Laptop for photo editing
Mar 19, 2019 07:57:53 #
lisainstpete wrote:
Hi, I am new to this forum and enjoying it so far.
I am going to be buying a laptop PC (not MAC) and would like to get some suggestions about what laptops others are using. I do use photoshop cc and like compositing, focus stacking, exposure stacking etc so I need something with that capability. I shoot with a canon 5dM4 so file sizes are pretty large.
Thanks for the input.
Lisainstpete
I am going to be buying a laptop PC (not MAC) and would like to get some suggestions about what laptops others are using. I do use photoshop cc and like compositing, focus stacking, exposure stacking etc so I need something with that capability. I shoot with a canon 5dM4 so file sizes are pretty large.
Thanks for the input.
Lisainstpete
You need to start with a budget.
I mean the first thing you need to say after "I want a laptop" is "that cost no more than $x,xxx.xx"
That said, Dell XPS systems from their outlet store are a great deal.
You can get a non-touch screen XPS 15 for $1,110.
https://outlet.us.dell.com/ArbOnlineSales/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&sign=PXhcOSHtr1T4IOw%2fPR7UdbkDinj9bll6h9z4hfG09GgRSzl3ni8QE0e5PD8l35fcxw67xCEHwShXmuEeeAE%2biW1%2fanN5Qnt02O19tSuMhRksAKpuGtXgG1y4RSASzI975Yor3DfMGLWFvqnfO%2bg8IGCfYTSfMp7%2fKJJ6A1Pa5KDka5stJMJjh1YH8ub0ooE4
Processor: Intel Core 7th Generation i7-7700HQ Processor (Quad Core, up to 3.80 GHz, 6MB Cache, 35W)
Windows 10 Home 64bit English
512GB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive
16GB (2x8GB) 2400MHz SDRAM DDR4 Non-ECC
15.6inch FHD (1920 x 1080) InfinityEdge
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 4GB
Dell Outlet XPS 15 - 9560 Laptop
Certified Refurbished
Windows 64 Bit
Integrated Webcam
97 WHr, 6-Cell Battery
Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi and Bluetooth 4.1
Backlit Keyboard
125V Power Cord
130 Watt AC Adapter
Antena
Palmrest W/ Finger Print Reader
Thermal pad
Original Price$1,631.00
Total Savings$521.00
Standard ShippingFREE
Outlet Price$1,110.00
XPS 9560 : 1 Year Ltd Hware Warranty: Mail-in; Customer supplies box, Dell pays shippingINCLUDED
Mar 19, 2019 08:14:19 #
mizzee
Loc: Boston,Ma
When making your selection, do give some consideration as to size, especially when traveling. My laptop has a 13” screen that works well with my travel bag. I’ve never found the screen size to be a limiting factor and use my laptop exclusively for post and everything else.
Mar 19, 2019 08:31:28 #
johnst1001a
Loc: West Chester, Ohio
I dont have a ton of data, but the mac book pro an Imacs have such great image quality with their screens its hard to look at ant other options. as for the guts of various cumputers I like a lot of ram. Hard drive capacity is fine at 500mb SSD as i have external drives, processors, I find the I5 is fine,
Mar 19, 2019 08:33:53 #
johnst1001a
Loc: West Chester, Ohio
I dont have a ton of data, but the mac book pro an Imacs have such great image quality with their screens its hard to look at ant other options. as for the guts of various cumputers I like a lot of ram. Hard drive capacity is fine at 500mb SSD as i have external drives, processors, I find the I5 is fine,
Mar 19, 2019 08:42:57 #
I have used Toshiba for many years. I like their backlit screen for photo editing. MACs are great for photo editng photos, but you have to consider what people are using to view the photos.
Mar 19, 2019 08:43:13 #
johnst1001a wrote:
I don't have a ton of data, but the mac book pro an Imacs have such great image quality with their screens its hard to look at ant other options. as for the guts of various cumputers I like a lot of ram. Hard drive capacity is fine at 500mb SSD as i have external drives, processors, I find the I5 is fine,
IMacs are fine if you do not mind more expensive, the need for a ton of dongles, and weaker display than many PC based laptops. And that is according to reviews of XPS systems at around $2,000 vs iMacs around $4,600. There is some advantage in performance speed, but for more than twice the price the iMacs should be doing much better on other metrics. They do not.
Mar 19, 2019 09:10:11 #
Guess I am the odd ball but I have always used gaming PC's for process and they have served well. My travel laptop is Razor Blade. It's 13" screen. Has 3 USB and one USB-C ports (my catalog and backups are on externals) and has the capability to plug a 4K monitor into it. It's fast and perky and not a bad price for all the power under the hood. It has handled Adobe and Topaz's memory hungry AI programs. You have been given some good technical advice on what kind of specs are important. This is just a product I found fit a lot of the needs. Good luck!
Mar 19, 2019 09:36:06 #
lisainstpete wrote:
Hi, I am new to this forum and enjoying it so far.
I am going to be buying a laptop PC (not MAC) and would like to get some suggestions about what laptops others are using. I do use photoshop cc and like compositing, focus stacking, exposure stacking etc so I need something with that capability. I shoot with a canon 5dM4 so file sizes are pretty large.
Thanks for the input.
Lisainstpete
I am going to be buying a laptop PC (not MAC) and would like to get some suggestions about what laptops others are using. I do use photoshop cc and like compositing, focus stacking, exposure stacking etc so I need something with that capability. I shoot with a canon 5dM4 so file sizes are pretty large.
Thanks for the input.
Lisainstpete
I personally have a "Chromebook 15" Laptop, unsure of a good Photo-editing program for my circumstances. I have "0" experience with editing my DSLR photos. So I too will need any advice or guidance in getting started in the Photo-Editing of my DSLR D3300 images. I also want to learn RAW Photo-Editing.
Mar 19, 2019 09:42:12 #
lisainstpete wrote:
I currently use and love a desktop but will be travelling soon and will need portability.
Do you have a budget yet?
Mar 19, 2019 09:43:46 #
I am a Mac person using a 13inch MacBook Pro for travel and when home have a large monitor that plugs in giving me the larger screen. I use LR/PS as well as other programs and have never had a problem. I also use external drives for my photos. I switched to Mac after using Microsoft since its inception. The switch occurred 5 years ago when I retired.
Mar 19, 2019 09:54:25 #
lisainstpete wrote:
Hi, I am new to this forum and enjoying it so far.
I am going to be buying a laptop PC (not MAC) and would like to get some suggestions about what laptops others are using. I do use photoshop cc and like compositing, focus stacking, exposure stacking etc so I need something with that capability. I shoot with a canon 5dM4 so file sizes are pretty large.
Thanks for the input.
Lisainstpete
I am going to be buying a laptop PC (not MAC) and would like to get some suggestions about what laptops others are using. I do use photoshop cc and like compositing, focus stacking, exposure stacking etc so I need something with that capability. I shoot with a canon 5dM4 so file sizes are pretty large.
Thanks for the input.
Lisainstpete
I have a Lenovo Idea Pad - Core I7; 8GB Ram; 64 Bit. It is about 5 years old and when I bought it, I also bought a Dell monitor. The monitor is a 23", IPS (In Plane Switching) and is very nice - probably better monitors now but I can print what I see with no issues.
I also have a wireless (Logitec) keyboard/mouse combo. I rarely open the laptop up unless I am taking it on the road. I work with the keyboard and mouse and monitor. This is what I did at work for many years in the corporate world and since it worked so well there, I decided to do the same for my personal work.
No regrets.
If you go this route, you don't need the best screen on the laptop (saved me a lot of money over what I had gone to Best Buy intending to purchase) and I was able to spend the leftover on other toys!
Mar 19, 2019 10:27:52 #
Great image!
I have to add my recommendation of the Dell XPS series to the others that also recommend them. Since the XPS is available in both 13" and 15" versions, you should consider the tradeoff between screen size for ease of editing and portability. My 13" version fits in my smaller backpack, making it an easy carry on various flights. However, I don't do too much in Photoshop on it, reserving that for at home on my desktop.
Spec-wise, I have an i7, 16GB of ram and an SSD. You could get away with lesser processing speed and ram, but you might not have the patience for some of the filters, etc. in PS.
I have to add my recommendation of the Dell XPS series to the others that also recommend them. Since the XPS is available in both 13" and 15" versions, you should consider the tradeoff between screen size for ease of editing and portability. My 13" version fits in my smaller backpack, making it an easy carry on various flights. However, I don't do too much in Photoshop on it, reserving that for at home on my desktop.
Spec-wise, I have an i7, 16GB of ram and an SSD. You could get away with lesser processing speed and ram, but you might not have the patience for some of the filters, etc. in PS.
Mar 19, 2019 10:42:05 #
I recently upgraded my computer from a 5 year old laptop designed for business applications, which it still runs just fine (but LR & PS were overwhelming it) to a desktop PC with an I7-9700 processor, 16GB of DDR4 3200 memory, a 250GB SATA SSD for the system and applications, a 1TB M.2 SSD for my photos and 2 3TB platter drives for my admin files and backups of my photos. The 2 3TB drives mirror to back-up each other.
I can still take the laptop for travel purposes and upload the files to the desktop when I have an internet connection. I have set the desktop up with Remote Desktop and that allows not only backing up to the desktop, but also running the applications on the desktop which is significantly faster than the laptop.
When at my desk, I just use the desktop, which is fantastic. It boots in about 15 seconds and LR comes up in about 10 seconds ready to go. Laptops are great for portability, but getting a truly fast one costs a good bit and they are not as easy to upgrade as a desktop unit. Just my $0.02, YMMV.
I can still take the laptop for travel purposes and upload the files to the desktop when I have an internet connection. I have set the desktop up with Remote Desktop and that allows not only backing up to the desktop, but also running the applications on the desktop which is significantly faster than the laptop.
When at my desk, I just use the desktop, which is fantastic. It boots in about 15 seconds and LR comes up in about 10 seconds ready to go. Laptops are great for portability, but getting a truly fast one costs a good bit and they are not as easy to upgrade as a desktop unit. Just my $0.02, YMMV.
Mar 19, 2019 11:20:58 #
I use a Microsoft Surface Pro-4 and have for a number of years. Don't do a lot of editing on the laptop, but it works well. The main reason I picked it was it's size, very easy to carry and it's a very capable computer. The one I hav has 8GB memory and a 256 GB SSD. In addition it has a slot for a mini ssd on the back that I have installed a 256 GB sd. It has worked great for me.
Mar 19, 2019 11:44:40 #
Dell XPS i7 X64 as much memory as you can afford. Make sure it has an HDMI Connection. Then you can plug in to a bigger screen. When one is available.
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