gmw12 Loc: Indianapolis & Windsor/UK & Montreux/Switzerl

Recommended features for a non-Mac: from 15" non-glare IPS display, 1TB HDD, SSD, dedicated graphic card, RAM from 8GB, quad-core i7, illuminated keyboard, card reader, USB3, Win10 home. With those features you find 2017 models from Dell (XPS15), HP Omen, Acer Predator, Asus ROG Strix. Prices is the US ca. 900-1400 USD.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

A gamer's computer is faster in ways that may not speed up photo editing, so you may be paying for speed that your software will not be able to take advantage of. I have been considering the new iMac Pro at $5,000 Vs. a loaded iMac at $3,700. I have talked to two people at the Genus Bar and one top level technician at Apple's technical support line and every one advised me to pass on the iMac Pro and go for the loaded iMac, because Lightroom, Photoshop and all the other photography software most of us use cannot take advantage of the 8-core processor and the other high speed features. They all said that I would see no noticeable speed difference using my software on either computer.

A gaming computer is like a toned down iMac Pro. It has a lot of enhancements, our software will never use. When choosing a computer for photography, laptop or desktop, be careful to not over buy and over pay.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

My apologies to Rongnongno, but my recommendation is Apple. If your laptop is going to be the only computer used for this task, you should look at the larger ones. My personal preference is 13" MacBook Pro (not much editing done here, but very portable) in combination with an iMac 27" 5k Retina where I do most all of my work. All my photo storage is on external devices; some attached directly with most of the storage on Synology NAS systems. Best of luck with whatever you do.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I have a 17 inch ASUS laptop. I mostly use it for travel or during an emergency. 16 GB RAM, i7 intel processor, 250 SSD. It runs all my photo apps including LR CC Classic,
Photoshop, and 4 or five others.
Mark

akamerica

There are two serious problems in computer/laptop land happening right now.

First the Intel processor chips have a design flaw that allows hacker to take control of the computer. The cure via a Windows software patch will shut down that section of the processor. The result is that the speed of the processor will be reduced by something like 25%. Wait until newow that the two critical chip flaws affecting virtually every smartphone, tablet, and computer are publicly known, tech companies are racing to issue security patches to mitigate or at least minimize the impacts of the bugs.


Here is the story on the chips from Kim Komando:
The security issues, known as Meltdown and Spectre, are probably the worst bugs found in processors ever and they might fundamentally change how chips will be designed moving forward.

Google's Project Zero wrote that there is no single fix for all variants and each requires a specific method of protection.

Fortunately, it is believed that the vulnerabilities have NOT been exploited as of yet and there is no evidence that hackers have abused or are actively abusing them. Technical details about the flaws are still scarce, buying hardware and software vendors some time.

Since Meltdown is easier to exploit, these updates are addressing this flaw first. Spectre exploits are more difficult to execute and it's not as critical as Meltdown right now, but fixes are also being prepared to deal with them.

Note: Meltdown is known as Variant 3 of this type of attack, affecting mostly Intel chips. Spectre attacks are Variants 1 and 2 and these are said to impact AMD, ARM and Intel chips.

In the meantime, prepare for these inevitable updates that you must apply as soon as you can to protect yourself from the "chip-ocalypse."
Microsoft

Microsoft will likely push its fixes in this month's Patch Tuesday updates for supported Windows systems. Most Windows machines are set to download and install updates automatically by default. If you haven't changed your automatic update settings then you should be fine.

On Windows 10, click Start (Windows logo), choose "Settings," select "Update & Security," then on the "Windows Update" section, click on "Advanced Options." (Note: the "Windows Update" section is also handy for showing you updates that are currently being downloaded or applied.) Under "Advanced Options," just make sure the drop down box is set to "Automatic."
Apple

Apple has also confirmed that its products are also affected by the chip fla chips are available.

Second HP laptops are having battery problems - overheating and ?fires? The cure is to replace the batteries - a professional repair. HP will send a software patch that will not allow the current batteries in the recall to be recharged.

Joe Blow

Almost any computer with a minimum of 8 gigs of ram and a 15" screen will fill your needs. More processor cores or ram won't give you better pictures and the processing time will be barely noticeable, if at all. A large HDD (1 or 2 TB) is advisable.

I don't know anyone that carries their laptop in the field. All photographers I know keep it in their hotel rooms, car, or at home. That negate the weight / size issue. But, I like a big screen when I'm editing so I like the 17" screen. I also keep it plugged in when I'm editing so my color and brightness are consistent. And it all fits in a nice bag.

There are many that will do a great job editing your photos, storing them, and even allowing you to use it for other things. Anything from $500 to $1000 should fit your needs. Spending more will most likely just get you features you don't need.

Good luck.

jjanovy Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

I've used PCs forever; my current one is a Dell XPS-13" and I love it, although Windows 10 updates do happen periodically, and depending on where you are and the circumstances, these updates can be a major inconvenience. But I also travel a lot, and carry a couple of external hard drives for photo storage, processing only when I want to use certain photos for various reasons (book covers, writing project illustrations, social media statements, info to friends and relatives, etc.) Like you, I also have a lot of software that gets transferred easily to new PCs. I don't remember what this current version cost, but it was certainly less than comparable Macs. Admittedly, my VERY SERIOUS photographer friends and image freaks all use Macs, but they're either professionals or borderline pros. In my opinion, if you use existing software, that is the factor that controls the new machine decision.

jaduff Loc: Northern NJ

Agree with Apple. A little pricey but they last forever. Daughters have MPBs, the most recent being a 13" that she loves. My setup is a 2010 iMac which still runs well. IMO no need for the i7 chipset as others have mentioned. Personally I use an iPad Air for portability, but no processing, and do all processing on the desktop.

Best of luck.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I would, respectfully, disagree. For my volume and complexity of work, a fast i7 chip is essential as time is money and I need my PP machine to process quickly. If one is a casual user, i5 might be just fine. Best of luck.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I would agree that Apples are well made and executed from a mechanical point of view, but in terms of lasting forever (as a justification for the substantially higher price), one also needs to consider (especially with a laptop which is typically not possible to upgrade other than adding DRAM and replacing disk) when it will become obsolete in terms of running the current OS and applications. I have both laptops and IPads, that while still mechanically and electrically sound, do not have the processing power to run the latest OS or application revs in a reasonable manner. With a Windows desktop, you can easily upgrade HW to keep the machine current, but considering a laptop as a long-term investment is akin to investing in meat without a refrigerator

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

"but considering a laptop as a long-term investment is akin to investing in meat without a refrigerator".

Yes and if you are Vegan or Vegetarian, an ancient laptop makes even less sense.
Mark

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

I use both a Lenovo YOGA 900 and 910 for photo processing and organization with archiving to external 4TB hard drives.

I believe Lenovo has released the YOGA 920.

I would highly recommend any of the above; fast, 4K resolution, compact, light weight and great battery life.

bwa

irishrover61 Loc: Miami, FL

I second bwana in their choice of Lenovo. Being an IT professional, Lenovo's cant be beat, in my current work environment, we use Lenovo exclusively.

I recently upgraded to a Lenovo ThinkPad P51 series laptop, 15.6 4K, 32GB RAM, quad-core i7. 1TB ssd, Samsung Evo 850 500GB ssd and 2GB nVidia graphics card. This is one amazing computer and can handle anything I throw at it. It is designed for engineering and CAD useage, so I figured if it can handle that type of processing it can sure handle photo editing.

Though not light, it is highly configurable and user upgradeable.

jthelw Loc: California

I bought a Lenovo Y700 15.6” Ultra HD Gaming Notebook about 2 months ago. It's a sturdy, heavy notebook, and I think it will meet my needs for many years. It has a beautiful display, which was important to me. I don't know how it will be for gaming; I expect to use it mostly for Lightroom and Photoshop. It is faster than any of my previous PC's. It has Windows 10, 1TBHDD and 256GB SSD and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M. If you shop around carefully, you can find it for under $900.

CaptainEd

Just went through this.....

Dell and Lenovo were close. I ended up with a Lenovo Y720. It is a gaming machine. The specs on gaming machines match up well with photo and video requirements. That said, go to a brick and mortar store and put your hands on what you're looking at. Some of the gaming machines had keyboard layouts that I couldn't get used to. For this, Dell Inspiron 7000's were the most conventional from a layout perspective, but since I've had a Lenovo for several years now, the feel was very familiar to me and the layout wasn't extremely off of what I'm used to as "normal".

I gave up touch (which I found very little value in on the machine I was replacing) to get a UHD display. Best decision of the whole process. I chose one with a 7th gen I-7. 8th gen are becoming more common, but the performance difference is minimal at this point. 8th gen is a lower power chip which should improve battery life if that's important to you. DO get an SSD primary drive for the OS and programs. I ended up with a 256gb SSD and 1tb spinning drive, and moved all of the Windows library folders to the spinning drive (Pictures, Documents, Music...). A single big SSD would be fine as well I'm sure. I also install applications that don't have the "need for speed" to the spinning drive. Open Office loads plenty fast from the spinning drive.

This machine also has an Nvidia graphics card in it. Intel integrated graphics isn't the greatest. Enough so that it can bring down the overall performance of an otherwise fast machine. Most photo editing software can take advantage of the card. Heck, even Google Chrome figured out it was out there and is using it for something.

Get at least 16gb of RAM if you can...I'll be upgrading to 32 before long. Photoshop and Lightroom have room to breath with 16, but I'm seeing cases where it is getting close. I haven't tried it with Premier yet on video. That is where I hope the GPU will make the most difference.

If you have a Costco membership, they double the manufacturers warranty and offer tech support through their concierge program, in addition to great prices.

Good luck!