Designer's Opinions needed.

Have you/the students already been using CS2 or are you starting from scratch?

I'd go for the smaller screen and the current software, myself. That said, my portable is used as just that, and 17" is a larger laptop than I want to wrangle with.

CS2 is, of course, perfectly workable but CS3 is current. Also, if I were just learning to get around in the Creative Suite, I wouldn't want to learn in the previous version and then eventually have to step up. I'd want to learn in/teach the most current version, but that's just me.

I'd say the 17" becuase I can never have a big enough screen when working with graphics. However, CS3 is UB so it's sort of a catch 22.

What are you using mostly in CS3/CS2?

the difference in weight and heft between a 17 and a 15 is marginal. however, since either one is too small and too poor of a monitor to do color work on, i would get the 15 and a good external monitor to use.

15" & CS3, it's native to Intel Macs. CS2 will run under Rosetta on your 17", which mean it won't be as fast.

Personally I would go 15", its a fair balance between being portable and power. I'd also look into an external monitor if thats my only computer

have you been to adobe.com lately? they have an ish-load of videos that explain all of the new programs in depth.

some of the new features include copy/paste to and from any program while preserving layers, live color in illustrator which is amazing, support for 3d and video in photoshop although i've never used it, and a streamlined user interface which looks incredible on leopard.

the universal binary is enough reason to upgrade, IMHO.

adobe.com

u can never have too large a screen when doing graphics...but 2D isn't as space intensive as 3D.

but if you're serious about graphic design, you'll have a desktop as you're main comp, you can't do anything decent on a laptop

rajfantastic said:

have you been to adobe.com lately? they have an ish-load of videos that explain all of the new programs in depth.

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What's that? You taking my name in vain? Speak for yourself!!

I thought it was a rajfantastic load of videos. They're really useful by the way. It's worth having a look.

Genghis Khan said:

you can't do anything decent on a laptop

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Of course you can't.

Beg to differ

Genghis Khan said:

you can't do anything decent on a laptop

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I think this goes more than a little overboard. Really. I'll just leave it at that and add that while there are certainly display issues, I think that you'll find that in the history of art and design in the modern era, there's been more than a few "decent" pieces of work that were worked/developed on laptops.

Laptop with a 2nd screen would be most appropriate for most 'Designers"

15" and CS3

CS3 is the best update ever ... the interface is superb

hotboiled said:

CS3 is the best update ever ... the interface is superb

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Depends on your perspective, I lost screen real estate which is more annoying than anything for me. I admit I like the idea, I just think they could have had it so it could be hidden off the screen sort of thing. I also liked the fact I could just have what I use at the top on cs2

Genghis Khan said:

but if you're serious about graphic design, you'll have a desktop as you're main comp, you can't do anything decent on a laptop

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this gets my vote for stupid post of the week.

shecky said:

this gets my vote for stupid post of the week.

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Ouch! shecky, remind me never to get on your bad side, unless i already am, of course.

shecky said:

this gets my vote for stupid post of the week.

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Gets my vote too.

I'd get the 15", weight isn't too different I guess, but the 17" is just a huge laptop, the 15" is very very nice, especially with native CS3. CS2 runs quick enough... but I think it heats up the laptop a little more than it would need to.

15", 7200rpm drive and CS3.

for those of your who thought my post was a stupid one...can i just say that you need to be a fair distance from the monitor to see the whole screen (about three times the screen size i think)...otherwise you'll get a headache real quick

laptops can't be used this way (unless you have a seperate keyboard with the mouse)


i'm sorry guys if you think laptops are as useful for graphic design as a desktop, but they just aren't

that post gets my vote for stupid post of the week, part deux.

by that logic laptops are not as useful for everything, not just graphic design. i think what you mean to say is that laptops are not as ergonomic or comfortable as desktops.

CS2 runs using Rosetta, as it's designed for the Power PC chips and therefore is slower

CS3 runs a lot quicker and is much quicker/responsive, due to the fact it's a Universal binary and it's current.

I noticed a huge difference in performance on my Intel iMac compared to CS2.

I'd got for the 15.4" option, as it's still a high spec machine, and regard to performance, CS3 is well quicker.

I would go for the 17" with CS2. Bottome line - you can update the software easily for $500-600 when you have the money but you cannot update a powerbook (size wise) without purchasing a new unit.

CS3 is slightly superior in speed and has a few more bells and whistles, but you can get by just fine with CS2 until you upgrade. Heck, we all used CS2 up until this year and people were praising it the way they are praising CS3 in this thread - so it is a fine App and you won't be missing much by holding off on the upgrade for a little while.

My 2 cents anwyways...

... think i'd rather have a maxed out macbook, CS3 and an external display.

that post gets my vote for stupid post of the week, part deux.

by that logic laptops are not as useful for everything, not just graphic design. i think what you mean to say is that laptops are not as ergonomic or comfortable as desktops.

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thankyou...so you admit laptops aren't as ergonomic?...hence you will not work as well, hence what you produce will be less...which is what i said

so four people believe i'm the most stupid person on the forums for seeing this two days ago...yeeeesssss