Photoshop on a netbook

Digitalism

Hey i think this is the best place to put this, if not please move. Im wondering if these specs:

ACER ASPIRE 10.2inch NETBOOK
ATOM N270 1.6GHZ PROCESSOR
1GB RAM 160GB HDD
10.1inch WSVGA LCD TFT SCREEN
WIRELESS LAN FOR BROADBAND
5 IN 1 CARD READER
954GSE EXPRESS GRAPHICS
BUILT IN WEBCAM AND MIC
3 USB PORTS
WINDOWS 7 STARTER/ANDROID
6 CELL BATTERY
UP TO 6 HOUR BATTERY LIFE
DIAMOND BLACK

are good enough to run the current version of photoshop well (for college) and if not what needs upgrading as I can get that netbook for about €200.

Thanks.

Mister Man

I Wouldn't think it would be very good at running Photoshop (CS5 I guess you are talking about) but it could run it (Just not very well)

You're better off going for a Intel Core 2 Duo processor, with 2-4GB Of ram and running a full version of Windows 7

If money is low, I would recommend going for a second-hand laptop, try stay clear of netbooks as they are only really designed for Internet use.

Hope this helps

KylieWyley

1GB RAM will just about run Windows Vista/Windows 7.

You'd really be pushing it to run heavy software like Photoshop.

Danbo!

Photoshop can be quite light on your processor depending on what youre doing with it, so if its lo-res stuff it can be ok. Anything even slightly high res will start to chug though.

Also, check the max resolution on the display. My netbook has 1024x768 and will run photoshop (badly, but bearable) but some features are unavailable as the dialogue boxes wont fit on the screen. (RAW editor for example.)

Even if you are going to use it for very lo-res simple editing, bear in mind that a 10 inch screen will just be annoying after any length of time using it. If you're worried about prices, sometimes the bigger the laptop the cheaper for similar specs, as the components dont need to be engineered so small. Shop around, my advice take it or leave it, get a bigger screen.

Dublin_Gunner

If you try to use pretty much ANY filters or effects, that machine may very well freeze and / or crash.

Major limiting factor is the 1GB ram, and the very poor gfx considering CS5 supports GPU rendering.

The CPU isn't too bad, but as suggested above, if you're insistent on a laptop for PS, get a decently specced second hand one.

To run PS on Win 7 with decent performance, try get a minimum of 4gb ram also, it will help no end.

Panning a moderately large image across that 10.1in screen on that netbook will actually pause and chug I'd say.

A netbook does what it says on the tin, its a notebook, designed for the net. Nothing more really.

questioner

i had a similar query, not a heavy ps user by any stretch but i wanted the option. Looked around for a while and decided on a compaq mini 311c, got mine for 220 sterling from amazon, atom n270 but ion graphics card. and ddr3 ram.

bought two gb ddr3 stickfrom crucial ~ 59 euro, and enabled full ion capabilities on the gfx card. havent overclocked it yet, but it is easily and safely done if reasonable about it.

i would recommened this machine highly, there is dedicated forums for the it myhpmini.com.

all told it cost around 300 euro for a 3gb netbook with 160 hard drive n270 and capable gfx card. very pleased and well worth considering.

on a minus it doesnt ship with win7, that may or may not be an issue depending on your ethics.

in relation to ps, i havent run it on the latest config im running but i hvae read reliable reports as to its capability. the biggest limitation is the screen size oh an the touchpad is not suitable for ps at all.

ROCE1977

NETBOOK is what it is. A netbook. Freeze all the way. Netbooks barely run office. lol

Onboard graphics cards aren't good enough I'm afraid.

OctavarIan

Don't do it to yourself.

Shanewalsh

Nope your computer would freeze as photoshop loads.

Sgt Pepper 64

KylieWyley wrote: »

1GB RAM will just about run Windows Vista/Windows 7.

You'd really be pushing it to run heavy software like Photoshop.

I agree, the more ram, the better, but I currently run CS5 on Windows 7 Ultimate on this spec
Intel Pentium M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)-Sonoma
1 GB Dual-Channel 533 FSB RAM
80 GB (5400 RPM hard drive)

256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800
But yes, get a laptop rather than a netbook, netbooks have slow processors and are only really designed to browse the web rather than run applications.
Better cpu + lots of ram =

Dublin_Gunner

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

I agree, the more ram, the better, but I currently run CS5 on Windows 7 Ultimate on this spec
Intel Pentium M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)-Sonoma
1 GB Dual-Channel 533 FSB RAM
80 GB (5400 RPM hard drive)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800
But yes, get a laptop rather than a netbook, netbooks have slow processors and are only really designed to browse the web rather than run applications.
Better cpu + lots of ram =

That must fairly chug along in fairness. At least you have dedicated gfx which helps.

bigneacy

Digitalism wrote: »

Hey i think this is the best place to put this, if not please move. Im wondering if these specs:

are good enough to run the current version of photoshop well (for college) and if not what needs upgrading as I can get that netbook for about €200.

Thanks.

Hi There,

I have the same netbook as this, solved the problem by just using photoshop 7.0... if you don't necessarily need the layout of cs3,4,5 then its a very practical option.

TBH, i find 7.0 easier to use!

I'm using photoshop, stylemaster, office, chrome (usually about 11 or 12 tabs) and frostwire on it and it still hasn't exploded so i'm happy enough so far!

Dean820

You could just download Photoshop Portable, which is basically the same thing anyway. Plus its a very small file size!

Hivemind187

If you can source a copy of one of the "portable" editions of Photoshop it will run on a Netbook provided that netbook has two things - enough processor grunt and 2GB of ram.

I have an Asus 1005HA Shell netbook that I ran photshop, illustrator, flash 8 and dreamweaver 8 from for the last 12 months. Dreamweaver opens slower than nun and anyuthing that requires very complex calculations like Bevel and Extrude (illustrator) or some of the filters in Photoshop etc will cause slow downs. Avoid these and you should be fine.