laptop for photo editing

[denada]

hi all.

my 2011 macbook air no longer cuts it. what should i get instead? i'm not tied to mac and am not interested in their newer pros that do not include relevant ports. though i'd buy an older version if it was priced appropriately and not refurbished.

i would like ssd, preferably 1tb but .5 is fine if it saves me mass cash. a 15+ inch screen that can be color calibrated accurately is necessary.

my budget is around $2k, but i don't want to spend that much if what i need can be obtained for less.

thanks!

 

[vintagesnaps]

I have an HP (whatever, don't know the model offhand) with that screen size. I spent maybe a few hundred.

What I see on the back of my camera (digital that is, not one of my film cameras obviously) is what I see on the screen and what I see when I print (other than mostly some brightening up and adjusting contrast) so it works for me. I do minimal post so maybe what I use wouldn't work for someone else.

I got it at a local store with what I wanted on it, not the mass maket version of it with a bunch of stuff I wouldn't use. I can't see spending 2 thou on something that gets outdated as fast as technology does.

 

[smoke665]

Check out the HP Omen HP OMEN Gaming Laptop | HP® Official Site technically classified as a gaming computer, but it's a shoe in for photo editing. I bought one a few months ago with a 256GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Essentials are loaded on the the SSD so it boots up in seconds. Lr only slows down after you hit it with a ton of adjustment brushes. I use an external SSD as a scratch disk on with Ps so there's no slow down no matter how many layers you stack on. Depending on how you spec it out it'll come in far under your budget

 

[dxqcanada]

Since you liked the Apple MacBook Air enough to get one ... you can look at the Dell XPS 15 as a non-Apple substitute.
I have an XPS 13 (2015), and it is a great portable laptop ... but it depends on if you want to keep it small/light.

 

[Tailgunner]

I don't know about color calibration but I use a dual graphics card 16 GB 15" Macbook Pro. It handles Final Cut Pro X and CS6 well. The only time I have some kinda issue is stacking large amounts of images, time lapses, or rendering 45+ min movies...the movies is usually because the Final Cut files are super large at that point chewing through most of my storage. Anyhow, I picked it up new for $2,500 if I recall. This was several years ago and you maybe able to pick up one a hair cheaper but not sure.

 

[snowbear]

MLW just got me a Dell 7000 15" 2-in-1. It came with the 512GB SSD and I added a 2TB HDD (but I had to go with the shorter 42WH battery). It was around 1k from the local big box.

 

[greybeard]

I use a Dell inspiron 17 ", i7, w/16 gig mem and, 1tb SSD. It rocks even with 46mp files from my D850. Get the most memory with the fastest processor and video card with the biggest SSD you can afford.

 

[denada]

thanks all. after extensively reading reviews, focusing on the displays, i am reconsidering my stance against the macbook pro's ports. their retina screens have better color and grayscale accuracy (before and after profiling) than any of the pc 4k screens (in my budget). getting last year's model means i can get a 1tb ssd in my budget. going pc doesn't really save money, which is contrary to my impression before beginning this search. there are no 2015 macbook pros available unless you want a refurbished at ripoff prices.

macbook pro users ...

does the glossy screen mess you up for printing? i would think a matte screen would be better for printing?

i hate my 2011 air screen and cannot get the screen and prints to line up to save my life. some of this is pickiness, but i am extremely picky and that's not changing. that said, doesn't sound like comparing this screen to a recent macbook pro is meaningful?

do the dongles work ok for when you need as usb connection? cause screen quality doesn't matter if i can't hook it up to my printer, my external harddrives, and use it to charge my ereader.

thanks again

edit:

the other option is a Lenovo 15.6" ThinkPad P50 with the matte 4k screen. adobe rgb is 86 percent instead of apple's 91, but i'm not sure what practical difference that makes. i'd have to buy and install a 1tb ssd because the 256 it comes with won't cut it. the price ends up about the same. specs are slightly lesser in exchange for a matte screen and ports.

oh, or a dell precision 7520. despite claiming 100 percent adobe, reviews suggest 86 percent. same deal: slightly lesser processor specs than the mac in exchange for matte screen and ports.

 

[Dao]

I am not a Mac nor Apple user. However, if you are familiar with MacOS and work flow with Mac and own some software that works in Mac, I do not see why you need to switch to PC platform. After all, you are just using a tool you familiar and like to use and produce the result you want.

Processor speed /spec is important but in Photography, I do not think it make too much difference as long as it is not too far apart. I am still using a 2nd gen i5 processor with the old Lightroom 4. Most of the time, it is the computer waiting for me instead.

There is one computer I really like is the Microsoft Surface Studio. Last time I took my daughter to the Minecraft event at MS Store (MineCon) and we end up spend most of the time playing with that instead. It is really nice for Art work but at a very steep price.

 

[denada]

^looks awesome and steep indeed. the microsoft surface line was often mentioned in high regard when i was reading through reviews.

went with the 2017 macbook pro. applecare+ threw it beyond my budget and i usually don't go for extended warranties, but it's saved me before and my laptop travels.

hopefully i'll be able to preview tiffs before opening them in ps now. no more "disc space full" warnings every other day.

not sure if i'm allowed to link, but it's a good sale at b&h if any other mac users are in need of a new laptop.

thanks again, all. looked into every laptop mentioned.