[Frankwer]

What hardware specifications will I need for the Adobe creative Suite package? I want to get into graphic design and am planning to teach myself how to use photoshop, illustrator, flash, acrobat etc, but first I need to buy a laptop.

What specifications will I need?

I only have about £300 to spend on the laptop will this be enough? Any suggestions which laptop I should get?

http://couponnext.com/coupons/toshiba-com

[Jac]

In my experience Photoshop doesn't need a monster machine to run. It runs fine on my old dual core. If you're working on large images more memory is a bonus, 2+ GB is a good minimum. A large screen would be a benefit for working comfortably - if you're going for a laptop get as large a screen as your budget will allow.

I don't know what sort of money laptops are selling for nowadays. See if anyone else here has an opinion.

[Tipstaff]

It has more to do with the level of performance you want. The faster CPU, the faster the hard drive, and the more memory it has, the better Photoshop runs.

Memory: As mentioned 2GB of RAM would be the bare minimum, but 4GB would be the recommended as you would see performance issues with 2GB across the board. The thing to remember is that Photoshop loves memory, and let's be honest, so does Windows. The more you have, the better they both run (only with Windows it seems to stall at 6GB). Thing to remember is that with Photoshop, most work is done within your systems RAM, Pagefile, and Scratch file, so the more RAM you have the better.

Hard Drive: An SSD is not necessary, however choosing a laptop that has a 7200RPM hard drive over one that has a 5400RPM drive might be worth it. This is where the Pagefile and Scratch file come in. The faster the hard drive the faster the data can swap in and out of those two files, plus Windows itself will respond faster too. This is not a must though. You can get away just fine with a laptop running a 5400RPM drive. Then down the road you can upgrade that to a 7200RPM drive to get that extra boost of speed, or even an SSD if you really want to.

CPU: A dual core processor would be my minimum recommended with a minimum speed of 1.86-2Ghz. When talking Intel processors this means staying away from any Intel Celeron based laptops "except" the top end such as the T3000 series (which are usually dual core / 1.86-2Ghz). With Intel Pentium based laptops the entire line should be fine "except" the bottom end, the E2100 series. The sweet spot for price would be ones based on the T4500, or P6100/P6200 processors (average price for these are below $600). As for the i3, i5, and i7, all work very well, and of course the higher you go up the ladder the faster Photoshop runs. Those are all "newer" processors, btw. If happen to find a good deal on older laptops running a Core2 Duo, be sure to stay away from any that run the L series chip. All the others are fine, except that line.

Screen size: The key here is that 15.6 inches is your minimum. However, almost all laptops these days come with a video out port. Meaning you can always hook up a larger external monitor if you really need it.

[Liqourice]

I recently got an Acer Aspire 5553G with a Phenom II X4 N950/4 GB Ram/HD5650 2GB/15.6" screen and it does the job well. Sure, the 5400 rpm harddrive is a bit on the slow side but running windows with most of the fancy stuff turned off it saves a lot of memory and it doesn't need to swap very much.

I wouldn't go with anything less than this for this kind of work though.

[jaydeee]

for me gaming laptop will be good for adobe creative.