Help me buy a laptop

wyogirl

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ok folks-- my main editing computer is s desktop. This is where I do any and all REAL edits.
What I need is a laptop to take to workshops and the occasional presentation. I need it to run Lightroom and Photoshop but it doesn't have to be top of the line because I'm not using it for real work-- just classroom stuff.

I want to spend as little as possible and still run those programs. Is 4gb ram enough? How fast does the processor need to be??
 
I am on a 2009 MacBook Pro with 4G and it does fine with LR, though I have not done anything really intensive with PS.
 
Quad core i5 or i7 Intel 3rd gen and up are excellent. 8 gigs of ram is pretty standard these day. SSD drives make things great as well.

If your good with pre-owned. This is a great way to save money and get quality hardware. I have been recommending this place for years and never had one person complain. Smoking deal on the T430 and W530. They are built like tanks and very reliable.

IBM Store ICUE B2B - Used laptops — certified by IBM - United States
 
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If you're looking for something not to do "work" (i.e.: processing) on, but to use for displays, then I assume you can hook up to a projector. In which case screen size isn't critical. In which case, weight probably matters more (b/c you want to be able to throw this in to a big purse or a small messenger bag). Look at an iPad or a MacAir. And I'd still go for 8gb of RAM....you may want to display streaming video, or you don't want it to lock up during a presentation.
 
It would be best to state things like the price range, desired weight, screen size, screen resolution and quality (some laptops have such bad quality screens that lightroom is pretty pointless), etc.

Any laptop with 4GB of RAM is likely running on budget hardware. 8GB is a standard. I just upgraded my desktop RAM from 8GB to 16GB because I needed more (if I was just using Lightroom or Photoshop alone, then 8GB would be fine).
 
You can run photoshop on some pretty old hardware, I think there minimum requirement is something like a dual core processor and 2 gb of ram.

I'd probably look for something like an I3 with at least 4 gig of ram myself, as far as price vrs performance it's pretty decent.
 

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