bobgreen Loc: Maryland

I recently returned from a trip out west only to find out my computer had given up the ghost. I am now looking for a new laptop and a monitor for photo processing plus general home use. I consider myself somewhere between an amateur and enthusiast photogragher. I will be learning and using probably Lightroom for processing. A few requirements : rather limited budget, 24-27" monitor, and non Apple products( personal preference ). The laptop will generally stay at home.

Your suggestions and guidance are much appreciated!

JeffDavidson Loc: Originally Detroit Now Los Angeles

You will probably want at least 16Gb RAM and 2 terabytes of storage. Beyond that, it's probably personal preference. I like DELL and have been using DELL for about 15 years.

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

Our neighbor is a computer tech and has helped me a lot over the years. He has convinced me that Dell laptop is built the best and holds up the longest. If I have the budget, the Dell XPS series would be my choice for a laptop. Not for a limited budget though. More budget friendly is HP depending on the model. I run LR on 8GB without any issues. Current Acer all-in-one not worth upgrading due to age, but next one will have an SSD and a minimum of 12GB Ram. If you are doing most work at home, perhaps a newer version of an all-in-one is a better fit. Certainly cheaper. The one I am using I purchased refurbished from ebay for under $350. 23" IPS monitor with a 1920x1080 display. There are a few companies on ebay offering refurbished laptops also. I prefer factory refurbished over re-seller refurbished. I use an external HD for photo back up, preferring not to use cloud based back-ups. Personal preference on that.
Costco had 24" Dell monitor for $149 if you are set on a laptop. Pretty sure they are 1920x1080 IPS. My techie neighbor bought one and loves it. He uses it with his 14" Dell laptop. Have no idea on specs of his Dell. Hope this helps a little. Good hunting.

Photocraig

I have, off and on for the last 20+ years used a larger monitor while at my home with my various laptops.
My current desktop monitor is the ASUS 24" ips monitor. The Dell 27" gts good reviews, too. Mine was $135 or so a few years back from Amazon.
My experience with Dell Laptops is excellent. If we weren't so clumsy, most of the ones we've owned would be in service today. I suspect Santa might have a refurbished Dell winding its way into the sack destined for our place this year.

I'm a light to moderate Lightroom user and my Dell Desktop has 12 MB. I suspect 8MB would do for me. But I just move sliders and rarely even use brushes or gradients.

Good luck,
C

whwiden

I recently got a Lenovo Yoga 710 full HD 11inch laptop at Best Buy for $350. It has the less powerful pentium chip and 4GB of memory. This would be underpowered for photo editing on a Windows machine. However, I am running Linux and it works well with Darktable--only an occasional lag for processing RAW photos. I use a cable to hook it up to my TV screen for a large monitor experience.

bobgreen Loc: Maryland

Thank Jeff! I like Dell as well. This last one goes back quite a ways. Think Vista...

bobgreen Loc: Maryland

Another vote for Dell. Thanks! Good info. I agree with you- a vendor refurbished gives me a higher comfort level. Something to check into.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

Dell, and look at the Alienware options. I am very pleased with my 15R3. They aren’t cheap, but the power is awesome.

bobgreen Loc: Maryland

Thanks Bruce!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I got a couple of Dell SE2717HX 27" monitors. Large screen, nice quality for under $200. Dell also makes very good, highly-rated laptops. A Core i5 and 16GB of memory would be sufficient for processing.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-much-ram-does-your-p
c-need-probably-less-than-you-think/
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-much-ram-does-your-pc-need/

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/intel-core-i9-vs-i7-vs-i5-cpu/
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-core-i5-vs-i7/
http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/core-i5-vs-i7
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/210703-intel-core-i5-vs-core-i7-which-processor-should-you-buy

bobgreen Loc: Maryland

Thanks Jerry, good info. I appreciate the links.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I have an ASUS laptop, used for travel and emergencies that I configured very close to my desktop. i7, 250 GB SSD for operating system, 2nd 500 sata drive for data,
16 GB RAM. I have many programs loaded for editing, Photoshop CC 2018, ACDsee, LR, FastStone, NIK, PSE and PSE Elements 11. It runs very well for processing photos.
A desktop is a better option, but of course it is not portable.
Good luck,
Mark

joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

I have bought several computers at the Dell web page Outlet. All worked perfectly and are still in use years after purchase. They frequently have listings for units that have all the “bells and whistles” installed.

Mike Ga Loc: Long Island, NY

I have a 14in Dell latitude purchased from Dell outlet. They vary the models at different times. It has a 1980 monitor and a 258 solid state had. I purchased a 2t internal hd and set it up as an external with its own power for photo storage. If i'm not doing photo work I don't turn it on. My photo monitor is a 27 in Benq. It works well for me.

Edia Loc: Central New Jersey

I use a Dell insperon 13 with an i7 chip, 8G of memory and a 256G SSD. It weights about 3.3 lbs. and fits neatly in my camera backpack. It only cost $700. Since you are planning to use an external monitor, get the biggest one you can afford for photo editing. For storing your work flow, use an external HD or SSD. When I am on the road, I use a 256G USB 3 thumb drive to sore my photos. Costco sells this drive for under $50. All the photo editing software runs well on my setup and I notice no lag in performance. At home, I have a Dell desktop with external HDs for photo work and a Samsung 24" monitor. I can work on either computer and just transfer the thumb drive between them.