Forum Discussion
Computer Upgrades Needed
I am in need of a computer upgrade but not sure exactly what parameters I need to recommend to my IT department. I run Articulate Presenter Suite, Storyline, Audacity, Captivate, PhotoShop, and iClone primarily. We are a Windows based operation and all I have seen is Dell computers at everyone's desk.. so all Mac or Unix suggestions are out the window, sorry.
Anyone have a recommendation? CPU, Hard Drive, Video, Audio ... sizes, make/model, etc?
The problems I am running into currently are programs slow to respond, locking up or crashing. A lot of my training is video/audio intense so I need something that will be able to stand up to it without bogging down. Of course I also have the typical network firewalls in place and a company intranet to contend with.
Thanks for any suggestions you might have.
Jerry
A video card with dedicated ram can help with some of the problems you are having so make sure you don't just get the out of the box bottom of the line video card. I don't have any specifics on which is going to be best. But getting the standard video card is likely to trip you up quite a bit. Upgrade your video card and your ram.
Hi Jerry;
Be aware that for the time being ALL Articulate applications are 32bit. For that matter these applications can only address 2GB of RAM. So don't expect to see a lot of difference if you have a 8GB or 16GB memory machine, Articulate will only see the first 2GB.
I'm sure that Articuate will release a 64bit someday, so having enough memory may be a wise decison for later...
On the other hand having more processors will give you a gain in processing time.
Cheers
Geert
The only advice I can give you is that my IT folks provided me with a Dell M6600 mobile workstation. At a weight of 8lbs, they don't call it a laptop. Yes, it's massive....but I love this thing. My render and publishing times dropped by 80% when I moved to it.
Is it possible to build your own pc? If so, I can give you specs and build you an awesome machine for about 700-800.
Rich Johnstun said:
The only advice I can give you is that my IT folks provided me with a Dell M6600 mobile workstation. At a weight of 8lbs, they don't call it a laptop. Yes, it's massive....but I love this thing. My render and publishing times dropped by 80% when I moved to it.
Rich, I just ordered a Dell Precision 4700 - I took a look at it because of your posts about that line of products, and I'm very exicted for it to arrive! But I have a question for you: Do you use a Dell docking station? I'd like to get one (makes the workstation more easily mobile!) but have heard mixed reviews - was wondering if you have any input?
The more memory and CPU hungry program you use is Photoshop. So check the requirements and try to at least match them !
http://www.adobe.com/ca/products/photoshop/tech-specs.html
Here's Storyline tech specs:
http://www.articulate.com/support/kb_article.php?product=st1&id=4mau4vyvbq4n
I think the others programs will run smoothly...
Don't forget to set a cache in Photoshop to a fast local drive (normally not your C:\ drive !) and allow a lot of memory in the Preferences.
Good luck !!!
