As a web designer, you frequently assume different roles: at times, you’re a photo editor, manipulating images; at others times, you’re a video editor, creating flash videos; most of the time, you’re writing code, pounding away at a keyboard for hours.

A useful laptop for web designers will be able to handle all these different projects, offering powerful hardware for flash work, a large screen for previewing and photo editing, and a solid keyboard that can handle the demands of a typing profession.

Lenovo Thinkpad T500 - $2223

Thinkpad has long been regarded as one of the best laptop lines available, and the T500 takes that rank to a new level. While it may not be the prettiest laptop, it has excellent specs and will meet the needs of the most demanding web designers. The Lenovo T500 features a Matte finish 15.4″ display with a resolution of 1680 x 1050. It runs a powerful Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 2.8GHz processor, ideal for intense workloads, and features dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon 3650 graphics. For connectivity, the T500 sports 802.11 a/b/g/n wifi and Bluetooth 2.0.

Dell XPS 1530

Style and sophistication are blended together nicely with the sleek Dell XPS 1530. For the specs, this laptop is incredibly light at just under 6lbs, and ideal for web designers who frequently travel. With a 15.4″ display at a resolution of 1280 x 800, this laptop is better suited for those who primarily code. It has a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 processor, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT graphics. Connection is simple and robust with WWAN, Ethernet, 802.11 a/g/n wifi, and Bluetooth, as well as three USB ports, HDMI, VGA, S-Video, Firewire, and an ExpressCard slot.

Toshiba Satellite 305D - $900

The Toshiba Satellite 305D is a humble middle between specs and price. It features an AMD Turion Dual-Core TL-64 2.1GHz processor, which may not be as fast as Intel’s, but it will certainly get the job done. The Satellite 305D has a large TruBrite 17.2″ widescreen display with a resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels. It is loaded with an integrated ATI Radeon X1250 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 250GB 5400rpm HDD. Staying connected is easy with the integrated 802.11 a/g/n wifi.

MacBook Pro - $1999

If you’re not tied down to the Windows OS, you can’t do better than the new 15″ Macbook Pro. Featuring a 15″ LED frameless display, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, glass multi-touch trackpad, and an NVIDIA 9600M GT graphic chip, the Macbook Pro will meet whatever demands you throw at it while remaining thin, light, and stylish. Connectivity includes built-in Air Port Extreme 802.11 n wifi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and Gigabit Ethernet.

Samsung Q45 - $1500

Web designers don’t always need large, hulking machines. Sometimes, small is better, but finding the perfect mix of petite and power can be difficult. In comes Samsung’s newest laptop, the Q45. With a small 12″ display, they managed to pack in an excellent 1280 x 800 resolution. It runs an Intel Core to Duo T7100 1.8GHz processor, which is powerful enough for most web designers. Adding 802.11 a/b/g wifi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, LAN, a 6-in1 card reader, SuperMulti optical drive, and a 160GB HDD, you’ve got everything you need in a 4lbs package.

HP Pavilion HDX16

HP has been taking it’s Pavilion laptops to a new level, and the HDX16 sits at the forefront of that movement. With a bright 16″ display and 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, the HP HDX16 is sleek, stylish, and thin while providing the power needed to get the job done. It has 4GB of RAM and a 320GB Serial ATA HDD, and offers 802.11 wifi, Gigabit Ethernet, and Bluetooth 2.0. As a perk, HP also tossed a pair of subwoofers into the mix, too.

Sony VAIO BZ

Sony’s VAIO notebooks are best known for being stylish and small. The BZ business VAIO combines the best of both world’s, offering a dark charcoal finish on a thin, stylish chassis, though with a weight of about 6lbs, it is not the most portable machine. The VAIO BZ features an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor and 2GB of RAM. It sports a 15.4″ LCD display with a resolution of 1440 x 900. The keyboard is the best feature of this notebook, with comfortable keys and a large size tackpad and buttons, making typing and navigation an effortless task.

Fujitsu LifeBook S6520 - $1755

An excellent mix of portability, screen size, and power, the Fujitsu LifeBook S6520 squeezes a 14″ screen into the light, small body commonly used for 13″ notebooks. This laptop isn’t very attractive, with a plain black matte-finish chassis, but it has a comfortable weight of 4lbs. The 14″ display has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and has excellent viewing angles. The systems runs on a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 CPU, and has 4GB of RAM, making it a decent workhorse in a small body. Connectivity is standard: 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1, as well as Gigabit Ethernet, and a PC card slot.

Asus M70S - $2400

If you’re looking for a desktop replacement for web design, the Asus M70S is the perfect laptop. Featuring a full 1TB of storage in the form of two 500GB hard drives, you’re guaranteed to have enough space for all your projects. Adding to the goodness, the M70S features a 17″ widescreen LCD with a crisp resolution of 1920 x 1200. It runs and Intel Core 2 Dup T9300 2.5GHz processor and 4GB of DDR2 RAM, with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 (1GB dedicated memory). To stay connected, the M70S has standard 802.11 a/g/n wifi, and the added security of a biometric scanner.

Alienware Area-51 M9750 - $4000

If you demand a bit of everything - fast processor, extreme graphics, HD display, and all the frills to make any project possible, the Alienware Area-51 M9750 comes in at number one. With a glossy 17″ 1920 x 1200 display, you’ll be able to view your projects at maximum resolution and bright clarity. The system runs an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2.3GHz processor and DUAL NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX graphics. It boasts 4GB of RAM and two 160GB 7200RPM hard drives. There’s an 8x DVD burner for fast use, Bluetooth 2.0, and 4965AGN WLAN. The system weighs 8lbs, and features a professional, black matte chassis, ideal for the professional who needs a notebook to meet all demands.

Guest Post Written by…

This is a guest article written by Emma Best, from laptopical.com, a great guide for laptop reviews and news. Emma also has a twitter, so follow her here!

October started off slow for me, but towards the end of the month I became a more regular poster, so apologees to everyone for that, but lets take a look at my favourites of October 2008…

Wordpress

Creating custom write panels in Wordpress

Plugin - Create a tabbed interface with tabbed widget

Color Paper - A Free Wordpress theme

Inspiration

Web Development

Create a photo admin website using PHP

How to create an object oriented blog using PHP

Create a basic shoutbox with PHP and SQL

Design

Inking and colouring a comic strip

How to create a delicious green apple illustration

Create a sweet refreshing orange juice in Photoshop

Brushes and Patterns

Splatter and watercolour brushes for Photoshop

1000 free high resolution photoshop brush set

50 high resolution textures, tutorials and resources

Icons

Free hand drawn doodle icon set for bloggers

6 free new social icons

Heart - a free social icon set

New Launches

Directory for designers

Design Forums

I hoped you liked the list, and please subscribe to any of the websites shown before, oh and if you wwant to subscribe to this blog, I wont stop you

Working as a web designer is hard work and is truly a competitive business. To help you out I created an article with some tips and tricks, hopefully making your work easier. Best of luck to you!

 Get Help through Articles

Regardless if you are an expert web designer or new to it all, it might it be a good idea to have a look at some of the many great articles on the issue that can be found online. Browse through the web and even read other web designer’s blog.  If you don’t know the biggest blogs, start with CSS-Tricks and Noupe.  And see, if you are designer, you’re already reading Craig’s blog.

Websites Dedicated to Web Designers

This point is somewhat related to the previous, however I would like to mention that there are many good websites that is entirely dedicated to help web designers. Read news or get an advice on a web designer related topic.

Protect Your Work

When working as a web designer it is crucial that you have knowledge on how to protect your work. Learn about copyright, contracts and your rights when working as a freelance web designer.  Last thing you need is a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Put Your Portfolio Online

Making yourself visible is necessary if you are a freelancer. Thankfully there are several sites where you can create a portfolio online displaying your work to thousands of potential customers and employers. Get a Web Host and design your own site. Besides, if you are too lazy to show off your own website (and all the nifty CSS tricks), then why are you designing in the first place?

Take Advantage of Tools

Don’t make your job more complicated than it has to be – take advantage of the many great tools and applications that you can find online.

Take Your Social Networking Online

As with any other job in working as a web designer much about whom you know. Sign up at two to three online communities and make the necessary connections you need to be successful. Don’t be shy – take the space you need to get noticed.

Get Listed

There are a few important online Web Designer Directories  where you should add all the necessary information about you and your previous work. In doing so you will increase your chances of getting those oh so important jobs.

Get Inspired By Others

Everyone will some day feel as if their stuck in their mindset and when this happens one should not be afraid or ashamed at looking at how other people do things. As this is a very creative job it is a must that you are Inspired when working.

Learn Typography

This is, of course, a must to know when working as a web designer and even though you might think that you got this one down you may want to have a look at various applications you can find online. It could make your life easier.

Find the Right Job for You

You can not expect that just because you have created an online portfolio the jobs will come by the hundreds. Find job opportunities at sites that are dedicated to the web designer industry. Check out the job boards, like Jobs at Web Designer Wall.Most of all, read, learn, and participate.  Web designing is not just about designing a good website, it is also about being part of a community.  Blog, produce quality content, and customers will know to come to you.

Guest Post Written by…

Eva Vesper of Web Hosting Search They write reviews about hosting providers, interview designers, and blog about all things geeky.

Ok, this post is a follow on from the first list ‘Blogs I have to subscribe to’.  I realise that the number of subscriptions you make increase monthly, well mine do at least, so this post is the second installment of great blogs, that I think you all would appreciate..

Design Shard

Lately I have really started to enjoy seeing grunge websites, and this is one of the best around, the new redesign is top notch.  Design Shard is a valuable resource for designers ranging from design tips to freebies such as textures and patterns.

Brian Yerkes

Brian Yerkes is the owner and creative director of Brian Joseph Studios.  But his blog, BrianYerkes.com is a personal network with designers and developers, talking about his past experiences in his design career, also watch out for his tutorials, they are pretty good.

Fuel Your Creativity

Adelle has been quite a good friend in the web design community, she has helped me so much, and her blog is exactly the same, publishing very good posts.

We Function

We Function, a web design/development company with a great array of work which is shown of in there portfolio.  But the design is beautiful, and the posts are top notch to, what’s not to like about We Function?

My Ink Blog

My Ink Blog is a creation of Andrew Houle and is designed to be a resource for web and graphic designers alike.  With being self taught in the industry and helped by many great people, its his turn to return the favour, and thats where My Ink Blog became.

PSD Tuts

PSD Tuts, THE best Photoshop tutorial website that lives on the World Wide Web, PSD Tuts is a community, which has many great designers posting excellent tutorials, so if you want to improve your design skills, then what you doing still here? check it out.

WP Candy

Like the free blogging software Wordpress? if so, and want to learn anything about it? then this is definately the place to go to, with tips, tutorials, themes and anything else you could think Wordpress happening here.

Specky Boy

Specky Boy was one of the latest blogs I have found, but I had to add it to the list.  It posts very regularly, most days infact, so if you don’t check out your feeds often, you will miss out on loads.  Specky Boy is a web design/development resource.

Tutorial9

Tutorial 9 are a collection of experts who gather in one place (Tutorial 9) ad pass along knowledge to anyone who wants to learn, other than the great posts, the design is beautiful, one of the best around I think, how I admire it.

Vectips

Vectips, well as you can guess from the name, it is a blog that shows off/gives away freebie vector images, and pretty much anything to do with Adobe Illustrator.  I personally think its the best vector blog that is around.

Wake Up Later

Wake up later is a blog that touches on the subjects of Website building, freelancing, blogging, and online entrepreneurship, so if you want to improve your knowledge in any of these fields, check out this blog.

We Are Not Freelancers

We are not Freelancers, was created by Brothers David and Mark in Cape Town.  Well, first thing that grabbed me about this blog is the amazing design, I love hand drawn websites, and this one is as unique as you get them, oh and the posts aren’t to bad either.

Snook.ca

Johnathon Snook, a web designer and developer based in Ottawa, he is a pretty big name in the web design industry, speaking at many top confereces such as Web Directions North and Future of Web Design, just to name a few. 

StyleTime

Well, what can I say about this guy, everyone who owns Twitter must have met him along the way somewhere, he never lets you down with help, and his blog is exactly the same.  His blog was created to show off amazing work that desginers do.

Fudge Graphics

Franz Jeitz from Luxembourg, the blog Fudge Graphics was created in April 2008, and it has never looked back since, with great posts which vary from freebies such as photoshop brushes, textures to vectors.

Vandelay Design

Vandelay Design are a web design company, with an impressive portfolio, but its there blog that takes my notice.  It has probably the best ‘top….’ of something, so you can see what competition there are at certain bits, or just for general curiosity.

ColorBurned

Colorburned, a blog for professional design resources, it has great posts telling you about great patterns, I have found and used many patterns that colorburned has suggested, this one is definately something you should check out.

Web Hosting Search

Ever wanted to compare and see what is the best web hosting around for your specification, then this website is perfect for you.  It compares anything from cheap hosting, all the way through to Reseller hosting.  I am sure you will find exactly what you are looking for on this website.

As the number of blogs I subscribe to increases monthly, I thought it was only fair to enlighten you on all there hard work creating posts, I am hoping you enjoy them all like I do, and please don’t be shy to subscribe as well.

Just as the blog title says, this is THE coolest Wordpress blog competition ever, well ever might be exaggerating it a little, but the prizes for winning this competition is phenomenal, and one I want to win, but I am not holding my breath.

So where do you come into this I here you ask? well as with most competitions, you have to make a write up about the post, and receive a certain number of comments, and this is one is no different.

So, all I have to do is get 5 comments on this blog post (easy peasy right?) and submit it to there website, and you are then in the running to become ‘the coolest blog’.  And for something so easy, just check out the amazing prizes:

1. 1st Prize Winner: $500 Cash (via PayPal) + The Unlimited Video Theme Pack from Press75.com worth $295 + 6 Months WooThemes Club Single User Subscription for from WooThemes worth $250 + WP Freedom Plan Life Time Hosting Sponsorship worth $100/year.
2. 2nd Prize Winner: $250 Cash (via PayPal) + Developer License for Content Press WordPress Premium Template from WTM worth $249 + Personal License for Themes of Your Choice from Zidalgo worth $75 + WP Freedom Plan Life Time Hosting Sponsorship worth $100/year.

Anyone else out there want to join in? then please be my guest, just check out the website WP Web Host, and just do exactly what I have done.  So I wish everyone who is entering this the best of luck, and wanting the minimum of five people to comment this blog post, I wouldn’t say no to more though.

September has not been a good month for this blog personally, as I have been unable to write many new posts lately, due to this illness, that I just can’t seem to shake off, this will all change in October, as I am on the road to recovery.  But luckily for me, many other blogs have published great content in September…

Wordpress

Agregado: A Free Wordpress Theme

How to create a Wordpress theme from scratch

How to create a Wordpress theme from scratch Part 2

Simple balance free simple Wordpress theme

Inspiration

Web Development

Body border 2 fade in with gradient

Drag and drop cards

Design

18 Truly awesome handpicked designer t-shirts

Mascot design in real time order, the SOS Factory way

How to create a trendy retro type treatment

Typography

7 fonts used by professionals in graphic design

Blogging

How blogging changes lives

The truth about creating a high traffic blog

4 simple ways to increase page views on your blog

New Launches

vot.eti.me

The Creativity Wall

As said before, I have not posted much content on this blog for a while, but I am currently working on a new redesign for this blog, and also a couple of free themes that I should publish within the month. So good times are yet to come for this blog.

With me being a web designer, it becomes really difficult to become completely satisfied with anything you design, especially when it involves being your own personal project, it can be hell.  What was it? 3 months ago now that I brought out this theme? so I feel the need for a redesign, does anyone else agree? 

Whereas this theme has shown my readers that I have a very unique design taste, I feel I am capable of better.  So this is a post just to ask you all, ‘Redesign or not to Redesign?’

I have an idea of what my new blog design would appear like, which again I would be going for the street effect with vectorised images, but with a lot more detail and features and hopefully pulling it off a little bit more than this theme currently.

I would love to hear your opinions on the matter, simply vote in the poll ‘Redesign or not to Redesign?’

C’mon I would love to hear what you all think, what do you like (if anything)/ hate about my theme currently?, or what would you love to see implemented on the new theme? c’mon I want a lot of feedback here, because I want to try make it the best I can for the readers.  So don’t hold back, brutally honest answers are the best…

 

Ok, heres another first for my readers here at Craig Farrall’s Blog.  You seen something new a week ago when I unleashed an interview, so why stop there? so this week is time for something new again.

Whats that something new I hear you beg? Well in my daily blog reading, I have noticed that a number of blogs are doing a question and answer series.  So I thought, why not? should be a bit of fun and gives the readers a little insight to how my life runs.

So go for it… fire away with anything, it can be web design/online related to anything about my personal offline life, its completely up to you.

The best question will win free advertising on my blog for a whole month, can’t say any fairer than that can I? especially for something that will take what? a matter of five minutes to produce?

I look forward to hearing your questions….

Over at Carsonified they are offering a great prize. I hear you asking what’s the prize, what’s the prize in eagerness, well the winner of the little game they are playing will win a golden ticket, what a golden ticket? just like the one off Charlie and the chocolate factory? CORRECT…

The winner of this golden ticket will win free, yes free tickets to ALL Carsonified 2009 events, this includes:

Future Of Web Design

Future Of Web Apps

Future Of Mobile

Fuel

Carson Workshops

All, with backstage passes, and for one event of your choice, free flights and hotel accommodation.

Wow, that is a lot of events, and it would be stupid of me not to enter right? so this is what the aim of this post is about, to pour my heart out, and telling Carsonified why I think/want to be on that flight to these events.

Ok, here goes.. I would love to win this, because I am a young and wannabe a great web designer in a few years, and with the aid of hearing such wise words from none other than the professionals in there field, my knowledge will grow and grow until my head explodes.

This competition has a couple of ground rules before you are entered into the live draw, the main one being, you have to rack up 25 comments, so if you are feeling generous, then who am I to stop you commenting.

Normally highlighting the competition to others leaves you less chance of winning, but of those of you reading this, if you want to win this great competition, because c’mon who doesn’t? then follow this link to the Carsonified website and enter yourself for a chance of winning.

Good luck to everyone entering.

Ok, so you have an idea of a post that will bring millions of people to your blog, you then sign into your admin account on wordpress, and the server is running really slow.  So a post that shouldn’t take long to create takes an age, are you this person? if so read on…

I was in that stressful situation for too long, that all changed when I came across this post on Smashing Magazine. This post was ideal, I needed something that wasn’t on the web, but that would make the speed of writing new posts alot quicker.

So if you read that post above from smashing magazine, they give you 15 Desktop blogging tools to try out for mac and windows. So just out of coincidence I chose to install and try out the first windows desktop application (because I am too poor to buy a mac), thats where my post leads onto, a review of Windows Live Writer:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Interface

Windows Live Writer does not let you down there, the interface is clean and simplistic and has the same look as the newest windows operating system Vista.

Simplicity

Windows Live Writer is nothing but simple, and is perfect for every user. Beginners will find it easy to use with its easy to use WYSIWYG editor, with no need to play around with the HTML code, and the more advanced of users will also find it great, being able to edit the HTML code. But best of all, you can add specific features with plugins, that means that you can add plugins right from your desktop editor, how good is that?

Conclusion

Overall I have now been using this product now for a little over 2 weeks, and its safe to say, I have fell in love with it, it is so simple and easy to use, I am sure most of you would agree if you gave this simple product a go. Obviously I can’t compare this products with the many others out there, but after using this I really don’t see any need what so ever to change. There is only one down side to this product that I can see, and that is it isn’t compatable with Macs, which is a great shame, but there are many great blogging desktop editors out there for the Mac, many people telling me Ecto being the leading mac product.

So what are you waiting for, download this great simple product for free today, once you have tried it, you won’t want to part yourself with it.

Do any of you use Desktop Blogging Tools? if so, what are you using?