Free Publishing Software

sony vaio z series or macbook pro?

macbook pro —— $3500
2.8GHz Intel Core i7
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2X4GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Glossy Widescreen Display
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User’s Guide

Sony—— $ 4700
Dimensions (Approx.) : 12.4″(W) x 1.0-1.3″(H) x 8.3″(D)5
Weight (Approx.) : 3.04 lbs (with standard capacity battery)
Backlit Keyboard : Yes
Camera : Built-in MOTION EYE® camera and microphone with face-tracking technology
Keyboard : QWERTY, 82 keys with 2.0mm stroke and 19.05mm pitch
Action Buttons : VAIO, ASSIST, Performance Select, Windows Arrangement, Wireless on / off
Computer Type : Laptop
Pointing Device : Electro-static touchpad (Multi-Finger)
Security : Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
Type of Use : Ultra-portable
Battery Type : Standard Capacity Lithium-ion Battery
DVD Playback : Up to 3.5 hours7Standard Capacity Battery
Default Brightness : Up to 7 hours7Standard Capacity Battery Up to 10.5 hours7Large Capacity Battery (sold separately)
Maximum Brightness : Up to 6 hours7Standard Capacity Battery Up to 9 hours7Large Capacity Battery (sold separately)
Capacity : 512GB2 (256GBx2)
Interface : Serial ATA
Bluetooth® Technology : Integrated Stereo A2DP (2.1 + EDR) 14
Ethernet Protocol : 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T
Ethernet Speed : Fast Ethernet (RJ-45)
Mobile Broadband : Verizon Wireless and Sprint Mobile Broadband Built-In22with Share My Connection™
Wi-Fi : Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200 (802.11a/b/g/n)3
GPS : Yes21
Multimedia Card Reader : One Memory Stick PRO™ (STD / Duo) media slot with MagicGate® functionality One ExpressCard® /34 media slot One Secure Digital (SD memory card) media slot
Sound System : Intel® High Definition Audio
Telephone Support : 1 year toll-free technical assistance available 24/7 at 888-476-6972. For priority support, please call 239-768-76059.
Online and Email Support : Available at http://www.esupport.sony.com/EN/VAIO
Onsite/In-Home Service : 1 year limited warranty with Onsite/In-Home Service15. See actual warranty for details.
International Service : 1 year international service plan. Registration required. See www.sony.com/IRSP for details.
Limited Warranty Term : 1 year limited warranty8. See actual warranty for details.
Limited Warranty Term : 1 year limited warranty8. See actual warranty for details.
Average Boot Time : 60 sec17
Average Resume Time from Suspend : 2 sec17
First Boot Time : 5 min18
Processor : NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU with Intel® HD Graphics
Technology : Dynamic Hybrid Graphics System19
Video RAM : 1GB of dedicated video RAM
Cache : 4MB
Speed : 2.80GHz1with Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.47GHz20
Type : Intel® Core™ i7 – 640M
Operating System : Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate 64-bit12
Sony® Creativity Suite : PMB – VAIO® Edition – Import, organize, edit and publish in one easy-to-use program VAIO® Media Gallery™ software – Bring forgotten favorites to life *Please access VAIO® Help and Support from your PC for a complete list of software applications and trials.
System Maintenance and Support : VAIO Care™ – System diagnostics and maintenance
Anti-Virus Software : Norton Internet Security™ 2010 30-Day Trial Offer13
Supplied Software : Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter11
Back Light Technology : LED
Resolution : 1920 x 1080
Screen Size : 13.1″4
Technology : Full HD
DC-In : 1
HDMI™ Output(s) : 1
Headphone Jack : 1
Internal Microphone : 1
Microphone Input : 1
Port Replicator Connector(s) : 1 (Bottom)
USB Port(s) : 3 (2.0 compliant)
VGA Output(s) : 1
Installed : 8GB (4GBx2)
Type/Speed : DDR3/1066MHz
Maximum : 8GB
ENERGY STAR® : 5.0
EPEAT™ : Gold
ROHS® : Compliant
BD-R DL Read / Write : 2x max
BD-R Read / Write : 2x max
BD-RE DL Read / Write : 2x max
BD-RE Read / Write : 2x max
Blu-ray Disc™ Support : Read / Write (BD-R/-RE/-ROM)23
CD Support : Read / Write (CD/-R/-RW)
DVD Support : Read / Write (DVD±R/±RW/±R DL/-RAM)

why is adobe photoshop (and similar products) so expensive?

$699 per copy and $199 per update? I find that totally unreal!

Now before some judgmental people call me a cheapskate, I do understand that softwares did not come out of thin air; it evolved out of carefully crafted skills that its hundreds of developers devoted many years to, paying a dear price for it. That, I can appreciate.

But surely it can’t cost even half that amount to create one copy of the product, especially when it’s sold to the masses. As best as I could remember, my copy of the entire microsoft office softwares did not cost that much. Like, how’s a student who happens to have one desktop publishing course in their entire studies to pay for it? What about companies and schools who have to provide a copy for every single computer? What about aspiring freelance graphic designers who don’t have an income yet?

Anyway, I’m urgently needing a copy of adobe photoshop to be used for this month-long class on desktop publishing. I normally rarely ever do photoshop on my own, and I don’t have $699 lying around. Every now and then I may be able to use a computer on campus, but I can’t come early or stay late every single day because I’m working and have other responsibilities. So what are my alternatives here?

I use a MacBook (Leopard, end 2007) if that helps. But my parents whom I live with happen to have a PC so if my alternative happens to be a Windows software that’s OK too. I don’t want to use Pages from iWork because it doesn’t have the tools I normally used on Photoshop. I tried Adobe Photoshop Elements but it’s just as frustrating.

Can someone advise me on this network setup?

As storage is my main emphasis in this network (I plan to have 2 Terabytes of data total and I would like to have a backed up copy of this size as well). I have decided to go with the following configuration but just want to see about good recommendations. I haven’t bought any of my products yet but here is my idea of a small business network for 5 people with 2 printers, 1 scanner, 3 desktops, 2 laptops:
modem–> wireless router –> switch –> pc‘s, printers, server, scanner, wireless access point

My products are as follows:
Router- Belkin N+ $100

http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/belkin-n…

Switch- 3com officeconnect gigabit ethernet switch w/POE $400

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,229…

Server- PowerEdge T100 $1800
Quadcore Intel Xeon X3220, 2.4GHZ, 2x4M cache
4GB, DDR2, 800MHZ, 4×1 Dual Ranked DIMMS
Microsoft Small Business Server 2008, Standard Edition with Media
SAS6iR(SATA/SAS controller) RAID 1
2x160GB hardrives SATA 3Gbps
CD/DVD Drive
Onboard Single Gigabit Network Adapter
1yr warranty
1removable hard disk cartridge 80gbnative/160 compressed

Pc’s/Laptops- All meet 802.11 n standard

Buffalo Terastation Home Server NAS (2TB) $750

http://reviews.cnet.com/external-hard-dr…

WAP- 3COM AirConnect 9550

http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detai…

My network is for a small doctor’s office and I am certain it will not grow beyond 5-7 people. I will also be using cat 5 wiring, Kaspersky Anti-virus, and I am thinking about using either Microsoft Ftp publishing (comes with Windows Server 08) for file transferring and maybe Filezilla or WinSCP for remote access

The odd thing is that my main software program (EClinical Works) specs a minimum of: Quadcore Xeon 1.4 Ghz, Windows Server 2003/2008, 4GB of memory, at least 16GB (OS) + 30GB (Data)
But the oddest thing is that they say the server with this EClinical software shouldn’t run an active directory, RAS, and/or terminal service.

Will I need two servers because the one with my software on it doesn’t want an active directory run on it? I’m also a little confused about how the file sharing will work with the Network Attached Storage device, does Windows Server have something in it to implement this? Also from a security standpoint what would I need to address in Windows if I have a NAS, will Windows file sharing be secure between the users/server/clients?

My point with the NAS was to save money and separate the data from the server processor (only OS+apps)…also the cheapest servers on Dell have about a 2.4GHZ processor and a 160GB hardrive for about 1600….would buying a nice desktop and putting Windows Server 2008 on it be a better option??

I looked on cnet.com and certainly found that the Buffalo Terastation Home Server NAS (2TB) is my best option…but its uses mirroring and spanning instead of RAID and its write performance is slow due to its RAID 5 configuration. Should I be concerned?

The biggest point is that I want my system to be low maintenance, easy to setup, and my switch to be un-managed (aka no IT expert needs to be around to configure the ports…etc)
I’ve heard that the remote device can be a security issue….but I’ve looked around and it seems difficult to find a server (such as from dell or HP) that has 2 Terabytes of redundant (RAID 1) hard drive space. Also how much onboard memory would I need to have on one server that would someday have 2 Terabytes of memory…wouldn’t that be really expensive? I also thought separating the data from the OS+apps would result in better performance and a server that is easier to manage and the server wouldn’t have to cache data storage. The NAS emulates a windows share (CIFS). Also I will contact the software company about the active directory thing because I don’t want to have to buy two servers that ridiculous.