Hip Coyote

As I recall I paid for the thing the saw it reduced in price a week or so later snd got more money back.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

It depends on which OS (Windows or MacOS) you’re most comfortable with, your budget and how you intend to use the laptop - primarily stationary with perhaps an external monitor, or for travel where weight and battery life matters? If you like MacOS, money isn’t an object and you need light weight and long battery life, a new M1 MacBook Air may be a good choice. If value matters and you’re comfortable with Windows, a laptop with an Intel I-7, 16GB RAM, SSD and a separate video card such as the HP described above is a good choice. Performance should be similar with either platform, and if you intend to do post processing, add a decent external monitor into the equation. One other consideration. If you need more storage than the initial SSD, the Mac will need an external drive as there is no internal upgradability. With the PC, it depends on the particular model. SOME Intel based laptops have dual drives, and SSD for OS and applications and a conventional HD for data storage (but that will add a little extra weight).

jdub82 Loc: Northern California

I currently use a Macbook Air with an Intel i7 processor. You'll want a minimum of 8GB RAM (16GB is better) and a decent size SSD for storage. (Likely at least 512 GB). However, the amount of RAM is more important for processing than the size of your SSD. You can always store processed images on an external drive. The newer Apple M1 processor gets good reviews. It is apparently very efficient in the way it uses RAM memory. I was a Windows user for many years. After using a Mac, I would never want to go back to a Windows machine. The cost of a Macbook is higher, but well worth the cost in my opinion.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

I agree.
I use the M1 MacBook when traveling, adding a BenQ 27" monitor at home before printing (home or outside lab). While modern screens are quite stable, I still find calibration to be essential.
An external SSD drive is needed both for backup and because the maximum available memory on the M1 MacBook is limited.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I much prefer my iMac Pro (dual screen) to anything else for photo pp. I do, occasionally do use my MBP. Best of luck.

dave.m

I have used Macs and PCs quite happily for photo processing. As mentioned above processor speed and memory can have quite an impact on performance when you are actually working. Given that, if you are happy with a pad (other than it has problems with transfer) then I suggest a top end, high performance pc / mac may be overkill? So look at the specs for the software you intend to use. I would suggest don't go for the minimum spec but something in the middle.
I use a 17" Dell with i7 processor and 16GB of memory as my main system, but when I travel I use a Dell inspiron with i5 and 8GB. Both have SSDs, and to be honest when processing with lightroom and sometime photoshop I can't see much difference in performance. To be fair I am typically processing no more than 4 or 5 images simultaneously (ie for a stitching image, or HDR) and my largest images are 30mpx raw. If I was processing large image stacks with 50mpx RAW then things might need upgrading.

What does make a huge difference is that with either laptop, when at home I use a colour corrected, high res, 24" Eizo monitor (and a separate keyboard. The monitor is the dig thing particularly if you work in colour. I cannot comment on Macs as I don't have a late model but with PCs in general the on-board graphics card - which can seldom if ever be upgraded - and the screen itself and not great for photo processing in my experience.

If I could only have one system I would go for the inspiron 14" - super compact and lightweight for travel, but more than satisfactory performance for my amateur processing. I would have a larger colour corrected screen so I could have about 24" for the image, and space on the sides for photoshop menus.

I would suggest if your pad is adequate (other than losing images) a mid range PC or MAC laptop will more than meet your needs. Once you narrow it down, check if the on board graphics card will drive a bigger, preferable colour corrected monitor.

dave.m

Can't comment on Macbook as haven't used one, but totally on external quality monitor

mh2bttb Loc: NC

Macbook with new m1 chip, Amazon has some for $200 off, Also. New m1x MacBooks, even faster, will be out around AUG/SEPT

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

I use a Lenovo ideapad 330s and use Photoshop and Lightroom. You do not need anything expensive. I believe I paid about $300.00 for mine about 2 years ago. I buy a new one every three years and have not had any problems producing images.

neillaubenthal

Depends on whether you’re a Mac person or a Windows person…LR/PS run just fine on both.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

All of my comments are geared toward Windows...I have not used Apple machines for photo editing.

The problem that you are always going to have on a laptop is the limitation caused by the graphics procesor. There is simply no way to provide enough power to run the kind of graphics processor that is routine in desktop machines. That should not be a problem with programs like LightRoom, but you may have functions that are forever "grayed out" in pixel-oriented packages like PhotoShop.

I have used an older Dell laptop for field processing for several years. It has an I5 processor and had 8GB of RAM. After a history of numerous program updates, it had become essentially unusable. It was incredibly slow, and some panoramas and exports of large files just wouldn't work. Expanding the RAM to 16GB made it a completely new machine. So I would say that 16GB is the current floor for RAM to get reasonable performance from current Windows computers with current software.

Finally (and this is really getting to be less and less a problem, but you do have to watch, especially on lower price computers)...your computer must have a solid state drive instead of a spinning disk. The latest SSDs offer incredible performance advantages over traditional spinning disks. Many of the high-capacity spinning drives being sold have extremely poor performance parameters...suitable for backup storage, but not much else. I also expanded my system drive from a 1TB SSD to a 2 TB model. Cost was a little over $200 for a good quality Samsung one. SSD storage is at least as important for your data as it is for your operating system and programs. Do not fall into the hybrid storage trap. It is a very short-sighted approach.

My point here is that while there are many factors in the selection of a computer, memory and storage are the most important.

Bayou

There are numerous suggestions here of the Intel i7 CPU. Bear in mind that there are dozens of different models of the i7, and of the i5. Some of the i5 CPUs are more capable than some of the i7s, and vice versa, so careful comparison and understanding of the various models is in order.

Here's an article that delves into it in detail: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-core-i5-vs-i7/

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

To be honest, I use a Apple but I love the Apple screens but don't see too much difference in the software. Do think Apple Tech Svs. is great.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

I use a MacBook Pro with a 1T external. Perfect for me and no issues

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

I have a Dell Precision Mobile which cost just over $2K from Dell Outlet with full warranty plus 2 extra years of on-site service 1TB, 32 GB Ram, good i9 processor, 4K touch screen with 98% Adobe RGB, etc. Does fine with the files from my 62 Mp Sony A7R4.