micromusic Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Hi folks, I need to buy a new laptop to run the Avolites Titan software and Lightconverse. Therefore it needs to have touchscreen functionality and a powerful graphics card. I've spent hours researching a suitable model, but despite the competition in the laptop market there seems to be little need for both touchscreen monitor and a decent graphics card. I have posted on Yahoo answers so will copy a part of the question here (hope that doesn't break any posting rules etc?) "Would like: at least 4GB RAM, i5 processor, touchscreen monitor and a graphics card with a real kick to it. Also might seem obvious but also: at least 3 (ideally 4) USB ports, VGA out, Ethernet out. If the monitor twists round to enter 'tablet' mode then even better, like some of the Lenovo series Battery life / weight / size / being cool / popular isn't important It's for a business and will be used to run some fairly demanding lighting and visualisation software hence the need for the touchscreen and graphics card. Researching into graphics card itself seems a whole can of worms in itself, but I will need something respectable even by gaming standards. I *know* the best graphics cards come in desktops, not laptops, but surely with the fierce competition of the laptop market, there must be a product that fulfills my needs - without spending crazy money Any (helpful) suggestions would be appreciated as I am driving myself crazy. Cheersoh and although I'm primarily a Mac user, this has to be a PC as the software only runs on Windows. Mac + bootcamp + windows + external touchscreen monitor = expensive headache" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonkiDonki Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Good luck finding a laptop that fits your requirements; especially at a "reasonable" price. If it has to be a laptop then it may be worth considering two. I have a fairly new acer which has a built in 15" touchscreen which I use for MagicQ. there is two versions; one with basic Intel graphics and the other has slightly better Nvidia graphics. These go for about £400 and ideal for a pc lighting controller but neither is going to be great for visualization. A laptop that has decent graphics for visualization is going to be a gaming class machine and these quickly start going into silly money. Expect prices between £800 - £5000! I never managed to find one with a touchscreen as standard but you could look at adding an overlay touch surface. Another option if you really need the raw performance at a reasonable price is build a desktop. For about a grand you could build a very powerful machine and use dedicated touchscreen monitors. obviously this may not be an option due to the lack of portability, even with the most compact micro or mini formats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Jelfs Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 HP used to make some touchscreen laptops - not sure if they still do. Does it have to be a laptop? hows about some of the all-in-one type desktops? I know there are a few that come with touchscreens and are designed for watching HD movies and such so have reasonable graphics on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Coker Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 If it helps, I run Titan Mobile quite happily on a Samsung R530 laptop with no touch screen - although a touch screen will be my next purchase. I think the Samsung cost around GBP 400. I can't afford to run WYSIWYG, but I can run various other graphics/video/music programmes at the same time as TM. I'm not sure a touch screen is essential, but I would say that, ergonomically, a mouse is extremely useful - although that could be just me. As you correctly identify, USB ports are of the essence, with the TM taking up two of them - although I have found it will run from a cheap unpowered USB hub. (Oh, you'll need a port for one of those jolly USB powered LED lights given that the TM doesn't have a lamp output.) Avolites were demonstrating the TM at PLASA North with a touch screen PC running Arkaos. Give them a shout and see what they used. Hope that helps in someway. KC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
125db Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Have a look at Digitec. It's a Swiss webshop so it won't help you for buying your computer, but it has really advanced search features and a lot of laptops, so maybe you'll find the model you need. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 As you correctly identify, USB ports are of the essence, with the TM taking up two of them - although I have found it will run from a cheap unpowered USB hub. I am told by Avo that the latest Titan Mobile software (v5) now only needs one USB port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjb304 Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 HP used to make some touchscreen laptops - not sure if they still do. Does it have to be a laptop? hows about some of the all-in-one type desktops? I know there are a few that come with touchscreens and are designed for watching HD movies and such so have reasonable graphics on them. I believe the current range of HP touch screens is the elitebook my supervisor has one and the touchscreen is both a capacitive and resistive one. It somehow detects when the pen is near the screen and switches to resistive for more accuracy. I think it has 3 USB ports on the laptop itself, but if you add the dock (even with the dock on it's not massive) you gain a few more ports. One thing worth noting is that without the dock on you don't have an optical drive. I think his one has an i5 processor and 8GB of RAM, and that is by no means top of the range, although I'm not sure what the graphics card is like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutley Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Be wary of HP laptops which have AMD processors and nVidia graphics combination - cooling is barely adequate considering the fact that AMD chips generally run hotter than Intel, and once it has collected a bit of dust it becomes INadequate, causing the CPU to overheat and pass that heat into the graphics chip. nVidia had a load of bad chips which when coupled with the excessive heat, they die! There are two solutions for this fault:1) Replace the chip. This requires an infra-red BGA reballing machine which will set you back a few grand, or about £100.2) Replace the motherboard. This will cost you about £165. As has already been asked, does it really have to be a laptop? How about a touchscreen "All-in-One" PC? Alternatively, if you find a suitable laptop, you could retrofit a touchscreen panel from eBay. (Or pay to have one fitted) ...Or a touchscreen i3 laptop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Jelfs Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 the new HP elitebook as posted by pjb are now running intel chips, I was assuming the OP wasn't wanting to buy second hand older stuff that might have had the AMD issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micromusic Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 Wow thanks for the responses guys. I'll check out some of the recommendations. In response to some of the questions, yes it DOES have to be a laptop - for portability reasons. And although I didn't mention a price in the original post, I do realise I'm going to be looking at close to a grand if not over. I know Avo use a Acers with touchscreen + basic nVidia card that works 'ok' for a visualiser. Not sure about running Titan simultaneously though. Interesting that Titan v5 only needs one USB. I'm due an upgrade methinks More research here we come.... Cheers again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Coker Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Interesting that Titan v5 only needs one USB. I'm due an upgrade methinks More research here we come.... Cheers again Hold on, I'll unplug one and see what happens KC Oh yes....it would appear the lower one can be unplugged.WARNING: I am on the kitchen table with a WWG Caterpillar as my test rig. Try it with something sensible before entering a mission critical scenario.... KC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltully Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I have run a titan mobile off a 15 inch macbook pro running xp pro. No problems at all with it. I own a tiger touch and linking my mac up to vector works is fine. Get yourself a mac and stick windows on it is my advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyMitchell Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I have run a titan mobile off a 15 inch macbook pro running xp pro. No problems at all with it. I own a tiger touch and linking my mac up to vector works is fine. Get yourself a mac and stick windows on it is my advice. Except the OP has Titan Mobile and has stated he wants a touch screen laptop, whereas you have the benefit of the touch screen on the desk.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonkiDonki Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/acer-aspire-5745pg-review-50001066/ that is the Nvidia version of the laptop I use for MagicQ, which I would think would be good for Avo too. argos has them at £500 and I'm sure a bit of searching would get one a bit cheaper. Whether the graphics are good enough for what you want to do with lightconverse would need some investigation; you could always try asking what the software developers think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmeh2 Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 .A laptop that has decent graphics for visualization is going to be a gaming class machine and these quickly start going into silly money. Expect prices between £800 - £5000! Hi It all depends on your visualiser. I can run MA 3D on my utterly rubbish £300 Toshiba without too much trouble. The main reason why things like Wyg require acres and acres of memory and obscene video cards for decent frame rates is they are (imho) very poorly-written, inefficient bits of software, if you consider actually how many polygons the system is rendering and then comparing it so some epic-fast game or CAD engine on the same machine. All the bestTimmeh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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