Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Beginner's Questions => Topic started by: Sylvia Renick on November 27, 2015, 11:50:00 am
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I am looking for recommendations on best non-apple laptops for photo editing. Thank-you!
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I was quite happy with my old Sager that lasted about 6-7 years. It had a 17" (4:3 ratio) screen back then and ran at 3.2 Ghz too so it was and still is pretty powerful for that era and now. Plus, it was about the only notebook that could burn and read a Blu-Ray disk back then too if I wanted to do video work. The newer computers with 17-18 inch screens seem more 16:9 wide-screen TV style. They are an era ahead of most all general consumption computers, imho.
The Sagers aren't cheap though and can max out out $7K or more depending on how you want it built. They are more like a desktop replacement than a laptop/notebook. Heavy too for all they can cram into them. Sager Notebooks (http://www.sagernotebook.com/Notebook-NP9775.html) This place has others: PowerNotebooks (http://www.powernotebooks.com/gaming-multimedia/)
Some of the upper-tier gamer notebooks (e.g. MSI, Razer, Falcon, Asus, and before Dell took over Alienware) sold in the brick-and-mortar stores have nice graphics with a lot of RAM and solid state drives that boot pretty quick. Most of the top levels are built by Clevo in China who also builds a lot of lower-tier laptops too. Personally, I have some issues with some gamer drivers that interfered with calibration hardware and software. I'm still having issues with Windows 10 Home in a new MSI too, but seems it might be the pre-installed software and its removal that is causing directory issues too with Windows 10 Home.
Good luck!
SG
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I am looking for recommendations on best non-apple laptops for photo editing. Thank-you!
None.
At the risk of being flamed, you get much better value with a MacBook Pro. That is why the majority of professionals use them. My 2010 MBP is still going strong and will run the latest OS. What PC will support the last 6 or so operating systems?
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That is why the majority of professionals use them.
Where does that factoid come from? In my experience, the opposite is true.
But to go back to Sylvia's question, are you sure that you want a laptop? I know that some folk may have reasons for not being able to use a desktop PC but I have never understood how any meaningful photo-processing can be undertaken on a laptop.
If you do have a good reason for needing a laptop, I would suggest that you also budget for a good quality monitor to plug into it and, in this case, the choice of monitor may be more important than the choice of laptop brand or model.
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Where does that factoid come from? In my experience, the opposite is true.
But to go back to Sylvia's question, are you sure that you want a laptop? I know that some folk may have reasons for not being able to use a desktop PC but I have never understood how any meaningful photo-processing can be undertaken on a laptop.
If you do have a good reason for needing a laptop, I would suggest that you also budget for a good quality monitor to plug into it and, in this case, the choice of monitor may be more important than the choice of laptop brand or model.
Not to go into a Mac versus PC discussion, but relating to the editing on a laptop comment. I use a single machine, the MacBook Pro 15, 2.8Ghz, 16GB RAM, 1 TB SSD and in my office I have a 4K 32" (Dell UP3214Q) monitor. I use 95%+ Lightroom and also Photoshop at times. This works very well. I travel a lot and two machines is just a nightmare ;) But a high-end laptop can be used for photo editing like mine. Dell makes some highend laptops that should work as well as the MacBook Pro's. The MacBook Pro also runs Windows nicely if need be. Either as a virtual machine or as a second (or only) boot. Lightroom on anything than a high-end laptop I would not suggest.
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Not to go into a Mac versus PC discussion, but relating to the editing on a laptop comment. I use a single machine, the MacBook Pro 15, 2.8Ghz, 16GB RAM, 1 TB SSD and in my office I have a 4K 32" (Dell UP3214Q) monitor. I use 95%+ Lightroom and also Photoshop at times. This works very well. I travel a lot and two machines is just a nightmare ;) But a high-end laptop can be used for photo editing like mine. Dell makes some highend laptops that should work as well as the MacBook Pro's. The MacBook Pro also runs Windows nicely if need be. Either as a virtual machine or as a second (or only) boot. Lightroom on anything than a high-end laptop I would not suggest.
Funny, I run Lightroom just fine on an older Samsung (Core I5, 8GB RAM). Albeit, I am working on either 30(ish) MP scans of film or 16MP digital files, so mileage may vary for bigger files.
In all honesty, the Mac vs PC debate is total BS from a photography standpoint, they both work equally well. Some people just have a preference one way or the other. And for the record I run both, but that is more for development reasons than photography.
As for the OP's question, I would personally look at HP, Asus and Lenovo. The quality of the screen is a huge factor if you won't be running an external monitor, so look for ones with highly rated screens, and make sure it has a dedicated video card. 8GB RAM minimum (although the more the merrier) and an SSD is prefered. I also think you should account for lifestyle choices as much as hardware choices. Do you want thin and light or larger and more versatile?
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I am looking for recommendations on best non-apple laptops for photo editing. Thank-you!
if you look for desktop replacements (desktop CPU, desktop chipset, up to 64 GB ram - that is if find 16gb notebook memory sodimms, options to get high end Quadro GPUs or dual GPUs for raw converters that now can use them) then manufacturers like Clevo (or it's distributor - Sager) are good choices (resellers in USA for example = http://xoticpc.com - those are getting through Sager or http://www.pro-star.com/ - those get directly from Clevo)... if you looke for a slick one to sit in StarBucks then it is a different story
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At the risk of being flamed, you get much better value with a MacBook Pro.
you can - Macbook Pros simply can't have the kind of hardware (CPU, GPU, RAM, number or SSD/HDD inside) that you can get in PC notebooks (which then can be with some effort and ignoring EULA made to run OSX... if you want OSX) for less money... now if you value is to have a slick shiny thin piece of aluminum that is again another story
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Good point. Ask the guy in the PC shop if he would demonstrate sitting on it.
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Good point. Ask the guy in the PC shop if he would demonstrate sitting on it.
good point indeed - some notebooks are good to sit with them or on them and some to do the work ;D ...
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Good point. Ask the guy in the PC shop if he would demonstrate sitting on it.
If you intend on sitting on yours on a regular basis, may I suggest the Panasonic Toughbook? ;)
Panasonic Toughbook (http://business.panasonic.com/toughpad/us/best-rugged-tablet.html?sc_mc=sem_google-search_cov_toughbooks_brand)
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Panasonic Toughbook? ;)
A 10" display and it weighs 5.1 lbs?
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A 10" display and it weighs 5.1 lbs?
Well, it would withstand my fat self sitting on it. And hey, it has a tablet mode, let's see your MacBook do that!
(And in all fairness, you do know I am completely joking, right?)
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I have learned (importance in this order):
- use a profiled monitor, not the one of the laptop
- at least 16GB RAM (8 to 16 is a big difference, 16 to 32 is almost no difference)
- work only on (fast) SSDs, you can archive anything on SATAs after work is done
- a good grafic card. no need for the workstation cards (Quadro M4000M), those for gaming are perfect (GeForce GT 960M)
- a good processor, eg. Intel-Core i7-47xx
- seperate the SSDs for windows, files and program-workspace
The easiest way is to buy a gaming laptop. Gamers need better processors and less RAM, but as these two components are not expensive, so you'll get both anyway.
I have a Schenker XMG P505 15'' with 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD (windows), 256GB SSD (files, when finished I move anything on my network-server), 128GB SSD (program-workspace), GT970M, i7-4720 and it is 2.5kg. I paid around 1600$ half a year ago (it was a special price and a special currency situation, normaly it would be a little less than 2000$) and I can upgrade/replace any of these components very easily by my own (barebone laptop). To the MACvsPC section: Hard to beat that with a MAC. :)
Of course you can take one with 16GB, midrange grafic card, i5-processor and just one 256GB SSD and will be happy too (for around 1000-1200$). On the seperate monitor I would not save any money.
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Sylvia,
I would first want to determine what your budget is for the laptop.
If you can provide a ballpark on what you are willing to spend it will narrow down the options.
Fred
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http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1411660
I use a previous model of the Asus Rog also with SSD hdrives, and 24 GB of memory...profile the monitor...the only drawback is this laptop is large (17 inch screen) and heavy (7lbs in total weight). It is a gamer's laptop - so is designed to be fast and the extra memory is a bonus.
That price is a good one if you are not on the move with your laptop often
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I am looking for recommendations on best non-apple laptops for photo editing. Thank-you!
I used a few times a HP ProBook 13" model. It wasn't the fastest, but it was good enough to use Lightroom CC on 16MP and 10MP files, along with filters and brushes. The screen was surprisingly good for the size (only used it in interiors, though).
I've heard really good things about bigger (15 and 17 inch) models of HP EliteBooks, but look for the workstation models that have the higher resolution screens.
Keep in mind that no laptop screen is as good as a profiled Eizo, not even close, but the highest end models usually have screens good enough if you don't need perfect color accuracy. You can (and should) profile them to get the most out of them, even if you get a MacBook.
What PC will support the last 6 or so operating systems?
If we go back 6 versions of Windows we get: 10, 8 and 8.1, 7, Vista, XP, 2000. While you may be able to install Windows 10 on a PC from 2000, I doubt it would run as well as on hardware from 2010. You can't compare the slow release cycle of Windows OS with the faster paced OSX.