What kind of computer specs are required to smoothly run CS5 and future versions?

Question

Hello,
I'm in search of a new laptop for running CS5. I checked the Adobe site for system specs (http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/design/tech-specs.html) and they look ridiculous -- I stopped reading at 1 GB RAM...
So my question is what should the system be like in order to smoothly run CS5 and the future versions CS6 and maybe even 7?   I read that there have been problems with i7 processors. Is it true?
This far I have found:
- nVidia Quadro graphics card (are there different versions of this? how much memory the card should have?)
- 64bit Windows 7
- memory? how much is sufficient? 6 GB? Memory type/speed specs?
- processor? i5 or i7 or some else? (I'm in search of a laptop)
- SSD HD drive or 7200 rpm HD?
Our company laptop brand is Dell and I tried to look for a suitable model. However, very few had the nVidia Quadro graphics card
Usage:
The laptops are mostly used for website and DTP publishing, photo editing, drawing (=Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) but also for technical documentation (Framemaker). To some extent also video editing is done, but not yet very often. However, there are plans for this too. We also run MS SQL Express in some computers to run company-specific software. And of course the normal Office 2010 package. Virus scanner used is McAfee.

Answer 1

Hello,
I too agree with the points Mylenium stated. We have discussed about multiple computers (desktop & laptop), but people don't like the mess it would cause in terms of file syncronization etc. And it would also mean double effort for the IT to maintain all the software updates etc. in that many computers. We do work quite a lot in meetings etc. and work and collaborate directly with using these programs. So it would mean double work to first make notes in a meeting and then do work in another computer according to the notes. So the decision of using a good laptop is not random but thought.
Our current laptops were selected in the CS2 era and they have survived well updates up to CS4. I haven't yet tested what CS5.5 would do in terms of performance and usability. The idea of changing and configuring a computer every year according to the latest models and software requirements does not sound good. That's why I stated the point that the computer to be selected should survive at least a few CS updates.
SSDs. I don't see them pricely at all. We've changed SSDs to the current laptops and they increased their lifetime by at least two years. Incredible increase in speed! I really do recommend SSDs and would not even consider using mechanical drives anymore. In general I don't see the price of the laptop as problem -- it costs a lot more to configure and install the computer than the price of the computer. And if the computer is slow and/or needs to be changed often to a new model, it costs even more in lost employee performance.
So conclusion up to now:
- Win 7 64 bit
- 8 GB memory
- SSD drive
- min i5 processor
- Graphics card? Mobile Quadro NVS 3100M?
So the current computer model could be:
Dell E6410
- Intel Core™ i7-640M
- NVIDIA® NVS 3100M 512MB gDDR3
- 14.1” WXGA+ LED Display (1440x900)
- 8 GB dual channel DDR3 memory, 1 333 MHZ
- 128 GB SSD