Suggestion for a good laptop

iluvphotography

TPF Noob!
Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
132
Reaction score
0
Location
Vancouver, Canada
Can others edit my Photos
Photos OK to edit
I am planning to buy a new laptop as my old one is getting painfully slow. Any suggestion on what i should look for in a laptop if I want to do lots of photo processing?

BTW. I am not a Mac person
 
If you want to do lots of photo processing....get a desktop...or at least a high quality IPS monitor that will stay in a consistent location that is suitable for photo/color editing.

A photographer I work with, was recently blabbering on about a Lenovo Laptop that he wants to get. It might have been this one ThinkPad X230t Convertible Laptop | Lenovo | Lenovo (CA)
Small, powerful, IPS touch screen with stylus, reversible screen so you can basically use it like a tablet.
 
Camera Raw, Photoshop, and Lightroom depend on your display being calibrated if you hope to have your images accurately rendered on it.
Display calibration is a critical aspect of color management and image editing.

Because display calibration has to be redone if the ambient light falling on the display changes is why Mike recommended editing on an external display that always has the same ambient light falling on it.

It's OK if you don't mind re-calibrating a laptop every time you use it in different ambient light. A real trick with a laptop is also getting the display at the same angle to the keyboard because variance in that angle also changes the amount of ambient light falling on the display.

Even desktop displays have to be re-calibrated routinely to account for the display aging. So even if the ambient light doesn't change, re-calibration should be done every 2 to 4 weeks.

The only accurate way to calibrate a display is with a colorimeter (displays only) or a spectrophotometer (displays, projectors, printers, scanners).
A highly recommended colorimeter - X-Rite EODIS3 i1Display Pro
A highly recommended spectrophotometer - X-Rite CMUNPH ColorMunki Photo

Tutorials on Color Management & Printing
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
I wasn't a mac person until I got a mac due to it being the only laptop that had the spec i needed (software development multi VM images). I have a macbook retina pro 2.7Ghz with 16GB ram and its absolutely flies! There is no slow down at all processing any size photos and I would recommend switching to a mac to anyone.
 
With Mac I guess I just have to get used to it.. Could I use Photoshop and Lightroom on Mac or I have to get Apreture?

As the space is an issue in my place, I can only use laptop but based on recommendations, I will use external monitor. And then the whole issue about calibration of the screen that I didn't even know.. Thanks KmH.
 
With Mac I guess I just have to get used to it.. Could I use Photoshop and Lightroom on Mac or I have to get Apreture?
You can absolutely use any Adobe software on a Mac.
 
I do lots of photo processing on the desktop and quite a bit on the laptop. My laptop is a 18" 6core i7 with 12gig Ram and SSD c: drive and 1tb secondary. Works well. 1920 by 1024 ? Screen. Alienware makes one. Not cheap, but great machine. Mine is a Toshiba, they syopped making them I think. Weighs about 20lbs... Well maybe not that much.

But my 6 core 16gig, SSD, 6 TB tower with 30" monitors is better. Remember don't worry about a accelerated video card, Lightroom doesn't support it. Get the fastest i7 multicore you can afford... It's fast drives, muscular CPU, and lots of memory that make things snappy.

JD
 
Whenever I replace my desktop or laptop, I go with the fastest whiz-bang high-end gaming rig I can find. They can handle anything you throw at them, with speed to spare, and they don't need to be replaced for quite a few years before the specs don't meet the requirements of the latest software.

On the laptops, I use a calibrated external display whenever I want to do photo editing on it, and it's all good. I very much prefer my desktop machines though. The laptops are used for their portability.
 
After your purchase, take your old machine and install Linux on it. It will fly like it once did. You can then use it for worry-free internet surfing because it will be immune to Windows viruses. No need for any antivirus software on a Linux machine.

Main Page - Linux Mint Something in the Mint family would be a good choice.
 
Asus G46v series have a lot to offer.
 
I am planning to buy a new laptop as my old one is getting painfully slow. Any suggestion on what i should look for in a laptop if I want to do lots of photo processing?

BTW. I am not a Mac person

The best laptop for photo editing is a desk top. As people have pointed out laptops are not ideal for editing. While there are times I use my MBP when necessary to edit, I always go back, check and re-edit them on my iMac since I keep it calibrated with a ColorMunki.
 
I would go with a high end Dell. They have the IPS screen, but the downside is they come with a price tag similar to the MacBook pros and higher.
 

Most reactions

New Topics

Back
Top