Small Laptop recommendation to run Adobe Suite etc please?

pulliptears

DD currently has an ancient macbook which the battery is now on its way out. The power lead has split as well and to be honest we think its time to replace it for her.

I'm looking for something ideally under £350. DD would like something small again as she likes the 13" Laptops. It needs to do basic teenager things such as browse the internet and do her homework, but, she uses the Adobe Suite quite a lot so it will need to happily run Photoshop and Illustrator as well as play her games (Minecraft, The Sims etc)

I'm guessing a netbook wont be able to cope with her Adobe and gaming needs so we are looking for something else. Its all a bit confusing as I'm a Mac girl myself so I have no idea what would be best for her!

isofa

If you've already invested in the Adobe Suite for Mac, then a Mac is the obvious choice, but for £350 you'll get nothing new, you might find some decent bargains on eBay, Apple products hold their value well. Apple offer good education discounts on new items, but again £350 wouldn't get you anything. However don't forget your old MacBook will be worth something second hand, so you can backup/wipe and then sell on ebay...

Forget netbooks, they are dead technology, and would never be any use to run Photoshop or any of the powerful CS tools properly.

Look for a good basic Core i3 laptop or higher depending on your budget. The Acer Aspire 5750G is well rated for £358 + VAT but it seems to have jumped in price recently: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/375496/acer-aspire-5750g

More budget ones, with very comprehensive reviews here:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/alist/value-laptop

The best prices on Dell laptops are here http://www.dmxdimension.com, but you really would be better offer stumping upa little extra to move from a Celeron to Core i3 chip, otherwise Adobe CS will crawl.

[edited to add, I use Adobe CS professionally on both Mac and PCs on a daily basis, it's a powerful suite needing a decent computer!]

mr_fishbulb

Bit of a discussion here as to moving between Apple and Windows regarding Photoshop licenses - http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/233376-photoshop-lighroom-serial-numbers-win-mac.html

I'd say give Adobe a call first. Let them know what software you have and which versions, then ask them if it can be transferred from Mac to Windows.

Otherwise you may find that buying the licenses again will cost more than a new laptop!

Figment

AFAIK Adobe allow you to migrate licences between platforms, but only once, so if you move it from Mac to Windows you cannot move it back at a later date.

pulliptears

Already have a PC edition as well as Mac so Adobe itself doesn't worry me, its just actually running it I run it on my MacBook pro and the old white Macbook DD has was originally mine when I was at Uni (I studied Graphic Design and I think DD will head in the same direction, hence the importance of finding something that will run it well for her)

My first thought was to avoid netbooks anyway so thanks for confirming that. If I had a grand to throw around I'd buy her the Macbook Pro and be done with as I've had less hassle with Apple than I've ever had with PC but thats for another thread

Having had a browse I think she's just going to have to accept that 13" Laptops are few and far between for the spec and money she has. The Acer linked to seems decent if the price comes down a bit


Thanks all.