New Laptop

OneOffDave

OneOffDave

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Dave
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I need a new laptop as my old one has died and unfortunately I'm on a bit of a budget. What's the minimum spec I should go for? I'm going to be using it for basic office stuff and low volume amateur post processing using Lightroom and an external monitor
 
I bought an Acer 15” as a backup 18 months ago. 8GB RAM and a 1TB HD cost me just under £400. I reformatted it for Linux but it came with Windows 10 which it worked well with. I just don’t like Windows. :naughty:
 
I think something with a Ryzen 5 will nail your needs. An i5 will be decent, but make sure it's the 8th generation or newer, since the cores went from 2-4, almost doubling performance in some work loads.

I would say an SSD is a must - for around £500 you should be able to get a 256GB drive.

Best thing to do would be list your budget :)
 
As said, i5 quad, 8GB RAM, SSD is nice and they're certainly cheap enough now. Try to get one with an IPS HD screen unless you will be using an external monitor for editing.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
SSD is a must, and so is 16GB RAM. I am temporarily on 8GB mac and it's painfully slow once you start pushing lightroom or photoshop.
Click to expand...

I get no lag at all on 8Gb from my PC, my Surface Pro or my Surface Book. This is images taken from a D800 and multi-layered in Photoshop.

16Gb is a nice-to-have, certainly not entry-level just yet for the novice tog
 
Neilc28 said:
I get no lag at all on 8Gb from my PC, my Surface Pro or my Surface Book. This is images taken from a D800 and multi-layered in Photoshop.

16Gb is a nice-to-have, certainly not entry-level just yet for the novice tog
Click to expand...

I certainly manage to push it beyond what it likes. You certainly have no chance of playing a video at the same time as editing.... The '12 mini with 16GB could just handle it.

What troubles me the most is that in 2012 16GB was just as affordable or more than it is today. That's 7 years later. I was predicting we would be on 128GB now pushing 256... I clearly missed that completely.
 
Thanks everyone. I think £450 will be my upper limit. I'm planing on using an external monitor mainly if only for the image size let alone resolution
 
My recommendation would be a second hand Dell Latitude. For £450 you should be able to get an i7, either with an SSD and 8-16GB RAM or upgrade yourself. Ensure you get one with a Full HD display.

These laptops are business grade - which means (a) sturdy and (b) designed so they can be repaired. Adding RAM or swopping out to a decent SSD is a case of turning the laptop upside down, removing the battery, four screws from the bottom plate at which point the bottom plate will slide off and you can swap out the RAM/SSD.

Understanding the model numbers:

Eabc0 e.g. E7440

The first 'E' means the laptop will work with a port replicator (dock)
The first number (a) is the range. '3' is entry level. '5' is mid range. '6' is higher end. '7' is higher end/ultra portable.
The third number (b) is the panel size. 2 is 12.5", 3 is 13", 4 is 14" etc.
The third number (c) is the generation. 7 is 6th gen. 5 is 5th gen. 4 is 4th gen. No, that is not a mistake.

If you search a well known auction site for 'Dell Latitude E5570 i7' (mid-range 15.6" Core i5/i7 6th Gen) you will see plenty with i7/16GB/SSD in your budget. Look for sellers with plenty of positive feedback and try and buy one in A+ condition. When you do receive the Laptop, check for dead pixels and any sign it has been dropped. I would also do a clean install of Windows 10. If the laptop was already running Windows 10, a re-install should not pose any problems in terms of licensing.

They are nice, well built machines that can take a fair amount of abuse. I've acquired upwards of half a dozen for friends and family. One needed a bit of TLC on arrival, the recipients have all been very pleased with them.
 
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