Laptop For Photo Editing?

[olds]

My wife uses Photoshop and will be using HDR software. She will shoot in RAW if that's relevant. It's time for a new laptop.
What processor/RAM/video card/HDD/screen specs should we be looking for?
This laptop is 5 or six years old and I expect she will get that long out of her next one.

Most likely won't go Mac.

TIA

Mods move if you have too but I think the photo experience of the members here is relevant to the topic.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I do massive photo editing on my laptop every single day.

1. Get dual or quad core.
2. Make sure it can be loaded with RAM.
3. It would be awesome if it were compatible with SSDs since regular laptop rotary drives are slower than their desktop counterparts.
4. Any video card should do.
5. If she's going to be on site or out in the field a lot, I highly recommend a lightweight laptop. I've got a 2.5lb dual core with 4GB RAM and it's wonderful to carry on site, but on the slow side due to the small 1.8" HDD and Ultra Low Voltage Core 2 Duo.
6. Screen accuracy is very important, and this is where the Macs really shine. Mac laptops simple have excellent screens. Many of the other mainstream screens like to crank up saturation to please the general consumer, but with photo work you can't afford this inaccuracy. I've also found that some super thin LED lit screens display things a lot cooler than what they should be, so a photo that you think looks balanced would actually be too orange on a standard monitor. Unfortunately I don't know of any laptops other than Apple that have super color accurate screens

 

[jpeyton]

My Lenovo IdeaPad with:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz (Penryn)
4GB DDR3
320GB HDD
WiFi-N + Bluetooth
DVDRW
HDMI

Edits images and processes HDR just fine.

Best of all, it cost me $499. Most PC manufacturers (Lenovo, Dell, HP) have deals like these every month.

The absolute best upgrade I can recommend is an SSD. Add one of the newer Intel SSDs and your image processing programs just blaze.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
6. Screen accuracy is very important, and this is where the Macs really shine. Mac laptops simple have excellent screens. Many of the other mainstream screens like to crank up saturation to please the general consumer, but with photo work you can't afford this inaccuracy. I've also found that some super thin LED lit screens display things a lot cooler than what they should be, so a photo that you think looks balanced would actually be too orange on a standard monitor. Unfortunately I don't know of any laptops other than Apple that have super color accurate screens

Not all of them do. The original aluminum macbook 13's were pretty piss poor compared to what they replaced, and compared to it's 15" macbook pro sibling. So keep that in mind when purchasing if you get a used one.

That and I personally can't stand the glossy screen.

 

[ElFenix]

you'll really need to adjust the profiles to get color accuracy. the best gamut, by far, of any pc laptop anandtech tested was the dell studio xps 16. the one with the 16" 1920x1080 LED backlight.

 

[Agentbolt]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
6. Screen accuracy is very important, and this is where the Macs really shine. Mac laptops simple have excellent screens. Many of the other mainstream screens like to crank up saturation to please the general consumer, but with photo work you can't afford this inaccuracy. I've also found that some super thin LED lit screens display things a lot cooler than what they should be, so a photo that you think looks balanced would actually be too orange on a standard monitor. Unfortunately I don't know of any laptops other than Apple that have super color accurate screens

Not all of them do. The original aluminum macbook 13's were pretty piss poor compared to what they replaced, and compared to it's 15" macbook pro sibling. So keep that in mind when purchasing if you get a used one.

That and I personally can't stand the glossy screen.

Glossy screen will kill your photo editing abilities. Even with a "correct" screen color wise, the glossy makes it tough to view correctly under anything other than a darkened room.

I've been screwing with photos a LOT since I got my T1i, and my 1st Gen macbook pro handles it just fine. 2GB Ram, 1.83ghz Yonah processor, 80gb mechanical hdd. It runs Photoshop and Digital Photo Professional quite snappily. My point isn't get a Mac, it's that pretty much any current laptop with a discrete video card will let you mess with digital photos just fine. Pros might need 4GB of RAM or ridiculous processors, but if you're messing with maybe 100 images a day you'll be fine with whatever you get, even working with HDR stuff.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Macbook Pro does a fine job. I have a few friends who actively use their MBPs. I know one has the keyboard cover with PS CS4 shortcuts.

I've done minor editing on my MBP. I usually do it on my desktop because I'm more comfortable w/ a full size keyboard and mouse when doing these things.... Oh and the 27" calibrated monitor helps

I'd say if you want to do it on a Mac, avoid the MBP 13" Even thought hey have LED backlit screens now, they're a step behind the 15" ones. There's a matte option for the 15" MBP now. It costs you money though. I'd definitely get that. I think it's more of a anti reflective cover for the glossy screen.

FBB: I wouldn't trust default calibration. You should ALWAYS recalibrate. I have not gotten my MBP calibrated yet, but I saw my friend calibrate a 13" MB. It makes a difference. I saw a difference on my Dell 600m but that screen is useless for me to do editing on anyway cuz it just flat out sucks. The factory settings for the MBP might be nice, but I don't know. Oh, and are apple screens still on Gamma 1.8 or are they at 2.2 now?

 

[twistedlogic]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Most likely won't go Mac.

He said no Mac,

Budget?

OP, I wouldn't be too worried about buying a laptop that doesn't work at editing photos. Its not like gaming where every bit of hardware is stressed the whole time, any newer laptop should work. I would be more worried about the size and quality of the screen, for me I need all the resolution I can get. My "14 screen on my current laptop gets aggravating after using the "22 on my desktop.

I would also suggest get as much RAM as you can afford, as photo editing can eat up a lot of RAM. And upgrading RAM is pretty simple on most laptops.

Originally posted by: Agentbolt
My point isn't get a Mac, it's that pretty much any current laptop with a discrete video card will let you mess with digital photos just fine.

I didn't really think that a GPU had much to do with editing photos. The only program I know of that can take advantage of GPU acceleration is Adobe CS4.

To the OP, as others have mentioned, in order to get the most out of editing, your screen really needs to be calibrated.

 

[Kaido]

1. What's your budget?

2. What screen size is she willing to carry? (this affects the weight)

3. What operating system do you want to run? (XP, Vista, Windows 7)

 

[olds]

No budget in mind. We spent $2200 on her last laptop with a docking station and a 17" monitor. If I had to put out a number, I'd say $1500.

I'd rather she run XP as she is familiar with it but XP is on the way out.

Like something under 4 lbs.

 

[jpeyton]

For $1500, I could get a loaded laptop and a loaded desktop with a huge LCD.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
For $1500, I could get a loaded laptop and a loaded desktop with a huge LCD.

Finally finished moving and just now getting around to replacing her laptop. You must be a genius shopper as I am getting prices over $1500 at both Dell and Lenovo for a loaded laptop with docking station.
But I do suspect that our ideas of loaded may differ. :beer:

 

[jpeyton]

I am a genius shopper.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
I am a genius shopper.

:thumbsup: