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Author Topic: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 (or clamshell) notebooks for editing  (Read 9316 times)

nemophoto

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #20 on: May 17, 2018, 09:48:51 pm »

Had the XPS 15 notebook for 2 weeks. Old Sony vaio 8 gb laptop and dell all in one 8gb desktop really bogged down with newest lr/ps cc update. Got 4 k with 32gb. Pricey but really a screamer. Slave it to desktop monitor but may just upgrade to solo monitor. High memory stuff like hdr and panos no problems at all. So far extremely happy with the upgrade. Routine optimization in lr and photoshop instantaneous.

So, Is that the XPS 15 2-in-1, or the older XPS 15 (2017). The new XPS 15 isn't being released until May 22, I thought I read.

I've owned several Asus notebooks and always been really happy with them. I seriously thought about the ZenBook Pro 15, but then realized a whole slew of new notebooks were being released based on the newer CPUs. I just came across the ZenBook update. It sounds good. The new i9-8750H hex core, nut even better, the UHD screen is 100% AdobeRGB. I'm glad I delayed getting a new laptop. Now I think I'm still between the XPS 2-in-1 and the yet to be released ZenBook.

https://www.asus.com/Laptops/ASUS-ZenBook-Pro-15-UX550GE/
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mcbroomf

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #21 on: May 18, 2018, 07:26:08 am »

Ha choices ...

It looks like the Asus has the i9 8950HK rather than the i8750H.  Here's a comparison.  Prices not available but the i9 CPU's have had eye watering prices in desktops so not sure what the Asus will come in at.  It's also not a 2 in 1 so far as I could tell (?) so maybe a comparison to the New XPS 15 might be appropriate.  So far as I can tell (comparing 16GB versions) the adder to go to a 2 in 1 is $300 for the Dell but you can't configure the same CPU/GPU (and I think the 2 in 1 is better)
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i9-8950HK-vs-Intel-Core-i7-8750H/m486215vsm470418

If Sam's model is last years then that bodes well for the newer version with the i7-8k chip.
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mcbroomf

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #22 on: May 18, 2018, 07:44:41 am »

Found the cost of the i9 8950HK, $583, about $200 more than the i7 8750H ($395), so not nearly as big a difference as the i7 vs i9 desktop prices.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12607/intel-expands-8th-gen-core-core-i9-on-mobile-iris-plus-desktop-chipsets-and-vpro/2

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Jonathan Cross

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #23 on: May 20, 2018, 12:27:34 pm »

This is all very useful, but...  My existing windows laptop, admittedly about 6 years old, works well and has an early i7 processor but the screen is not good in that the view changes with angle, both side to side and up and down.  This means that the brightness and contrast vary according to how I tilt the screen.  What is the screen like on the machines? At the moment I am inclining to a Mac but am open to persuasion.
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Jonathan in UK

mcbroomf

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #24 on: May 22, 2018, 05:40:30 am »

Another entry to the 15" market, by Razer.  32GB RAM available (user replaceable), i7 8750H, GTX 1060 or GTX 1070 graphics card.  3 different screens with the 4k version having touch and 100% Adobe RGB

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/5/22/17378790/razer-blade-2018-update-bezels-15-inch-display-gaming-laptop-nvidia-max-q-redesign-intel
https://www.razer.com/comparisons/blade-15


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nemophoto

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #25 on: May 23, 2018, 06:28:31 pm »

Another entry to the 15" market, by Razer.  32GB RAM available (user replaceable), i7 8750H, GTX 1060 or GTX 1070 graphics card.  3 different screens with the 4k version having touch and 100% Adobe RGB

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/5/22/17378790/razer-blade-2018-update-bezels-15-inch-display-gaming-laptop-nvidia-max-q-redesign-intel
https://www.razer.com/comparisons/blade-15

It looks like whomever developed the 4K AdobeRGB screen is making a killing. Seems any company serious about wider color gamut has that screen. Except Apple. I think they are still mired in sRGB+.

Glad I decided to hold out for replacing my notebook till later in the summer. There’s an “embarrassment of riches” for PC notebooks coming out — powerful CPUs, powerful GPUs and AdobeRGB gamut.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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mcbroomf

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #26 on: August 01, 2018, 10:35:17 am »

To continue the discussion of photo editing on some of the new notebooks the XPS 15 I ordered last week (clamshell not 2 in 1) showed up yesterday. 
Dell XPS 15, i7 8750,  32GB (2666), 1TB NVMe and the 4k Infinity Edge screen (touch) with 4GB GTX 1050 Ti GPU.
Some observations so far;

30 mins or less to set up Win 10, LR and PS downloaded soon after.  No screen calibration yet and I only need a few more programs.  I won't load MS Office until I know I'm going to keep it.

This morning I went out for a couple of hours and took some photos to see how LR performs.  On Prime day I had bought a pair of 2TB Sandisk Exteme Portable SSD's.  Tiny, USB-3 and about $300 off at the time, so I plugged one of them into the TB3 port to copy the images onto (on all of my PC's I keep images on external drives and keep C pretty small).  Blue screen ... argh! ... restarted OK and has not repeated, so perhaps an issue invoking or finding the driver?  No idea.  I do have the 2nd one to try, but both have worked OK on my other PCs.  This has been the only issue I've seen so far.

I used LR to copy and import 225 images from 3 SD cards onto the Sandisk SSD.  The LR catalog was new, not from my desktop, and left on the C drive.  The files were a mix of 42mp files from two Sony A7R3's and 16mp from a Sony Nex 5R.  All imports went smoothly and nice and fast.  The laptop has an SD card reader on the side (also 2 USB 3 type A ports and one TB 3 and an HDMI), I'd guess the reader uses the USB 3 interface as imports were much faster than on my older desktop that had USB 2 and probably about the same speed as my newer desktop that has an external USB 3 card reader.

I processed a few straight images.  No lag that I noticed while moving sliders, then processed 3 HDR images from the 42mp files, one of them from 3 shots, 2 from 5 shots, then a 14 shot pano.  The previews came up fast, maybe not as fast as my desktop but way faster than my old one that had an i7 4790/32GB.  Once I OK'd it the processing of the files to a dng was also very fast.  Sorry I have no measurements but even the 14 file pano was quick.  No time to get to the kitchen to start a cup of coffee, let alone sit and drink. 

In every case the fan kicked on almost as soon as the CPU got to work, although it turned off or down once the files were processed.  It's not a quiet fan.  I had the laptop on a counter so I don't know how hot it was and didn't think to check, but considering how fast the images processed I doubt it would have been uncomfortable if I'd had it on my lap.  When the processing was done the dng displayed quickly.  Something my old desktop would take a long time thinking about. 

When I turned on the Task Manager to look at the CPU I noticed that the system was using 17GB of memory.  Later I had the TM open when I started an HDR merge and saw it pop up to 20GB, then down to 18GB.  It stayed there even after everything was done.  When I closed LR it gave the memory back and use dropped down to 3.6GB (with no other programs open), and when I reopened LR use went up to 7.2GB. 

I never learned to type formally but I type fast (with loads of errors).  I think this keyboard might be a little worse than my XPS 13 (for my use that is), and also worse than the old type with big keys that I use on my desktop, but I think I'll get used to it.

No observations about the touchscreen.  I found that with the clamshell style I never really used it.  Also no comments on the touchpad.  I hate them and use a mouse.  Bluetooth mouse is working OK and wakes up properly with the computer, something that was always glitchy with my XPS13.

Next test is to do some lightpainting image processing to see how LR and PS work.  I'll have anything from 10-30 files (42mp) in LR that will move to PS then stack as layers.  Each will have a mask added so that I can erase areas that have too much light.  The final files range from ~5GB to 12GB so it looks like I'll need all of the 32GB I have, although once in PS I can shut down LR.
« Last Edit: August 01, 2018, 10:42:07 am by mcbroomf »
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mcbroomf

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #27 on: August 02, 2018, 02:05:16 pm »

I gave the laptop a workout with a couple of lightpainted images.   One 8 and the other 16 files (42mp) transferred from LR to PS, layered, blended by lighten mode and various masks made and adjustments to the files in ACR (they were loaded as smart objects).  Resulting files are 2.4 and 2.8GB (ended up deleting some layers in the larger one).  Saving the psb file took a couple of minutes (definitely a cup of coffee on my older systems) with no real slow downs while processing.  Opening all of the files in PS initially took some time as it still does even with my desktop, but nothing I'm concerned with. 

I generated the new lightpainted images from files I'd taken in June, so to get them into the Dell I removed the Sandisk SSD and copied a full set of 6 days worth of files, then imported them into the catalog I'd set up yesterday on the Dell.  I left them on the SSD so the Add import was almost instant.  I set it up for Standard Previews and no Smart Previews.  2022 files took 30 mins to create previews.  I don't know how long it would be on my desktop, I'll have to check.

Only bad news is that when I plugged the SSD back into the Dell it crashed again, although properly recognized and functional after the reboot.  I used the TB3 port again so I'll have to test it on one of the USB-A ports and also connect another USB-C drive dock to the TB3 port to see if it does the same.  The Sandisk drive on a TB3 port on my desktop is fine.  I'll contact Dell once I have a little more information.
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nemophoto

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #28 on: August 06, 2018, 10:40:24 am »

After some major screw ups with FedEx and the delivery of my XPS 15 2-in-1, I finally got it the early part of last week. Since it's not my primary computer, I've been taking my time getting it up and running. Initially, I thought of using PCMover or WinWin to transfer from my old laptop, but decided against that and am now goin through the laborious task of deactivating on the old/installing on the new all the software I usually run on my laptop (Adobe CC, Capture One, Photo Mechanic, and other -- biggest pain is all my plugins!).


A few observations first. The keyboard takes some getting used to. I'd read a number of reviews and it seems to be a love/hate kind of thing -- not unlike, apparently, the new Mac laptops. I'm not "naturally" a touch typist. I never really learned to touch type (I was always closed out of that course in school), and so type via a combo of hunt-and-peck and moderate touch (tactile memory as it were). So, my initial going has been a bit slow as I "relearn" the keyboard. The sensation isn't bad, but it's ironic that my iPad keyboard from Logitech as a bit more key travel! I thing I miss incredibly from my old Asus is the number pad. There's more than enough room to have installed that and wish that had been designed in. I do like the combo of traditional laptop and touch screen. I've used in in tablet mode a few times. Not bad. A MUCH bigger tablet than my iPad, heavier, but a nice experience. And speaking of weight, I'm somewhat surprised by the heft of the laptop. It's skinny but solid. The Dell is not that much heavier than my old Asus, which tipped the scales at around 5lbs.


The screen is pretty spectacular. I run it at about 75% brightness. I feel 100% is way to bright, and in a dim room I would be happy with 50%. Since much of my work goes to print, about 25-50% of the time, I end up working in CMYK. For proper pre-press, you traditionally don't work at super bright levels since it gives you an artificial sense of contrast not seen in print. My desktop is calibrated at at a level of 200, and this is way brighter than that. I have included screen shots of the calibration done with my Spyder5. As one can see, it isn't 100% AdobeRGB, but it damn close at 98%! My old notebook struggled to even get a full sRGB gamut. My NEC monitors on my desktop are also 98% aRGB gamut. The "out of the box" color and calibration are actually quite good -- I almost hesitated calibrating, but as it turned out, color was on the cool side, though not horrible (especially compared to some PCs I've seen. Part of me would still have loved the Pantone certified screen that will be in the 4K versions of the Gigabyte 15x v8 and the new Asus UX580GE.)

One weird thing that seems to go on, and I'm not sure what it's related to. A few times, using the laptop casually in the evening, low light levels, the screen would flicker a little, sometimes brighten, then go back to "normal levels". It's happened twice, so I'll have to see if that continues and, if so, under what conditions.

As I mentioned, I haven't done any major work with the laptop yet. I may use it to browse images I shot over the weekend. Maybe even experiment with retouching some of those images using the pen I bought.
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mcbroomf

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #29 on: August 09, 2018, 01:20:44 pm »

I see that B&H are now offering the HP ZBook 360 G5 with 32GB.  This has a 4k screen, flips like the Dell XPS 2 in 1, and has the same CPU as the regular Dell XPS 15 (i7 8750H)
They are doing the RAM upgrade in house, so it's not returnable.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick with my regular XPS 15.  No more problems with the Sandisk and the Dell just did a F/W update so I need to checking it's OK.  I have until the end of the month to buy a 3rd yr warranty.
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mcbroomf

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #30 on: August 13, 2018, 08:28:46 am »

Just to keep it interesting Lenovo have just announced a new 15" workstation laptop
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-p/ThinkPad-P1/p/22WS2WPP101

Not a 2 in 1 but looks like a serious contender to all the other makes mentioned in this thread and in fact may go a couple of steps higher as the i7 CPU is the 8850, a good bit faster than the 8750 (and Xeon is an option), and it can be configured with 64GB RAM (2666 MHz) and up to 4TB NVMe drive.  4K touch (adobe RGB) or FHD screens and NVIDIA Quad P2000 graphics.  a pair of TB3 and a pair of USB-A 3.1 ports.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2018, 08:39:05 am by mcbroomf »
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armand

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 notebooks for editing
« Reply #31 on: August 13, 2018, 02:21:07 pm »

Just to keep it interesting Lenovo have just announced a new 15" workstation laptop
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-p/ThinkPad-P1/p/22WS2WPP101

Not a 2 in 1 but looks like a serious contender to all the other makes mentioned in this thread and in fact may go a couple of steps higher as the i7 CPU is the 8850, a good bit faster than the 8750 (and Xeon is an option), and it can be configured with 64GB RAM (2666 MHz) and up to 4TB NVMe drive.  4K touch (adobe RGB) or FHD screens and NVIDIA Quad P2000 graphics.  a pair of TB3 and a pair of USB-A 3.1 ports.

3.8 lbs for a performance 15.6" is something.

mcbroomf

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Re: Dell XPS / HP Zbook and other 15" 2 in 1 (or clamshell) notebooks for editing
« Reply #32 on: September 01, 2018, 05:49:14 am »

Lenovo have added another to the 15" high performance market; the thinkpad X1 extreme
8th gen i7, i9 later this year, up to 64GB DDR4, 2TB storage.  4k touchscreen (no comment on gamut), no 2 in 1 option

https://www.cnet.com/reviews/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-extreme-preview/
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