Dell XPS 17" for Photo Editing? Other options?

mark1616

mark1616

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Hi, I'm about to upg my rather aged (4-5 years old) 17" HP laptop and trying to work out what is best to go for.

I want 17" again as I move around a lot but am not affected by the weight over a 15", also the screen size is better to work on.

I'm considering the following spec.

XPS17
2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2450M processor (2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.10 GHz)
3GB NVIDIA® GeForce® *GT 555M Graphics Card
44 cm(17.3") FHD WLED AG (1920x1080) with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
6144MB (1x2GB, 1x4GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel SDRAM
DVD+/-RW (DVD, CD read and write)
750GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive


I'm really not up to speed with new processors, I wonder if it is worth an upgrade to 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processor (2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.10 GHz) [add £39.99]

Without the faster processor this comes in at £839, is there anything else on the market that people would recommend for a similar (or better) price? I really want the higher res screen so that's something essential when considering options.

90% of use will be Lightroom3 and Photoshop CS3.

Thanks all :)

Mark
 
I was in the same boat as you a couple of weeks ago, an in the end went for a Dell with the i7 chip and 8Gb of ram. Got to say it is a beast.

But to be honest not sure I would have noticed if it had a i5 chip in, and I was torn between the two, as it seems that Photoshop Elements does not make use of hyper-threading. Not sure if Lightroom does for that matter or CS3. More programs will eventually start making more use of more cores and hyper-threading (think CS5 does make use of more cores).

Andy on here (Arad85) laid out the issues well for me to be able to make a sensible choice.

Have you had a look at Dell Outlet? as when I got mine there were some good deals on i5 laptops.
 
I hear my name called....

First things first, that's not a bad price - I have a lower spec i7QM, 15" FHD screen XPS that cost £80 more than that 8 months ago - I guess that's progress for you...

If you're happy with that spec (you don't need the graphics accelerator as PS3 isn't hardware accelerated - CS4 is, but only for a few things) then I'd probably go for the i7.

2x as many cores (i5 is dual core, i7 is quad core - you can tell by the Q in the part number) to do work that can be run in parallel. The other thing I'd do is look at upgrading the 2G stick of memory to 4G - Dell will let you do that but it will cost you compared to buying it off the internet when it is here.

As to whether LR/CS3 use the quad core - yes they do. Lightroom does as I've got it here and it lights up all cores and it seems CS3 does from the post half way down the page here: http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=62622

The turbo boost is a bit misleading too - current O/S' won't get the full turbo boost as they will keep all cores active meaning your max turbo boost for the i7- is 2.8GHz (+6 x 100MHz) and that for the i5- will also be 2.8GHz (2.5GHz + 3 x 100MHz). Source for that is Wikipedia...

Actually, given the fact they both turbo to the same speed - the i7 is the one to go for.

So. In summary. Get the i7 and plan on changing the 2G stick of RAM for a 4G (either by paying Dell or DIY) and you'll have a fantastic machine that will perform very well for a good few years to come.

Also, if you haven't thought aout it yet, you should have a backup strategy - even if that's only a USB isk you plug in and copy your files to once a week. Something is better than nothing!
 
That's for the great info guys. Looks like I will go Dell. The outlet store looks good, can get an 8Gb, 750Gb, i7 with the screen I want but also 3D and battery upgraded for the same price as I was looking above which is cool.

I'm pretty good with backup. Photos are on at least 2 hard drives and also jpgs on my zenfolio page at full res. I keep some other files on Box as well so not too bad (I hope).
 
Just ordered the following spec on the Outlet store.

Graphics : 3GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M Graphics Card
Carry Case : Not Included
English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64Bit OS)
Processor: Intel Core i7-2860QM (2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.60 GHz)
Silver Anodized Aluminum
AntiVirus: McAfee SecurityCenter 30 Day trial version
Display : 17.3in Full HD WLED AG (1920x1080) with 2.0 Mega Pixel Integrated Camera
750 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Wireless: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 (2x2 b/g/+ Bluetooth Combo Card)
Misc
Battery : Primary 9-cell 90W/HR LI-ION
8X DVD +/- RW DRIVE
6 GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHZ (2 DIMMs)

Guess how much with that processor?

Only £880 :) Happy me!!
 
Good buy that :) I'm sure you'll be very happy.
 
Which USBs does it have & do you know the est battery life? Ta!
 
Last edited:
DemiLion said:
Which USBs does it have & do you know the est battery life? Ta!
Click to expand...

2x USB 3 and 2x USB 2 (one of those is shared with some other connection type but can't remember at the moment).

They say up to 4.5 hours so in real life I will guess 2 or so.
 
neil_g said:
Probably esata, the latitudes at work have an esata/USB combo port
Click to expand...

Yep, think that's what it is, I was in a motorway service car park as I have a wedding tomorrow so had to get down to Plymouth.

Can't wait to get my hands on this new machine, should kill my current machine for speed and performance.
 
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