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General discussion

What laptop would you suggest for a photo editor?

Mar 24, 2017 3:04PM PDT

I travel a lot and when I travel my camera comes along. I would like to edit my photos as I go but my laptop, designed by and manufactured by Molasses Inc., is soooo slow I cannot get much done. I see lots of ads for fastest laptops for playing games but I haven't found any that say fast for photographers. Screen size is not critical because I can generally find a desktop screen I can plug into. I am a Windows person and use Lightroom, Elements, ON1, ColorFX and Smart Photo Editor. As an avid photo editor, what laptop specs should I be looking out for to ensure that my photo editing is fun and fast, and not a drag? I've found CNET so helpful in many ways, I'm hoping your readers have suggestions. Thanks.

--Submitted by Robert S.

Discussion is locked

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Use an SSD! This is key.
Mar 27, 2017 1:29PM PDT

Any laptop with an I5 or I7 chip and a moderately high-density lcd will work fine . . . but what's key for me is having a big solid-state drive behind it all. I use Photoshop CS6 over a 500 gigabyte SSD. It was a cinch to replace my 500 gigabyte HD, and what a difference! When the drive fills up, just offload your photos on a fast USB3 flashdrive. Cheap and simple. Go for it!

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MacPro
Mar 31, 2017 6:02PM PDT

I am very happy with my MacBook Pro 15" which is hooked up to a large Dell monitor.
Desktop is nice, but I love the flexibility w/the laptop.

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A Good One.
Mar 31, 2017 6:16PM PDT

In contrast to a previous post, a laptop can be a good photo editing machine. I'm a professional photographer. I use my laptop for most of my editing. I'll list below some of the key features needed. If you want a bigger monitor, use an external monitor. I most always do. A good monitor calibration system is a must on any system.
1. Intel Core i7
2. A dedicated NVidia video card. 2GB at least - This is HUGE! Adobe uses CUDA cores found in the NVidia cards to speed things up.
3. 16GB RAM
4. SSD - As large as you can afford. My older laptop had room for 2 HDs. I had both SSD and HDDs in my laptop. My new one has only a 240GB SSD. You'll need a good large external media drive besides your SSD. A 7200 RPM laptop HDD is next to impossible to find. I use an external laptop hybrid drive right now. I like the small form factor. If you can afford something like a Drobo to plug in to when your home, that would be great. If you get a 512GB or larger SSD, you could keep your current stuff on it.
5. A good laptop IPS monitor.
6. Adobe CC subscription
7. A LAN port and DVD burner - If you're transferring large files, a wired connection is much faster. I still have clients request stuff on CD and DVDs. At least have an external DVD drive.

I have an ASUS with all these features. I have about $1,100 into it. I paid $850 and upgraded the RAM and SSD after.

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CUDA use...
Apr 4, 2017 2:52AM PDT

Graphics hardware is only beneficial with high-resolution screens (4k+), except for video editing, where transitions are worked out using the video processing power of the graphics card. For other purposes, you will be penalised by the CUDA overhead. Rendering a video by using the Adobe Mercury render engine is however a big advantage.

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Don't Forget The GPU
Mar 31, 2017 6:18PM PDT

Most things have been covered but a good GPU helps tremendously.

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Mostly I use an Apple iPad Pro
Mar 31, 2017 6:20PM PDT

I have been able to everything that I have needed from my iPhone and iPad Pro. I write all of my papers and perform all of my research using nothing but the iPad Pro. Preciously my wife and I created a video for our wedding using iMovie on the iPad. Honestly I have not had a need for a notebook computer since upgrading from a Windows 7 Tablet PC to the Apple iPad 2 about five years ago. If I were to choose a notebook computer to meet my needs, and those needs surpass what would be needed to edit photos, then it would be a MacBook. I have not looked at Windows computers since I upgraded from that Windows 7 Tablet PC and I do not look to have a notebook computer again.

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Photo editing laptop
Mar 31, 2017 6:30PM PDT

If you must use a laptop, make sure it is an Apple and as big as you can carry. Make sure the primary drive is an SSD about 500 gb, 16 gb memory and has the latest Apple OS.

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Apple?
Apr 4, 2017 12:53AM PDT

While Apples are great computers, there are a lot of similarly configured Windows laptops around. Do your choice on your usual environment. Apple has the inconvinience not to grandfather older software on new OSes.

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i5 or equivalent, 8GB RAM minimum and a big SSD
Mar 31, 2017 6:36PM PDT

I am using a 5 year-old Toshiba with these specs. I do heavy duty photo editing (including Lightroom/Photoshop CC, with a variety of other tools) mostly from RAW, but some JPEG images also. The only time I might wish for an i7 CPU is the few times I encode and burn video DVDs.

That said, I only do critical work with this laptop when working essentially in desktop mode in my own office. I have no idea what kind of photography Robert S pursues but without my hardware calibrated desktop monitors with fixed viewing angle and distance as well as fixed room lighting, at best I'll do what I call high-end proof level work from the field. Yes my laptop screen is also hardware calibrated, but given the variable tilt angle on a laptop screen, (a tiny change can have a big impact on contrast) I don't put much faith in what I actually see on the screen for publication quality images. And given the variation between monitor specifications, even if you carry hardware calibration tools into the field, borrowed monitors will likely lead to inconsistent results.

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Microsoft Surface Book
Mar 31, 2017 6:51PM PDT

Buy the top of the line version with Nvidia graphics and 1TB (NVMe) storage and you'll get 16GB of RAM. If that is more than you care to spend, look at the Surface Pro line, but keep in mind that they don't have discrete graphics and don't include the keyboard.

The new Creator's Update to Windows 10 comes this month which adds a lot of new capabilities and improves others.

I wouldn't trade my Surface for any other portable at this point in my life. I have Surface Pro, Surface 3 Pro, and the top end Book. I'm really looking forward to the next generation of this product to see what Microsoft brings to the table next.

Disclaimer: No I don't work for Microsoft, but I have supported their software for 21 years and used it for 30 years. The Surface products are the first Intel powered products I have ever owned as I always preferred Cyrix (goes back a ways) and AMD for their overclocking ability both as a gamer and for rendering.

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I forgot one thing...
Mar 31, 2017 6:55PM PDT

The pen. I use my pen constantly for everything from taking notes to marking up documents and editing images.

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Recommend Laptop for Photo Editing
Mar 31, 2017 7:27PM PDT

I agree with the previous post answer as 'NONE'. Laptops are just too small for detail work. A 27in Retina 4K or 5K monitor is the most perfect environment. If working remotely on sight, like in a jungle, or on a photo shoot, a MacBook Pro 15 retina stuffed with ram, i7 SSD, will do you well.

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What I use as a video editor...
Mar 31, 2017 7:40PM PDT

Hands down...a Dell Inspiron i7 7559 UHD (4K).

This unit has the speed, power, graphics processing and the 276cd/m2 brightness needed for discerning those dark areas of photos and videos if needed. There are brighter screen options in other laptops, but I have found that this unit is sufficiently bright so long as you do not use in direct sunlight.

The IPS touchscreen allows for the pinch zoom if needed as well.

The battery is a beast and has lasted well into 4 hours of video editing. I have never had a laptop last that long in battery power.

Cheers!

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Laptop is a Good Option
Mar 31, 2017 8:03PM PDT

While a desktop is certainly the ideal set up you asked about a laptop. For Windows based make sure it has at least an i7 processor, 16GB memory (minimum). It should have at least 2 USB 3 connections. For a hard drive a solid state is wicked fast but they are $$$. Get at least 1TB storage as you will fill it up fast if you shoot in RAW. Buy a 2TB portable backup to carry with you and have a huge TB drive at home (even with a desktop set up). I know folks who use a touch screen and love it. No matter what brand you get (I use a Dell and it is good) make sure you calibrate the display (I use Spyder5Pro). Having a big (27" minimum) monitor is also very helpful.

My 2 cents!

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I don't edit often
Apr 1, 2017 10:20AM PDT

I own 2 Canon DSLR's for the most part I edit few of my photos. When I do I use a Asus ZenBook Pro UX501V, Windows 10 Home, i7 Quad Core CPU, GTX960 Nvidia chipset, 16 GB of system memory. The Drive is 512 GB SSD. I've had it about six months and am not disappointed with my purchase.

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Use the shortlist, and save with refurbished
Apr 1, 2017 10:46AM PDT

If you are looking for a shortlist, the link from brookeharper looks good. You can probably find some of these laptops refurbished/recertified for significantly less money - though make sure they have the exact same specs. Only buy from trusted names such as Bestbuy, Walmart, Dell, and make sure the word "manufacturer" is included as in: "manufacturer refurbished" / "manufacturer recertified". These have a 90 day warranty vs 1 year warranty, but often you can purchase an extended warranty and still save money.

Stick with Windows since you are comfortable with it. Also make sure when you install the photo software that you are using the most recent versions. Otherwise you may still have response time issues.

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Best laptop editing machine
Apr 1, 2017 1:15PM PDT

I just did my research in Dec 2016 and picked up a Dell 2in one inspiron. It was under $900 at costco. Features 15" 4k touch 512g ssd 8gb ram. I have edited over 1000 photos witj it. I needed something portable that only my A10 desktop could do in a reasonable time.
Slides scanned taken in tje 70's. 4 slides took 30 min to scan. Image 1.2gb. These were done a year plus ago but not broken up and edited. I use paintshop pro and cropped the 4 image into 4 tiffs. Tiffs were 150 to 230mb.
I edited all this in memory. Load /save of that big file took 30 to 45 sec. I would do no edit of big tiff except description title date taked (approximately).
After small 200mb tiffs exited and saved to ssd I converted batch to jpg.
These photos were scrambled due to hard drive corruption previously so I needed to visually look for duplicates and some 6 dups out of 6500 files.
Using the 4 k screen I put 60 large thumbnails on screen and then use finger to scroll, highlight and trash extras. Laying on couch during recovery from operation made this better than trackball or trackpad. I switched it up a few times.
Sometimes I flipped it so keyboard was down and back so screen was 15 inches from eyes.
This inspiron 2in1 replaces an 8 year 5150 that still works but can't handle win 10 well. The carbon fiber case and feel is great. I opted for the slower model in Dec as to gain any respectable advantage was 800 more with that i7. This is an i5 and did this tremendous amount of photo editing.

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Bloated Software Is The Likely Issue
Apr 2, 2017 10:44AM PDT

I edit photos quickly and easily with my 4.5-year old Toshiba laptop (2.3ghz Intel i3 with 8gb RAM). The issue is your software. To assume that you have to spend $2000+ and use some kind of supercomputer is to suggest that no one could edit photos on a computer, say, 3 years ago - let alone 5 or 10 years ago.

Cutting-edge machines of five years ago have the power of an entry-level laptop of today. And yet, professionals managed to edit photos very capably on them. As they did in the late 1990s or mid 2000s, when even the largest desktop couldn't match the power of today's free smartphone.

The problem is bloated software. You don't need the latest version of an image-editing application. And you certainly don't need Photoshop. There are plenty of good, low-cost (or free) alternatives that will work well on mid-level laptop:

https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/photo-editor-apps-for-any-budget

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Top 3 laptops for Photo Editing
Apr 2, 2017 5:56PM PDT

I recommended the Intel Core i7 processor for photo editing because some of the software requirements are core i7 processor. Plus, you need good RAM and hard drive for running photo editing software and applications. You need minimum 8 GB RAM, and 1 TB hard drive for photo editing.

1. Apple MacBook Pro MLH42LL/A
2. Asus ZenBook Pro UX501VW (4K)
3. Dell XPS9560-7001SLV-PUS

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Re: 1 TB hard drive
Apr 2, 2017 11:42PM PDT

Can you explain why you need a 1 TB hard drive (that's 1000 GB, so it can store 100.000 raw pictures of 10 MB each) to edit one photo?
And can you explain why you need 8 GB RAM and not 4 GB to edit a picture of 10 MB?

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How LR displays thumbnails?
Apr 3, 2017 6:00AM PDT

I guess that depends on how the application works. I use Light Room 6. When I load LR it displays all of the thumbnails I have worked with. I don't know if they were loaded into RAM or stay on the HD until I click on that thumbnail? It sometimes displays well over 100 thumbnails at 24 MB ea in RAW format. When I get too many pics I move them out of that folder to another or burn them to a disc.

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Obvious...
Apr 4, 2017 12:47AM PDT

Thumbnails are obviously loaded in RAM before being displayed. LR does however cache the thumbnails, so that it only loads low res pictures. Higher res previews are also cached and loaded on request. The original picture is rarely needed (up to my knowledge only when exporting).

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1 Picture?
Apr 4, 2017 12:41AM PDT

To edit only one picture, you should ask someone to that for you!

1TB: I have a 6TB disk to store my thousands of pictures. And edited pictures, especially when I photoshop them tend to grow a lot. RAW format is quite compact and compressed, so when expanding to full size, you need at least 3 times that memory space.

4GB: 4GB is just enough to run the OS! You can work with 4GB, but you will need to limit yourself to a lot of compromises. I have 16GB and I sometimes reach the low on memory message, this because some programs tend to have memory leaks. You will reach that stage early on, needing to reboot your machine frequently. And memory is relatively cheap and enhances performance. In other words: lack of RAM makes your fast processor waiting faster for memory requests to be completed.

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Future proofing
Apr 2, 2017 10:05PM PDT

Hi Robert
I tend to lean toward cost vs features with a fair bit future proofing built-in I was going to say get a 4k laptop. But reading your post, you can always upgrade your desktop monitor to a new 4k. That in mind its all about speed, less so pure CPU grunt. A top end i5, a ton of RAM, SSD and most importantly a really top end GPU. Personally i tend toward Dell to spec something out, but most of the true gaming laptops would be great. MSI with dual SSDs would be a contender.
And seriously apple/mac fanbois can you guys read?
Robert has invested money on the software side that he is not about to dump in the trash.

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4k displays
Apr 4, 2017 12:50AM PDT

4k displays tend to slow down the system, as 4k needs to move a lot of data around. You need a strond machine for this.

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Need speed and a good display...
Apr 3, 2017 5:14AM PDT

I'm in the same boat and use a Lenovo Yoga 15" with 4k (gorgeous!) touch display. Only 512gb SSD, but I keep all of my photos on an external drive anyway. Fast I7 processor and 16gb of memory. Runs Lightroom and Photoshop very well. Touchpad is very good, but I still use a Bluetooth mouse on occasion. With the 4k touch display the battery life isn't the best. This is a great setup for occasional portable editing, but I still prefer my 28" display for serious detailed work...

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It may not be a hardware issue.
Apr 5, 2017 1:00PM PDT

Hi, Before you spend money on new hardware I suggest you may care to look at the Picture Editor called "FastStone Viewer" It is very fast and for my home picture editing, does all I need and quickly. the one point when you look at it and a particular image, is that the 4 base menus are displayed by hovering beyond the 4 edges of the screen. Otherwise you may not see them! I particularly have found the various batch processes great for handling multiple images in a single pass. Good luck. Geoff.

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Speed
Apr 12, 2017 11:03PM PDT

If fast is what you want, You need an ssd. An SSD is an upgrade that will boost your laptop's speed so much that you will not need a new laptop. I wanted speed from my probook 450 G1 / 8gm ram core i5. I removed my dvd drive and installed an ssd in its place. The upgrade cost me $100. My boot time has improved, Programs installed on ssd take seconds to start and end.