shopping a laptop

Alright, I'm gonna go at a University this semester and I thought a laptop would be very usefull.

I never had a laptop or even used one really and I haven't shopped for a pc in a couple of years, so I'm kinda out of the loop. Here are what I intend to do with it:

- Some graphic design when I can.
- Image editing (large jpeg and RAW files).
- Gaming (nothing too fancy, but beeing able to play a few games can be usefull).
- School work obviously.

So I'm not looking for the top pc, but like I said, I'll be using photoshop for image editing I often have + 200mb files and I am looking for a laptop that can handle that.

PC vs MAC?
I would like to try one of these macbook, but I already got all my programs on my pc and I wouldn't want to have to buy ps for my new apple laptop.... can't afford that.

Anyway if some of you can enlight me on the minimum requirement I would need or could direct me to some good and reliable website that have tips on the purchase of a laptop, I would appreciate it!

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06b/321957-64295-89315-321838-f1-1839152-1839208-2511976.html

Here is a tip from me... Try to make sure you get a mobile specific chipset... When some manufacturers try to put in standard pc chips things just don't work as well (slower... user more power etc...).

The laptop I use currently is a Sony Vaio VGN-FS285B which was about €1250 a year or so ago.... Great screen, but really slow to boot up, good with applications, but takes some time load them up initially. Have had to send it back once due to an overheating issue and support to do this all as part of the warranty was great.

don't get a Dell hihi
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32550

Thanks for the replies, but I just don't know what to look for...

I see most laptop got a processor between 1.6Ghz and 2ghz... is there a big difference between the two? For me it seems pretty damn slow compared to my desktop 3.2ghz I've had for more than 2 years and a half...

And what's the "mobile specific chipset"? hehe.
I've been reading alot of reviews in the past few days, but there are just so many models it's a real maze.

I've been wanting one of those little macbook, and I know I will probably be able to share my files between my pc and the mac, but not the programs right?

The differences between notebook and desktop processors nowadays are hard to compare. The mobile chipsets are like rich said, designed for notebooks. So they use less power and stuff.

I know that in the past you were able to send your photoshop cd to adobe and get either the windows mac equivalant back. Maybe that is still possible?

Mihai: I use a dell, it works pretty good actually. Got it from work, and didn't have any problems with it so far. And since my employer has to sort out all the problems and garantee stuff, I'm in the safe zone! You get good value for money. It probably was a battery that exploded in that particular laptop?

MacBooks can run Windows better than most "PC's", so it really isn't a matter of Macs vs PCs anymore. Macs can run any operating system in the world (within reason, including OSX, Windows, Linux, Unix, etc). You can dual boot between Windows and OS X, or you can run Windows inside of OS X using a third-party application called Parallels. You could run all of your every day apps like email and IM and web browsing in OSX, then use Parallels to launch Windows to use Photoshop if you are worried about licensing. Then once you see them side by side and realize how much Windows infuriates you, you can start using OSX exclusively. And yes files like PSDs and Word documents, Excel, Powerpoint, etc can all be transferred between the two machines without any problems as long as you have equivalent software on both machines.

[QUOTE=deker]MacBooks can run Windows better than most "PC's", so it really isn't a matter of Macs vs PCs anymore. Macs can run any operating system in the world (within reason, including OSX, Windows, Linux, Unix, etc). You can dual boot between Windows and OS X, or you can run Windows inside of OS X using a third-party application called Parallels. You could run all of your every day apps like email and IM and web browsing in OSX, then use Parallels to launch Windows to use Photoshop if you are worried about licensing. Then once you see them side by side and realize how much Windows infuriates you, you can start using OSX exclusively. And yes files like PSDs and Word documents, Excel, Powerpoint, etc can all be transferred between the two machines without any problems as long as you have equivalent software on both machines.[/QUOTE]

Quoted for truth. Deker 4 President.

Wow, that sounds really awesome Derek.
Did you use it yourself? Is it possible to copy files between the two systems?
When I used a dual boot on my windows pc, that was what sucked most.
It was possible, but not really handy. If it's really easy with this, it really sounds like something I would use.

Now I just use Virtual Machines. You can run any kind of OS on your windows pc, without affecting your primary system.
And you are able to copy files between the primary system and the virtual machine. We use it a lot at work, so you don't have to install ten thousands of development tools and what not. You just copy the virtual machine to your pc and use it. Works as a charm... you need a lot of memory though.

Yes I've used Parallels, but it was a beta version when they were first developing it and releasing beta copies on the 'net. Now it's a full retail product. Yes you definitely need a lot of memory, as you have basically 2 operating systems sharing a machine. But since it's using an Intel processor, it isn't having to emulate a processor like Virtual PC used to, so it should run at full speed as long as you have the RAM. I would recommend at the very minimum 1gig, probably maxing it out to 2 gigs would be best.

Here's a video of Parallels running on a MacBook. You can see it running in fullscreen and using some slick 3d effects with Quartz Extreme built in to OSX.