Need a new laptop: I have been using a Dell Inspiron 1500 for the past 3 years. I use it mainly for Lightroom. We travel quite a bit and I enjoy working on my photos along the...

janiebutz

I have been using a Dell Inspiron 1500 for the past 3 years. I use it mainly for Lightroom. We travel quite a bit and I enjoy working on my photos along the way....thus no desktop. I hate it! It is so slow with LIghtroom, slow to reboot, needs frequent maintenance (“new drivers”). I have worked with Dell support too many times to count. So, with this said, where would the UH community suggest I go next in the PC world. At this point I don’t want to switch to Apple due to price.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Look for a "gamer" machine, 16 gig RAM, SSD, high end graphics, high end processor, and add a 2 TB external drive for your data. The SSD's are usually limited to 250 or 500 gig and are used for the operating system and your programs.

Creativewp Loc: Washington - the state

gvarner wrote:

Look for a "gamer" machine, 16 gig RAM, SSD, high end graphics, high end processor, and add a 2 TB external drive for your data. The SSD's are usually limited to 250 or 500 gig and are used for the operating system and your programs.

That's what I did. After having a slug laptop, I found my 'gamer' machine to be like lightning. Fantastic! Patti

Don W-37 Loc: Bangkok, Thailand

Hi,
I recently got an HP Envy, 17.3 in laptop which is surprisingly light and portable. (About $999 @ Amazon)
It has a fast Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM, 1 TB hard drive with a decent mid-range video card. The touch screen is IPS, and I'm able to edit still shots on on it with ease. I don't shoot video. I'm quite happy with it.

Keep in mind that if you are using the cloud version of Lightroom (or anything else), your internet connection will have a big effect on your speed. Good luck!

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

gvarner wrote:

Look for a "gamer" machine, 16 gig RAM, SSD, high end graphics, high end processor, and add a 2 TB external drive for your data. The SSD's are usually limited to 250 or 500 gig and are used for the operating system and your programs.

Exactly! There are many manufacturers with those specs. Dell, ASUS, HP, or a custom one built by a PC shop. Call and discuss your dissatisfaction with current and/or your requirements for the new laptop.
Mark

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

If you are not going to go Apple, Dell can make some pretty amazing laptops, if you want to call them that. Pretty large and heavy. However if you are serious about wanting a good fast machine, you should look at them. Not cheep, but you get what you pay for here.

rgdudley Loc: Etna NY

I recently, I guess a year ago now, got a new Dell 7000 17inch. Whatever you get, get the fastest cpu, max out the ram, and get a solid state hard drive. With my Dell, which I bought before they were offering 1T SS dirves, I switched out the drive for a SanDisk 1T SS drive (using the original for backups). I use this with lightroom, iMatch, and sometimes Photoshop, photomatix, etc. plus all the other usual software (email, word, etc, etc, modeling software..) it's great. So far...

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

Has Adobe published any minimum operating system requirements for their products??
That would be good to know. I'll have to play around on Google.

marine1960

janiebutz wrote:

I have been using a Dell Inspiron 1500 for the past 3 years. I use it mainly for Lightroom. We travel quite a bit and I enjoy working on my photos along the way....thus no desktop. I hate it! It is so slow with LIghtroom, slow to reboot, needs frequent maintenance (“new drivers”). I have worked with Dell support too many times to count. So, with this said, where would the UH community suggest I go next in the PC world. At this point I don’t want to switch to Apple due to price.

You get what you pay for. For me, Apple is the way to go

SteveMcBill

Check out the top end of the Alienware laptops (made for gaming by Dell) - high specs and good speed - http://www.dell.com/en-uk/gaming/alienware-laptops

Thrawn John Loc: Scotland

I'm in the same boat and was thinking that I might be better with a tablet for on the go stuff. (Whether with LR or Affinity or similar. I like the fact that it's a £20 one-off payment.)
Odds are tablet is a good bet for editing, especially with light pen.
Can be clunky for other uses - Apple is a nightmare trying to use Facebook.
But might be worth looking at tablets.
One overall review placed the new Apple 10.5" tablet ahead of any of macbook for image processing speed.

berchman Loc: South Central PA

janiebutz wrote:

I have been using a Dell Inspiron 1500 for the past 3 years. I use it mainly for Lightroom. We travel quite a bit and I enjoy working on my photos along the way....thus no desktop. I hate it! It is so slow with LIghtroom, slow to reboot, needs frequent maintenance (“new drivers”). I have worked with Dell support too many times to count. So, with this said, where would the UH community suggest I go next in the PC world. At this point I don’t want to switch to Apple due to price.

In January I bought this Dell laptop for $1900. It's a speed demon with Lightroom.
DELL XPS15 7700HQ/16G1TB15.6TG

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

gvarner wrote:

Look for a "gamer" machine, 16 gig RAM, SSD, high end graphics, high end processor, and add a 2 TB external drive for your data. The SSD's are usually limited to 250 or 500 gig and are used for the operating system and your programs.

yes "gamer" configs are great for any high performance application....the 16 gb RAM and SSD make a big difference, with an i7 processor. I have a Dell XPS 15... very snappy fast. It also has a built in 4K display screen - a few apps don't scale properly and appear small on the screen....but photos look great!

For an older laptop with spinning HD an SSD upgrade will make a big difference... did an SSD upgrade on an older HP laptop, AMD A8 (quad core) with 6gb RAM...performance like a new laptop even without bumping the RAM up to 16 gb.

System Mechanic v17.5+ (highly recommended) keeps everything tuned up on all my laptops ... got a 3 year 10 device license on the cheap ... coupon special.

WessoJPEG Loc: Cincinnati, Ohio

marine1960 wrote:

You get what you pay for. For me, Apple is the way to go

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

ricardo7 wrote:

Has Adobe published any minimum operating system requirements for their products??
That would be good to know. I'll have to play around on Google.

I don't know what Adobe has to reference, but here is a link to a company that builds computers. They have a good rundown of what they feel is the best set-up for either LR or PS. Looking at each, they are fairly similar, with differences which are explained so you can figure out what you think would work best for both [and be available in a laptop].

https://www.pugetsystems.com/solutions/content_creation/index.php