[Dent]

Hey everyone. I'm in dire need of a workstation laptop (budget around $1500) as I was laid off from 38 Studios.

I was thinking of a Clevo (OEM makers of laptops for Sager, etc) with these specs:

OS:
Windows 7, 64 bit

MEMORY:
16 GB ram DDR3

CPU:
Core i7 (quad core) 2.4Ghz +

STORAGE:
128 GB SSD (OS)
64 GB SSD (scratch disk)
256 GB SSD (files)

VIDEO CARD:
Open GL 2.0+
128 MB RAM+

DISPLAY:
Is IPS necessary?

Does anyone have anything better? Asus? Lenovo? Dell?

How can I optimize my laptop to better run Photoshop? Do I REALLY need three SSD's? I don't want to spend too much money

Thank you!

[Zentrope]

Don't go for a workstation laptop..
Workstation cards are powered with some good processors and GPU's (Fire Pro or Quadro). {which don't come cheap)

I would opt for a powerful gaming laptop.
If you are going to use only photoshop then i would suggest you to look into the following things carefully..

-Clevo is good.

-look at THIS (Origin)- one of the most powerful laptops available in the market. (MY VOTE)

-Look for ASUS ROG series (which is cheaper than Alien Ware) (MY VOTE)
-Alienware Dell
-Also check some other stuff from eurocom , Dell, Hp, etc..

Customize according to your own needs and always consider CPU,GPU and STORAGE more important than any other stuff.
RAM and additional stuff can be added later.

IPS is important but in comparison to what..
There are different kinds of IPS panels and the quality cannot be judged without calibrating it properly.

To run photoshop you need to have a faster Storage solution like SSD (Damn fast one) and enough Ram to transit the data..
A CUDA and Physx based card from Nvidia is always a plus for Mercury Engine..

and you don't need 3 SSD..
2 are fine and a small size one will do..

[Dent]

Cool, thanks for the links!

And well, there was a reason for why I listed 3 SSDs

I read you don't want your Photoshop scratch disk on the same SSD as your OS (SSD #1) because scratch disks will physically deteriorate a SSD faster.

I also read that you shouldn't have your scratch disk on the same SSD as your Photoshop files (aka, my SSD #2)

That's why I have a (small) SSD #3 dedicated just for the scratch disk (and any other caching like for my web browser)

Is this overkill?

[Zentrope]

I read you don't want your Photoshop scratch disk on the same SSD as your OS (SSD #1) because scratch disks will physically deteriorate a SSD faster.

I also read that you shouldn't have your scratch disk on the same SSD as your Photoshop files (aka, my SSD #2)

It's will not physically deteriorate it but it will slow down the caching process if the things are running from the same disk drives.

Just use #1 SSD as the local drive and install PS on the same drive.
And #2 SSD for the scratch disk.

And if you want a large scratch and Cache disk then you can go with HDD with something like 10,000 rpms (higher Rpms is good)

[Dent]

Hmm, so how much space (GB) does a PS scratch file use for a PS file that's around 200 MB?

And you want the scratch file on the same SSD as my files?

[Zentrope]

Depends on the file format and the number of layers you have used.
Scratch is mostly used as a cache whenever you start PS and uses that as a temp folder till you close the PS(software).
Maximum scratch disk data of any of my document have never exceeded 20gb but i always use my layers judiciously and follow a proper chronology.
And it is advisable to use it as a separate disk all in all.

You can also look into Hybrid hard drives and Momentus XT is highly advisable.(if you don't want some expensive SSD)

[tobz]

200mb PSD file takes

800mb scratch to flip horizontally
500mb ram to flip horizontally

Paint strokes take about 0.1mb, so no need to worry about that.
But if youre flipping your canvas often, it will eat up storage quickly.
However you will probably max your ram before scratch.
500mb/32 000 would be 64 flips.
64x800mb=51 200

So 32gb ram and 50gb scratch disk would be fine if youre working with 200mb files.

I restart my PS often, it deletes all temp.
Also, my calculations could be wrong...


Anyway i hope that helps.

[Dent]

Wow....that sucks. Now I'm going to feel guilty every time I flip my image. haha. Ignorance is bliss. Why does PS add more space to my scratch disk EVERY time I flip? Shouldn't storing 1 flip be enough?

[chirilom]

have you ordered one yet? If you haven't, you might want to consider getting laptops with the latest Ivy Bridge chip. A number of models are already being released now

[nylelevi]

Wow I never realised that about flipping the canvas on PS. I flip a lot lol.

But like tobz, whenever I notice my comp starting to lag I just restart my comp and everything runs smoothly again.

[alexclem]

THanks for the post guys, much appreciated!!