tnste Loc: New Westminster, BC

I currently have a 0ld 17" X73S series ASUS i7 quad core laptop with windows 7 that is very slow and the graphics card wont support some programs that I may want to use. I think the computer is at least 7 years old but not sure. My main computer is mid 27" IMAC for photography but I got this laptop for office work initially as well as doing slideshows using Pro show gold which does not run on Apple computers. I am looking for a new laptop and was considering an ASUS 17" gaming computer like the ASUS 17" ROG strix III G but after talking to a rep at BEST BUY who suggested going with a smaller laptop like the Dell XPs 13 or 15 laptop and get a 24" monitor to connect to the laptop. I would like some opinions on what computer laptop I should consider. My budget is around $1600; dont really want to spend anymore. Being in Canada everything is more expensive here than in the US. My wish specs are i7 9750H quad core minimum, 16GB RAM, 512 GB SSD and dual Hard drive for storage if possible, a good dedicated graphics card (GTX 1650 or 1660Ti). Should I go with a 17.3" laptop or go with a 15.6" laptop and get a 24" monitor. What monitor should I get if I go with a 15.6" laptop.?

MichaelH Loc: NorCal via Lansing, MI

Some questions. Does the slideshow software that you bought the laptop for still run well on the laptop? Does the iMac still do what you need it to do for photography? Does your iMac support "Target Display Mode" and if so can you get a video cable to attach the iMac as a monitor to the new laptop that you want to buy?

Target Display Mode is a startup mode for your iMac that allows it to function as a monitor. See this link:

https://www.fonepaw.com/recorder/use-imac-as-monitor-for-pc.html

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I'd get the smaller laptop with a BenQ SW240 24.1" 16:10 PhotoVue IPS Monitor. Laptop specs look fine. You can always connect outboard drives for data storage...

Don't buy a gaming monitor for photography. They're too bright, too contrasty, and don't calibrate well.

Don't forget to pick up a calibration kit if you don't have one! X-Rite and Datacolor make them.

Of course, a wildcard strategy is to buy a base 16" MacBook Pro with Parallels Desktop and Win 10... It's pricey ($2100 USD at B&H), but you can run both operating systems on it and it certainly meets your specs.

steinr98

Why double up your expenses?? You are going to do your photography on the Mac-period-right? Then running ProShow, all you need to do is put your finished photos on an external H Drive or a thumb drive and load them into the laptop for your Proshow program. U could use an external monitor on the laptop if U wish, but you really don't need to. All u are going to do in Proshow is put your photos in order and have them move as u wish for the program plus add voice or music. You don't really need a big screen here- When I purchased an iMac several years ago now, I switched to iMovie and like it much better- a bit more complicated to learn!!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Processor -
http://gizmodo.com/dont-waste-money-on-intels-top-processor-1791426602
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404674,00.asp
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-core-i5-vs-i7/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/intel-core-i9-vs-i7-vs-i5-cpu/
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-core-i5-vs-i7/
http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/core-i5-vs-i7
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/210703-intel-core-i5-vs-core-i7-which-processor-should-you-buy

Memory -
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-much-ram-does-your-pc-need-probably-less-than-you-think/
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-much-ram-does-your-pc-need/

Setup -
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2861858/computers/7-critical-things-to-do-immediately-with-a-new-pc.html#tk.rss_all
http://www.computershopper.com/feature/13-essential-steps-set-up-your-new-pc

BebuLamar

I have a couple of questions.
1. How do you calibrate the laptop screen?
2. If you rely on external monitor then why not using a desktop?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Laptop screens calibrate the same as any monitor, using colorimeter and software. However, laptop screens range from truly awful to pretty good.

Hence, an external monitor is for wide color gamut (color accuracy), and a larger view.

photoman43

Check out the laptops made by Lenovo. Thinkpad extreme 1, 15 inch, but your budget may not cover what you need. Next choice might be the dell XPS 15 inch and then configure it until you run out of money.

tnste Loc: New Westminster, BC

When you ask if pro show gold runs well on my laptop I am not sure how to answer that. I have not used that program for a long time. There have been several upgrades to that program but my computer will run the program but as I said the computer is painfully slow which for an i7 quad core I don't understand. Also, the graphics card is a GT610M which is dated.
If I do get a new laptop I think I have narrowed it down to an ASUS ROG strix III G 15.6" or and ROG SCAR II 15.6". I was initially considering the ASUS ROG strix III 17.3" but figured I will the the smaller computer and get a non gaming monitor. I would have to get an external DVDdrive so I can load Office Pro on the laptop that is currently on my current laptop.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The usual reason a laptop gets slow is that the conventional hard drive is getting full.

You can:

> Offload most data files to an outboard drive and defragment the rest of the drive (minor speed increase)
> Replace a 5400 RPM drive with a larger 7200 RPM drive (modest additional speed increase)
> Replace a 5400 or 7200 RPM drive with the biggest SSD you can afford (VERY significant speed increase)

My twins have identical Mid-2012 MacBook Pros with 2.6 GHz quad-core i7 processors. They were getting really slow, with 8GB RAM and 500GB 5400 RPM drives. I upgraded RAM to 16GB (this reduces need for virtual memory, which uses a drive for temporary storage) and upgraded the startup drives to 1TB SSDs. That made a HUGE difference in performance. Now they are able to edit video without stutter. Their computers start up in 40 seconds, instead of 285 seconds. All I/O processes are dramatically faster, because of the reduced need for memory swapping to a slow hard drive, and (mostly) because the SSD is 89 times faster than a conventional 5400 RPM drive!

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

I've used these guys often in the past - so far no issues with service or support. You can custom configure pretty much exactly the way you want it. I'd suggest getting a 32 or even a 64 gb capable motherboard, for future expansion.

https://xoticpc.com/

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

The specs you describe is for my Dell XPS from 2017 with a 4K screen....same price about. I totally love this laptop - has been great for photo or video editing or anything else I throw at it....it's spec-ed as a gaming laptop. Today you can probably get a similar model but with a 9th or 10th gen i7 for maybe the same price or less possibly. Go with a 15.6 4K screen....a 17.3 might be a burden to carry around. Yeah if you need a larger screen connect it to a larger monitor in the office or home. I connect my Dell to my Sony 55" monitor....but I now have a gaming desktop which functions as a media PC/editing/etc./GP unit. Works great. Files are shared thru the cloud (One Drive) if I need to switch laptop/desktop.

ncralph

I’ve read through most of this thread and my suggestion would be to go with the new 16” MacBook Pro (of course it’s above your budget) and switch to FotoMagico (https://boinx.com/fotomagico/ ) on the Mac. I’ve used it very successfully for years. The you can eliminate the Windows machine, unless of course you need it for other uses.

tnste Loc: New Westminster, BC

What I do not understand is I have a lot of available space on the computer but it still runs really slow.
Best Buy said it is because of the hard drive; it is not SSD. Cant remember how much RAM I have. Maybe if I can increase the RAM that would help.
Still looking at getting a new ASUS laptop. There are only a few available now at Best Buy. Most are sold out. Need to decide whether to get the ASUS ROG Strix III 17" or 15". I am leaning to getting the 15" then get a non gaming monitor.

tnste Loc: New Westminster, BC

The Dell XPS 15" is not available at Best Buy as far as I know. Only the XPS 13" and it got mixed reviews when I checked. The display on the XPS 13" though was nice.