Re: Hardware requirements for a tech doc laptop?
Personally I'd prioritize on the amount of RAM, especially if you plan on
upgrading to Vista, then at least 2GB is reacommended. If you intend to have
all the forementioned app all running at the same time, it will also come
handy :)
Almost every processor will be good enought, be sure to stick with the Intel
Centrino Platform as it gives the best bang for the buck, the best
performance/battery life ratio etc. Furthermore you can't upgrade your CPU
in a laptop in the future, so I'd go with a Core2Duo.
None of the apps takes advantage of a discrete GPU, so go with an integrated
video card (part of the Centrino platform as well), it will be cheaper.
Since you'll be writing a lot, I'd go with a brand know for good keyboards,
in my view IBMs/Lenovo are top-class, HP are great as well. but that's very
subjective.
I'd also go with a bigger laptop, which means bigger screen and bigger
keyboard.
There are 12.1" ultraportables, but they're not suited well for TWs.
This leads us to the most important part in laptop for me - the screen, I
find 14.1"-15" sufficient, but you can have different resolutions with that
size, go with the highest.
Too big machine won't fit on plane and will look awkward and it's heavy, too
small one won't fit much info on the screen, so for me 14-15" is the sweet
spot. They're also usually the cheapest and most popular.
Regards,
Lech
On 2/28/07, Yves Barbion <yves -dot- barbion -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Hi techwhirlers,
>
> I'm about to buy some new laptop computers for my technical writing
> activities. So I'll be using the typical tech writer's toolset: Adobe
> Creative Suite + Adobe FrameMaker, WebWorks Publisher 9.x, XMetal, Madcap
> Flare, AuthorIT etc.
>
> What do you think I will need in terms of hardware (processor, RAM, ...)?
> Of
> course, I'd like the laptops to be "Vista-ready".
>
>
> Best regards
>
> Yves
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>
--
Lech Rzedzicki
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Follow-Ups:
- RE: Hardware requirements for a tech doc laptop?, Dan Goldstein
References:
Hardware requirements for a tech doc laptop?: From: Yves Barbion
Re: Hardware requirements for a tech doc laptop?: From: Lech Rzedzicki
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