen.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement.
5. How much battery life do you need?
I will be doing heavy duty film editing (short videos), photo editing, and currently working on a web design. So, I am realistic about battery life. I think the most that I will get out of a battery-cycle is 3 hours. If I can get a solid 3 hours, that will be good enough.
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low, Medium or High)?
World of Warcraft, high setting.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, watching movies, Etc.)
Heavy duty photo editing and editing large text files simultaneously (with embedded photos), video editing, web design, watching movies, playing video games, and video conferencing.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Not so important, most data is on an external drive.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Purchase sites not important, however warranty and customer support is.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
Three years of heavy duty using will be good. I normally use my notebook up to ten hours per day, several times a week.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I will be reading and writing to DVDs and a Bluray player will be nice. Also, a multi-region DVD player will be nice, too.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I like Dell; however their customer service drives me nuts!
My last notebook was an HP. The first time HP serviced it, it was still under warranty and they kept it for four months. The second time, they kept it three months, each time for the same problem; overheating. My phone calls and correspondence went unanswered. The last several times I had it serviced, I used outside vendors. I always got it back rather quickly, but the problem that ultimately killed the notebook was overheating. I prefer not to purchase an HP notebook, simply because of their durability as it relates to their cooling system and their customer support.
I prefer purchasing from a vendor that offers respectable warranties and good customer service.
13. What country do you live in?
U.S.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
The things that are important: able to handle multi-tasking of large files without stalling, crashing, freezing, etc. Have ports and firmware to connect to TV, internet, and other media. My main SW tools are Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master edition, Dragon NaturalSpeaking 10, Skype, office suite, backup software. And, most of the features of the multimedia SW will be turned on.
I currently use the MS XP OS, I am quite satisfied and would like to keep using it; however, learning a new OS is not a problem as long as it is as solid as XP.
Additional questions: (a) I am concerned about overheating, is it still a problem in notebooks? Overheating was the un-repairable problem that finally killed my last notebook, it also had a lot of cracks but duct tape solved that problem. I will be using the machine up to 10 hours per day, so I am very concerned about overheating.
(b) Is it true that PhotoShop requires an Nvidia supported graphics card?
Last thing; I am aware that a desktop will best fit my needs, however, I will be traveling extensively and a desktop is not an option.
Up to $800.00 US.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Up to a 17 inch screen.
3. What screen resolution do you want?
1024 x 768, 85 – 100 dpi or better and an anti-glare screen.
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement.
5. How much battery life do you need?
I will be doing heavy duty film editing (short videos), photo editing, and currently working on a web design. So, I am realistic about battery life. I think the most that I will get out of a battery-cycle is 3 hours. If I can get a solid 3 hours, that will be good enough.
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low, Medium or High)?
World of Warcraft, high setting.
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, watching movies, Etc.)
Heavy duty photo editing and editing large text files simultaneously (with embedded photos), video editing, web design, watching movies, playing video games, and video conferencing.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
Not so important, most data is on an external drive.
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Purchase sites not important, however warranty and customer support is.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
Three years of heavy duty using will be good. I normally use my notebook up to ten hours per day, several times a week.
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
I will be reading and writing to DVDs and a Bluray player will be nice. Also, a multi-region DVD player will be nice, too.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
I like Dell; however their customer service drives me nuts!
My last notebook was an HP. The first time HP serviced it, it was still under warranty and they kept it for four months. The second time, they kept it three months, each time for the same problem; overheating. My phone calls and correspondence went unanswered. The last several times I had it serviced, I used outside vendors. I always got it back rather quickly, but the problem that ultimately killed the notebook was overheating. I prefer not to purchase an HP notebook, simply because of their durability as it relates to their cooling system and their customer support.
I prefer purchasing from a vendor that offers respectable warranties and good customer service.
13. What country do you live in?
U.S.
14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
The things that are important: able to handle multi-tasking of large files without stalling, crashing, freezing, etc. Have ports and firmware to connect to TV, internet, and other media. My main SW tools are Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master edition, Dragon NaturalSpeaking 10, Skype, office suite, backup software. And, most of the features of the multimedia SW will be turned on.
I currently use the MS XP OS, I am quite satisfied and would like to keep using it; however, learning a new OS is not a problem as long as it is as solid as XP.
Additional questions: (a) I am concerned about overheating, is it still a problem in notebooks? Overheating was the un-repairable problem that finally killed my last notebook, it also had a lot of cracks but duct tape solved that problem. I will be using the machine up to 10 hours per day, so I am very concerned about overheating.
(b) Is it true that PhotoShop requires an Nvidia supported graphics card?
Last thing; I am aware that a desktop will best fit my needs, however, I will be traveling extensively and a desktop is not an option.