Adobe Creative Suite Friendly Laptop?

[robnel]

Hi Guys,

Looking for some feedback on the proposed spec for a new laptop, looking to do some casual gaming but mainly use it for working with adobe creative suite (photoshop/illustrator/indesign). How does the spec below look? Any tips? I was looking at the SSD cache drive option? Is this still worthwhile if my primary drive is an SSD where I will install my programs? Is it over-specced?

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670M - 1.5GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 3 Gb/s, (7200rpm)**SPECIAL**
SSD CACHE DRIVE
20GB INTEL® 313 mSATA SSD - SLC CACHE DRIVE- SPEED UP HDD
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,364.00 including VAT and delivery.

Feedback appreciated! Ta.

 

[Narcotics]

It looks great to me.

 

[robnel]

Thanks Narcotics, any advice on the cache SSD option? Will it make any difference when the operating system and programs are installed on the regular SSD drive?

 

[keynes]

Thanks Narcotics, any advice on the cache SSD option? Will it make any difference when the operating system and programs are installed on the regular SSD drive?

The SSD is fast on its own, I do not think the cache SSD option would make much of a difference. I have the 120 GB 330 and it is pretty fast booting windows.

 

[robnel]

Thanks for that, how much space does Windows use? Will there still be space for my other programs in a 120gb SSD? So many questions!!

 

[keynes]

Thanks for that, how much space does Windows use? Will there still be space for my other programs in a 120gb SSD? So many questions!!

I'd say that you should get around 80gb left after installing the OS and main drivers.

 

[Smurfette]

Thanks for that, how much space does Windows use? Will there still be space for my other programs in a 120gb SSD? So many questions!!

You can disable hibernate, which will free up a few gigs of space. However, it is the Adobe stuff that likes to eat up diskspace (depending on what applications you install, of course). For example, I have used up over 200 gig of my ssd after installing the master collection and autodesk products. Best to double check disk space requirements to make sure your chosen applications will fit nicely.

As for the hybrid drive, since the ssd is so fast, you'd probably be better off getting a fast hdd as your second drive. You could forego the cache drive as well.

 

[robnel]

Thanks for all this info, really useful stuff. So I will probably bin off the hybrid and put a bigger SSD in instead after I check the space requirements. Anyone know much about the difference in screens? How does upgrading to matte improve things? I will need pretty good colour likeness for designing...

 

[robnel]

Based on the input I've had from people I'm now looking at something like below. Any thoughts? Pretty sure it will do everything I want and I will wonder why I ever spent so much time thinking about it!

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
16GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 670M - 1.5GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® ADVANCED-N 6235 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,290.00 including VAT and delivery.