Hardware requirements for a tech doc laptop?

[Kevin Amery]

To add to what Lech said, you might need to look at battery life,
depending on how you intend to use it.

- Do you need to write while away from a power source? (i.e. on a
plane?) Then you should make battery life a priority.

- Do you write when you are around power, and just need a laptop so
you can go from site to site easily? In that case, battery life is
less of an issue. I'd also go with a larger / higher resolution screen
in that case so you can have more screen real estate.



-- 
Until next time...

Kevin Amery


On 2/28/07, Lech Rzedzicki <xchaotic at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.barbion at gmail.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
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>