Computer Upgrades Needed

Dec 07, 2012

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

6 Replies

Sara Reller

over 11 years ago12/07/12 at 11:16 am (UTC)

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.

Geert De Rycke

over 11 years ago12/07/12 at 12:42 pm (UTC)

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

Rich Johnstun

over 11 years ago12/07/12 at 12:50 pm (UTC)

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.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m6600/pd

Chris Glass

over 11 years ago12/07/12 at 12:54 pm (UTC)

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.

Sheila Bulthuis

11 years ago02/26/13 at 7:27 pm (UTC)

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.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m6600/pd

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?