OT: Need Assistance with Specs For Laptop For Photo Editing

[pjmsj21]

I need some assistance in finding the right specs for a laptop (Windows) to be used for photo editing (Lightroom & eventually Photoshop). Specifically I am trying to answer the following questions:

1) 16 or 32 mg of Ram? I know more is always better but I am on a fairly tight budget. That being said I would like to get some longevity out of this machine.

2) I am assuming 1T of SSD storage. I have a high resolution 42 MP camera so files are usually pretty big.

3) I am also assuming a dedicated video card.....any suggestions as to what might be appropriate without being overkill? I don't do any video.

And finally any input on brands would be great. I am leaning towards Dell XPS or Lenovo.

Thanks so much for your valuable input!

[pdmtong]

I can't recall the exact math but on my XPS13 I had considered replacing the 256SSD with a 1TB and in the end decided to just use the existing card slot as well as the one on my 8-n-1 USB-C hub to add storage. That might save you some money.

yes more RAM is better if simultaneous processing but I wouldn't buy it for future proofing as at some point everything is outdated.

Dell is having a black friday - you probably already knew that

[reuben]

Originally Posted by pjmsj21

I need some assistance in finding the right specs for a laptop (Windows) to be used for photo editing (Lightroom & eventually Photoshop). Specifically I am trying to answer the following questions:

1) 16 or 32 mg of Ram? I know more is always better but I am on a fairly tight budget. That being said I would like to get some longevity out of this machine.

2) I am assuming 1T of SSD storage. I have a high resolution 42 MP camera so files are usually pretty big.

3) I am also assuming a dedicated video card.....any suggestions as to what might be appropriate without being overkill? I don't do any video.

And finally any input on brands would be great. I am leaning towards Dell XPS or Lenovo.

Thanks so much for your valuable input!

Somewhere on Adobe's website they have suggested specs for Photoshop and Lightroom. Those would be good references.

[C40_guy]

Are you running an external monitor?

I just retired two old Dell 20" monitors. They were great monitors 10 years ago, but just didn't have the clarity of monitor's available today.

My company provided a nice 27" Dell for use while working from home, along with a company ChromeBox (hey, we make the operating system!).

I had that new monitor next to the two older monitors, and the difference was striking. So I replaced them with a wide curved Dell monitor. Work lives on the wide monitor, personal life (via a Mac Mini) lives on the 27". And I can switch them so that work or home gets both... And I'm using a KVM switch to share a single Mac keyboard and good microphone across both computers, as needed.

Good monitors make a huge difference...as does a good input device, whether it's a trackpad, trackball, or good mouse...

[pjmsj21]

Yes I run with a 27" Dell monitor

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Are you running an external monitor?

I just retired two old Dell 20" monitors. They were great monitors 10 years ago, but just didn't have the clarity of monitor's available today.

My company provided a nice 27" Dell for use while working from home, along with a company ChromeBox (hey, we make the operating system!).

I had that new monitor next to the two older monitors, and the difference was striking. So I replaced them with a wide curved Dell monitor. Work lives on the wide monitor, personal life (via a Mac Mini) lives on the 27". And I can switch them so that work or home gets both... And I'm using a KVM switch to share a single Mac keyboard and good microphone across both computers, as needed.

Good monitors make a huge difference...as does a good input device, whether it's a trackpad, trackball, or good mouse...

[IJWS]

You are right. More Ram is better. External Storage and External graphics are good ways to stretch the life of your setup but programs and operating systems consistently use more and more memory.

[tbike4]

OP are you using this as a pro photographer or an enthusiast? Doesn't really matter, just curious. Are you shooting RAW and Jpeg then processing the RAW in 16 BIT? Editing files with a bunch of layers and finding you have a 2Gb file? If so you know that max storage capacity can become a big deal.

If you want to future proof your hardware buy as much ram, storage, CPU and GPU horsepower as you can afford. I can Google what is the best laptop for your question and get 15 machines listed. The PC I would buy for myself is made by Apple so I can't help much with which brand to buy but where I work in IT they only buy Dell hardware. So you are leaning well- Dell XPS 15 (model 9500)- 32Gb RAM, 2Tb drive, 4Gb GPU- $2800.

I am not anti Windows just an Apple fan boy. 20 years ago when I was in the photo/graphics/ beginning of digital biz if you didn't use a MAC for your work the client thought something might go wrong with the project.
A hardware bias/snobbery. Silly since you can buy way more machine for the $$ in Windows.

Good luck with your purchase.

[pjmsj21]

Hi OP Here,
Funny you should suggest the Dell XPS 15 because that is what I have been giving most consideration to. I think its best to go with 32 Megs of RAM and one terrabite of storage with likely putting some of my photos on an external hard drive.

Thanks for your input!

Originally Posted by tbike4

OP are you using this as a pro photographer or an enthusiast? Doesn't really matter, just curious. Are you shooting RAW and Jpeg then processing the RAW in 16 BIT? Editing files with a bunch of layers and finding you have a 2Gb file? If so you know that max storage capacity can become a big deal.

If you want to future proof your hardware buy as much ram, storage, CPU and GPU horsepower as you can afford. I can Google what is the best laptop for your question and get 15 machines listed. The PC I would buy for myself is made by Apple so I can't help much with which brand to buy but where I work in IT they only buy Dell hardware. So you are leaning well- Dell XPS 15 (model 9500)- 32Gb RAM, 2Tb drive, 4Gb GPU- $2800.

I am not anti Windows just an Apple fan boy. 20 years ago when I was in the photo/graphics/ beginning of digital biz if you didn't use a MAC for your work the client thought something might go wrong with the project.
A hardware bias/snobbery. Silly since you can buy way more machine for the $$ in Windows.

Good luck with your purchase.

[jamesdak]

Well, this old geezer isn't up on the lastest computer tech but as someone who's been doing photography for almost 40 years now I do know some basics.

As you have already heard. The most Ram, best graphics, SSD for operating system, the editing app, scratch pad ( or whatever they call it now) etc. And if you do any kind of shooting you will always be chasing the storage problem. I'm sitting at around 6 TB of storage for just my digital work and I need more. If your images matter you have to think redundancy. A few months ago I finally was able to recover to external hard drives that were my back up storage and then failed. Since digital is so cheap compared to the old film days you wind up shooting a lot more. At least I do. Storage problems will never end.

Good luck!



Oh and a few years back when I upgraded I went with a Dell too. It's been totally trouble free for me.

[Spdntrxi]

Ryzen 9 CPU is impressive... not many laptops out with it though. I have the Asus G14

[cinema]

you want an intel chip if you are running adobe software because they optimize for rendering, wish i had known that before i bought my ryzen 5 desktop.
but currently, you can get something with an i7, 6 core or so, 2060-2070 card for not so much money. look on the subreddit r/buildapcsales under prebuilts or laptops, and also on slickdeals. door busters deals on newegg. MSI and cyberpowerpc great prebuilts for the $$. you dont really need an expensive video card for working on and rendering a 42mp raw file. even a 1660 would be more than enough.

that being said my macbook air from 2013 with 8gb ram runs lightroom and photoshop just fine and im using an a7r2 primarily and also scanning 120/35mm. you dont not need more than 16gb ram around 3000mhz for working on a 42mp raw file, no way.

[BobbyJones]

Which ever way you go, don't overlook the gaming specific laptops for any type of imaging work.

Personally, I wouldn't go less than what you're thinking for RAM and HD, but thats just to future proof yourself. with good file management and still images you can get away with less storage than you think, but why invite the hassle.

Lastly, when thinking about external drives, always buy in pairs and keep them synced. They're cheap nowadays, both in actual price and quality.

[cinema]

find a pre-black friday deal they have amazing prices right now on cyberpower and newegg

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by pjmsj21

Hi OP Here,
I think its best to go with 32 Megs of RAM and one terrabite of storage with likely putting some of my photos on an external hard drive.

Thanks for your input!

You will want to put all of your photos on an external drive (or network drive), for archive purposes. And depending on how important those photos are, you'll back them up to several different additional drives that you will keep in offsite locations, and to an online service like dropbox...

BTW, one TB of storage is enough for last weekend's work. Years ago I attended a one day Nikon clinic at Lime Rock Park, hanging over the pit wall during a pro race, playing with all of the Nikon loaner lenses. I only shot a thousand photos. Nikon asked us to submit a dozen of our best, which they judged. Some of my photos are still part of my rotating desktop and screen savers...

[pdmtong]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

You will want to put all of your photos on an external drive (or network drive), for archive purposes. And depending on how important those photos are, you'll back them up to several different additional drives that you will keep in offsite locations, and to an online service like dropbox...

BTW, one TB of storage is enough for last weekend's work. Years ago I attended a one day Nikon clinic at Lime Rock Park, hanging over the pit wall during a pro race, playing with all of the Nikon loaner lenses. I only shot a thousand photos. Nikon asked us to submit a dozen of our best, which they judged. Some of my photos are still part of my rotating desktop and screen savers...

generally speaking, with electronics, buy what you need now or maybe a bit more. the truth is, these purchases are consumable and nothing is a forever purchase. and, if you want a 1TB SSD and 32gb RAM you will pay for it. so just be sure you really want/need it since you are saying budget is a concern