Yes that is another way. I don’t have issue with Dropbox personally, but it’s a valid point.
Raid is s great option. Never looked into it. Probably need to setup VPN to access off-site.
I don’t use Dropbox for backup. I can move computer to computer and all files are there.
It’s even better when CloudFlare has a bad day. Doesn’t happen too often but we’ve had a local brownout or six that have affected how long it takes Dropbox to synch.
Argue as much as I like, I’m told “it is the way of the future” so I will just sit here and surf for the 5 minutes it takes to resynch an 800mb image.
As for accessing files from any computer, yup, it is good for that, except now I guess I’m supposed to be on call nights and weekends to “look at the file just uploaded to dropbox.”
Dude, it’s the weekend, if it can’t wait til Monday, I’ll look at it, but I’m punching the timeclock on your job to do it.
“But but but you’ll be on overtime…”
Yes. Yes I will. On your job number.
Funny how things can wait til Monday then.
(of course if it’s something that HAS to happen on Monday, I do look at it and the overtime is covered in something called a RUSH charge but I can still whine about the “accessibility” of the internet.)
I agree with Just-B…A 15" MacBook Pro Laptop connected to a 27" Apple Display has worked extremely well for me for many years. It gives me the convenience of portability (without the 27" display when I travel) and is a killer setup when I am in my office. Display and MacBook Pro setup is very affordable as far as computer setups go (around $3k total.) If you want to save on the display, I also have a 23" ACER display that my wife’s setup uses and it costs less than $200.
Depends if you need it to be portable or not.
If not, id go for a Desktop.
Ive always used a laptop but recently got an old desktop from work.
Upgraded it a bit using a mix of new from the shop and also second hand ram and new cpu’s from ebay.
Now i have a beast of a PC with 2 intel Xeon 8 core 3.3Ghz - Not super high clock speeds but plenty of cores and my machine has 2 of them.
64gb ram.
But the best thing is that all the upgrades were dirt cheap.
Point is that depending what you want, you can get a much powerfuller machine at a cheaper price with a desktop. I have upgraded a few things in my laptop also and it was way more expensive.
Also with a desktop, you have more options to because of the PCI slots.
Fancy internal sound cards and better wifi cards etc - If you need or want them.
Just more options with a PC without having things hanging out of all your usb’s.
Also I just find it more comfortable working on a PC with a real keyboard and bigger monitors.
Just my 2 cents worth anyway as i just got a PC and now very rarely do i even open my laptop.
I think the general consensus is that the desktop is better as it’s cheaper and easier to upgrade.
Laptop is good too, as it’s portable, but can be a bit more expensive and not as easy to upgrade.
In both scenarios, you’ll most likely need a monitor.
If you can live without a laptop and portability - then you have a clear winner.
I like my laptop simply because I can take it out on the patio in warmer weather. My cats like the laptop better cuz they get to come out and sit in the sun too. They win.
Yes, that’s another advantage of portability, and I often do the same.
Tabs are better in my perspective. With so much cloud storage available nowadays, rather than carrying a laptop/desktop around, tabs are a much better option. It is easier to draw illustrations on that too.
Tablets are much more limited in their software capabilities. At least for now. They aren’t yet serious workhorses for the Graphic Design industry. Sure there are a lot of cool apps to draw illustrations that you can’t (unfortunately) get on a laptop or desktop unit, but the business of design goes way beyond the capabilities of a tablet. Wellllll, at least in the world I circulate…
Moreover, unlike laptops, tablets aren’t suitable for color-critical work, sice their screens can’t be calibrated.
Tablets are useful in some instances, but in reality the tablet is not a small computer, it’s a big phone.
There’s zero chance I’ll ever use a tablet for my work.
Even when I use a laptop, it’s connected to an external display, real keyboard, and Kensington trackball.
I’m not sure how many times I can say this, but if you are doing color critical work, looking at a monitor, regardless of what the monitor is attached to, that is not ideal. I do color critical work all day long, but I’ve never calibrated my work-at-home computer. And I’ve never put a Spyder or similar on my work machine either, I just do the simple monitor calibrations to get them to where I need it to be to see a reasonable facsimile for looking at imagery, not Pantone color. My monitor doesn’t matter with regards to Pantone, because I work with so many outsources, with so many different print machines and inksets that I can’t possibly color correct to all of them, let alone the ones with proprietary color systems. Unless you are a Color Corrector in a closed system, you’ll waste too many billable hours mucking with screen color.
My circumstances are quite different.
Since I create designs for clients all around the world, I have no control over the printing process, which is entirely up to the client.
That’s why I use only Pantone colors and why I need the most accurate on-screen colors I can get.
Yeh, we’ve been around this roundabout like a Benny Hill sketch - it’s not going anywhere with you.
I’ll just say it one more time, you can’t have a colour corrected monitor for Pantone colours. I’m delighted you’re using Pantone and that I managed to sway you in that direction.
But the only way to see the correct Pantone colour is with actual printed Pantone books. What you see on your monitor is irrelevant. It’s light created colour, direct to your eye.
Pantone are physical inks. Which rely on reflective light, not direct light.
When you send a logo with Pantones to a client, theoretically it shouldn’t matter if they get it printed in America, or in Europe, or in Antartica. Once they have that Pantone Book and that ink - they are all going to print a reasonable likeness in colour.
And that has nothing to do with how well you calibrated your screen.
Then you are seeing a colour - and sending to a client - who doesn’t have this colour calibrated screen - so they see a different colour.
Now - when it gets printed - it comes to them in an entirely different colour than what you have shown them.
Because they don’t have the same viewing experience as you have.
And likely, if they got Letterheads printed on uncoated paper - then they are seeing a different printed colour than you have shown them in the Pantone Coated range.
Because Paper is a factor in the colour experience. Some papers are bright white, some have a yellowish tint due to the way paper is made - wood pulp contains lignin which when oxidised turns yellow.
And Pantone Inks are mostly translucent, this is because of the ink limit of offset lithography (which is the printing process Pantone will be used).
If it’s being printed digitally - then the digital printers are going to need to match to the Pantone book - based on the paper stock being used, gloss, satin, matte, coated/uncoated, weight of stock and height of machine.
It’s not uncommon during a digital print run the printer will have to readjust the color settings to keep matching the same colour.
I’ve seen first hand a print run from the same file starting off one shade of a colour and ending in another.
Kudos for using a colour critical workflow - but as Printdriver rightly says, unless you’re in an environment that is favourable for this workflow and enclosed - then you’re not really doing anything useful. Except wasting your time.
For example, I used to design an art catalogue for a prestigious art gallery in Dublin, Ireland, where I’m from.
The paintings were for sale for large prices and they wanted the picture to look exactly like what was being sold.
This involved taking a really large painting - not possible to scan it due to the size of them.
Photographing them at exact position like it came off a scan.
Converting the photograph to a Transparencies (also known as Tranny)
Using a Drum Scanner to scan the image.
And guess what - when you are a scanner operator, you are colour correcting all the time. You colour correct in RGB - because that’s what the colour of the monitor is.
Next step in the process was to get them to the computer doing the layout.
Then building a colour profile that matched the output of the machine.
This involved many things to do - like agonising over dot gain
And many many other things.
I’m only telling you part of the process and not the whole process (cos it was 20 years ago and my memory is a bit fuzzy).
But - the files we created for this art catalog would only work under certain conditions.
And possibly about 15 other steps.
What you have is your own personal view of what it should look like, without considering other factors.
I’m never going to respond on this again.
I hope it’s gotten through this time 
Best of luck
Hope some of what I’ve written is useful somehow.
@Smurf2 has laid it out better than I have seen for a while. Anyone who has ever been in a room with 2-3 screens showing the same artwork will know that colour varies - a lot. Yes even colour calibrated screens. Plus, when you compare colour on screen to printed colour you are really not comparing like for like. It’s not even apples and oranges, it’s bananas and sunshine.