Dsrapa Loc: Outside of nyc

Trying to decide on a new laptop or something like the Microsoft surface pro to use exclusively for photo storing, cataloging and editing
I’m rethinking my systems
I do pretty basic unsophisticated editing.
And I want to efficiently make photo books.
I have done apple books but am also using google photos because more storage available at lower cost.
Would like to keep it under 1500$
Will also commit to an editing program and stick to it!! You
So? Suggestions? Opinions? Thank you!!

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

I use Apple. Was a windows guy for 40 years. So happy with Apple. I use Lightroom.
Great Apple machine with 16GB on Board RAM which is important for image processing. Also, well in your budget.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1128944-REG/apple_z0qn_mf8401_13_3_macbook_pro_notebook.html

Dsrapa Loc: Outside of nyc

Thank you! Appreciate the thought and the referral.

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

I'm in the same boat as you, so to speak....Also looking for a new computer dedicated for photo processing, although I strictly use Luminar and dedicated storage devices. I wanted a light portable system. You might take a look here....http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/new-surface-pro-2017-vs-macbook-pro-2949911....for comparisons. I understand Dell also makes a great machine for image processing

Here's another site that rates their best picks....http://www.techradar.com/news/best-laptops-for-photographers-and-photo-editing-in-photoshop

Good Luck

gary8803

I use an old 2012 MacBook Pro non retina I put a 250gb ssd drive in it and 16gb of after market ram. I also run a second 27" monitor UHD. I use a 8tb external drive for storage $160.00 off amazon. I just purchased a Wacom tablet for editing photos. I use affinity, on1 raw for editing my pictures. I find this setup very fast for my needs I' am not a professional making a living from photography.
I have been in the computer business for almost twenty year have I retired from the Navy. I would set system requirements of 16gb ram, 250gb ssd storage and at least a 13 inch screen. If you buy a Apple buy after market memory you will save lots of money. Windows machine will cost less then apple but apple machine are easier when it comes to drivers and operating system issues.

Mundj Loc: Richmond TX

As already noted the MBP will cost more, but the operating system (OS) includes Apple’s
Photos app that is a good simple editing package. Currently all OS upgrades are free and include decent Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation, PDF viewer, Movie maker and Music creation software. I would suggest a good external hard drive to store your images as the new MBP use expensive solid state drives.

If you are serious about processing your images you can’t beat the Adobe CC subscription package that includes Lightroom and Photoshop IMHO. It costs $120 per year. But you will need to invest some time and money for video trading courses to become comfortable with either package. Laura Shoe (laurashoe.com) offers an excellent LR training video training package for less than $100. PS training will be more expensive. One neat feature of LR is all your edits can be undone. As you gain more insight you can revisit your old images and re-edit them without any loss of quality.

Good luck on your decision. Have fun.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

I recently purchased a Dell XPS 13. I, however, do not store the photos on the laptop. I have a separate 1T external drive for that. I only keep the OS and programs on the laptop's 512G SSD. This makes it easy to attach the external drive to my base system for backup as well as preserving the SSD.

toxdoc42

The problem with the surface is that it has no hard drive. It is a great device, but. It has limited internal storage. You will still need either a big as card, it has a slot, or an external hard drive.

pwrxprt Loc: Beaumont, California

I purchase the New Surface Pro with a 512 SSD drive with 16gig memory....I store a few photos on it but it is used mostly as my "travel" computer. It's light, it's fast and love the pen...no it's not a Wacom tablet, but it works for me. It comes with Windows 10. Microsoft was giving a discounts to students...I just happen to have my 8 year old granddaughter with me and they asked if the laptop was for her. I questioned the salesperson. She said if I say yes she could offer me 10% discount...So my heads up is take a child with you for the discount.

mp97070 Loc: Central Oregon

After frustrared with Windows and looking for a lightweight travel computer, I bought a MacBook Air. It has a good display (not retina, but looks good) and handles everything I do with it. It is now 7years old and running newest OS, still works great, although the battery is getting a bit worn out, may have to replace it in a year or two. Compared to the PC laptops from work, it has done much better and lasted much longer.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Within that budget, Apple is out of the question. The machine suggested by others only has 256 gb ram that must be shared with the OS, software and your data. The 16 gb ram must be shared by the OS, software in use, and graphics. You will run out of room in no time with such a system. Adding a drive limits you to more expensive (and slower) external drives.

In contrast, you can purchase a gaming notebook that looks like this:

Intel i7 700HQ CPU
15.6" display
NVidia GTX graphics with 2 GB vram
16 gb ram, and the ram is user upgradable to 32 gb if you find you need more
512 gb PCIe NVMe primary storage
2 TB FireCuda SSHD hybrid drive

And this will only cost $1518.00

This is an easy decision for a budget of $1500. And editing on a 13.3" screen gets old really fast. The 15.6" screen provides a better editing experience.

http://www.sagernotebook.com/customize.php?productid=1216

This is one of several configurations that you can have built. If you think you will need more storage in the future, you can get one with 2 internal drive bays.

Apple products are fine, but clearly more expensive, particularly when you start adding external storage to supplement the tiny internal drives.

MSI, another highly regarded laptop and motherboard mfgr also has competitively priced and similarly outfitted machines as well.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I have all my photos on my D drive, and they are all backed up to two or three external drives and a NAS. I also use Google Photos, but only when I want to share them with different groups I'm in. It's a very versatile service.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

At the dell outlet store on line you could get an XPS 15 9560 Certified Refurbished for $1658 with

Processor: Intel Core 7th Generation i7-7700HQ Processor (Quad Core, up to 3.80 GHz, 6MB Cache, 35W)
Windows 10 Pro
512GB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive
16GB DDR4 Non-ECC SDRAM 2400MHz (2x8GB)
15.6 inch 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) InfinityEdge Touch Display
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 4GB
Dell Outlet XPS 15 - 9560 Laptop

Just noticed they have a coupon for 15% off code is 15XPSLDAIO, which brings the price down to $1409. See at http://outlet.us.dell.com/ArbOnlineSales/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%2fPR7Udc3Fd3rYVkg5XtYXCCOxLR0z2GImS8eYIiCYYUEgGbzr%2boQO9yPSl%2fLUawcHapu0zwH0jBXZA10K9cl9%2fTZO4zhb18CDOyybAEqvyqFthhncGMKobha5XyKrautUfhU6SCtwp%2b6KGVC5EmrR%2bjTLatxiOpSei9pMj3l2WN9qvT86

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

15" MBP 2.5GHZ i7 (mid-2014) 16GB RAM, SSD internal drive (500GB) for applications and OS, External USB Drives (for storage and LR library), 29" LG Ultrawide display.

My setup is the first photo.
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-435398-1.html

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Nice computer, but he still needs to buy a hard drive - 512gb is not enough. And it's already $150 over budget.