OT: - Laptop for Photography and Photo Editing | The Boneyard

OT: Laptop for Photography and Photo Editing

Dove

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I am looking to up my hobby of photography. Am looking at a couple of budget laptops and am wondering what some of your experience is with this hobby.

Looking at the HP Spectre x360 or the HP Envy x 360. I may move up the price range for a good sale.

I don't want to whiff on getting a poor graphics card so am looking for tips on what to look for. Photoshop and possibly a second software likely to be used.

And since when has Photoshop been a monthly subscription? I was thinking it was a CD Rom (dating myself?). I assume Photoshop gives you instant upgrades as part of this monthly fee.

Feel free to mention MacBook Airs etc...




In before @8893 says what bougie cafes have the best wifi.
 
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Photoshop (really the entire Adobe editing suite) went to a cloud service probably five years ago. It's a pain, but I do have stretches where I get busy and don't do any editing for months, so I just cancel and re-up when I'm using it again.

If you do a laptop, consider buying a better screen to hook it into when editing. I am using a 2013 iMac desktop for all of mine -- I'm not mobile but I like having the large screen.
 
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Are you set on a laptop? Can probably pick up a used gaming PC for cheap that will be able to handle photo editing great. Ended up building a PC a few years ago that blasts through Lightroom.
 
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yep the Adobe Creative Suite is now in the cloud. No more discs.
It's a subscription. With free updates.
I remember when you had to load 10 floppies.
I'm a Mac person so I would vote MacBook Pro. But you said "budget".
 
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Mac. Any of the new M1 chip laptops or upcoming M1X will be phenomenal and carry you several years.

I have a Gaming PC for... gaming but prefer to edit photos on my late 2013 MacBook Pro. It still rips 7 years later and I can take it when I travel and have time to edit. From a color accuracy standpoint I much prefer and trust my Pros Retina display over my PC rigs Alienware ultrawide. Obviously I could grab a nice secondary monitor for photo editing but I’ve been very happy with my MacBook Pro so never felt the need.
 

ClifSpliffy

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some random websites opinion.​

Best Laptops for photoshop 2020​

Laptop

processor/RAM/GPU

Resolution

Price

ASUS ZenBook Pro

i7/16GB/GTX 1050Ti

FHD

Under $1700

Dell XPS 15

i5/16GB/GTX 1050

4k UHD

Under $2000

Surface Laptop

i7/16GB/Iris 640

2256×1504

Under $2000

MacBook Pro

i7/16GB/Radeon 555

2880×1800

Under $2500

Dell G3579

Intel® i7/16GB/GTX 960M

FHD (1920×1080)

Under $1100

Acer Aspire E15

Intel® i5/8GB/MX 150

FHD (1920×1080)

Under $600

ASUS VivoBook

Intel® i5/8GB/GTX 1050

FHD (1920×1080)

Under $1000

LG Gram

Intel® i7/16GB/Intel 620

FHD (1920×1080)

Under $2000

my thoughts are i7 chip, 12 gb ram, 1T storage SSD, nvidia/radeon gpu, screen res 1980x1080 or higher, with a cupholder.
iffn you can't whip this stew up at the kitchen table, i highly rec a refurb from best buy.
surface rules the world, but brandy new? that acer product/price is prolly all u need.
everything apple is too expensive. signed, apple stock purchaser at around $36.
thank youse.
 
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Dove

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yep the Adobe Creative Suite is now in the cloud. No more discs.
It's a subscription. With free updates.
I remember when you had to load 10 floppies.
I'm a Mac person so I would vote MacBook Pro. But you said "budget".
Was looking at the MacBook Pro last night...I am looking at 1500 budget and the 13.3" could work. But I think a 15" Spectre is going to win.
 

Dove

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Are you set on a laptop? Can probably pick up a used gaming PC for cheap that will be able to handle photo editing great. Ended up building a PC a few years ago that blasts through Lightroom.
I don't care about gaming. Want new machinery.
 

Dove

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MacBook Air/Pro with the new M1 chip.

There’s really no second choice.
Was deep diving on those last night. Am thinking the 13.3" is no big difference from a 15".

Order should be locked in tonight.
 

nomar

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I am looking to up my hobby of photography. Am looking at a couple of budget laptops and am wondering what some of your experience is with this hobby.

Looking at the HP Spectre x360 or the HP Envy x 360. I may move up the price range for a good sale.

I don't want to whiff on getting a poor graphics card so am looking for tips on what to look for. Photoshop and possibly a second software likely to be used.

And since when has Photoshop been a monthly subscription? I was thinking it was a CD Rom (dating myself?). I assume Photoshop gives you instant upgrades as part of this monthly fee.

Feel free to mention MacBook Airs etc...




In before @8893 says what bougie cafes have the best wifi.

photographer-in-bushes-picture-id522621560
 
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I had a 15", just got a new 13". No huge difference, especially since I use a big old apple monitor. And the 13 is lighter for toting about.
 

Dove

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The MacBook is void of USB ports. I assume I will need a dongle of some kind?
 

Fishy

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Was deep diving on those last night. Am thinking the 13.3" is no big difference from a 15".

Order should be locked in tonight.

With any model, the big difference is that the 15” computers are really fairly large.

For a laptop, 13” screens feel like the sweet spot between portability and usability.

The Macs with the M1 chip are just so nice. Aside from just straight being faster than models with the Intel chips, they are just silent. Chrome used to fire up the fans on every computer we have, but I have yet to hear the fan in my MacBook Pro. Not sure if it has ever even come on.
 
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The MacBook is void of USB ports. I assume I will need a dongle of some kind?

yeah they have no 'normal' USBs...just USB-Cs.
Forgot about that- the only downside I have found.
You'll need adaptors.
 
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I am looking to up my hobby of photography. Am looking at a couple of budget laptops and am wondering what some of your experience is with this hobby.

Looking at the HP Spectre x360 or the HP Envy x 360. I may move up the price range for a good sale.

I don't want to whiff on getting a poor graphics card so am looking for tips on what to look for. Photoshop and possibly a second software likely to be used.

And since when has Photoshop been a monthly subscription? I was thinking it was a CD Rom (dating myself?). I assume Photoshop gives you instant upgrades as part of this monthly fee.

Feel free to mention MacBook Airs etc...




In before @8893 says what bougie cafes have the best wifi.

If you're a hobbyist like me, there are better options than photoshop...certainly cheaper ones. (and are you sure you don't need Lightroom instead of Photoshop?).

Skylum Luminar 4 has gotten some pretty good reviews lately. Never tried it though. One of my friends is a full-time wedding and stock photo guy and swears by it. Really like the sky AI feature.
 

Dove

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If you're a hobbyist like me, there are better options than photoshop...certainly cheaper ones. (and are you sure you don't need Lightroom instead of Photoshop?).

Skylum Luminar 4 has gotten some pretty good reviews lately. Never tried it though. One of my friends is a full-time wedding and stock photo guy and swears by it. Really like the sky AI feature.
A friend of mine just let me know there are other "apps". So I am open to opinions.
 
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I don't care about gaming. Want new machinery.
It wasn't a suggestion to game on it, it's just that it's probably the most cost-effective way to get a pretty highly spec'd computer that can blow through photo editing with no issues. Clearly there is a form factor limitation though as it's not portable. Just a suggestion.
 
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some random websites opinion.​

Best Laptops for photoshop 2020​

Laptop

processor/RAM/GPU

Resolution

Price

ASUS ZenBook Pro

i7/16GB/GTX 1050Ti

FHD

Under $1700

Dell XPS 15

i5/16GB/GTX 1050

4k UHD

Under $2000

Surface Laptop

i7/16GB/Iris 640

2256×1504

Under $2000

MacBook Pro

i7/16GB/Radeon 555

2880×1800

Under $2500

Dell G3579

Intel® i7/16GB/GTX 960M

FHD (1920×1080)

Under $1100

Acer Aspire E15

Intel® i5/8GB/MX 150

FHD (1920×1080)

Under $600

ASUS VivoBook

Intel® i5/8GB/GTX 1050

FHD (1920×1080)

Under $1000

LG Gram

Intel® i7/16GB/Intel 620

FHD (1920×1080)

Under $2000

my thoughts are i7 chip, 12 gb ram, 1T storage SSD, nvidia/radeon gpu, screen res 1980x1080 or higher, with a cupholder.
iffn you can't whip this stew up at the kitchen table, i highly rec a refurb from best buy.
surface rules the world, but brandy new? that acer product/price is prolly all u need.
everything apple is too expensive. signed, apple stock purchaser at around $36.
thank youse.
Need more cupholders.
 

Fishy

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A friend of mine just let me know there are other "apps". So I am open to opinions.

Pixelmator, Photoshop Elements - there are tons of options.

Even just the normal Apple Photos app is very capable.
 
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A friend of mine just let me know there are other "apps". So I am open to opinions.
I’ve tried a couple of the highly rated open source Lightroom alternatives. You can do everything in there that you can do in LR but boy is everything just a lot more intuitive in LR. Can’t speak for all and none of the paid alternatives. Would highlight what 429 said in that I’d just double check on whether Lightroom or photoshop is what you need. Lightroom (or an alternative) is a must have for photography. Photoshop can be useful for some specific photography tasks but is not a necessity for an amateur photographer.
 

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