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Best laptop for use with Trados 2019 and Dragon Naturally Speaking 12
Thread poster: Micaela Santo
Micaela Santo
Micaela Santo  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:27
English to Italian
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Sep 25, 2019

I'm about to take the plunge and buy a new laptop that I'd be using as my main PC. I routinely have Trados, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Skype and several Chrome tabs in use at the same time, and this setup seems to slow down my current desktop considerably. I also occasionally use other CAT tools (MemoQ and MemSource) as an alternative to Trados.

Would anyone be able to recommend a Windows laptop that would allow me to make use of the above setup without performance being affected? S
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I'm about to take the plunge and buy a new laptop that I'd be using as my main PC. I routinely have Trados, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Skype and several Chrome tabs in use at the same time, and this setup seems to slow down my current desktop considerably. I also occasionally use other CAT tools (MemoQ and MemSource) as an alternative to Trados.

Would anyone be able to recommend a Windows laptop that would allow me to make use of the above setup without performance being affected? Since this would be my main PC (hopefully to be used for a good few years) I don't really want to set a budget limit. At the same time, I'm not exactly knowledgeable when it comes to hardware and would like to avoid spending far too much by opting for a machine loaded with unnecessary (to me at least) features. I've been considering a Lenovo or Dell, but I'm open to suggestions. Thank you!
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Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
I just ordered this one Sep 25, 2019

https://www.paradigit.nl/lenovo-ideapad-l340-15api-81lw005qmh-qwerty/80053980/product?channable=e38048.ODAwNTM5ODA&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9_Ti9Ovs5AIVGM53Ch0R6AUBEAQYAiABEgIYKvD_BwE

 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:27
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Dutch to English
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ThinkPad P73 mobile workstation Sep 25, 2019

I'm planning to order this one in a few days, after having researched this topic for a few years now:

https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/thinkpad/p-series/ThinkPad-P73/p/22WS2WPWP73

15_Thinkpad_-P73_Specialty_B_C_Cover

I'm looking to replace my now almost-5-year-old Dell Precision M6800, which has served me very well over the years. I recommend getting the best you can afford if it's for work.

Michael


Sanjin Grandić
 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:27
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
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Hoi Hans!* Sep 25, 2019



Je gaat toch niet switchen?

MB

*Sorry for the Dutch, which is basically me asking Hans if he's finally switching to ‘the dark side’, after years of happily using a Mac (and telling me it's better than Windows).


 
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
@Michael Sep 26, 2019

Don’t worry: I’ve ordered the laptop for someone else. Still using CafeTran on Mac.

 
Micaela Santo
Micaela Santo  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:27
English to Italian
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TOPIC STARTER
Best laptop for use with Trados 2019 and Dragon Naturally Speaking 12 Sep 26, 2019

Thanks to both of you for your input.

Hans - From the few reviews I've come across, I thought the Ideapad l340 was mainly a gaming machine?

Michael - Wow, that is some machine! I personally had my eye on this: https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/X1-Carbon-Gen-7/p/22TP2TXX17G (and even so I was wondering whet
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Thanks to both of you for your input.

Hans - From the few reviews I've come across, I thought the Ideapad l340 was mainly a gaming machine?

Michael - Wow, that is some machine! I personally had my eye on this: https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/X1-Carbon-Gen-7/p/22TP2TXX17G (and even so I was wondering whether it might be over the top). However, I would be prepared to up my budget if it really made a difference performance-wise. Whenever you have a minute, could you quickly sum up the main reasons for your choice?

In case it helps, my current PC is a Dell Inspiron 24 7000 Series desktop (Intel Core i7-67000 HQ processor with 3.5GHz speed, 16 GB RAM, 1TB HDD + 32GB SSD). While a decent machine, it never packed the punch I was hoping for. It's also worth mentioning that I have now started using a cloud account for backup purposes, so I no longer need a huge amount of disk space.
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Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
Perhaps Sep 26, 2019

Micaela Santo wrote:

Hans - From the few reviews I've come across, I thought the Ideapad l340 was mainly a gaming machine?



Perhaps, it's better suited for gaming. I just thought that it offered nice specs for a few bucks. This was my main reason to mention the laptop here.

On the other hand, I always assumed that a laptop that is good enough for gaming, surely is good enough for running CAT tools. Perhaps this assumption is wrong?


 
Micaela Santo
Micaela Santo  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:27
English to Italian
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TOPIC STARTER
Gaming laptop vs. business laptop Sep 26, 2019

@Hans: I'm not sure, and that's exactly my problem - I feel I don't know enough to make an informed decision. At the very least, though, I would have thought a gaming machine would have different priorities specs-wise. Hopefully somebody will be along to enlighten us.

 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 17:27
English to German
Gaming machines are power eater Sep 27, 2019

Micaela Santo wrote:

I would have thought a gaming machine would have different priorities specs-wise.


On principle, gaming machines consume much power in order to get speed. Speed is the primary concern for gamers.

More power means more heat, more heat means more fan noise and/or automatic protective slowing down ("throttling the cpu") - a vicious circle. Sometimes too much heat results in occasional breakdowns. And of course more power may empty the battery faster.

There are fast & silent laptops, but they are rather expensive.


 
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
Processor load of well-programmed CAT tools Sep 27, 2019

Rolf Keller wrote:

On principle, gaming machines consume much power in order to get speed. Speed is the primary concern for gamers.


How high the processor load will be, depends on how good the CAT tool has been programmed, I guess. I also think that the processor load of a game is much higher than that of a relatively simple (compared with game) CAT tool.


 
Michael Beijer
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United Kingdom
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Member (2009)
Dutch to English
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Couldn't have said it better myself Sep 27, 2019

Rolf Keller wrote:

Micaela Santo wrote:

I would have thought a gaming machine would have different priorities specs-wise.


On principle, gaming machines consume much power in order to get speed. Speed is the primary concern for gamers.

More power means more heat, more heat means more fan noise and/or automatic protective slowing down ("throttling the cpu") - a vicious circle. Sometimes too much heat results in occasional breakdowns. And of course more power may empty the battery faster.

There are fast & silent laptops, but they are rather expensive.



"Fast & silent" is what I'm hoping to achieve when I get my ThinkPad P73.

For the type of work we do (CAT tool, browser, etc.), the superpowered graphics cards that often feature in gaming laptops are not only unnecessary, but also create extra heat and thus noise. However, I do work with two big monitors, so I want a relatively powerful graphics solution. Suppose it's a matter of finding the right balance.

Michael


 
Micaela Santo
Micaela Santo  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:27
English to Italian
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TOPIC STARTER
Fast and silent... Sep 27, 2019

is exactly what I don't get at the moment. If I have both Studio and Dragon in use at the same time, the PC gets overheated very quickly, the fan kicks in and it all goes downhill from there. When I bought my current desktop I was hoping it would be powerful enough (see specs quoted above) to avoid this kind of scenario, but I had problems almost from the start. I definitely want to avoid making the same mistake.

[Edited at 2019-09-27 09:58 GMT]


 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 17:27
English to German
Desktop pcs need noise tuning Sep 27, 2019

Micaela Santo wrote:

the PC gets overheated very quickly, the fan kicks in and it all goes downhill from there.


Some hints to make a desktop pc more quiet:

1: Replace the cpu fan by a silent model. The default fans from Intel & AMD are noisy. Google for silent + fan + cpu, there are special vendors for such components.

2: Make sure that the hot air that comes from the cpu fan is guided on a short way out of the housing, i. e. the housing's fan should positively support that airflow instead of just swirling it - positions and rotating directions are important. Often you can change the position of the housing fan or replace that fan by a larger (= less noisy) one (minimum 12 cm, 14 cm is better). Google for silent fans.

3: Make sure that the BIOS settings are "noise-friendly". The default settings often are just wrong or at least unsuitable. This refers to the fan resp power settings as well as to the so-called C-State settings.

In order to monitor what you are doing you need a software tool that displays the actual temperatures & fan speeds. You should get such a tool from the mainboard's manufacturer.


 
Renata von Koerber
Renata von Koerber  Identity Verified
Germany
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Member (2011)
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Balance of performance and comfort .... Sep 29, 2019

When I replaced my main machine, a 17 inch laptop, I wanted portability and top performance.
Running Trados and Dragon was probably the main challenge, beside the Adobe Suite.
The solution I came up with is an HP Omen 17 laptop with the maximum you can get in each technical aspect. Result: super fast, silent, and no more crashes or interruptions/item-outs. Even with a coupon the price was not small change. For me though, time is not only money, but also more leisure and confidence in
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When I replaced my main machine, a 17 inch laptop, I wanted portability and top performance.
Running Trados and Dragon was probably the main challenge, beside the Adobe Suite.
The solution I came up with is an HP Omen 17 laptop with the maximum you can get in each technical aspect. Result: super fast, silent, and no more crashes or interruptions/item-outs. Even with a coupon the price was not small change. For me though, time is not only money, but also more leisure and confidence in my schedule. Programmable keys (typical for gamers) are fab if you want to save time on certain routines.
Of course, this means a lot of weight, so I added a top of the line very portable laptop, the Porsche book (ultimately the equivalent of a surface book), where I run my second licenses. Very useful if I need to work at clients’ offices, and with OneDrive pro the smaller disc space is no problem.
A lot of money spent? Definitely. But considering that the expense is tax deductible, and all the added value, I made the right choice for my needs.
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Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 00:27
Member
Chinese to English
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Heat and noise Sep 29, 2019

Are usually not an issue when you're not running stuff like games or video editing software. The GPU doesn't kick in unless you use something that actually needs it.

Hans Lenting
 
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