Upgrading from a laptop

dougan

dougan

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I have a Sony17" laptop which is around 4 1/2 years old, at the time it was one of the fastest laptops you could buy, with an Intel i7, 4gb Radeon graphics card, 8gb ram, full HD screen, Blu-ray drive etc.
It has served me well, but do find editing photos on only a 17" screen some what limiting. I use Photoshop Elements 12 and edit Raw files before t convert into jpegs.

A desktop is not an option, don't ask why! I could have an all in one PC, which would give me a bigger screen and still keep the wife happy! This is the one I like the look of -

http://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=ECC_BUNDLE_5700509&opt=&sel=DTP

I like the idea of the separate SSD drive, but my only concern is it has only 8GB of Ram, would this be enough? Or would it slow the rest of the system down?
I realise I could put 2 x 8GB's in, but not sure if that would invalidate the warranty, and HP have no way of allowing you to upgrade to more Ram.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks
 
never really a fan of AIO machines. screens are usually a compromise, plus if the panel dies then the machine is useless.

8gb is subjective, if you're not multitasking a huge deal then it shouldn't be a drag on the system. check your current memory usage in task manager.

if you really want a very small footprint personally id have a look at the dell micro boxes - http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/optiplex-7040-micro-desktop/pd?ref=PD_OC - they do an i7 version coupled with a mount which bolts it to the rear of the screen and a good dell IPS panel. we use the 3020 series at work and they're pretty good units for the size.
 
If the laptop screen is the only limiting factor, will it support an external screen via displayport, HDMI or similar?

Otherwise I would also recommend you follow Neils advice and look for a micro-PC that will mount behind a screen, that way you can choose the components yourself.

There are companies out there that will build to spec if you want, or you can buy a 'barebones' system unit & fit it out with memory, SSD etc yourself.

Take a look at http://www.mini-itx.com/ as an example of what is available
 
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I use my 17" Dell laptop, lid closed and screen off and stored vertically (vents upwards), connected to a 24" Dell monitor via HDMI. The screen on my laptop is simply too warm in colour to use effectively with photo editing. Set up works perfectly (until my new desktop arrives shortly).

Your laptop specs are great so just get an external monitor too. Easy £200 upgrade!
 
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I can't see why you need a new PC when your laptop's specs looks decent enough. I agree with Oliver, just buy a bigger monitor...
 
I agree with Oliver! Buy a good quality IPS monitor with UHD resolution. You can get some good 27" ones for around £300.
 
My laptop specs are particularly poor and it looks like I'm gonna have to start from scratch.

Given the new Mac Mini aren't user upgradeable, would I be as well to consider an iMac?

Alternatively, is there a better PC alternative given the same space limitations?
 
What's you maximim budget? You would need everything right?
 
keenan said:
What's you maximim budget? You would need everything right?
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Everything yeah. No budget really as I'm looking at it as a long term purchase.

The very fact I need everything yet something that performs well and is relatively compact means it's unlikely to be done on the cheap anyway.
 
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Ian W said:
Everything yeah. No budget really as I'm looking at it as a long term purchase.

The very fact I need everything yet something that performs well and is relatively compact means it's unlikely to be done on the cheap anyway.
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Ian W said:
My laptop specs are particularly poor and it looks like I'm gonna have to start from scratch.

Given the new Mac Mini aren't user upgradeable, would I be as well to consider an iMac?

Alternatively, is there a better PC alternative given the same space limitations?
Click to expand...

Does it have to be a Mac? From a photo-editing POV there is no advantage of Mac over PC or PC over Mac other than a PC system may be a little less expensive and will generally be user-upgradable.

*Personally* I would not buy an iMac over other models because when the computer needs to be replaced, you will have to throw away everything, rather than just replacing the main box or the screen.
 
Have you thought about building one yourself? If you go this route, you can build a ITX system that has a small form factor and you choose what goes inside. This will also give you the best value for you budget!

You could also look into the Dell XPS 27 All in One: http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-27-2720-aio/pd?ref=PD_OC

...or the Asus Zen All in One: http://www.johnlewis.com/asus-zen-2...3454b6&s_kwcid=402x2290514&tmad=c&tmcampid=73

If you really want something mainly for photo editing you could also look at the iMac: http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/imac?product=MK462B/A&step=config#

The thing with the All in One pc's like the Asus and the Dell is that they are not much cheaper than the Mac, so you might as well get that if you are spending that much..
 
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Doesn't have to be anything and I'm used to using both. My restrictions are mainly space so the form of an all in one suits me (or so I think anyway).
 
keenan said:
The thing with the All in One pc's like the Asus and the Dell is that they are not much cheaper than the Mac, so you might as well get that if you are spending that much..
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My thoughts exactly. The lack of 'upgradeability' is a worry though.

On the plus side, I do get a whopping 6% off through my employer for one [emoji23]
 
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Ian W said:
My thoughts exactly. The lack of 'upgradeability' is a worry though.

On the plus side, I do get a whopping 6% off through my employer for one [emoji23]
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Well, seeing as that 6% could amount to quite a bit on such an amount it's definitely best not overlooked..
 
keenan said:
Well, seeing as that 6% could amount to quite a bit on such an amount it's definitely best not overlooked..
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Definitely. I'm looking at the base 27" with 5k retina display and a 1TB HD which can be had for £1,362.00. Next step up is the 1TB 'fusion' drive which I could get for a smidgen over £1,500.00.

Either way my wife would hit the roof [emoji23] [emoji102]
 
And performance will still be disappointing without an SSD in there (though the fusion drive will be better than the HDD).
 
If you are happy to spend that kind of money then you should get it. I know I would! :)

But for most of us it's more financially efficient to do a custom build..
 
keenan said:
If you are happy to spend that kind of money then you should get it. I know I would! :)

But for most of us it's more financially efficient to do a custom build..
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What can I say, I'm very convincing! Would a custom build give me the space saving I need though?
 
Ian W said:
What can I say, I'm very convincing! Would a custom build give me the space saving I need though?
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It won't, but you could always put the case under the table.. ;)
 
But a small case can go on the back of the monitor.

Ian W said:
Can't be worse than my i3 HP laptop with HDD!
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But £1300 for relatively mediocre performance..... Faster certainly, but not great. I KNOW what a modern computer without an SSD is like, because I tried running my i7 quad core dell XPS on HDD only (instead of the equivalent of the fusion drive - I was swapping over from cache memory to SSD and needed to run the HDD without the cache) and it was simply very slow whenever any activity requiring access to stored files (like loading images) was involved.
 
Have a little look at these: http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/optiplex-7040-micro-desktop/pd

Tiny machines at 7.2"X7"v1", and available with i5 and i7 quadcore processors, you could probably bolt it to the rear of a monitor. Crucial seem to think it will take up to 16GB of memory and the HDD can be swapped out for SSD.

Monitors normally have purpose-made screw mounts for fixing to the wall or taking carriers to hold net-top type PCs like this.
 
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ancient_mariner said:
Have a little look at these: http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/optiplex-7040-micro-desktop/pd

Tiny machines at 7.2"X7"v1", and available with i5 and i7 quadcore processors, you could probably bolt it to the rear of a monitor. Crucial seem to think it will take up to 16GB of memory and the HDD can be swapped out for SSD.

Monitors normally have purpose-made screw mounts for fixing to the wall or taking carriers to hold net-top type PCs like this.
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They're interesting, but by the time you add on an equivalent 27" 5k display, peripherals and VAT you're looking at upward of £1,500.00.

I'd be all for doing it myself, but not if it results in me spending even more money to essentially get a faster iMac.

This looks interesting, but again a similar problem: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/change-the-game-with-nuc.html
 
Ian W said:
They're interesting, but by the time you add on an equivalent 27" 5k display, peripherals and VAT you're looking at upward of £1,500.00.

I'd be all for doing it myself, but not if it results in me spending even more money to essentially get a faster iMac.

This looks interesting, but again a similar problem: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/change-the-game-with-nuc.html
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The Nuc does look interesting.

The point of doing this is to get something with a good lifespan, rather than something crippled at the beginning that will become increasingly frustrating and slow as technology moves, and requires replacement sooner, rather than later. It's so that when it's time to replace the machine you only have to buy the processing box, rather than the entire rig again, so your investment in a good monitor isn't wasted. It's so that you add less to landfill and consume less materials. It's not as neat and pretty as an iMac, but if you're judicious it will be no more expensive (possibly less so) than a 2YO design crippled down to HDD speeds.

If you want a Mac then buy a Mac. Normally I'd suggest a Mac Mini, but they don't seem to be offering decent spec minis any more.
 
True. I'll perhaps look at an actual list of components needed for the NUC and go from there.
 
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