Laptop help

[dominguezmrd]

I will be going to college in the fall for theatre and will need a new laptop. 

I was wondering what laptop you find best for stage managing. 

Of course, I will need a good battery life, a good memory and it has to keep me organized.
I was thinking about a mac but I’m not too sure yet. 

Cost is a little bit less than a medium sized factor since I've asked for my laptop to take the place of a grad party and my family will divide it evenly between the six of them.   

[KMC]

Hi Dominguezmrd, welcome to SMNetwork.

I think you'll find that this topic is largely going to go the way of respondents' personal preference.  I think you're on the right track with battery life, and one other thing you may want to consider is portability.  Something on the smaller end will be a lot easier to tote around between classes, rehearsals, etc...

As far as keeping you organized, a computer is a tool that will help however this really falls on you as an individual and not on any specific tool. 

In terms of storage nearly any new computer is going to come with more than enough storage for the average user.  If you're a media heavy user (music, movies, etc...) you can easily and inexpensively add more storage with an external hard drive.

Let's head off the MAC/PC debate before that even starts, and I'd ask that any respondents steer clear of that topic please (we all have our opinions, they're unlikely to change ). 

My advice would be to head out to a couple of different stores and get your hands on some of the different styles and sizes.  Use them, type on them, browse the web on them.  If you're on the fence between a MAC and PC head to the Apple store and try some of their machines, and head to an electronics store and try some of the Windows machines. 

Good luck and welcome aboard

[cserendipity]

I would like to reiterate what kmc said about portability.  If you would like to embrace the use of all this new technology as a stage manager and take your laptop with you to rehearsals (and take it with you to class for taking notes) then keep in mind everything else you will have to be carrying around with you. 

I recently bought a new laptop and in my search for the lightest laptop I could find so I could take it to rehearsal as well as use for playing online/PC games (which apparently is an oxymoron and I got a lot of weird looks from store reps), I spent a lot of time going to different stores and literally picking up every single laptop.  (just remember that the ones in the stores won't usually have batteries in them, so you'll you need to account for an extra couple pounds, especially if you want an extended life battery.)  Even though I ultimately bought it online so that I could customize it more (it's pink with a speedy video card and an extended battery), it was nice to actually see the different options and test them out.

Chances are, you are going to use it for far more than just stage managing, so it's important to think about all factors and strike a balance.  (For me, it was balancing a good video card with portability.  For you, it might just be portability.  Or maybe there's a specific software you like that's only available on one of the platforms.  Or maybe you have an iphone and want to take advantage of it's magic syncing capabilities with a MAC.  etc.)

[Tempest]

And here's two features to consider probably no one but me thinks is worth checking, but have been lifesavers.  I wasn't looking for these details last time I bought a new laptop (December) but I've used the heck out of them.
1) ease of dimibility of the screen.  My computer has a button, right on the keyboard that lets me dim the screen down quickly, in low-light situations, or bring it back up nice and bright in bright situations.  Cuts down on eye strain looking from bright laptop around a darkened house in tech, and keeps your face from glowing out of the seats to the actors on stage.  And helps conserve battery life!
2) back-lit keyboard.  See above about dim screen and dark techs.  This was actually the deciding factor between two models that were otherwise, essentially, the same, and I have LOVED it.  Mine also has a button on the keyboard to turn this on and off, quickly.
Good luck, and have fun.  I always enjoy setting up a new computer to my specs!

[bex]

I recently got a new laptop, and I ended up having to prioritize my preferences- I was at first very focused on portability, but as I went through and tested out all of the lightweight ultra-portable laptops, I discovered that the smaller screen size was actually a hindrance for me- having two windows open next to each other was exponentially more difficult. I ended up compromising the portability for a larger screen size. My back isn't happy about it, but my spreadsheets are!

[MusicTheatreSM]

For me, deciding on a laptop was more along the lines of "can I run all my programs on it"

I have a mac and a pc, because different theatres use different systems and I need to be compatible either way. I wanted to learn both sets of software because you never know which system you might end up running cues off of.

For me though, I needed to make sure there way enough memory, ram, and a fast enough processor and hard drive to run multiple programs. Other than stage manage, I also do some design work. If I can't run photoshop, audition, word, excel and my e-mail all at one time, then it's not good enough.

Both my pc/mac have back lit keyboards and screens that I can dim which are very useful also. I like being able to lower the lights to not strain my eyes.

When you buy your computer though, make sure you get a great bag to go with it. Like another poster said, I prefer a bigger screen also so I can view multiple pages and larger laptops are heavy. If you have a good bag to go with it, your back will love you more

[shanakathleen]

You might also want to look and see if your college has any computer deals. At the UMD you could buy a laptop (either mac or pc) through the school at a discounted price. The benefit of this is if for some reason you laptop gives you trouble, you can take it in to be repaired right on campus, and they'll often give you a 'loaner' laptop to use in the meantime.

[valence]

One of the first things I'd do is to look at what your college recommends.  If you have any hardware requirements (say, the ability to use autoCAD for a class) you're going to want to make sure that those are met.

I have two laptops, but the one I use for theatre is a Chromebook.  I've found that it's all I need for theatre--internet, long battery life, and light weight.  With the exception of Q Lab, all the programs I use have online equivalents--every thing I do is through the internet.  It's certainly not an option for the technophobic (and I do a lot of things through the command line, which most people are not comfortable with), but my point is that you don't need fancy tech specs for stage management.

When you're looking at battery life, one thing to consider is the weight of your power cord.  Some of them run close to a pound, meaning a fifth of your laptop's battery life.  For college, I'd look to maximise battery life and minimise weight.  I'd get something with a fairly small screen--the majority of school or work related things you'll be doing won't require much screen space--and then get an external monitor for your dorm room, and you can CAD or watch movies on that.

If you're looking at macs (or some pcs) you're going to be seeing a lot of hype about SSDs (if you haven't, it's a type of hard drive).  These claim faster access speeds, but they really aren't worth their price.  In the great majority of laptops, you're not going to notice the difference and they are significantly more expensive.  SSDs are magically with things like ChromeOS (and kinda with the mac book air), but it's not worth the price with most of the laptops you'll be looking at.

[babens]

I may be wrong (and if somebody knows better please correct me), but I believe the advantage to the SSD (solid state drives) is the lack of moving internal parts and thus less of a chance of hard drive failure.  They also run virtually silently, due to the lack of moving parts.  This may not be a huge problem for some, but I have encountered some people with laptops that sound like jet engines revving up, especially when the hard drive starts spinning in the middle of a quiet rehearsal.  They are also lighter and use less power than a standard hard drive, if weight and battery life are high on your priority list.  But, as valence said, it is a feature that is going to push the price tag up quite a bit as an optional upgrade.

[BLee]

My advice is to make sure to get a device that has other devices that work well with it. Not to spark the Mac/PC, but one of the big reasons I love Mac is because all my devices speak well together seamlessly and I know what works on one will work on the other. You can do that with PC as well, but make sure that there is variety in the brand you choose.

For instance, a bigger screen has advantages for organizing information and transferring data from one file to another (side-by-side, like mentioned above), plus ease of document creation, wider variety of software and ability to upgrade in the future. On the other hand, it is great to have a portable version of your laptop to use in rehearsals so you don't have a screen in your way. And it will only make your life easier if your phone can speak to both of those devices.

My combo happens to be macbook, ipad2, iphone, but I know windows has made leaps and bounds in improving their technology at a more affordable price. Just be careful to make sure that whatever you choose has the ability to grow with you in the future. You may only want a laptop to get started, but in a year you'll want a smaller netbook or tablet and soon you'll want your phone to sync up as well. More flexibility now will mean a cheaper and happier future!