On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:24:10 -0400 "Selso DaSilva" <selsok@...155...> wrote:

On 4/25/07, dwain <dwain.alford@...155...> wrote:

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Jarlath wrote:

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This is way offtopic, but I'm learning Gimp and Inkscape and planned on buying a desktop PC soon and then trying to get some work in graphic design - maybe in a printing company for starters.

However, during this learning phase, I've noticed that my 750Mhz / 512MB Ram laptop is doing quite well under Ubuntu.

Do any of you think it would be as practical to work on a laptop exclusively?

Thanks for reading, Jarlath

i do. if you can connect a high end graphics tablet to it, i say go for it.

dwain

-- Dwain Alford http://www.studiokdd.com "The artist may use any form which his expression demands; for his inner impulse must find suitable expression." Kandinsky

I agree with Dwain, especilly if you tweak ubuntu a little, the specs is more than enough. But you should get a external HD for the work, them your set.

Thanks guys. That's great. What would you consider a high end graphics tablet? I have a Wacom Volito 2 at the moment while I'm learning the ropes.

On Wednesday 25 April 2007 13:32, Jarlath wrote:

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 19:06:16 +0200

Claus Cyrny <claus.cyrny@...22...> wrote:

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Jarlath wrote:

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This is way offtopic, but I'm learning Gimp and Inkscape and planned on buying a desktop PC soon and then trying to get some work in graphic design - maybe in a printing company for starters.

However, during this learning phase, I've noticed that my 750Mhz / 512MB Ram laptop is doing quite well under Ubuntu.

Do any of you think it would be as practical to work on a laptop exclusively?

I am working under Ubuntu as well, and I think that merely for a start this should be ok, but if you are working with larger images and particularly with filters, I would recommend getting a faster CPU (and additional RAM couldn't hurt, as well! ;-) Running some of the Gimp's filters can become time-consuming under your system. I don't know, though, inhowfar you are able to upgrade your CPU. Otherwise, in the long run I would recommend getting a faster (desktop) PC, maybe (if you can afford it) with at least 2 GHz. I do have no idea, though, about the performance of dual-core processors under Ubuntu (which is just great otherwise).

Btw, when you are thinking about working for print, color management & 16-bit support are important. The Gimp doesn't support this, yet, but I've heard that Krita (requires KDE) is good for those purposes. Krita is part of the KOffice suite.

HTH,

Claus

Another good Open Source product, more along the lines of Quark, is Scribus. It also does ICC profiles etc. But you can do a whole book in it if need be.

Thanks guys. That's all great information. I have saved a bit for when I do need a computer so I think I'll keep using the laptop until it's no longer practical and get myself a 2.x Ghz dual core. I have the 19" monitor allready, just need a system to connect to it.

Thanks again, Jarlath

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This is way offtopic, but I'm learning Gimp and Inkscape and planned on buying a desktop PC soon and then trying to get some work in graphic design - maybe in a printing company for starters.

However, during this learning phase, I've noticed that my 750Mhz / 512MB Ram laptop is doing quite well under Ubuntu.

Do any of you think it would be as practical to work on a laptop exclusively?

Thanks for reading, Jarlath

Hi!

I'd say that laptops aren't really suitable for professional work because of several causes listed here:

• Laptops have awfull (speaking of color rendering accuracy) and small

displays. If you want to work professionaly (by this I mean fast and with good accuracy), you need a good, big (19" or 20") display (CRT or LCD, no big difference here...). This is very important when working with color/contrast correction (when preparing photographs for printed stuff, like magazines, packages etc...). Also, a big display gives you more freedom while working with a program having several smaller windows (like Scribus), you won't have to open/close/hide/move anything to free some screen space. And keep in mind that the better your screen will be, the less damage it'll make to your eyes.

Agree at 100%. I can add that is WONDERFUL (not strictly necessary) if you have another extra monitor and use dual monitor to work. One with all the palettes, dialogs and menus of your programs at a lower resolution, maybe 1024 (This is only because I use this one to view websites where I have to read a lot, at BIG resolutions like 1600 or more is difficult to read sometimes); another with your entire canvas seeing only your image/graphic/design. It's like a real painter, He/she has got his/her canvas without anything more and his/her palette apart.

- !!! the following applies only if you'll have an important amount of jobs

(>100)!!! You need at least 2 physically independent hard drives (not 1 HD divided into 2 or more partitions). Why? because on the first one you'll have the operating system installed among with all the programs/settings etc... On the second one, you'll keep the works (they will then be archived on CD/DVD after everytime after completion). This is very useful when upgrading the whole operating system, or even the hard disc itself (replacing an older or smaller one with a bigger, faster and brand new one). Thanks to that, you keep the works completely physically separated from the system, it's safer. A laptop with 2 or more hard discs is very expensive, so it's better to have a desktop PC. An external hard disc can do the jod as well though...

Well, I prefer to have 2 HD's with different "configuration"; the main disc with 2 partitions, one small for the system, and another bigger for all the data. The second HD is for make BACKUPS of my entire work (I usually have this HD outside with a USB/Firewire Case). I have an UPS too so in my case IT's VERY VERY difficult for me to lost data unless my house start to burn or a thief steal all my things xD Okey, this is not necessary too but if you don't really want to lose all your work I think is a GOOD option.

- a conventional desktop HD is faster than a conventional laptop HD. The low

speed of a hard drive can considerably slow down your work when dealing with bigger files. (7200rpm, 300Mb/sec, and a 8,5ms access time of a desktop PC

HD is way better than 5400rpm, 100Mb/sec, and a 12.5ms access time of a laptop HD).

Agree at 100%

- about RAM: the bigger it is, the best. I'd say anything bigger than 1Gb is

OK :)

Agree at 100%

- about the processor: the most productivity it has, the best it is. Don't

just look at speed, an Intel Celeron can be faster (speaking of MHz) than a P4 or a Core Duo, but has 2x, 4x or even 8x less productivity.

Agree at 100% too :D

- graphic card: do not waste money on "extra super great cards that will

increase your gaming experience" or whathever is written on the colorfull box. All you need is a robust, well known chipset (I personally use an NVIDIA Geforce 6200 with 512Mb of video memory). 256 or 512 Mb of video memory is generally more than enough. (If you plan to work under linux, look after a chipset that has robust linux drivers).

I only have to add that this election depends if you are going to work for 3D or 2D works. For 2D works whatever normal card with 256 mb is enough, for 3D you need a better card.