I just got my Toshiba Tecra M4 - and because I w

[jbalzer]

I just got my Toshiba Tecra M4 - and because I was afraid of it not being powerful enough to run graphics-intensive programs, I maxed it out: Pentium M 2.13 ghz with 2 gig of memory and a 128 mb video card...

However, when I use the pen / stylus in photoshop or painter, the processor usage maxes out completely, and the pen moves slowly across the screen. Consquently, when I use the brush tools, instead of smooth arcs, I get chopped up lines.

It's hard for me to believe that the processor speed & ram are not enough to run these programs. Also, in either program, it doesn't seem to matter what dpi I'm working at. Usually a 72 dpi picture should eat up way less resources than a 300 dpi picture, but in this case, either size causes the pen to behave the same, and on the task manager, the CPU graph just shoots to 100% any time the brush is used at all.

I have to believe there's some kind of setting or driver problem behind this... Anyone else experience this and find a solution? I'd love any help anyone can offer.

Thanks,
Jeremy

[Tarc]

It can be many things,

For sure, the huge amount of processes running under a factory installation is
enough to sluggish your experience. I've been able to reduce my memory usage to about
150mb after service disabling and msconfig.

If you happen to use a version older than painter 9, the program is slower, (being a mac application
tranfered on pc). In the IX version , corel has work with intel developpers, making the brushes run faster and take
much better usage of the processor.

You have to use use the newest drivers from wacom's penabled drivers and the additionnal file for newer tablet.

Turn Nvidia profiles off

I Work regulary with thoses two application at the same time with a 1.60ghz, 1.5 ram, 128mb video and it
works really well.

Hope it will help!
:-)

[bmhome1]

How many processes are running when your OS is idle? What CPU percentage useage when idle? More than 60-70 launched processes at startup should be investigated and turned off where ever possible. Freeware Autoruns makes the task easy and informative. Your CPU should idle at around 2-5% with occassional spikes in the 15-20% range. The frequency and levels should be low. Task Manager can show what is grabbing CPU cycles. Anything hogging cycles just running idle gets tossed with me.

Low-resource demand anti-virus software is essential for top OS performance. My choice is Kaspersky and highly recommend it. NAV and MacaFee are notorious resource hogs.

Any software I install that increases resource usage gets tossed. Spysweeper was a nightmare of backround processes running. Spyware Doctor does the same work without the overhead. Staying totally spyware clean is essential for good OS performance. I suggest additionally MS Antispyware beta, SpywareBlaster and WinPatrol, all freewares. And Zone Alarm firewall, freeware.

I find stylus strokes for art brush work to be like the canary in the coalmine, an early warning signal for OS basic performance issues. A slowdown unnoticeable in other applications will be very evident with stylus brush work. There's a HUGE CPU usage difference using a stylus writing and using for the many more variables brush strokes.

I personally believe very strongly in frequent registry cleaning (Registry Mechanic has been a rock of reliability) and frequent defragmentation (I use and recommend O&O and keep fragments below 2-5%. That way the process takes only seconds).

All the little pieces add up to blazing fast performance for me, still from the original OS install and with over 200 (carefully tested for good resources behaviour with each) applications installed, including PS CS2, Nikon Capture 4 and ArtRage. All run very smoothly and fast, especially my hardware considered. The M4 you have should scream.

[smuian]

Also another thing is the power management. If you run on battery, check the power settings because in order to save power the machine might be set to slow down depending on the battery level...

:-)

[jbalzer]

Thanks for the replies everyone, they are very helpful. I'm now working on getting my processes slimmed down, and I found that disabling the nVidia profiles helped alot. I haven't even had a chance to use my laptop in battery mode yet, but I'll check those settings too, just to be sure.

Thanks again.

[bmhome1]

You will definitely want to disable battery saving CPU underclocking for stylus brush work, even though the on-demand full CPU functions well for general use.

Also turn off wireless network when travelling because XP will continually seek connections when your'e away from home base. Keeping an eye on hard drive accessing (if M4 has an indicator) while idle helps assure you have nothing in the backround running sucking up resources. I disable all auto-updating, etc to have full control on what I want running and when, especially for the graphics applications run with stylus input. Getting rid of those lags is in the small tweaks, even with a powerful tablet.

[Tarc]

Thinking of it, Updating Nvidia drivers to newer ones (ex:77.77) improved my performances too. If you havent done so, a modified .inf file is required to properly install it. (Many threads elaborating on this topic...)

It is kinda nagging getting in all that trouble and mumbo-jumbo, but once youre setted and have tested your machine like you want it to respond, make a ghost image of your drive and forget about it, start serious business!