Choosing the right laptop

Devoted Lens

Devoted Lens

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Edit My Images
Yes
I've decided to teach myself to use Lightroom as I'm going to be working away for 6 months and will have the time to mess around in the evenings.

I'd like to invest in a decent laptop now, one with 16GB of RAM so that it can ably cope with LR in the long term, but it must be one that has an excellent, true to life display (I see from other comments that sometimes people have issues with the screen being backlit, so that the photos look great on the screen but then look underexposed to others), and in general be a pleasure to use.

Does anyone have any recommendations? What are you guys using to edit your wedding / portrait / landscape photos? Please note that I currently have an iMac which not only do I find slow, but I personally feel the operating system is horrendous to use. I will not be investing in any more Apple products.
 
Ram won’t make a big difference for Lightroom 8gb is fine the processor you choose will make a huge difference though.

I take it you have to have something portable as a high spec desktop will will be much more affordable than a laptop and the screens on most laptops are not ideal for photo editing.
 
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f/2.8 said:
Ram won’t make a big difference for Lightroom 8gb is fine the processor you choose will make a huge difference though.

I take it you have to have something portable as a high spec desktop will will be much more affordable than a laptop and the screens on most laptops are not ideal for photo editing.
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Can you advise what kind of processor I need to be looking for? Computers are not my thing, I have read elsewhere that 8GB would be the absolute minimum for LR and that 16GB would be much more preferable? Would certainly save a lot of cash getting 8GB instead.

I need the portability to be able to teach myself whilst working away for the next 6 months, and after that I would prefer to be able to edit from the comfort of my living room as opposed to sat at a desk. The experience of the iMac has soured me as well.
 
Devoted Lens said:
Can you advise what kind of processor I need to be looking for? Computers are not my thing, I have read elsewhere that 8GB would be the absolute minimum for LR and that 16GB would be much more preferable? Would certainly save a lot of cash getting 8GB instead.

I need the portability to be able to teach myself whilst working away for the next 6 months, and after that I would prefer to be able to edit from the comfort of my living room as opposed to sat at a desk. The experience of the iMac has soured me as well.
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Where did you read that about the ram because it’s nonsense?

You will see no significant difference using lightroom with 8, 16 or even 32gb ram. The processor is the most important piece of hardware in ensuring Lighroom runs well. A fast SSD will also make it seems snappy when your moving files around.

Buy the quickest processor you can for your budget. It’s unfortunate that you need a mobile option as desktop processors perform much better than mobile were they are optimised for battery performance rather than speed.

Something with an Intel i7 7700HQ or 8700k would be a good option.
 
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Depending on your budget have a look at the dell xps range, a lot of the pro photographer have moved from MacBook Pro to the xps 15 machines.
 
f/2.8 said:
Where did you read that about the ram because it’s nonsense?

You will see no significant difference using lightroom with 8, 16 or even 32gb ram. The processor is the most important piece of hardware in ensuring Lighroom runs well. A fast SSD will also make it seems snappy when your moving files around.

Buy the quickest processor you can for your budget. It’s unfortunate that you need a mobile option as desktop processors perform much better than mobile were they are optimised for battery performance rather than speed.

Something with an Intel i7 7700HQ or 8700k would be a good option.
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I can't name the specific site now, but I know it was definitely something I read after Google searching for 'Adobe Lightroom reviews', as I then became fixated on only buying something with 16GB RAM. Doh! Really appreciate your comments, thank you.
 
sep9001 said:
Depending on your budget have a look at the dell xps range, a lot of the pro photographer have moved from MacBook Pro to the xps 15 machines.
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Just been looking at the Dell XPS 15 and the Dell Inspiron 15 5570, any thoughts on the Inspiron?
 
Don't think the screen on the inspiron is good for editing.
 
True to life screen ? Do you mean those screens on laptops that cost several thousand.
 
GTG said:
True to life screen ? Do you mean those screens on laptops that cost several thousand.
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I mean something that will give a fairly effective replication of the image as it was taken, and will reflect how it'll appear for most people online, I guess.
 
Devoted Lens said:
Just been looking at the Dell XPS 15 and the Dell Inspiron 15 5570, any thoughts on the Inspiron?
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I use an xps 15. i7-7700hq, 16 GB RAM, 512 SSD. Pretty quick. Screen colour seems pretty good compared to my desktop.

Adobe says that PS uses RAM and the amount it uses can be adjusted in the settings. What impact having 8,16 or 32 go has on overall performance I couldnt say but my desktop is coming up for renewal shortly and I'll be putting at least 32 Gb in. How much Lightroom makes use of I've no idea but I'd rather have more than less.
 
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Gaz J said:
I use an xps 15. i7-7700hq, 16 GB RAM, 512 SSD. Pretty quick. Screen colour seems pretty good compared to my desktop.

Adobe says that PS uses RAM and the amount it uses can be adjusted in the settings. What impact having 8,16 or 32 go has on overall performance I couldnt say but my desktop is coming up for renewal shortly and I'll be putting at least 32 Gb in. How much Lightroom makes use of I've no idea but I'd rather have more than less.
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Yes photoshop can make better use of ram but his question was about Lightroom not photoshop. Lightroom needs very little ram all the grunt work is done by the processor.
 
I have an older Dell 14z Inspiron and replaced it with a later Inspiron 13 7347. The difference between the two is like day and well foggy night.
The cheaper one has terrible colour rendition and the brightness varies all over the screen it's also a lower resolution.
I bought it in a hurry to do productivity work but discovered it was useless for any kind of image editing even if the screen weren't so patchy it's too low res to see what you're doing.

The biggest issues I have with image editing on laptops is for working you want a large, high definition screen. For moving it around you want a small light machine.
I always end up adding an external mouse too as I get cramp from touchpads after a while and find them imprecise.

I would steer clear of touch screens - my 7347 had to go back for a replacement after it began touching itself (!). I've never used the touch functions - smeary screens are a no no.

Dell outlet is a good place to get more for your money - all my laptops and desktops have come from there for years do your research though as they're sometimes a bargain other times not.
http://dell.co.uk/outlet

I've always been tempted by the Microsoft Surface lines esp. the ones with good quality pen input but been put off by the price/performance ratio when I have a decent desktop and mostly work at home.
 
Invested in a Dell XPS 15, taking delivery later so I shall get my nerd on for a couple of days and report back!
 
f/2.8 said:
Where did you read that about the ram because it’s nonsense?

You will see no significant difference using lightroom with 8, 16 or even 32gb ram. The processor is the most important piece of hardware in ensuring Lighroom runs well. A fast SSD will also make it seems snappy when your moving files around.

Buy the quickest processor you can for your budget. It’s unfortunate that you need a mobile option as desktop processors perform much better than mobile were they are optimised for battery performance rather than speed.

Something with an Intel i7 7700HQ or 8700k would be a good option.
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Dell XPS imo are very good especially from Dell outlet and if you know any students can get 15% off- pretty sure offer still running,

Adobe say you will need at lest 12gb of ram to see full benefit of the next upgrade 7.2- "coming soon"

https://petapixel.com/2018/01/29/lightroom-still-slow-another-major-performance-update-coming/
 
I too am in the market for the right laptop. I went recently to a day long workshop and became a spectator as my MacAir was not up to the task - it’s 2010 with only 2GB RAM!

I was also sitting next to someone with a New Dell laptop that would not work with PS even with our IT wizzard doing his best to make it work - hence my reluctance to look at Dell. I know the 16GB MacBook Pro would do the job but the cost is ridiculous compared with the amount of time I would use it when not at home. My IMax works fine for my needs at home.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks
 
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Chipper said:
I too am in the market for the right laptop. I went recently to a day long workshop and became a spectator as my MacAir was not up to the task - it’s 2010 with only 2GB RAM!

I was also sitting next to someone with a New Dell laptop that would not work with PS even with our IT wizzard doing his best to make it work - hence my reluctance to look at Dell. I know the 16GB MacBook Pro would do the job but the cost is ridiculous compared with the amount of time I would use it when not at home. My IMax works fine for my needs at home.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks
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Lenovo thinkpad X1 Carbon.
 
I went to see if they had one of this in town as I had to go there anyway. PC World had Lenovo idea or yoga models but none of these. Then he tried to sell me one for gamers. He tried again to induce me to buy it because it was the last one in stock..and then he tried to sell me a new broadband contract. :exit:Any idea, where I might get a look at one of these?
 
Chipper said:
I went to see if they had one of this in town as I had to go there anyway. PC World had Lenovo idea or yoga models but none of these. Then he tried to sell me one for gamers. He tried again to induce me to buy it because it was the last one in stock..and then he tried to sell me a new broadband contract. :exit:Any idea, where I might get a look at one of these?
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Yes PC world sales staff get 3% commission I think and have sales targets so they attempt to sell customers expensive things or things not needed.

The X1 Carbon are high end and aimed more at professionals and business rather than home users like the ones in PC world.

That does not mean that you have to be a business to use one though, they are better built than normal laptops and tougher.

I'm not sure where you can see one in the flesh though, I always buy them used.

They are not cheap either but I'm sure they don't cost as much as the equivalent macbooks.
 
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