New Photo Laptop

Sootchucker

Sootchucker

Messages
2,873
Name
Andrew
Edit My Images
No
Hi guys, looking for recommendations for a decently priced (i.e. under say £700-£800) 15" laptop for Photo editing work to replace my ageing Dell XPS M1530.

Pre-requisites include:

Minimum 1440*900 (WXGA+) resolution. I would love a 1920*1200 IPA screen but I don't think that's possible for my budget.

Intel Core I5 or Core I7 processor.

Minimum 4gb Ram (ideally 8gb +)

3 USB ports (at least one USB 3 would be nice)

Minimum 128GB SSD Boot drive. Not to concerned about storage as I have a decent set of portable HDD's that I can back up to, although a twin drive system would be the best of both worlds. I guess again, a Laptop with a SSD and a regular HDD for storage isn't possible for my price point?

Battery life not too important as I mainly use it on mains, but that would be a bonus.

Slim. My current Dell is a bit of a brick and quite thick so only just slips into my backpack, so looking for something much slimmer (and quieter)

Before anyway says it, yes I know the new Macbook Air's and Macbook Pro's look stunning and seem to fit all my criteria as regards hardware spec, but 1) they are well out of my price range, and 2) I have no Mac software. Well, NX2 I could install in Mac flavour, but I only have the PC edition of PS and 3) have never used a Mac before so guess there's quite a steep learning curve?

Any ideas gratefully received.
 
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a mac would be the best choice to go, for even a second hand 1. they are a bit weird to start off on but after a few days you will get the hang of it :) i am on a new iMac 21 inch which meets all the needs you have requested, do you really need a laptop ?
 
You'll be better off in the computers section.

There are only a few laptops with your spec requirements. Screens are either 1366 x 768 or 1920 x 1080 as laptops have moved to the 16:9 format (not 16:10 which you'd get 1920x1200).

The only way to dual drive a machine of 15" is to remove the DVD drive. If you want a dual disk system, you are at a 17".

I'd suggest the Dell XPS 15z as probably the best compromise at the moment.
 
neil_g said:
negative. Same thing (at same spec point) in a different case and slightly different desktop
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i wasn't talking just about my computer, i was generalising about the pros and cons of both mac and pc, the mac os is far far better than windows 7 and it is much easier to use and understand, i also have a pc laptop which is crap.
 
callumduff said:
i wasn't talking just about my computer, i was generalising about the pros and cons of both mac and pc, the mac os is far far better than windows 7 and it is much easier to use and understand, i also have a pc laptop which is crap.
Click to expand...

Without starting off the Mac/windows argument you're wrong... They are both different, one is certainly not best for all (you may have personal preference however).

I like (and have) both, both can be frustrating and both can be very good. I still don't understand the whole "macs are better for photos/video/creative things" however...

My first question when someone says their "pc laptop"(:cuckoo:...I guess you mean windows laptop) is "how much did you pay for it?". Less than £1k and you can't really compare it to a +£1k device can you?

My Gee Wizz is crap compared to my 3 Series BMW...;)

OP, the best bet for that budget is to have a look at the Dell Outlet, ether the 15z or one of the business laptops (latitudes).
 
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callumduff said:
i wasn't talking just about my computer, i was generalising about the pros and cons of both mac and pc, the mac os is far far better than windows 7 and it is much easier to use and understand, i also have a pc laptop which is crap.
Click to expand...
You don't have to use Windows on a PC - there are other operating systems - Linux runs on a PC and is a closer relative of Mac OS than it is Windows.

You don't have to run Mac OS on a Mac - both Windows and Linux will work on a Mac.

My laptop came with Windows pre-installed but I often run it with Linux booted from a USB memory stick.

The OP wants an SSD system disk - do Macs come with them or are they a 'user mod' only option?
 
I bought my laptop from the Argos outlet store on ebay - refurbished but you wouldn't guess it wasn't brand new either by the product or the packaging. My brother-in-law bought one from them too - same experience. I get the impression that they are hardly-used returns (wrong colour, change-of-heart - who knows?). A lot cheaper than the same spec brand new - the savings could be put to an SSD drive or software, maybe.
 
callumduff said:
i wasn't talking just about my computer, i was generalising about the pros and cons of both mac and pc, the mac os is far far better than windows 7 and it is much easier to use and understand, i also have a pc laptop which is crap.
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That's a very subjective viewpoint.

Let's just say I don't agree with it ;)
 
weybourne said:
You don't have to use Windows on a PC - there are other operating systems - Linux runs on a PC and is a closer relative of Mac OS than it is Windows.

You don't have to run Mac OS on a Mac - both Windows and Linux will work on a Mac.

My laptop came with Windows pre-installed but I often run it with Linux booted from a USB memory stick.

Linux will run much smooth from hard drive

The OP wants an SSD system disk - do Macs come with them or are they a 'user mod' only option?
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'Air' and 'retina' come with ssd as standard. The older pro models have ssd as an option but the sensible way is to replace it yourself - a lot cheaper.
 
daugirdas said:
Linux will run much smooth from hard drive
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Yeah I agree - but because of one reason and another (including keeping the 'Win7 recovery partition' and finding Win7 a pita when trying to repartition and move the MBR), I decided to keep Win7 on the laptop without dual boot. All in all though, once loaded into (4Gb of) memory, Linux still runs smoother than Win7 from the hard drive ;)

P.S. - my bootable memory sticks are persistent (I have a few with different distros on) - so I can install programmes and save settings, documents etc.
 
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The only problem with Linux is if you start adding/removing programs you will, at some point, get into a race condition where program A needs v 1 of program B but program C need v 2 of program B which is incompatible with program A.

The best *nix distribution I've come across is FreeBSD which uses self-compiled ports to install software ensuring compatibility. Not only does it have the best filesystem known to man (ZFS), it appears to be the most reliable OS I've come across. It may not be 100% cutting edge, but it is in use in a load of high-reliability serves across the world. And whilst I have an intense dislike of Apples dumbing down of the UI experience, OS-X is derived from FreeBSD so it can't all be bad ;)........
 
arad85 said:
The only problem with Linux is if you start adding/removing programs you will, at some point, get into a race condition where program A needs v 1 of program B but program C need v 2 of program B which is incompatible with program A.
Click to expand...

Debian (and ubuntu) sorted that out with dpkg some 10 years ago. There is no reason why you can't statically link libraries if you really need to.

P.S. It is about time Adobe released Lightroom and few other pro apps for linux. Most other software has been there for ages. This forced me to mac.
 
daugirdas said:
Debian (and ubuntu) sorted that out with dpkg some 10 years ago. There is no reason why you can't statically link libraries if you really need to.
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Really? That may be the case if you stick to official ppas, but venture off the beaten track and you'll come a cropper - which happens if you want bleeding edge stuff. Statically linking libraries involves getting source and compiling which many are reluctant to do. FreeBSDs ports effectively make that very easy as the notion of compilation is inbuilt to installing.

Don't get me wrong. I have 5 Win 7, 3 Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, 2 FreeBSD and 1 XP machines here (all in pretty much daily use).... I don't exclude OS's because I don't like them, but I do use the right tool for the right job which is totally different ;).
 
arad85 said:
The only problem with Linux is if you start adding/removing programs you will, at some point, get into a race condition where program A needs v 1 of program B but program C need v 2 of program B which is incompatible with program A.
Click to expand...
In my limited experience and knowledge,, compatibility is much more of a problem with Windows software where developers often work in isolation and at odds with each other - keeping their code closed so that integrated solutions are much more elusive - that and programmes overwriting different versions of dll files (which themselves can pose a security risk) on install/update. That and what daugirdas said.

I'll have to take a look at FreeBSD.

But we're getting dangerously off-topic now.

Back to the OP - if you do get a Mac and are worried about software - there is a lot of free-of-charge Free software that'll work on a Mac - such as Libreoffice office suite and Gimp Image Manipulation Program.
 
weybourne said:
You don't have to use Windows on a PC - there are other operating systems - Linux runs on a PC and is a closer relative of Mac OS than it is Windows.

You don't have to run Mac OS on a Mac - both Windows and Linux will work on a Mac.
Click to expand...

i am well aware of that, i also run windows on my mac of school purposes. so i can use PowerPoint.
 
Amp34 said:
Without starting off the Mac/windows argument you're wrong... They are both different, one is certainly not best for all (you may have personal preference however).

I like (and have) both, both can be frustrating and both can be very good. I still don't understand the whole "macs are better for photos/video/creative things" however...

My first question when someone says their "pc laptop"(:cuckoo:...I guess you mean windows laptop) is "how much did you pay for it?". Less than £1k and you can't really compare it to a +£1k device can you?

My Gee Wizz is crap compared to my 3 Series BMW...;)

OP, the best bet for that budget is to have a look at the Dell Outlet, ether the 15z or one of the business laptops (latitudes).
Click to expand...

firstly, yes pc does mean it runs windows. secondly, i have a dell latitude, it didn't work for very long, thanks to the hard drive breaking. thirdly, to answer your query about "macs are better for photos/video/creative things" i suppose that it down to professional apps like, final cut pro for video, logic pro for music.
 
callumduff said:
firstly, yes pc does mean it runs windows. secondly, i have a dell latitude, it didn't work for very long, thanks to the hard drive breaking. thirdly, to answer your query about "macs are better for photos/video/creative things" i suppose that it down to professional apps like, final cut pro for video, logic pro for music.
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hard drives, like shutters can fail after day 1 or day 10,000. if you think apple use magic hard drives that are longer lasting then youre wrong. (incidentally we've got lattitudes here that have outlasted some of our macbook pros.. go figure)

apps that are only available on OSX, fine. but for image editing neither platform is "better".
 
I needed a new laptop recently and after going around in circles for weeks ended up getting one from this guy on e-bay. I also wanted it for editing as cannot use a desktop. Very helpful if you ring them for advice (and will try and steer you away from a more expensive machine if they think it exceeds your stated needs !! ) I have had it a while now and needed a copy of the invoice as had lost mine so emailed them and got it by return - not a big customer service problem but was impressed all the same.
 
neil_g said:
hard drives, like shutters can fail after day 1 or day 10,000. if you think apple use magic hard drives that are longer lasting then youre wrong. (incidentally we've got lattitudes here that have outlasted some of our macbook pros.. go figure)

apps that are only available on OSX, fine. but for image editing neither platform is "better".
Click to expand...

i don't use photo editing software so i wouldn't know.
 
callumduff said:
firstly, yes pc does mean it runs windows. secondly, i have a dell latitude, it didn't work for very long, thanks to the hard drive breaking. thirdly, to answer your query about "macs are better for photos/video/creative things" i suppose that it down to professional apps like, final cut pro for video, logic pro for music.
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer ... ;)

A HDD breaking? So absolutely nothing to do with Windows then and absolutely everything to do with the shared hardware. So open it up and see whether WD or Seagate made the disk. Either way it is probably the same one as those in Macbooks.

Thirdly it all depends on what software you want to use, like Aperture on OSX. Plenty of other people use windows only software but we'll let people who actually use that answer it, or just stay on topic... ;)
 
callumduff - in response to "when someone says their "pc laptop"(...I guess you mean windows laptop)" said:
firstly, yes pc does mean it runs windows.
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My pc is, by all commonly accepted definitions, a pc but it has never run Windows and never will - in the context above, pc does not mean 'it run windows'; the clarification by Amp34 was valid and considering your statement that you run Windows on your Mac, I fail to understand your insistence that pc means Windows and that when generalising about the pros and cons of both mac and pc you take that to mean commercial operating systems and not hardware:
callumduff said:
i also run windows on my mac of school purposes
Click to expand...
callumduff said:
i was generalising about the pros and cons of both mac and pc, the mac os is far far better than windows 7 and it is much easier to use and understand, i also have a pc laptop which is crap
Click to expand...

There seems to be some inconsistency to your statements.
 
ok, i was not aware that pc does not mean that it runs windows.
 
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