Photo Editing Laptops

[Flip Martian]

I’m looking for a laptop with a decent screen capable of displaying colours accurately. I mainly edit photos on my desktop but am in the market for a new laptop and would like it to also be capable of photo editing.

After some research I'm erring towards a Dell XPS15 with the 4K touch screen (ie not OLED) from research so far, with 16 gbs ram and a 1gb SSD. Do any togs on here use other laptops quite happily?

Mac owners are welcome to chip in but I’m really after a PC this time. Ta!

[Dogsey]

No experience of them personally but a friend highly recommends PC Specialist where you can customise a laptop to fit your budget and needs, including a number with IPS displays.

[Flip Martian]

Dogsey said:

No experience of them personally but a friend highly recommends PC Specialist where you can customise a laptop to fit your budget and needs, including a number with IPS displays.

Thanks. I did use them once upon a time and it was a very good laptop. But within 3 years the battery died and they no longer supported it (they had their own case and had customised the battery shape to fit). So the laptop was useless for mobile use. Loathe to use them again after that experience.

[stevejh]

The XPS seems to get some good write-ups but personally I would go for a bit more RAM. I've got 12GB on my laptop and although it's just ok I've been considering adding more just to speed things up bit when editing photos.

[Flip Martian]

stevejh said:

The XPS seems to get some good write-ups but personally I would go for a bit more RAM. I've got 12GB on my laptop and although it's just ok I've been considering adding more just to speed things up bit when editing photos.

What do you use to edit? LR/PS or something else?

Yeah everything I'm looking at while researching keeps coming back to Dell XPS - mostly the 7590. Dell Outlet might well be an option. I was just wondering what people were using. I did try editing photos at 1 time on my 2012 Macbook Pro but the display wasn't great for that back then (as I found out later). I just thought with it being "new laptop time" I'd see if I could cover general use and photo editing now. Maybe 32gb ram is a better option. Will bear in mind, ta.

[stevejh]

I use LR with a little bit of PS although I'm trying to do more with PS just to hone my skills. I notice LR struggles a bit if I have something else running in the background although if I just use LR it's not too bad. I suspect that as file sizes grow with the megapixel count of current sensors LR will need as much RAM as possible.

[Flip Martian]

stevejh said:

I use LR with a little bit of PS although I'm trying to do more with PS just to hone my skills. I notice LR struggles a bit if I have something else running in the background although if I just use LR it's not too bad. I suspect that as file sizes grow with the megapixel count of current sensors LR will need as much RAM as possible.

Yeah I'm thinking of future proofing a bit so will bear that in mind too, cheers.

[Fallingup]

I bought that very model about 8 months ago for my photography. I am very much an amateur but I can't fault it. It copes very well with Photoshop/ Lightroom, etc. It's refreshingly fast compared to my desktop (which is by no means slow). Of course the bigger the screen the better, but this is a nice compromise. I travel with it and anything bigger would be awkward. I'm delighted with it.

[Flip Martian]

Fallingup said:

I bought that very model about 8 months ago for my photography. I am very much an amateur but I can't fault it. It copes very well with Photoshop/ Lightroom, etc. It's refreshingly fast compared to my desktop (which is by no means slow). Of course the bigger the screen the better, but this is a nice compromise. I travel with it and anything bigger would be awkward. I'm delighted with it.

Thanks for that. The more research I do, the more points to this model. I'm now trying to look for evidence that its not the right one, due to the cost, haha! But at least Black Friday is coming, and there is the Dell Outlet of course. Ultimately it will be still be slightly cheaper than the MBP I bought back in early 2013, at least.

[Fallingup]

Flip Martian said:

Thanks for that. The more research I do, the more points to this model. I'm now trying to look for evidence that its not the right one, due to the cost, haha! But at least Black Friday is coming, and there is the Dell Outlet of course. Ultimately it will be still be slightly cheaper than the MBP I bought back in early 2013, at least.

I bought mine directly from Dell. They had a £300 off offer at the time. Worked out cheaper than elsewhere. Don't know how things are now though. Good luck!

[Flip Martian]

Fallingup said:

I bought mine directly from Dell. They had a £300 off offer at the time. Worked out cheaper than elsewhere. Don't know how things are now though. Good luck!

Thanks - yeah they seem to be doing 12% off at the Outlet at the moment, and even money off on the regular store. All before BF too. Unless anyone pipes up with anything else I haven't considered, it does seem this is the way to go.

[Flip Martian]

Just a heads up - I did go for the Dell in the end but found a seller on eBay selling Outlet machines with a 1 yr Dell warranty for less than Dell Outlet were, so went that route. The laptop that arrived was new and immaculate. So worth checking ebay if looking for anything similar,

The laptop is excellent too btw - using it for most of my editing now.