Which laptop - help!

[emmalr]

My creative marketing business has exploded and I'm working round the clock on new projects and getting enquiries daily. My core business is graphic design and social media marketing, but I'm also doing web development, video production for online marketing and SEO.

My four year-old HP laptop has been very good to me but is now blue screening and getting very slow (and noisy). I've been looking at various laptops and I'm totally undecided about what to get.

I've never had an Apple and I'm quite keen to get a desktop version soon and thought about going all out apple and getting a laptop version too. But I'm also aware that you can get some really super laptops for about the some money as you pay for a good apple laptop.
I want speed and excellent graphics mainly. I usually have multiple applications running at once (Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver etc).

I've always liked my HP and never had any problems with it. Not so keen on Samsung as I had one that was always breaking. I don't mind paying £650-£850 for a good machine.

What do you recommend?

Emma

[lordlancaster]

Hi Emma,

Nice to see you on the Shell LiveWIRE Forum

Lots of designers/creatives will only ever use Macs but I think unless you're 100% familiar with using one then you may actually be slowing yourself down at work by trying to get used to the different ways they operate.

You can get a very good laptop and iPad for the same price as an iMac. Then you can use the laptop to do your core work, and an iPad for mobile working, demo'ing and wowing the client. If you like the iPad then you can consider buying an iMac down the line.

I've personally always used a PC/laptop for work and at home which allows me to do everything I need to do to create, edit and manage websites.

My work PC is a few years old now but is a Dell Vostro and my personal laptop is a Dell Inspiron. I got my laptop from Tesco and they have some really good offers on at the moment.

Also, if you buy a new laptop/PC now, you are eligible for either a free upgrade or heavily discounted upgrade to the new Windows 8 'Metro' operating system in October which is very cool and could open up more opportunities for you and your business.

This is obviously just my opinion so ask around to see what others say.

[adam_greenough]

I think the obvious and best answer here is to invest in a MacBook Pro. I run a similar business to you and the huge array of productivity tools and applications on a Mac as well as such an awesome machine that makes you want to work meant that after picking myself up one of these laptops I was in geeky heaven!

I got the entry-level 13" laptop (£849 as a student) which is more than enough screenspace for basic work, especially with the multiple desktops and I usually plug it in to a HD monitor when I'm at home/office to duel screen.

There is a slight learning curve and it's a pain to find some stuff in the beginning but it's time well spent learning how to use it properly. All the touch gestures, keyboard shortcuts and productivity assistants means I get work done in doubletime!

Here's just some of the awesome apps you might find useful:
Coda (Code Editor): http://panic.com/coda/
Fantastical (Calendar Assistant): http://flexibits.com/
iWork (Mac Office): http://www.apple.com/iwork/

[lordlancaster]

You can tell from the above 2 posts who is the talented creative and who's just the business/website manager

[emmalr]

Thanks guys. I have used Macs before at University (although its been a while). I bought myself an iPad last week just for meetings and it's been brilliant. I am very tempted by a Macbook Pro.

[adam_greenough]

Macs and iPads were made for eachother! The ability to seamlessly sync emails, calendars, office documents and more means I can constantly keep on top of my business wherever I go. :-)

[meisage]

I would recommend Dell laptops. It's one of the best brands when it comes to laptops!

[tomstables]

I suppose the bottom line is that you need something with absurdly good processing power. Your budget will affect what you get, obviously. I

'm a designer and have, for years, used PCs. It's only recently that I have started to use a Mac at work and to be honest, I've not noticed any immediate or obvious benefit. That's not to say it's bad in any way - it isn't - it's slick and I love it. It does what my Windows PCs have done, only it's sexier. And shiny.

I see the Android vs Apple, PC vs Mac arguments every day online and I'm sat firmly in the middle - each has pros and cons. In making the decision, think about longevity, repair costs and frequency and of course, eventual replacement. Hope you find the right workhorse!

[tomstables]

Just reading more of the previous entries, it's right that you should think about productivity too - as far as we go here at 3ManFactory, we're heavily Mac invested but definite Google fanboys. If you take the time to think about and then more time to set up workflow and synchronisation, you're onto a winner.

[kasiaw]

I think macbook pro is way forward those days!A bit expensive but worth every penny! Good luck

[bigstu]

After years of using PCs I switched to a Macbook Pro this year and have never looked back. I also run a Windows emulator as I have research software that can only be used on windows, and it works fine. It took a while to get used to, but I love it now.

The great thing is you can close it up, add a wireless mouse and keyboard, plug in a screen and it's a desk top!

I did bump the memory up from Crucial.com where they sell 16GB for about £100 which as made it a super computer!. Stick a solid state drive in and it will be bonkers!

[habazlam]

VAIO i5 2.3 cpu and 4 gb ddr3 RAM.. pcg-71913L it's the best laptop ever.. it's really fast and great gfx but the only disadvantage is that it's doesn't support high graphics games