Laptop Specification for Lightroom Performance

[stuart]

I need to replace my laptop and seem to be faced with a million possible configurations.

So, I would like some advice from mobile Lightroom users on how I should prioritize the specifications in terms of what should I invest in first in order to maximize performance in Lightroom V2.0 in terms of speed and function.   I don’t need specific make/model recommendations as technology moves forward so fast.

This laptop is not my primary machine for Lightroom/CS3 and is used for on-the-road storage, backup to external drive, selection edit, slideshow and limited development work so I don’t want to spend a fortune getting everything (and having it weigh 10lbs).  I don't intend printing from this machine.

My starting position is 4Gb of ram and 320Gb HD and a 15.4” screen to fit in my camera bag.  I’m currently seeing 2.0Ghz/667Mhz and 2Mb L2 Cache as the baseline.   Moving on from there, my “investment” choices seem to be:

Performance
Processor Speed
Bus Speed
Cache

 Which of these is most important to Lightroom performance.   Newer chips can have a slightly slower clock speed but faster/bigger bus speed and caches.

Screen Resolution – Most seem to be 1280 * 800  but I could spring for 1440 or 1600 or 1920.   Functional improvement?

Screen size – Would a move to 17” pay dividends despite the need to buy yet another camera bag (and have two laptop/camera bags become purely camera bags)

Hard disk – most seem to be 5,400rpm but should I go for 7,200rpm.  Is LR hard disk intensive.

Video ram – Does an increase from 256Mb dedicated to 384Mb+ buy me anything?

Firewire – not all machines come with Firewire (although I could add an Expresscard) – considering I’m backing up CF/SD cards, does Firewire offer  tangible benefits

Memory – A need to move to 8Gb?

64 bit v 32 bit – the standard seems to be 64 bit – any concerns with regard to drivers?

Colour Management – any particular concerns with any of the standard pc screens from Dell/HP, etc. that I should consider


I’m sure there are other factors that I haven’t thought about but would be interested in your thoughts of which options are worth spending some additional money on.  

Thanks

[skipc]

the quantity of images in your local disk catalog may be the determinate. also, 4th quarter rumors may be appealing [ maybe latter for a mac : ]

i run a 15" MacBook Pro (latest) 4Gb RAM (chosen for 1440x900, 800MHz bus, pci express slot, fw 800, and 512Mb video) which has been adequate to task to the extent that i have since sold my muscular desktop box. IMHO 15" 1440 is about the sweetspot for mobile imaging in Lightroom. my "by year" catalogs are stored on external 3.5" 7200rpm disks in a fw 800 enclosure (icydock screwless) and i use a lacie fw 800 rugged for travel card dumps.

[Bill J]

Screen size – Would a move to 17” pay dividends despite the need to buy yet another camera bag (and have two laptop/camera bags become purely camera bags)

Hard disk – most seem to be 5,400rpm but should I go for 7,200rpm.  Is LR hard disk intensive.

...

Colour Management – any particular concerns with any of the standard pc screens from Dell/HP, etc. that I should consider
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Touching on a few of these points...

A widescreen monitor is the only way to go with Lightroom! As for the display itself, the next time I buy a laptop, I will make note of the particular type of TFT technology used: TN+film, IPS, MVA, PVA (see WikiPedia). My laptop screen is OK for most use, but I've noticed the same color patch at the top of the screen looks different when it's at the bottom of the screen. The screen is probably the TN+film type, known for limited vertical viewing area. I can use Lightroom and Photoshop in the field OK and I can make mostly proper adjustments, but a better type TFT would help.

Regarding 5400 vs. 7200 RPM, you might have to make a trade-off between available capacity of the hard drive, spin rate, and cost. I would go for higher capacity. I nearly filled 200 GB in less than two weeks in Alaska.

Bill

[santa]

what laptops have 8gb of ram as an option?

LR will be helped by having 4gb of ram but probably not more for the average user. A fast drive will definitely be helpful when LR is writing XMP files and importing images and such so I'd get the fastest internal I could.

[madmanchan]

Your best bet is to get a laptop with a fast disk. In practice, most uses of LR are limited in performance by the disk.

[bduke]

I think it depends on what you want your lap top to do.  If you expect it to work as fast as a desktop, then it needs the fastest components.  If you plan on using it as a storage unit while on the trip, and then do your serious editing back on a desktop, you can go with some of the slower components.

I use my notebook for everything, so it has the fastest notebook drive, the most memory that Vista Pro 32 bit will use, etc.  I should have spent the extra money on the top processor, but I did not.  With any luck, I might be able to upgrade it.

One of the issues you mentioned is disk space.  I'd suggest getting the largest 7200 rpm drive you can find.  Drives are easy to upgrade, so i expect to upgrade mine in the next year.  I'm still waiting for that 7200 rpm 1 TB drive  :-).  Don't forget to bring an external back-up device of some sort.

[stuart]

Thanks for the useful feedback.   The general consensus seems to be that drive speed is an important factor followed by screen size/type.   I’ve been looking at the various Dell models and to get the 7200 RPM puts you more into the business models (Precision) which also provide the option to go to 8Gb of RAM (to answer Santa’s question).

For the screen, does anybody have any comments on the LED displays that are an option on the Dell laptops?  For reference, I’m looking at the M4400 at the moment.


Thanks

Stuart

[Photo Op]

.......and to get the 7200 RPM puts you more into the business models (Precision) which also provide the option to go to 8Gb of RAM (to answer Santa’s question).

Stuart
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Good choices, but plan on keeping LR catalog and photos on an external HD (also w\7200 rpm). LR is disk intensive. IMO, the LR application will tax your internal HS, even at 7200 RPM. Keeping your application, cache and catalog on the same drive will cause slowdown on intensive adjustment tasks.