Which laptop?

dbay

dbay

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Name
David Bayley
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I'm in the market for a new laptop to use perdomantly for photo editing. At the moment I'm using gimp2 but I'm also looking at lightroom for future use.

So I'm after some advice on what to look for to sort of future proof me on my needs, I'm not the most technically advanced on computers and when I look at the specs it more like gobledy goop than something I really understand.

I would prefer a smaller screen around 15" as when I'm at home I can multi screen it to the 25" hp monitor we have. Budget is 1k but would prefer it around the £600 mark if we can.

Thanks in advance :ty:
 
dbay said:
I'm in the market for a new laptop to use perdomantly for photo editing. At the moment I'm using gimp2 but I'm also looking at lightroom for future use.

So I'm after some advice on what to look for to sort of future proof me on my needs, I'm not the most technically advanced on computers and when I look at the specs it more like gobledy goop than something I really understand.

I would prefer a smaller screen around 15" as when I'm at home I can multi screen it to the 25" hp monitor we have. Budget is 1k but would prefer it around the £600 mark if we can.

Thanks in advance :ty:
Click to expand...
Dell xps 13
 
Lads, his budget is 1K max, lower preferable, All I can add is - DON'T get an Acer! Paid almost £1K for my 17" 4 years ago and had nothing but trouble with it, been to repairs more time than meself in that time :D
 
Cagey75 said:
Lads, his budget is 1K max, lower preferable, All I can add is - DON'T get an Acer! Paid almost £1K for my 17" 4 years ago and had nothing but trouble with it, been to repairs more time than meself in that time :D
Click to expand...
You can get a dell xps for that budget. Also now a surface pro 6
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. The Dell is a little out of reach at the moment and the surface pro would be limited on storage at my budget I think. I'll see what the Xmas sales bring into my price range.
 
dbay said:
Thanks for the advice everyone. The Dell is a little out of reach at the moment and the surface pro would be limited on storage at my budget I think. I'll see what the Xmas sales bring into my price range.
Click to expand...

Try the Dell outlet.
 
When you say about 15", does that include up to 15.6", which the most common size, and where the value for money is because of that, or something smaller? The reason I ask is firstly for clarification, and secondly, from my experience, I have had two 15.6" and eventually found them a bit heavy, especially when travelling abroad. But as I said you get better value with 15.6" laptops because they are more common, have more space to play with, and have more component options, especially for screens, but at the cost of size and weight.

So for my current laptop I went for a 14" laptop which I customised from a Novatech base model. They don't seem to be doing something similar to what I got atm. So I went over to PCSpecialist, where I got my first laptop many years ago and configured one there. Compared to mine, this has a faster processor, (i7 v i5) slightly larger SSD, (512Gb v 256Gb) twice as much RAM, (16Gb v 8Gb) and faster 2nd 1Tb HD (7200rpm v 5400rpm) than the one I got about 2 years ago from Novatech. It is a very similar case, though this one has a USB3.1 connection which mine does not have. At the time mine was £560, (though I got one with no Operating System) all the spec below is £820, which for the improvements over the one I have seems good value.

Saying that you could get specs similar to mine and save money, as my laptop has no problems with Lr on the rare occasions I use it, or Photoshop which I use more often, but if you want to futureproof yourself below should keep you going for awhile. My 2 year old spec is still fast enough for me. Be aware that the smaller size laptops generally don't have space for an internal CD/DVD if that is important.

Chassis & Display
UltraNote Series: 14" Matte Full HD IPS 60 Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor i7-8550U (1.80GHz, 4.0GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB ADATA SU800 M.2 2280 (560 MB/R, 520 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 40W AC Adaptor
Battery
UltraNote IV Series 44WH Lithium Ion Battery
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Sound Card
Realtek 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0
USB Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
14" ULTRANOTE III SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
 
redhed17 said:
When you say about 15", does that include up to 15.6", which the most common size, and where the value for money is because of that, or something smaller? The reason I ask is firstly for clarification, and secondly, from my experience, I have had two 15.6" and eventually found them a bit heavy, especially when travelling abroad. But as I said you get better value with 15.6" laptops because they are more common, have more space to play with, and have more component options, especially for screens, but at the cost of size and weight.

So for my current laptop I went for a 14" laptop which I customised from a Novatech base model. They don't seem to be doing something similar to what I got atm. So I went over to PCSpecialist, where I got my first laptop many years ago and configured one there. Compared to mine, this has a faster processor, (i7 v i5) slightly larger SSD, (512Gb v 256Gb) twice as much RAM, (16Gb v 8Gb) and faster 2nd 1Tb HD (7200rpm v 5400rpm) than the one I got about 2 years ago from Novatech. It is a very similar case, though this one has a USB3.1 connection which mine does not have. At the time mine was £560, (though I got one with no Operating System) all the spec below is £820, which for the improvements over the one I have seems good value.

Saying that you could get specs similar to mine and save money, as my laptop has no problems with Lr on the rare occasions I use it, or Photoshop which I use more often, but if you want to futureproof yourself below should keep you going for awhile. My 2 year old spec is still fast enough for me. Be aware that the smaller size laptops generally don't have space for an internal CD/DVD if that is important.

Chassis & Display
UltraNote Series: 14" Matte Full HD IPS 60 Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor i7-8550U (1.80GHz, 4.0GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB ADATA SU800 M.2 2280 (560 MB/R, 520 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor
1 x 40W AC Adaptor
Battery
UltraNote IV Series 44WH Lithium Ion Battery
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Sound Card
Realtek 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-9260 M.2 (1.73Gbps, 802.11AC) +BT 5.0
USB Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
14" ULTRANOTE III SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Click to expand...

The size isn't really important to be honest, the smaller the better as I've had big laptops and as you say they are heavy and cumbersome. I like the spec of yours and may have to look in to novatech as that seems like a good deal in my eyes from what I do understand of the build specs.
 
dbay said:
The size isn't really important to be honest, the smaller the better as I've had big laptops and as you say they are heavy and cumbersome. I like the spec of yours and may have to look in to novatech as that seems like a good deal in my eyes from what I do understand of the build specs.
Click to expand...
I got mine from Novatech, but the specs for a laptop I posted above are from PCSpecialist. Novatech didn't seem to have anything suitable atm. There are many options to choose from on the PCSpecialist configurator to get what you want.
 
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