What is a good laptop for editing photos: I currently have a Canon EOS 90D along with some Canon lens & Tamron lens. I am using my Samsung Note 20 ultra when editing. I am shopping for...

Yakybird Loc: Rhode Island

I currently have a Canon EOS 90D along with some Canon lens & Tamron lens. I am using my Samsung Note 20 ultra when editing. I am shopping for a laptop that won't break the bank. I have been doing some research on a couple of HP laptops. I am not an Apple person. Any recommendations. Thanks again, Sandy W.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Depends how deep into "editing" you want to get. Some of the new editors with lots of AI gizmos are RAM and graphics memory hogs. That’s my quick take on it anyway. Some say that a high end gamer capable machine is the best way to go. But then you’re not looking at cheap.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

I can easily recommend a Dell XPS series. Think min 8gb memory, 16 is preferred. GPU w/4gb, 500-1TB ssd, A5 processor will work, A7 or equiv is preferred. Min of 15” display. Good luck!

Linda S.

gvarner wrote:

Some say that a high end gamer capable machine is the best way to go. But then you’re not looking at cheap.

I needed a laptop for offloading and editing my photos from Iceland. I went to COSTCO and found a PC laptop that had gaming specs yet very lightweight to carry.

I know my fellow Hogs made recommendations to help me. Their messages should come up in a search.

It wasn't frightfully expensive because I had already three laps that worked well so I didn't want to spent a lot of money. :

HTH!

sabfish

Yakybird wrote:

I currently have a Canon EOS 90D along with some Canon lens & Tamron lens. I am using my Samsung Note 20 ultra when editing. I am shopping for a laptop that won't break the bank. I have been doing some research on a couple of HP laptops. I am not an Apple person. Any recommendations. Thanks again, Sandy W.

Can you give us an idea what "break the bank" means. There is a huge range in prices in laptops and an infinite number of configurations. A price range may help readers in figuring out how to help you.

BebuLamar

Laptops are generally don't have the same kind of processing power as desktops but many are more than powerful enough for photo editing. However, it's difficult to calibrate the laptop screen and you do need a calibrated screen for photo editing. Using and external monitor is OK but then it negates the portability of a laptop which is why I think you want a laptop instead of desktop.

sabfish

BebuLamar wrote:

Laptops are generally don't have the same kind of processing power as desktops but many are more than powerful enough for photo editing. However, it's difficult to calibrate the laptop screen and you do need a calibrated screen for photo editing. Using and external monitor is OK but then it negates the portability of a laptop which is why I think you want a laptop instead of desktop.

I use a laptop and an external monitor when I am at home. But if I need to take my laptop outside the house for a meeting or some other use, I have the laptop portability. To me, it is the best of both worlds.

repleo Loc: Boston

I went through this process a couple of months ago. I couldn’t find any cheap laptops that had graphic cards capable of dealing with the AI programs I want to upgrade to. I ended up with a Lenovo Legion gaming laptop for about $1400. It is plenty powerful but pretty heavy. The 230 watt power charger alone weighs nearly as much as my work laptop.
B&H have a couple of photography oriented computer specialists and a smallish selection of photo laptops at different price points. Give them a call.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Yakibird, I see you are in the USA. I bought a Lenevo Legion laptop from Costco last year for about $1000. I like the way it works for the Adobe apps, including video editing.

This appears to be the current version: https://www.costco.com/lenovo-legion-5-15.6%22-gaming-laptop---10th-gen-intel-core-i7-10750h---geforce-gtx-1660ti---144hz-1080p-display---moss-green.product.100568543.html

Note that it has both a big SSD and HDD.

Yakybird Loc: Rhode Island

No higher then $1,000. I also want enough USB connections and a cd/dvd drive.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Yakybird wrote:

No higher then $1,000. I also want enough USB connections and a cd/dvd drive.

Skip my post! My suggestion is a little higher and does not have a dvd drive. In the quest to make thinner, lighter laptops, dvd drives in laptops are getting scarce. However, external USB dvd drives are cheap.

sabfish

bsprague wrote:

Skip my post! My suggestion is a little higher and does not have a dvd drive. In the quest to make thinner, lighter laptops, dvd drives in laptops are getting scarce. However, external USB dvd drives are cheap.

I agree. Trying to buy a laptop with a built in DVD player is really tough these days. They used to be standard but not anymore.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I was under the impression that gaming computer displays weren't accurate enough for photo editing.

Yakybird Loc: Rhode Island

ThinkPad T490

Part Number: 20N2003NUS

Web Price:$999.00$899.00

I am leaning towards this one by Lenovo. As for a cd burner, I can always buy one and plug it into a laptop. Does anyone have this model. If so, how do you like it. Thanks again, Sandy W.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

JohnSwanda wrote:

I was under the impression that gaming computer displays weren't accurate enough for photo editing.

My gaming Lenevo Legion has an 'HD' screen. My previous, now broken, ASUS gamer did too. Both have/had NVIDIA GPUs that support external monitors to 4K.

Are they accurate? For me, laptop portability is more important than pixel perfection. I don't have trouble producing photos for inkjet printing or online digital display.

The advantage to gamers appears to be price. An apple laptop or workstation laptop with equivalent speed and specs can be two or three times more expensive.