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Which laptop to get for AE cs5.5
I need a new laptop for school and although the school recommends a macbook, I am looking at other laptops because Macs are very expensive, and I’m not really a fan of the os anyways.
I really like the Thinkpad E420, but have a few concerns. I can order it with an i7 and 4 gigs of ram, so there’s no worries there, but it has the Intel HD 3000 graphics or whatever, and I wasn’t sure if that would be a problem while running something like particular, or 3d layers in after effects. It also only has a 1366 X 768 screen res. Adobe says that the minimum res for AE is 1200 X 800.
If those 2 aspects will conflict with AE, I can go for the Thinkpad T420 which has an NVIDIA graphics card and 1600 X 900 display, but I would prefer the E420 since the T420 costs a bit more, and is a little bulkier.
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5 Replies
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The graphics card is nearly irrelevant for After Effects. Do not let it affect your buying decision.
See this video for a discussion of the various components required:
“Overview of System Requirements”
There’s much more detail about After Effects performance and hardware here.
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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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Hey Thanks for the advice. Both of these machines can be ordered with up to 8 gigs of ram so I guess whichever one I choose (if one of the 2 previously stated) I will max out the ram. What do you think about the screen res though? The video said that getting at least 1280 by 800 is very important. do you think it is important enough that it should alter my decision though? I certainly don’t want to put up with my work space getting cut off the screen.
Thanks for your help.
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> The video said that getting at least 1280 by 800 is very important. do you think it is important enough that it should alter my decision though?
Yes, that’s a real requirement.
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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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Todd’s advice is of course very good. I would like to mention one thing though about the graphics card – AE may not use that with it’s native plugins, but new generation 3D plugins like FreeForm Pro, ShapeShifter AE and Element 3D do make use of that processing power. Just something to keep in mind.
https://library.creativecow.net/jelescu_tudor/FreeForm-Pro-review/1
https://library.creativecow.net/jelescu_tudor/ShapeShifter-Review/1
https://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2011/07/first-look-at-new-plug-in-element-3d/
Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist -
Ya I’m thinking about getting the t420 for it’s larger screen and Nvidia graphics card. It isn’t any special high-end Nvidia, but it should do the job. I used to run particular systems, form, and c4d scenes on a simple intel integrated with a pentium dual core. so the e420 might be not be the best idea, but the t420 should work fine. If not I could consider springing for the w520. that would certainly do the trick and would still be cheaper than a Macbook.
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