Is 13" enough for lightroom (mbp retina)

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bdigital

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Im trying to source a decent laptop for editing photos on the go using lightroom.

I dont care if its windows or osx, just want something powerful enough, that has a decent panel, colours and res.

Ive found a complete lack of anything suitable in the windows world so have been looking at macbook pro retinas.

I want to know, does anyone here edit using lightroom on a 13" mbp? How do they find it? Im concerned it may be a bit small, would like some other views.
 
no. in my opinion.

having used one of our directors 13 air, it was a nightmare to use for "normal" things. i definitely wouldnt want to edit on one.

of course this is subjective and my opinion.
 
neil_g said:
no. in my opinion.

having used one of our directors 13 air, it was a nightmare to use for "normal" things. i definitely wouldnt want to edit on one.

of course this is subjective and my opinion.
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But the air doesnt use the same resolution as the retina.

Or do you think its still an issue?
 
I've never used the Retina version, but for a long time my main editing machine was a 13" Macbook. Ideal when on location, and at home I had an external Dell monitor if I needed a bigger screen.
 
Without an external screen, no it would do my head in...

However my main laptop is my 13" Macbook air and it is perfect to me for everything on the road...presentations, virtual machines, coding, Aperture/Lightroom...all absolutely fine for a great mobile solution....However for a big session, I plug it into an external 30" monitor...

if it was the only option I wouldn't...Then again I also wouldn't just work for ever from a 15" screen either....So for the reduction of 2" you gain a lot of portability....
 
I went from a 15 (or was it 17?) inch Macbook Pro, to a 13 inch Macbook Pro Retina, for editing on location. Yea it's small, but it's fine for what I need on location - which is usually quick picks and basic processing in Lightroom for sending to media. Worth it for the space and weight saving over a larger laptop.

I use a 27 inch screen at home, so it's quite a contrast, size wise.
 
Jayst84 said:
I went from a 15 (or was it 17?) inch Macbook Pro, to a 13 inch Macbook Pro Retina, for editing on location. Yea it's small, but it's fine for what I need on location - which is usually quick picks and basic processing in Lightroom for sending to media. Worth it for the space and weight saving over a larger laptop.

I use a 27 inch screen at home, so it's quite a contrast, size wise.
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That sounds like a similar use to me.

Need for when im back in the media centre.

It will be import, sort, basic processing in lightroom, send to editor and get back out on track.

Shame I cant get access to a 13" with lightroom and actually use it myself before buying
 
bdigital said:
That sounds like a similar use to me.

Need for when im back in the media centre.

It will be import, sort, basic processing in lightroom, send to editor and get back out on track.

Shame I cant get access to a 13" with lightroom and actually use it myself before buying
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Most Apple Stores have Lightroom installed as well iirc...Or just try it with Aperture different but the same really...
 
TBH I think 13" is just a bit too small, even with the high res. Not saying you can't edit on it, but it will be awkward.
 
Hi all I have a 13" mbp and I'm considering using a 32" led monitor for editing would this be better than the laptop screen ?
 
Damo1 said:
Hi all I have a 13" mbp and I'm considering using a 32" led monitor for editing would this be better than the laptop screen ?
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As long as the monitor isn't bad then yes, enormously better.
 
Damo1 said:
Hi all I have a 13" mbp and I'm considering using a 32" led monitor for editing would this be better than the laptop screen ?
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I depends on the native resolution of the 32" led monitor. If it is actually a TV and limited to 1080p I wouldn't.
 
dejongj said:
I depends on the native resolution of the 32" led monitor. If it is actually a TV and limited to 1080p I wouldn't.
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Agreed - a TV screen is what I'd call bad, including 1080P at that size.
 
Still not sure what to do!

Ive tried 3 apple stores and played with both the 13 and 15 but I cant tell if 13 is big enough until I can use lightoom on it!

Anyone else use a 13 retina for editing?
 
Hi I use my 13 inch macbook for editing away from home
it's ok for lightroom and quite a few things in photoshop but is too small for things like using the healing brush, can do it but it's fiddly
most of my editing I do on my pc on a bigger screen but the macbook is perfectly usable in my opinion for lightroom
I really like the retina screen on the mac great for viewing pictures
 
LCPete said:
Hi I use my 13 inch macbook for editing away from home
it's ok for lightroom and quite a few things in photoshop but is too small for things like using the healing brush, can do it but it's fiddly
most of my editing I do on my pc on a bigger screen but the macbook is perfectly usable in my opinion for lightroom
I really like the retina screen on the mac great for viewing pictures
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Thanks thats helpful.

It will be for quick editing (composition, cropping, exposure, colours, highlights, shadows etc. Possibly a small amount of brush work but noy very often)

Are the sliders big enough? Do you habr any space issues at all? And do you find it has enough grunt to deal with lots of hi res images being worked on
 
Hi only thing that's slightly a problem is the viewing area of the picture that you are working on is a bit small
I went for the 13 inch because occasionally I go abroad and the size and weight of hand luggage is always a problem
if I didn't have to take it on a plane I would go for the bigger 15 inch one
I only normally just edit one shot at a time and its fine with that but imagine that it would be a bit slower with several at once
in hindsight I would have maxed out the memory which would have helped
I went for 8gb of memory
 
Been using LR and CS6 on a 13" Mac Pro retina. And find it no problem.
 
I used LR with my 11" Air for editing at games, yes I miss my 27" iMac but it's ok and good enough to do the job I want it to do. If it is your only computer for editing then I would have 15" or preferably a monitor to use.
 
andrewc said:
I've never used the Retina version, but for a long time my main editing machine was a 13" Macbook. Ideal when on location, and at home I had an external Dell monitor if I needed a bigger screen.
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I'm working exactly this way (mid 2012 13" mpb with 16gb and 960gb ssd + dell u2410) - best of both worlds :)
 
daugirdas said:
I would say no, not really. You can in principle, but the image will be really small, and it will have some consequences to the final edit.
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What I find is that I naturally tend to make small images brighter, more contrasty & saturated than large images, because fine detail is invisible in a small image and subtle colours just look dull. I really noticed this when I was a member of Lightbox.com where images were only displayed small, and in order to be noticed it was necessary to really pump an image hard. The OP may see differently of course.
 
ancient_mariner said:
What I find is that I naturally tend to make small images brighter, more contrasty & saturated than large images, because fine detail is invisible in a small image and subtle colours just look dull. I really noticed this when I was a member of Lightbox.com where images were only displayed small, and in order to be noticed it was necessary to really pump an image hard. The OP may see differently of course.
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That's a very interesting observation. It could be nicely applicable for processing small preview images to grab attention on let's say flickr...
 
bdigital said:
Yeh thats what im worried about.

Any other views? People who use the retina 13?
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I use 13inch retina at work and it's barely usable for Web browsing..

Luckily I have an external monitor but that's not an option on the go.

I use a 15 inch at home and that barely is enough for light room editing.
 
I use a normal Macbook Pro 13" for 95% of my work, i work in IT so need something mobile, they i can remote to other machines with easily and portable, Then when i wanna edit some pics i just plug it in to a monitor at home or just jump on 27" imac at work.. To be honest it can be a pain sometimes with some images having the smaller acreen when using CS5.. but i have not had and issues in the 4 years of only having the 13" macbook..

Not that it may help, but if you know someone at uni at the moment you can get a nice discount on the Macbook, and put the money towards a decent screen.. works out a 15% discount og all the mac range at present and you get a £60 gift card to put towards it has well!
 
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