Ideal laptop for presentations

[Richmilnix]

For my day job, I have the opportunity to spec a laptop whose job is to display any slideshow or video that anyone wants to throw at it. We screen foreign films that get provided as MPEGs, Keynote / .pptx >2GB, et c. I'm looking for a machine with a balance of RAM & VRAM that huge things will load quickly, and the high-ranking community members will never be frustrated waiting for their document to load into memory. Will export HD to a variety of screen sizes and resolutions (via switcher/scaler).

Please post both recommendations and justification.

 

[leman]

The only thing that really matters here is the storage speed. And since all Apple laptops these days come with fast SSDs and at least 8GB RAM, it doesn't really matter. A 12" MB would do it. Personally, I'd go for a non-touch-bar 13" Pro + suitable adapters to cover your output needs.

 

[t.portis]

I use the 13" MacBook Pro (non-touch bar) for all my presentations. I have been in rooms with various projectors and displays with my Keynote presentations and videos. Never even a stutter.

 

[Queen6]

I wold avoid anything that requires dongles as they are not 100% reliable, and one of the reasons why I no longer use the Mac professionally. Being unable to present or needing to loan client hardware is hardly setting the tone for a professional image. I work and travel internationally, just depends on where your presenting if the venue is unknown then the potential for not connecting can and does exist from my experience...

Q-6

 

[eddjedi]

I wold avoid anything that requires dongles as they are not 100% reliable, and one of the reasons why I no longer use the Mac professionally.

I spend half my life in meetings/presentations and can count the amount of times a video dongle has failed on one hand. I would need about 200 hands to count the amount of times a direct VGA or HDMI connection on a PC laptop has not worked.

 

[t.portis]

I wold avoid anything that requires dongles as they are not 100% reliable, and one of the reasons why I no longer use the Mac professionally. Being unable to present or needing to loan client hardware is hardly setting the tone for a professional image. I work and travel internationally, just depends on where your presenting if the venue is unknown then the potential for not connecting can and does exist from my experience...

Q-6

I have never had an issue with adapters at all. Projectors not powering up, podium mics becoming disconnected, etc. happen on a semi-regular basis. I carry my own MacBook Pro because I absolutely need it to work every time. I also would never buy some cheap adapter from some unknown company. The people I see with issues usually walk into the room with their USB drive expecting everything to go fine.

I recently went to my first conference where there were MacBook Pro's in every workshop room. Most trouble-free conference I have ever experienced. No men with walkie talkies running around trying to get things to work. They just did.

 

[killawat]

I'd get a Dell before I get a Mac, or any Mac running bootcamp, for the roles you're describing . Mac OS is NOT codec friendly out of the box. Quicktime will complain lots. VLC can only take you so far.

Meanwhile you can get stellar performance for cheap using built in GPU for many recent CPUs. Add in a cheap 1050ti for a $150 and you can hardware decode 8k HEVC video streams, easy. In Windows.

 

[leman]

I wold avoid anything that requires dongles as they are not 100% reliable, and one of the reasons why I no longer use the Mac professionally. Being unable to present or needing to loan client hardware is hardly setting the tone for a professional image. I work and travel internationally, just depends on where your presenting if the venue is unknown then the potential for not connecting can and does exist from my experience...

Sadly, this is where theory and praxis diverge. As someone who has to give talk in all kind of venues all over the world, I've encountered probably every single problem that can go wrong here: incompatible cables, weirdly set up beamers, you name it. The thing is, with an array of adapters from different vendors (using different internal chips), you are pretty much guaranteed to have a working solution. If the beamer cable doesn't work with your built-in HDMI port though (or the port itself is broken), well then you are really screwed. This is why full TB3-solution is most flexible and ultimately most reliable for professional setup. Yes, you need extra adapters. As you always did. Actually, I need less adapters now than earlier, since I can use multiport ones.

 

[Queen6]

Sadly, this is where theory and praxis diverge. As someone who has to give talk in all kind of venues all over the world, I've encountered probably every single problem that can go wrong here: incompatible cables, weirdly set up beamers, you name it. The thing is, with an array of adapters from different vendors (using different internal chips), you are pretty much guaranteed to have a working solution. If the beamer cable doesn't work with your built-in HDMI port though (or the port itself is broken), well then you are really screwed. This is why full TB3-solution is most flexible and ultimately most reliable for professional setup. Yes, you need extra adapters. As you always did. Actually, I need less adapters now than earlier, since I can use multiport ones.

My own experience and observations are that dedicated ports are more reliable, once you introduce dongles, especially those with logic on board your adding another layer of complexity, this is obvious to all. In practice for my own use plugging in the display device directly to the notebook as a rule works, nor do I have any control over the hardware at the venue.

I am not suggesting that the PC or W10 is anyway better than OS X, What I am stating is Apple have added in additional complexity which can and does fail from my experience. Apple's solution fails for many, as unless you know what adaptor works, where do you stop purchasing. I don't mean the physical contain rather more the connection status.

With my own 15" notebook being screwed is highly unlikely given it has 3 video outputs; mDP, HDMI and shockingly USB C, only adaptors needed are for DP & VGA, with the latter becoming less common. As for TB-3 there's hardly any display devices out there that use the protocol, nor will there be for the most part. As for USB C enjoy your dongles as little in the real world is using the port in any consequence.

I like USB C & TB-3, I do equally I am a realist and understand Apple opted for USB C for solely it's own benefit, not it's users, mostly to produce a thiner toy, given the target audience...

Q-6

 

[jdechko]

adaptors needed are for DP & VGA, with the latter becoming less common.

While newer equipment might have ditched the VGA in favor of HDMI, a ton of old equipment still has VGA, and if it ain't broke, the company won't pay for something newer.

The presenter always ought to be prepared for whatever connections might need to be made. I always carry an array of dongles, adapters, and batteries, and a spare flash drive with the presentation copied over. I also try to call/email ahead to see if I can get a picture of the input panel.