Laptop vs. Desktop - Your Preference

Just wondering which you guys use, a desktop or laptop. I'm eyeing an iMac with a nice big screen, but I hate being stuck at a desk for long periods of time to edit photos. I know this is largely personal preference, but I thought I'd just throw the question out there. I'll have to upgrade my system software on my MacBook Pro if I want to work with raw files from my new D7100. This might be an excuse to buy another new toy.

Both -- iMac and Macbook Air . . . One for travel and one on my desk for home usage. I bought the Macbook Air, first. I had it for about 2 years before I decided to get the iMac. If you are going to get just one, I'd go with the laptop, which gives you the option of portability.

Phillydog1958 said:

Both -- iMac and Macbook Air . . . One for travel and one on my desk for home usage. I bought the Macbook Air, first. I had it for about 2 years before I decided to get the iMac. If you are going to get just one, I'd go with the laptop, which gives you the option of portability.

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I did similar ... MacBook Air with two 27" thunderbolt displays for the desk at home. Kind of the best of both worlds. I still use the MacBook Air for travel, but added a retina MacBook Pro for when I need a little more processing power/memory. The MacBook Pro tends to stay home more than not, since the MacBook Air does a good job of handling the typical daily stuff, but having dual thunderbolt ports is helpful with the external storage I use.

I prefer desktop but now that laptops are getting larger in screen size and keyboard size I cannot deny I love the portability.

I have a 14 inch lappy as well as a PC...Able to hook the lappy up to a large screen if I need to..

Desktop for me.

If you are at all concerned with working with the best color accuracy an IPS screen is my preference.

I shoot tethered to a 17" laptop but do all my editing on the desktop.

One issue with laptops is the field of view. This is a handy little gadget that helps assure you are always at the correct viewing angle..

Acratech Viewing Angle Gauge (Silver) 6005S B&H Photo Video

I use a Spyder3 Pro calibrator on my desktop screens and have not yet tried to calibrate my laptop, perhaps others can comment on how well that works ?

Cheers, Don

Desktop for me- this is coming to you from my 21.5" iMac. Just love it.
I'm not very good at lying in any sort of position trying to work off my lap.

Both. MacBook Air and Mac mini. Great combination.

HP ProBook 450 for me, when at the desk at home I plug in an external monitor, other than that I sit on the sofa and whatch TV while I do my post-processing

I generally use desktop based PCs for most of my work (IT Consultant), and the price you pay for power is cheaper than the equivalent laptop.
However, I do also have a laptop for mobile work and also when I don't want to be in my home office.

It's personal preference I guess and I couldn't live without either of my options

Desktop with triple monitors for me. I have Adobe CC on the laptop too, but rarely do PP on it.

Lawrence said:

Desktop for me- this is coming to you from my 21.5" iMac. Just love it.
I'm not very good at lying in any sort of position trying to work off my lap.

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I have the same size (21.5") iMac. I would've loved the 27 inch, but I have a small desk and the 27 would've just taken up too much space. I fought off the charm for awhile, but now, I'm ALL Apple.

27" iMac for me it still can blow me away even after 8 months use when I see shots full screen.
I prefer to work sitting at a desk / table.

No preference. Depends on mood and where I want to plant myself. Both laptop and desktop have same software. In the mornings before work it's the desk top. 23" Dell all in one. Not a bad comfuser, but almost time for a new one. I'm thinking about going to a Mac this time around.

Desktop.

I've never found a very good use for laptops. Seems like they're either too small/not powerful enough to get the job done or they're too large/inconvenient to be considered truly portable.

I recently added a 10" tablet/netbook (ASUS Transformer) to my arsenal, and I love it. It's a laptop when I need it to be, and the keyboard detaches to make it a touch screen tablet.

I use a laptop only, but simply due to space. If I had the space, I would have a desktop and large monitor and I would still need the laptop, so both would be ideal for me.

I will probably add a larger screen to use with the laptop at some point, but that item has not made the list yet, so no time soon.

weebee said:

No preference. Depends on mood and where I want to plant myself. Both laptop and desktop have same software. In the mornings before work it's the desk top. 23" Dell all in one. Not a bad comfuser, but almost time for a new one. I'm thinking about going to a Mac this time around.

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"Don't go into the light"



Couldn't resist.

Eyelight said:

"Don't go into the light"



Couldn't resist.

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Or a quote from Jurassic Park, "Don't go in the long grass!"

I use a small laptop and need more memory....probably go to 16 gb

sonicbuffalo said:

I use a small laptop and need more memory....probably go to 16 gb

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16GB RAM? Wow, what are you doing on it Chris?