i5 or i7 ? graphics card or not?

bywhacky

bywhacky

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Dear knowledgeable ones of the forum I seek some answers to the following questions as I have become bewildered to say the least after researching for weeks.

An yes I know a pc would probably be better as would a mac, But I currently live in a caravan whilst working on getting a narrowboat to live on and pc is not viable due to lack of space and do not like Macs let alone have the budget for one.

I am settled on a 15.6 inch anti with anti glare screen.

Cannot decide if i5 or i7 is best for my needs for Lightroom 6and photoshop elements 14 and nik. (yes I shoot raw too)

Cannot work out if integrated or separate graphics card is the way to go.

Looking at min 1 tb hdd with a ssd as well but budget limits size if the ssd somewhat

My Budget is around £800

Your advice would be most welcomed
 
just be aware some newer i5 processers are faster than some older i7s
read the specs on cpu sites as to performance
dedicated graphics will be faster at rendering.
personally I would focus on the quality of the screen as that's where your images are going to be really made.
 
To be honest, the difference between an i5 and an i7 in photoshop with RAW is negligible unless your working with say 10-15 images at any one time or above.

As for on board graphics, its "ok" as most of the onboard graphics from intel that occupies the i7 or i5 are actually reasonable and able to play light games even at 720p. The amount of VRAM they share with the system can vary between 1526MB and 2560MB currently off the top of my head however this integrated GPU is subject to the RAM in the system and as such your likely looking at dual channel DDR3 1600Mhz which is lacking when compared to a GPU such as the nvidia 950m or the up coming 940mx that have dedicated GDDR3/5 that runs with both a higher bit rate, is dedicated and likely rated at a speed of 3000-5000mhz depending on the SKU in question.

Storage space again isnt really important as you can always buy separate external drives or invest in a NAS or cloud storage for your images. The SSD however is important and getting a system with an 128GB msata or m.2 unit is certainly the way forward as the access times will greatly help with the over all feel of the system and software that you will be using. Transferring images to the SSD to be manipulated from a fast SD or CF card will also be very quick and shouldnt leave you waiting for any considerable time for files to transfer.

If you look at more professional based notebooks you can pick up for close to budget a system with an i5, GTX 950m with 3-4GB or VRAM as well as an 128GB dedicated SSD and 1Tb HDD. The more professional side of the notebook market is where you will find IPS panel systems rather than TN which offer far superior viewing angles, colour reproduction and can be calibrated to offer as close to real life reproduction as possible. The likely resolution however will be 1600x900 for IPS at this price point where 1920x1080 or higher will be on systems in the £1000+ bracket.

An i5 is also fine for video editing or encoding too although the i7 really will shine here with its additional threads. (4core 8 thread vs 4core 4 thread).

Be careful to note the i5 CPU down before purchasing and use intels ark to check the CPU. If the CPU is 1 physical unit with 4 cores and 4 threads then you have a full fat i5 that will happily do the job requested of it. If its a more mobile orientated unit you may find its an 2 core 4 thread affair which is essentially just a fancy low powered i3 and not really up to the task.

Hopefully this helps!!

Id recommend having a look at MSI gaming laptops too. they offer better value than most professional laptops however they usually only offer a TN panel which may be fine for you needs depending on what you are used to using on a daily basis either at home or work already.
 
Increasing RAM is likely to produce greater effect than choosing i7 over i5, 8-16GB would be my choice and if expandable so much the better.
 
Double-post, hamster running slow today!
 
all else being equal i7 is better than i5. Is i5 good enough, of course.

16gb RAM is better that 8, is 8 good enough, yes

1TB hard drive, I would get an SSD, will make a huge difference in loading time, and an External for storage.
 
The pcspecialist isn't a bad bit of kit but the 2gb of VRAM could be a limiting factor in the long run. It's not a half bad GPU though..

Swap out the hdd for an ssd, change to an i7, add 16gb of ram and plum in for a 1tb storage drive and your in excess of £900..

The panel is a belter though which is a welcome change for a Clevo chassis!
 
I had a 2009 i5 iMac and bought an i7. MacBook Pro in 2013. Now the MacBook has a 2.3 GHz processor and the iMac a 2.6. OK the MacBook has SSD , but in many cases the MacBook was faster in processor intensive applications. Having said that the iMac has only just been replaced with a newer model ( Mainly due to increased video work ). However the old iMac still works well with both Photoshop and Lightroom. And if wasn't for video I'd probably not purchased a newer machine. I suspect if I had gone for the i7 option I'd still be using the older iMac.
 
I do not have the space for a bigger screen due to living in caravan and soon moving to a boat. already have separate hard drives for back up and currently do not need to add more, again space is at a premium,

I have read some reviews on the optimus and they do not seem that great

Narrowed it down to a asus of some form or other, 15.6 inch antiglare screen full hd. min 1 tb hdd 7200 plus biggest ssd I can afford 16 gb ram
 
bywhacky said:
I do not have the space for a bigger screen due to living in caravan and soon moving to a boat. already have separate hard drives for back up and currently do not need to add more, again space is at a premium,

I have read some reviews on the optimus and they do not seem that great

Narrowed it down to a asus of some form or other, 15.6 inch antiglare screen full hd. min 1 tb hdd 7200 plus biggest ssd I can afford 16 gb ram
Click to expand...
Go to pcworld and have a look at an Asus laptop before making the purchase. Some may look great on paper and have fantastic screens for gaming or watching films but editing photos is near impossible as the colour reproduction and contrasts are way off with little means of adjustment.
 
bywhacky said:
I do not have the space for a bigger screen due to living in caravan and soon moving to a boat.
Click to expand...
Those 24"screens sure do get in the way, all those corners sticking out the windows and stopping the doors from shutting.
 
I noticed very little difference day to day when I upgraded from a i5 latop with inbuilt graphics to an i7 with a GeForce card, that is until I changed to an SSD, now that's where the speed comes from, as like a night and day difference.
 
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