Laptops For Photography

[Eduard]

On board graphics are more than adequate for your needs - separate graphics cards are geared towards 3D rendering so most of the work will still fall on your CPU to do.

This isn't 100% accurate. If you are a heavy user of a specific features of Photoshop, it can take advantage of select graphics cards to offload some of the work. The link for the Photoshop CC GPU FAQ is here for more info.

 

[Eduard]

My current laptop is a 15' MacBook Pro. Setup to dual boot between Maverick and Windows 8.1. 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, i7. It's a little big for travel, but I don't mind.

Out of curiosity I checked the weight of a 15" MacBook Pro versus a D800. Mac = 4.46 pounds (2.02 kg) while the D800 is 31 oz / 1.98 pounds (900 gm / .9 kg)!!! And we complain about the weight of a DSLR! LOL

 

[Steve B]

You have gotten a lot of good advice from others on the laptop so I wont add anything there. I will however say that in my opinion when you are doing photo editing, especially when the images will be distributed either electronically or hard copy a good calibrated monitor is a lot more important than the speed of your PC. I would much rather be working on a slower PC with a good quality monitor than a really fast PC with a poor monitor. I use a fairly powerful HP laptop for photo editing when I need the portability but for my "serious" work I use a fast desktop with a good 23 inch monitor. If you use a laptop for all of your editing make sure you can connect a good external monitor to it using a DVI connection.

 

[Steve B]

Out of curiosity I checked the weight of a 15" MacBook Pro versus a D800. Mac = 4.46 pounds (2.02 kg) while the D800 is 31 oz / 1.98 pounds (900 gm / .9 kg)!!! And we complain about the weight of a DSLR! LOL

But do you walk around all day holding the MacBook up to your eye?

 

[jayhunter]

My Budget Is Around $2000

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[Eduard]

My Budget Is Around $2000

With that budget look at the ThinkPad W540. It is the only laptop on the planet that can integrate an optional X-Rite® Color Calibrator. It can even be configured to support RAID. If it was my only system (no desktop), it would easily be my choice. Drawback is that this thing is a monster weight wise.

I went and built one that I would order without hesitation. Dual 1 TB drives in RAID 1 and the color calibrator. I would upgrade memory later but did add the 3 year depot warranty (you ship to them). Check this out:

 

[§am]

This isn't 100% accurate. If you are a heavy user of a specific features of Photoshop, it can take advantage of select graphics cards to offload some of the work. The link for the Photoshop CC GPU FAQ is here for more info.

Agreed, my statement wasn't 100% accurate, but I was referring to mainstream video cards available en mass.
Very few people would have looked for that link (FAQ) and based a card decision on that information unless they were very particular about their use of PS etc (and then we're probably talking pro editors).

But for the most/mainstream of joe public users, an on board will suffice if coupled with an i7 or even an i5 CPU

 

[Eduard]

No problem Sam. I didn't know if it was important to the OP.

I try to be pretty specific when I can around tech specs. I heard one of my longer team members telling a newb "don't give Ed anything with typos 'cause he hates it" the other day. LOL Guess I have a reputation now.

 

[Phillydog1958]

I've been using a 13 inch MacBook Air, along with a 1TB portable hard drive. I've recently upgraded to a iMac desktop. I wanted a little more real estate. I now use the MacBook for editing on the road.

 

[jayhunter]

I'm about to go & make my choice now. I'll let you all know which one I choose

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[Patrick M]

Better late than never, but Apple's retina displays are SOOOOOO good! I use a mac air, and with my eye-Fi card in the camera, I can see almost exactly what I've shot immediately and it's very very good.

 

[jayhunter]

I Ended Up Getting A Toshiba Satellite® S855-S5378 Laptop With 15.6 Screen & 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i7 Processor. It's Not As Good As A MacBook Or Asus But After Playing Around With The Display I Kind Of Got Hooked On It.

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[jayhunter]

Well Guys & Gals I Got Burned Out With The Toshiba Sold I Sold It & Got A Macbook Pro. It Doesn't Have Retina Display But I Got A Great Deal On It. It Comes With Adobe Master Collection.

 

[RocketCowboy]

The dark side is good ... We have cookies!


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