Paul Hendley Loc: UK and USA

I use the Microsoft surface book i7 516GB with 16GB RAM and it can run PS/Lightroom for edits while it is doing stacking on Zerene at the same time. Moreover it runs all the standard software I need for my real job and life in general and I am familiar with the OS - win10 is soo much better than even Win7

Apple computer products have a strong fan base but a relatively small presence in the real world - I am sure they can and do work fine and owners ar eobviously very happy with them. However, if you already use windows and have the software and experience, it means work to learn a new OS so be prepared to invest some time if you move to macs

Paul Hendley Loc: UK and USA

I use the Microsoft surface book i7 516GB with 16GB RAM and it can run PS/Lightroom for edits while it is doing stacking on Zerene at the same time. Moreover it runs all the standard software I need for my real job and life in general and I am familiar with the OS - win10 is sooo much better than even Win7

Apple computer products have a strong fan base but a relatively small presence in the real world - I am sure they can and do work fine and owners are obviously very happy with them. However, if you already use windows and have the associated software and experience, it means work to learn a new OS so be prepared to invest some time if you move to macs

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
Mark

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Yikes, might be time for a new Mac or PC.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

That is probably true. The architectures are different for different tasks. My wife's i5 3.2GHz does some things seemingly faster than my i7 3.4Ghz (Hyperthreading / 8-thread) machine. The i5 is running Win 7 and the i7 Win 10. My i7 has a 4GB Video card and 32GB RAM, where as the i5 has only a 1GB video card and 8GB RAM. They both have 1 TB 7200RPM HDDs. I only have Ps CS6 on my machine though so I can't really make comparisons.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

From what I hear and experienced HP Laptops tend to over heat too easily. I burned thru a then top of the line 18" HP HDX18t Custom Laptop, a $2,000 Laptop. It never really ran right. I finally replaced it with the Dell XPS-8900 desktop tower describe above.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

My suggestion would be to not get a laptop, but instead get a desktop.

Photo editing on a laptop is problematic for several reasons.

First, you move around with a laptop, working in different lighting conditions, closing and reopening the computer so the screen angle changes. As a result, it's difficult to calibrate a laptop for consistent color and brightness. Ideally, you should run calibration on a laptop after every move... And since that should only be done after a screen has had about half an hour to warm up and then takes about 10 or 15 minutes... would sort of defeat the whole point of a laptop. (In comparison, I re-calibrate my desktop monitor every two months.)

The screen size is quite limited, too. About the largest laptop I've seen has a 21" screen, and that was a big, heavy beast! I have a 17" and it's pretty hefty too! My desktop has a graphics-quality 24" IPS screen... that I sometime wish was larger.

One solution is to use a laptop with an external monitor that you set up and keep in the same work space, with controlled lighting and periodic calibration.

But there's now another problem... To run a bigger, external monitor very efficiently, especially for graphics-intensive work such as photo editing in Photoshop, usually requires a graphics card with increased processing power and additional dedicated graphics memory. Some laptops have no means of expanding them beyond the built-in graphics hardware.... Or, those that can be upgraded need a special graphics card that's quite expensive.

Also, Photoshop works a lot better if you can provide it with a "scratch disk" to use, separate from the hard drive for the operating system and program itself. Many laptops can only accommodate a single drive. My 17" has room for a 2nd drive, which I've installed... but I just use it for storage and, once again, that makes for a bigger, heavier laptop. Running a second internal drive also greatly shortens usable battery life. I get about 45 minutes max... so have to plug in pretty much all the time.

Also, more and more laptops are using Solid State Drives instead of "old-fashioned" spinning disks. SSDs are cool and fast, sure... But they aren't up to the archiving standards for long term storage of image files. A friend of mine is an engineer and upper management manufacturing engineer at one of the largest manufacturers of SSDs and hard drives... and he tells me they simply aren't ready yet to trust with anything that's not easily replaced or securely backed up elsewhere. Not to mention, a friend of mine had her laptop stolen while traveling in Spain.... lost many years worth of photos!

Way too risky for me!

All in all, there are a lot of reasons that a desktop computer is a better choice for serious photo editing. I don't even have Photoshop installed on my laptop... I do have Lightroom on it (as well as on my desktop), but mostly just organize and only ever do a little light, quick editing with that... maybe previews with a client or some on-location sorting, renaming, keywording, etc.... and always pass all "real" finishing work off to Lightroom and Photoshop on my desktop in a more controlled, secure environment.

P.S. My Windows desktop and two Windows laptops (17" I use for location photo work and 15" that clients can use to monitor the work) all cost me less than one reasonably powerful Apple laptop costs! Apple stuff is great... I used some of it a lot in the past. But, it's expensive, there just isn't anywhere near the selection of software available for it, and I really haven't found Windows stuff any less reliable.

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

I just ordered a Vaio Z Canvas. I did not know about this machine until recently when I started to look hard for a replacement tablet for myself as my wife wanted my tablet. I currently have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S and really like it for a tablet, however I really wanted to be able to run LR and PSCC on a portable device that I could take with me and also use on my lap while watching the tube in the evening. This was something that my Samsung tablet could not do. I wanted to be able to do the same thing on my tablet as I do on my main system. When I started to look I needed to find something that I could use a stylus on so I could work on photographs like I do on my main system using a tablet but without the tablet. There are very few laptops/notebooks that can do this and I really started to get serious about the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and Book. When I started to read and watch the reviews I noticed the Vaio Z Canvas, which was specially designed for graphic artists and designers as well as photographers, seemed to fit my needs. The pricing was a little high, in line with the Surface book, but there was a price drop recently that brought the system under similarly equipped Surface Pros 4's and Books. If you are interested take a look at this YouTube review for artists. It's a little long but very in depth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fd72YpqRE0

Check pricing at Amazon first!

alandg46 Loc: Boerne, Texas

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

FYI: Also at BH Photo: They do not charge state tax for out of NY. Their prices are always competitive with Amazon and offer free expedited shipping.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Vaio+Z+Canvas&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=
Mark

alandg46 Loc: Boerne, Texas

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

At this time Amazon has special pricing on the Vair Z Canvas.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
--Bob

Edia Loc: Central New Jersey

I know it is sacrilege but I recommend the Microsoft Surface Pro 4.0. It runs the full version of CC and has a high definition display. My son who is a complete Apple fan and owns two MacBook Pro 15" and an iMac 27 bought the Surface Pro for portable photography.

alandg46 Loc: Boerne, Texas

I have a Microsoft Surface Pro 4.0. I love it. I do have to take an external for photo storage. I use a conventional 1TB 2.5" laptop hdd in an enclosure for that. I can just swap out drives and essentially have unlimited storage.