Desktop Specifications for Multimedia Course Design

Oct 26, 2016

Aloha,

I have the list of the minimum system requirements for Storyline, however, I need to purchase and set up a desktop station for our Instructional Design Team.  We all have laptops, but would like a desktop station.  We use Storyline for all course design, and we have full access to the Adobe Creative Cloud apps as well. Would love to know what experienced multimedia developers/designers would recommend for hardware specifications.   Thanks for any and all advice in advance!

4 Replies
Luke Heathershaw

Hi Kristine,

If you're using several Adobe apps simultaneously then i'd recommend a machine with as much RAM as possible, particularly if you're going to be creating/editing videos. 

Any modern Core i5 or i7 processor with at least 8GB RAM (though 16GB or more would be much better) will comfortably run Adobe apps and Storyline together. 

Obviously hard disk space depends on what you're going to be creating, but if you're just editing images and Storyline projects, then you'd probably be able to get away with 256GB. If you're editing videos and larger image files then i'd probably look at getting  500GB+ though I would strongly recommend getting an SSD (solid state drive) as it makes a world of difference to loading times and the general responsiveness.

I personally use a laptop with the following specs and it runs like a dream:

- Intel i7 5600

- 16GB RAM

- 256GB SSD

Hope that helps!

Luke

Jacob Visovatti

Hi Kris - it's a good question, and Luke's reply is definitely solid.

Remember that all technology decisions have tradeoffs. If you distinguish between "must-have" and "nice-to-have" when passing specs to IT, you are more likely to engage in a productive purchasing decision.

The fact that you are looking for a desktop is helpful in this situation, because you can get much more power for less cost compared to the same hardware in a laptop.

The i5 and i7 processors are definitely important; they are fairly common anyway.

I strongly agree with Luke that a solid-state drive is a big help. Personally, I would prioritize this over absolute storage size.

If you must get a smaller solid-state drive due to cost limitations, then you may be able to have a second, hard disk drive you use for "archived" video files you simply won't use often. This hard disk could be internal or external.

No matter what, approaching your IT team with your business needs and some suggestions about minimum and ideal specs is the most likely way to obtain great equipment that serves your team well.

(Unless your company is less thrifty than mine...in which case, just write up a wishlist! :) )

 

Kristine Lesperance

Hi Jacob!

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond.  I appreciate your input as well, and am going to distinguish the must-haves from nice-to-haves with IT. I know they'll appreciate that distinction. We do hope to put together a solid desktop station for future work.  I'm emphasizing SSD in hopes we can go that route.

I'll post and let everyone know what happens.

Aloha,

Kris

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