Designers Advice: 17inch or 15inch laptop?

Geometric_Jon

I have a thread in the laptop section looking for advice, but i opened this one here for an answer to the following:

I'm about to buy a new laptop. The main purpose will be for design. I'm not going for a mac due to my budget, but I just want to know should I be aiming for a 17inch laptop for the extra workspace, or does it really matter?

The extra few inches really does hike up the price, but will I be glad of it considering I'll be mainly using it for flash, photoshop, premier, illustrator ...

heggie

personally i'd buy a 13" mac over a 17" pc. anyway, is it your main machine? will you be moving it a lot? 17" is too big for a laptop to be used in the conventional sense imo.

Geometric_Jon

It will be my main machine. About to go into fourth year in college and will be using it primarily for a big assignment. All the college machines are windows so it'd be handy to be using windows as well. Ill go mac in the future but not gonna splash big books on one at the moment. Im more than likely goiong to go dell, although im still at the research stage. Just wann know if i should be gettin a fifteen or seventeen. I'm thinkin 17 at the moment.

Stab*City

17 all the way.. in design screen real estate is very valuable.. might b a little bigger and heavier but worth it all the way.. and with a decent bag u wont feel the size difference.. id go 19 if i could.. as for manufactuer dont really make a difference these days only thing that matters is how much your willing to spend..

Eoin

I have a Dell XPS with a 17" widescreen, and the display is very good. Also, as it's my main machine in the evenings, I am quite happy to compromise on the extra size and weight in favour of having a much more usable keyboard and screen.

I had an ultra-small laptop a while ago, and the keyboard and screen was just too small for extended use - and that wasn't even for graphic design.

Stab*City

heggie wrote: »

personally i'd buy a 13" mac over a 17" pc. anyway, is it your main machine? will you be moving it a lot? 17" is too big for a laptop to be used in the conventional sense imo.

thats crazy.. good luck editing large high res images on a 13" screen even if it is a mac..

heggie

note i said 'personally'

note i asked is it a main machine?

I have a 24" mac, and a 15" macbook pro, so yes, I would pic a 13" mac over a 17" pc. If I was in the op's position I would save up more and get a 15" mbp.

Stab*City

heggie wrote: »

note i said 'personally'

note i asked is it a main machine?

I have a 24" mac, and a 15" macbook pro, so yes, I would pic a 13" mac over a 17" pc. If I was in the op's position I would save up more and get a 15" mbp.

sorry didnt realise i was talking to a mac fanboy..

i have a desktop with dual display 22" monitors.. a 17" imac.. and a 15" & 17" pc laptops.. out of all for ease of use i would pick my 17" laptop.. great screen size plus not too big for the mobility factor.. great for design, music production, movies and wireless internet connectivity..

heggie

whats your problem? I by far prefer working on a mac, and there are a couple of programs I use everyday that are osx only. He asked for an opinion, and I gave one. If you want to call me a fanboy, or any other immature geek speak that's your choice.

Stab*City

heggie wrote: »

If you want to call me a fanboy, or any other immature geek speak that's your choice.

exactly..

p

Carrying a 17" around is a pain in the ass. I wouldn't really consider a 17" laptop portable unless you have a car. So bearing that in mind I'd say go for a 15". Widescreen laptops might be worth looking at too, because they can be good whne using design apps, and offer a better ratio. I can actually work on my 13" Macbook quite well because it's almost as wide as a regular 15" laptop.

Where are you mostly going to be working, in college or at home?

For proper work, if you're going for a laptop, often a good combo is generally a powerful, but compact laptop, and a decent monitor/keyboard & mouse at home you can connect it too. Even a cheap 17" or 19" monitor would kick the ass off your laptop screen.


Your laptop will last your 2-3 years minimum, so having a 17" would probably be a bad investment once college finished, cause they really are beasts.

Eoin

Is there really that much difference between carrying around a 15.4" and a 17" laptop?

egan007

My best advice is not to design on a laptop, desinging one button can often take hours.

I have a very nice keyboard, a quality 19" monitor and a comfy chair.

Eoin

egan007 wrote: »

My best advice is not to design on a laptop, desinging one button can often take hours.

I have a very nice keyboard, a quality 19" monitor and a comfy chair.

As desktops are cheaper to begin with, I imagine that portability is a factor for the OP, hence the laptop.

p

eoin_s wrote: »

Is there really that much difference between carrying around a 15.4" and a 17" laptop?

Absolutely. 17" Laptops are monsters!

They probably won't even fit into a normal bag either.

I'd definitely recommend getting your hands on one and seeing it side-by-side with smaller ones before a purchase.

FruitLover

Smarter idea, if the cash will stretch to it, would be to buy a small laptop (for portability) and a large external monitor (for visibility when at home).

forbairt

I like to think I'm doing graphic design of sorts :P ...

and I'm using a MBP 15 inch ... and I love it .. that said I've it hooked up to a 22inch external as well most of the time ...

Its good for portability ... though I think it'd get annoying if I had to lug it around a lot more .... with 2 uni text books and an A4 notepad or something if I were in uni.

I'd love a 17inch ... but lugging it around would kill me ...

Can I design on it by itself yes ... would more screen real estate be good .. yes ... would I get the 17inch ... I'm not entirely sure ... I think so but it'll probably involve me going to an apple store and playing with it for a day or two ...

Previously I used a beast of a Dell Laptop ... a precision and it was great ... 17inch ... but the weight was annoying ... hmm.... (also I was using a desktop at the time and the laptop was just for client facing meetings)

Just my few thoughts on it ... test it out if you get the chance before forking out 100's

herya

I have a 17" HP laptop and I'd absolutely recommend getting a 17 panoramic laptop for design BUT it's not the handiest gadget to carry around with you.

My laptop is basically a desktop replacement saving space and cables and for this purpose it's absolutely grand (I carry a palmtop if I need to be online on the go plus it deals with schedules, documents etc.). 17 is great improvement over 15 and if you have panoramic screen the extra width allows you to have your palettes and sidebars open and still leaves plenty of space for work. I didn't know how convenient it is before I got this laptop, I couldn't go back to work on regular screen now.

You may want to consider whether you'll need to work outside your place or to carry it to meetings etc. Another important details is whether to get matte or glare screen (matte for me but there are different preferences out there).

Laptops are also getting thinner and lighter all the time so a new 17 model might actually be easier to carry around than a "classic" 15 model.

ETA: my laptop model is HP 6820s. Haven't had a slightest problem with it for 6 months now.

Geometric_Jon

Ok guys thanks for that. I think I'll go for the 17. Ive seen a 15 and 17 together. I think I have the upper body strength to manage the extra couple of grams. I also have a car that will do most of the carrying for me. Ive been using a 15 for a while and i figure its time to try something new. Will let ye know how I get on with it once i buy it.

yeraulone

p wrote: »

Absolutely. 17" Laptops are monsters!

They probably won't even fit into a normal bag either.

I'd definitely recommend getting your hands on one and seeing it side-by-side with smaller ones before a purchase.

Check the weight as well. I bought an 17" xps online, never considered the weight. Bit of a mistake.

herya

You may want to get a neoprene sleeve with strap instead of a regular bag for carrying it, the difference in weight is significant.

Stab*City

herya wrote: »

You may want to get a neoprene sleeve with strap instead of a regular bag for carrying it, the difference in weight is significant.

god forbid you people were 10 years old and back at school you would have to carry a school bag full of books now thats heavy!! just get the 17" its worth it.

Geometric_Jon

My mind is definately made up. 17inch it is.