Okay to design on a laptop?

12 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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I was wondering, are there any drawbacks to creating websites using a laptop as opposed to a desktop? I plan on using Dreamweaver cs4 to create my site. Thanks.
#design #laptop
  • Profile picture of the author Zoheb M
    Well the only considerable difference I have experienced is the color. In laptops the colors will look lighter or darker depending on how titled the screen is. You will need to find the optimal position based on how you are using the laptop.

    Good luck!

    Zoheb
    www.ecovercentral.com
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    • Profile picture of the author ny_mariposa
      Originally Posted by Zoheb M View Post

      Well the only considerable difference I have experienced is the color. In laptops the colors will look lighter or darker depending on how titled the screen is. You will need to find the optimal position based on how you are using the laptop.

      Good luck!
      I second the color issue. I work primarily on a laptop. I do test on multiple computers with multiple settings to see how the site performs. What looks good on my laptop sometimes looks terrible on the desktop next to me. Whether the problem is screen position or color settings within the respective monitors, there is definitely a difference.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kezz
    You'll also want to be aware of screen resolution. It's unlikely that you'll be able to get your laptop up to the max res of 22" monitors, so you'll need to be conscious that you're page backgrounds etc will stretch wider than you can actually see.

    In my experience, Photoshop is a bit too much of a beast on a laptop. Fireworks runs quite well though. You can't quite get all the nice effects out of it that you can with Photoshop, but at the same times it's a lot faster to work with - both speed wise and just as a tool in general.

    The other thing you can consider, and I did this for a while very effectively, is just to plug a monitor, keyboard and mouse into your laptop. That way you can just use it like a box and get the best of both worlds.
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  • Profile picture of the author kronklee
    my only suggestion, and I know this is not always easy, but when ever I build a site on my laptop I jump on any desktop I come across to check it out. This is good on so many levels, not everyone uses the same browser, so it is good to test that out too when you are checking out colours. The people at the local computer store are a bit sick of me using their display desktops for design testing
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    • Profile picture of the author Aaron Sustar
      It's not really a factor in web design ... I mean, a laptop you buy today can easily run every application that you would normally run on a desktop computer, plus the display on higher-end laptops are perfectly okay.

      If you are not a designer on some $50k web project, you can do perfectly fine with a laptop - it's what I have been doing for almost 2 years before I started raking in some serious profits.

      To test your website in different browsers (I have Firefox 2, Firefox 3, IE 6, IE7, Opera 9.6, Chrome and Safari on my laptop), using different resolutions (usually from 800x600 to 1920x1200) is a thing you MUST do anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author UnleashReality
    I design my site on a laptop.

    no difference as far as i'm concerned.
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  • Profile picture of the author CocoChanelle
    I don't think it really matters but I would check the final results on different computers. Colors tend to look different depending on what you're viewing on.

    I personally do everything on a laptop.
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard Whyte
    If you have a decent laptop, you can always plug in an external monitor if you need to.... If you don't have to have a laptop to go mobile, then getting a desktop is a better buy for the buck.... More power, easier to upgrade / add features and cheaper....

    As a side note, you need to read the Adobe forums for Dreamweaver CS4 issues... I and a few hundred thousand other uses have removed DW CS4 from our computers... The editor is buggy and can lead you to lose of hair (from pulling it out).

    I design at home on dual 28 inch monitors side by side.... I like the ability to use all of that real estate when I am working on client projects...

    Have a Great Day!
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    • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
      I do everything on my laptop.

      Currently I have running.

      XSitePro2
      Yahoo Messenger
      Skype
      Adobe Photoshop Elements
      MSN Messenger
      Utorrent
      My Turbo Charged Security System
      TweetDeck
      Multiple browser windows

      Sorry that wasnt directed exactly at the answer to this thread but was in relation to someone stating photoshop is too resoruce hogging on a laptop.

      In reply to question, sure there is no problem using a laptop to design websites.. but remember when you design a site you must test it on everything to make sure it is displaying correctly..

      I use a 19inch monitor plugged into my laptop as a second screen for this and also use all the other common browsers.

      Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anrkist
    I think the most important part of this equation is missing. What kind of laptop do you have, what are the specs. Do you have a more powerful desktop?

    If it's a good laptop, I can't see any reason not to use it. But there's no real difference if you ignore the specs. Ignore monitor size, think about the resolution of your visitors.
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  • Profile picture of the author Wasim
    I have been using my laptop to create Photoshop tutorials and have no real problem although I do agree that there is a colour issue. I think there maybe a difference between the way colour is viewed on a Apple Laptop to that of a PC Laptop. Macs were orginally for design so doing your design work on a Mac laptop would be better.

    Again, it depends on how far you want to take your design with your website. If it's just a case of simple pages to get your message across then a simple laptops fine. Using Dreamweaver does not really carry graphics but using it with Photoshop with plenty of graphics makes a big difference.
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  • Profile picture of the author primediart
    i agree.. same here.. laptop better than desktop. I use HP laptop. My brother's laptop is really bad, with horrible color problem, he is using lenovo

    Originally Posted by efusjonrawenergy View Post

    One more thing, my laptop surprisingly worked better than my desktop. I am running both Dell XPS systems on my laptop and desktop.
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