In-lightened Loc: Kansas City

The graphics card is the Achilles heal for the Dell laptops...especially if you run any AI software such as available through Topaz. I have also noticed the PS now utilizes the graphics card too..it is a matter of time before this becomes a bigger issue. Have looked into what Capture One plans for the future and what their graphics card requirements are? Affinity Photo?

I have a desktop I had custom built so I could upgrade it with time and ever more demanding needs of photo software. Before I had an ASUS laptop and it did pretty well for a few years and had to be replaced as it was not able to upgrade. Since I travel, I purchased a Razor laptop and it is doing pretty well though I don't do a lot of process work on it. So you might look into a gamer's type of laptop as they have the graphics cards. To save space, I keep all my images and LR catalog on external hard drives.

It seems to me that between the increasing MP on cameras and process software, the computer that is robust today becomes inadequate for the tasks a few years later. Frustrating and expensive. Just some food for thought. Good luck with your decision.

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

I recently bought a Dell XPS 15 5000 laptop, with an I7 processor (8 cores), Intel Graphics Card (6GB), 32GB memory, 1TB SSD ... and this thing flies running Capture One and Luminar 4.
Also has a touch screen. Very happy with the purchase.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

...why not let the company make it right? Two very fixable problems...

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have an old Predator (Acer) gaming laptop running Win10 now (originally Win7). Don't recall exactly when I got it (a lot of files got lost in a 2017 move) but it was probably around 2014 or thereabouts. Certainly before 2016.

It's running fine but I am following threads like this with interest because I will be replacing it at some point in the next couple years. PC, not Mac. My wife has a Mac and I don't care for it. Partly because I started with the Apple ][ and when the Mac came out I had to switch to a PC. The Mac was too controlled. There were no third party accessories available and I was in need of some things there. That was in the early '90s and I have been using a PC since then. I switched from Android to iPhone in 2019 and the PC and Apple systems do not talk well to each other.

pminyard Loc: Bartlett, Tennessee

This is also my laptop and my reccommedation.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

A few months back I picked up a Dell XPS 15 9500 with the following specs:
16GB DDR4-2933MHz, 2x8G
NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1650 Ti 4GB GDDR6
256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
Windows 10 Pro (64bit) English
Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.0
6-Cell Battery, 86WHr (Integrated)
10th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10875H (16MB Cache, up to 5.1 GHz, 8 cores)
15.6" UHD+ (3840 x 2400) InfinityEdge Touch Anti-Reflective 500-Nit Display
 
There were some technical hiccups... but fixed. I replaced the M.2 SSD with two 2TB M.2 Sabrent drives (original intent, and bought my own copy of Win10 Pro. Their M.2 drive prices were too high). The screen is one of the nicest I’ve ever seen on a laptop. I've disabled the touchscreen because I don't use it. The non-touch screen is inferior. The improvements more than doubled some of the benchmark results.

Another hiccup... when I informed tech that I planned to use larger drives, they informed me that the warranty would be void. When I got the laptop, I spent the first week burning the laptop in by running programs that stress tested it. If it passed, then it would likely last 10 years. One of the nicest laptops I've picked up.

This was the note I sent to Dell tech:
My laptop is up and running; I have a few comments that you can improve on.  I've attached benchmarks of a 'after' and 'factor' issue.  The current machine is great, and vastly improved.

You should not use the raided M.2 drive that was supplied... it is inferior.  The one benchmark shows the improvement over the factory M.2.  I've thrown better stuff out.  The improvement on the new M.2 does not rely on it being 'raided' to improve the results.

In addition, you should provide the latest BIOS for both the motherboard and the graphics card.  Both supplied BIOS had been updated numerous times.
  
You should also set the graphics to the default graphics card and not the Intel motherboard processor.  You can see the improvements in the attached files.

Your technical guys should be aware of the above.  I'm still happy with the computer, but am a little disappointed with the original product.

Dik

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

See my posting... you may be able to improve the performance. For the stuff I do, 16 GB is lots.

Dik

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

sabfish

I have about an 8 year old Dell and am shopping for a new laptop (I use it hooked to a 25" Dell ultra sharp. What seems best to me are the Dell's G5 and G7 gaming laptops. Various configurations are available. I would get at least a 512 SSD (some have an additional 1TB harddrive), 16 GB of Ram and a separate graphics card (most are 4 or 6 GB of video memory.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

Careful with Dell's SSDs... the one I got was sh*t... The laptop, once fixt, is great and is almost a gaming laptop but more a business machine. I'm pretty demanding, but this fills the ticket.

Dik

sabfish

Just to be clear, Dell does not make SSD's. They buy major brand SSD's. The one's Dell buys are no more likely to be defective than the SSD in any other manufacturer's laptop. As someone above said, you can get a defective laptop from any manufacturer. In fact, when I acquired my current Dell, I first took home a Lenovo laptop. The HDD was defective and the computer would not boot. I took it back to the dealer and he had no more of the Lenovo model in stock, so I bought the Dell.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

Not defective... just junk. I don't know their source, couldn't find it on the internet. In any event the SSDs were not of the quality of the laptop... to reiterate... I've thrown better stuff out.

Dik

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

I have a Dell Precision 5300 mobile workstation and it is great. I am dealing with Sony A7R4 62 MP files, so needed some power. I have a 4K touchscreen with 98% of Adobe RGB, and it was almost perfectly calibrated right out of the box. For a small extra charge I have three year on-site service. I suggest you go to Dell Outlet for Business and see what they have on offer. You can save 50% that way with full warranty. I have had Dells for 15 years bought this way and have been very satisfied.

John Hicks Loc: Sible Hedinham North Essex England

I wanted a powerful laptop and got in touch on the internet with a company in the UK called PC Specialist, they will build you a laptop using your choice of components. They give a choice of compatible components and when you have chosen will build you a laptop, I got a 17 inch screen with 32gb of memory a DVD writer and illuminated keyboard and a very fast cp u and a one th harddrive. You could try something like that

akretiree Loc: Anchorage

I found this article of interest: https://backcountryjourneys.com/dell-xps-17-an-excellent-photography-laptop/