Laptop that will run Adobe Creative Suite 5?

June 15, 2013 8:56 AM

I'm looking for an out-of-the-box laptop that will run Adobe CS5 (especially Premiere) smoothly. Other considerations inside:

I need to be more mobile and my super-duper desktop just doesn't allow that.

I'm thinking I'll have to go to a gaming laptop of sorts because of the video cards, boku ram and processors.

It needs to have 16gb ram and a 1tb drive minimally and the ability to expand onto one external monitor, but 2 externals would be awesome. When in the office I'd like to be able to leave it closed and run it on two external monitors.

Any links to things in the $2000 or less range?

Thanks in advance!

posted by sandra_s to Computers & Internet (1 answer total)

Best answer: Asus g74/5 or 6 if its out now. Maybe even a used sandy bridge version of the g73. They're a bit over $1000($1400 maybe?) and extremely affordable used, like $6-900.

Good build quality(AMAZING hinge. Thinkpad good), space for two hard drives so you can have a 1-2tb and an SSD, powerful GPU options, great quiet cooling even under stress. Oh, and you get four ram slots so you can buy cheap 4gb ram sticks. You get an hdmi and a VGA out, and from memory I think I actually tried and successfully ran a screen on each. This might have disabled the internal screen and been similar to the "lid closed mode" on a Mac though, I forget. I'd google around on that.

There's also a 15in version that retains every feature of the 17in including the dual drive bays, 4 slots, and 1080p.

The downsides/things to look out for are the shit battery life of about 1-2 hours, the GPU running in low power mode on said battery, weight and thickness, and the awful 1366x768 or 1600x900 screen options. You can get it with an I think 95% color gamut 1080p screen that's as good as the old 17in MacBook Pro. The other screens are garbage.

There's also a few revisions that have flaky power jacks. I had to resolder mine, but bought it was a busted jack for only about $400(I still had to supply drives, and do that repair... But holy shit)

The thinkpad w series, dell precision, and MacBook Pro 17 are all expensive as hell. You get superior size/weight and battery life if you go that route, but take a serious pounding in the pocketbook.

I also wouldn't consider any gaming laptop but the asus at this point having looked at other ones. Everything else is built like crap, or carries an odd price premium like the alienwares. If you're willing to spend 2k though, I'd seriously be looking at used 17in quad core MacBook pros and the dell precision m6xxx series.(although its worth noting, the good model starts at over 2k. Check our their refurb site and eBay store...) it's going to be extremely hard to beat the bang for the buck of the asus looking at anything else though. That's how I ended up with mine.
posted by emptythought at 2:33 PM on June 15, 2013 [1 favorite]