Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I made the connection because of the Chromebook reference, which I addressed in the first thread.

It seemed to me that the OP forgot he'd posted that earlier topic and since there are several excellent responses there, I said "Take a look at your previous topic and update us with any unanswered questions."

I appreciate your reaction, David, but it's OK - just the price of doing business in UHH's main discussion forum 🙄

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

I'll reinforce the idea that a laptop can do fine for photo editing. A laptop can be more powerful than a desktop. Depends on what you buy. Not that photo editing requires a super-duper piece of hardware. I edit my photos on 7-10 year old laptops with Core 2 Duo and early/lower-level i-series Intel CPUs with 4-8 GB. of memory, no sweat.

If variations of how the image looks at different angles on a laptop screen is a problem, you can certainly and easily use an external display with your laptop. My laptops are almost always being used as desktops, with docks and single-and-dual display setups.

But, a laptop can be taken anywhere you go. This is called "PORTABILITY." Can't say that for a desktop.

There seems to be too much emphasis on UHH, by folks who have lots of money or equipment snobbery, that one cannot very successfully edit their work without high-end monitors, computers, graphics cards, etc. It's enough to scare folks away.

MarkSki

What an odd response!! Almost any question on UHH has been asked and answered numerous times. Whether the same person asked it before or not is unimportant. Perhaps some members didn’t see it before, perhaps there are new answers to an old question. But, your response implies that the best way to participate in this forum is to simply “search,” not ask.

The same can be said about all the “best camera,” “best printer,” “best lens” q&a, not to mention all the same ol, same ol Canon vs Nikon ad nauseum questions.

Are you a forum moderator? You obviously keep track of who asks what and when. Why? Why not just pass over a question that annoys you—letting those of us that didn’t see the question and answer the first time get some benefit from it this time around.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

I'll repeat what I explained at the top of page 2 of this thread:

"I made the connection because of the Chromebook reference, which I addressed in the first thread.

It seemed to me that the OP forgot he'd posted that earlier topic and since there are several excellent responses there, I said 'Take a look at your previous topic and update us with any unanswered questions.'

Hopefully, you'll see that key sentence if you re-read my first comments more carefully. I'd suggest that you also take a little more care with what you assume, especially about people you don't know.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

Well, if all you have is a laptop and it's a good laptop, you can do post-processing and photo editing in a laptop. My Dell with a core i7 processor and the upgrade screen does fine to run PS and other programs at the same time.
On the other hand, I'm retired and rarely shoot 200+ photos (I was gonna say "frames" and give my age away) in one gig.

MarkSki

I didn’t miss your key sentence at all. I question your apparent need to chastise the questioner—as you do with some regularity.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Sometimes I'm a little slow, but it's clear now what your true purpose is here. Enjoy your role; you are in fine company.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

My Dell laptop sufficed just fine for processing. I calibrated my monitor and adjusted the tilt and my prints showed that my settings were good. I have since switched to a new desktop with 16g RAM and a new 27" monitor, mostly because my processing software (Adobe) ran SLOW.
I love my new setup, but it wasn't the laptop mode that makes the difference, it's the extra RAM and big monitor. There are plenty of people who use laptops here - they're portable, convenient, and as powerful as a desktop if you get the right one. I can't take my desktop with me on trips, and my new computer setup won't fit in my small living room.

davyboy Loc: Anoka Mn.

Thank you Linda I thought your answer was thoughtful! I did not think it odd at all! I can’t believe some of these people

Siemienczuk

Just one more vote for a laptop with a calibrated external monitor. I currently use an Asus ProArt photo editing monitor. It stays put in the kitchen, while the laptop is ... portable. Current monitor is 24" and I would not go smaller than that. If I had it to do over I would go at least 27." LR eats up real estate with the nav panels.

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't run LR on 4Gb of RAM. I do. But it's a horrible idea! It works, it's just slow as molasses. I'm currently planning an upgrade. I will do 16Gb RAM and get my son's assistance on graphics card choices. If you find just what you need at Costco, that could work. But always compare prices at Newegg before purchasing. Good luck!

edellington

I just purchased a system specifically designed for photo editing from Puget Systems that is amazing. www.pugetsystems.com

duane klipping Loc: Bristow iowa

Because some people ask the same thing over and over until they get an answer they are looking for. Some are trolls some are lonely. The forum is cluttered enough without having the same question asked again by the same person. And some honestly forgot...

traderjohn Loc: New York City

Lonely??? I think lonely is when you dwell on and know what a perfect stranger has posted a month ago. If someone asks the same question; so what. Cluttered??? Skim over what you think is important and respond. I hope nothing important comes across your path.

dhk

Linda you continue to make good comments, and I remain pleased that you are now becoming more active again

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

I think it's been a while since you've looked at laptops. Many now use the same Wide View IPS technology, offering the same viewing angles that make desktop displays good for editing. You can also get laptops with Nvidia or Radeon graphics cards sporting from 4 to 8 gb vram. Ram does not increase refresh rates in gpus that are integrated with the cpu, nor does vram in regular graphics cards. What does affect refresh rate is the gpu's clock and the capability of the screen. More memory for graphics - whether allocated from system ram in an integrated gpu/cpu situation, or on a separate graphics card - allows you to run more resolution and multiple screens. I run 2 desktop displays with 1920x1280 resolution each, with a 2 gb vram card. If I were doing video or gaming, I'd probably want a bigger memory space for a larger frame buffer that would support 4K resolution with a decent refresh rate- but none of that would have any value to me for editing stills.

You can get laptops with 6 or 8 core Gen 9 Intel cpus, up to 64 gb system ram, (2) m.2 slots for NVMe PCIe SSD drives each with as much as 2 TB each, and (2) internal 2.5" drive bays for up to 4 TB SSD or mechanical drives each. In other words, without resorting to slower external drives you can get a laptop with 12 TB of drive storage.

A machine maxed out like that might cost a bit, but because the upgrading is generally easy to do, the machine can be purchased minimally configured and you can always install more ram or storage as prices come down.

Here is one example:

https://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9176-clevo-p775tm1-g-12545.html?startcustomization=1

If a better viewing experience is in order - these higher end laptops will drive multiple larger screens with higher resolution.