Laptop or Desktop

SusieQue

Hi all..

Need to get a new computer.. Was thinking about a laptop and a friend suggested maybe a new desktop instead as a laptop to suit my needs in photography would be quite expensive? Is this true What should I be looking for when purchasing a new laptop primarily for photography/editing etc.. What brands?? And what price should I expect to pay?

Many thanks in advance,
Susie:D

PCPhoto

depends on if you are working at your own pace....or under pressure to get stuff out fast.

if you are working at your own pace - I'd recommend a Desktop

in terms of specs .... loads of RAM, fast processor and a large Hard Drive....... do you intend using the computer for stuff other than editing your pics (ie. website hosting, internet, word documents, emails etc etc)

laptophire

Hi Susie,

From our experience, it all depends on the price you're willing to pay. We like Apple computers, and the new MacBook Pro line (with a good piece of software), can certainly cover your photography needs. Not to mention the portability of a laptop can be good for showing off to clients. For this option you're looking at around €1800 for the 15" model, and another €300 for the software. But! You can get away with buying a used MacBook Pro, so long as the screen is in good condition. In that case you're looking at closer to €1200 for the laptop.

If screen size is important, you can probably get a 24" Cinema Display for €850, and plug it into a MacMini or another desktop computer.

Whatever you get, try and get the best processor you can. You should be pleased with anything over 2.4GHz (dual), but try for 3.0GHz. And don't skimp on the RAM, the more you have the happier you'll be (and the faster you'll be able to work).

bette

SusieQue wrote: »

Hi all..

Need to get a new computer.. Was thinking about a laptop and a friend suggested maybe a new desktop instead as a laptop to suit my needs in photography would be quite expensive? Is this true What should I be looking for when purchasing a new laptop primarily for photography/editing etc.. What brands?? And what price should I expect to pay?

Many thanks in advance,
Susie:D

You should be looking for a good monitor. Laptops are not the ideal from that point of view. If you are doing a lot of Photoshop a second monitor for the tools is a great advantage. Desktops/towers are much cheaper and have greater possibilities. A nice 22" monitor with a second smaller one for the tools is a nice setup.

stcstc

laptops work in that they are portable etc

BUT the screens are not generally up to much for accurate colour

your much better with a desktop and a pair of decent monitors

DaireQuinlan

laptophire wrote: »

Hi Susie,

-snipped spam-

Spam aside, in general all else being equal you'll get better bang for your buck with a desktop over a laptop. There are other advantages as well in terms of upgradeability and extensibility. Plus you can choose your own monitor/keyboard/mouse etc etc. Admittedly you can get a second set for your laptop and use them when you're using it at home or whatever.
Really the only advantage of a laptop over a desktop is its portability, unsurprisingly enough. If that's important to you then get a laptop. Otherwise plump for a desktop.

laptophire

Hope my reply wasn't spam. I was suggesting what worked for me when I was a filmmaker, and my colleagues that work in photography. I preferred to be portable, since my clients generally had poor monitors that didn't showcase the visuals I was working on properly, and with the laptop, I could go visit them and make sure it looked right. Same goes for my friends that do wedding photography.

DaireQuinlan has it right, however, in that a desktop with a good monitor can be better for you all around, allowing you to extend the system as your budget increases, and to put less money in at the start for more processing power.

The 3.0Ghz/ RAM advice I posted still holds for desktops!

SusieQue

PCPhoto wrote: »

do you intend using the computer for stuff other than editing your pics (ie. website hosting, internet, word documents, emails etc etc)[/QUOTE

Thanks a mil for getting back to me! At present I use destop for internet, e-mails, an odd word document. But more recently, I bought an SLR and am working with RAW files and have started teaching myself photoshop from tutoirials etc... and my system is an a go slow!!

As with everyone, I'm not rolling in cash at the mo! I did hope to enjoy the convenience of a laptop also... :rolleyes:

bette

stcstc wrote: »

laptops work in that they are portable etc

BUT the screens are not generally up to much for accurate colour

your much better with a desktop and a pair of decent monitors

A small netbook would be a good portable compromise for displaying photos. Don't try editing with it!



What sort of specs do you have on your desktop? You can improve performance with extra ram (cheap enough these days) and a good clean out. There's probably room for an extra HDD which you would certainly with your raw photos. Post up your specs and you should get a flurry of suggestions for improvments.

SusieQue

laptophire wrote: »

Hope my reply wasn't spam. I was suggesting what worked for me when I was a filmmaker, and my colleagues that work in photography.

The 3.0Ghz/ RAM advice I posted still holds for desktops!

Appreciate all the advice and info! Thank you kindly! I'm planning on buying a new lens at the moment too and money is low as I'm not working. photography is just something I recently got into, love and really hope to develop in!

Thanks again,
Susie

DaireQuinlan

laptophire wrote: »

Hope my reply wasn't spam.

Haha. You run a company called 'laptophire' and as one of your first few posts you suggest that someone looking for a laptop or desktop ... wait for it ... hires one of your laptops. If it looks like a duck, and QUACKS like a duck ...

PCPhoto

and posted your mobile number ...tut tut tut

pixbyjohn

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/minicat/services_d00x8104?c=ie&cs=iedhs1&l=en&s=dhs

Ghost Train

Might get more use out of laptop in that you can take into the kitchen in the morning, out on the patio in the afternoon, beside you while watching tv in the evening. If you have a good comfortable place to have a desktop and like just using pc without other distractions once or twice a day, desktop might be better.

I'd say you could get a decent enough laptop for around 650, probably get a handy enough desktop for 400

software and slightly better features will start shifting the price upward, longer warranties might be worth looking at if spending a lot

budget laptop about 400 might leave you struggling with newer software and will cope less well the more you try and do with them

Paulw

I use a desktop for the majority of my photography, especially editing.

I also have a laptop for processing when on-site.

It depends on your needs. In general, you want something solid and decent. Plenty of them out there.

TinyExplosions

The Dell Outlet Store can be great for picking up a cheap laptop for about 500... the usual advice from above is all good when figuring out which one you want, though most of the dell's are good enough for basic editing in Lightroom etc, and some light Photoshop use... they aren't the most perfect setup (that'd be a Macbook Pro in my view), but will certainly get you down the right path!

johnmcdnl

if you can get a 17" laptop with decent spec I'd go with that..


I'm using this toshiba p300-161 and I find it to be quite good for my needs - because it's 17" the picture quality is top notch and you get the portability of a laptop... and because it's a laptop the screen is only 2 feet away from your face generally so 17" is more than big enough...

that's my 2 cents anyways

SusieQue

Ghost Train wrote: »

Might get more use out of laptop in that you can take into the kitchen in the morning, out on the patio in the afternoon, beside you while watching tv in the evening.

I'd say you could get a decent enough laptop for around 650, probably get a handy enough desktop for 400

This sounds more like what I'm looking for at the mo anyway! If I get a laptop, I still plan to hold onto the desktop but can delete alot of stuff of it then.. Dell have a few ggod deals until the 9th so was hoping to take advantage of that too..

SusieQue

TinyExplosions wrote: »

The Dell Outlet Store can be great for picking up a cheap laptop for about 500...

Thanks a mil for that.. will check it out

Nforce

Without a shadow of a doubt go with a good desktop along with a good monitor with IPS panel. Quadcore (Intel i7 9xx series if possible) with 6GB/12GB of memory would be ideal if dealing with large RAW files. You could either buy an off the shelf system or could go with a self build(or get someone to build it for you for a nominal fee) which will probably work out cheaper than an OEM build. Desktops are infinitely more upgradeable than notebooks and have greater storage capacity.

Yv

I have a 13" laptop, & when I want to edit photos etc I plug it into the 19" Samsung monitor I still have from my last desktop. The laptop has no problems running both displays at once, & you can have all the tools etc on the smaller screen with the image nice & large on the big screen. You have to put a bit of effort into calibrating the two screens so the colours match, but that goes for any monitor really. Having a tidy little 13" laptop is great - you can work comfortably enough on public transport or on little café tables, it'll fit in most bags (ie not just laptop-specific ones) if you get one of those neoprene sleeves for it &, in the case of the laptop I have (Macbook Pro), it's made of aluminium so it's light but can still take a few knocks.

Just making the point that it's possible to have a small, portable laptop & a big screen without shelling out for two different systems, or having to take one option over the other. In the case of the Macbooks, the price difference between the 15" & 13" versions is enough to cover a nice big second monitor.

Note: the laptop has 2GB RAM but has no problems running CS4. (It's worth noting that Macs generally don't need as much RAM as Windows machines, so while 2GB might sound minuscule, it is adequate for photo editing - video takes a while, though.) The hard drive is 160GB but I have a 1TB external drive where I keep all the stuff I'm not working on currently. Backed up on another 1TB drive, of course The best thing is that even when running PS continuously the battery will last about 4hrs (generally around 6 for online browsing; 7 for just listening to music), so you genuinely can get a lot of work done on the move.

I know I sound like an Apple fanboy here, but after years of using big Windows machines I'm genuinely really happy with the Macbook!

Ghost Train

17 inch can be a bit bulky and heavy for moving around, 15 inch nice size for around the house, 13 is good for travel or taking out with you

of course weight will vary between models, 2.5 kg is not too bad weight 2kg or lighter would be a light laptop, 3kg starts to feel heavy

generally I would stick with intel processors, 2ghz+, 3 or 4gb of ram

Your Airbag

Laptop, I find lots of buddies who are into photography have them, Apple Macs usually, and Adobe photoshop is an essential.

dinneenp

I have very large screen laptop refurbished from Dell. I don't need to take it outside if home so bulk isn't an issue.
Was also debating same as you. Happy with my choice. Can browse Internet/work on photos in living room, kitchen, bed etc. I got extra memory so it's no potential issue.

AnimalRights

I wouldn't part with my desktop/24" Samsung in a million years for a laptop.

Calina

laptophire wrote: »

Hope my reply wasn't spam.

I removed your contact details because they are in contravention of rules regarding advertising on boards. I have left the rest of your post as it's open to discussion.

Please note that touting for business on this forum is not permitted except under the services thread which has strict rules regarding posting history.

regards,

Calina
photography mod