Which basic laptop for raw?

garry71

garry71

Suspended / Banned
Messages
401
Name
Garry
Edit My Images
Yes
I'm after a laptop purely for photography.
I think I can get away with something fairly basic as it won't be running antivirus or anything else in the background, nor will it be going on the internet.
The only other use will be for basic spreadsheet work for home.

So what sort of minimum spec should I be looking at?

Thanks a lot.
Garry
 
RAW files are large and demand processing power. And memory.

Assuming a Win 7 laptop, look for something i3-2xxx or i5-2xxx with 4GB of memory and Win7 64bit (I think they're all 64bit these days).
 
I agree with the above, i wouldn't go under 4gb of ram. If you're using Lightroom to do your RAW processing it can be a bit of a dog at times even with a beefy machine.

You might also want to consider the size and resolution of the screen the cheapy laptops have quite a low res panel which you'll find infuriating as all the panels and toolbars in PS and lightroom themselves take up quite a bit of screen space and whilst you can autohide some of them it soon becomes quite counter productive.
 
Thanks for the answers.
Just a thought, If I went the pc route, would I get a better spec than a laptop of the same price?
I would have had a look at the shops today, but snowed in on the side roads a bit!
 
Personally i would go for a pc over a lappy because you can get a better screen and add more ram or better graphics cards later

Also look on some custom built gaming pc websites they build for you and you can get decent spec without all the rubbish software cheaper than you think
 
Laptops are very useful but, unless you need the portability or you have limited space then a desktop is a better option.

Laptop screens are smaller, they tend to be shiny so reflections can be a problem. The viewing angle is often smaller than with a monitor.

You get more for your money with a desktop and upgrading is simple.

I assume you have another PC, so you may only need a base unit if you can use your current keyboard and monitor.

Have a look at

http://www.novatech.co.uk/

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

Dave
 
I have the space for a desktop+monitor, so I'll condider those as well. The last desktop I bought was in 1999, I've still got it as well! Got into the habit of laptops since, but a desktop would be ok for me. Plus parts are easy to change if need be.

Cheers
Garry
 
I only ever use a laptop when surfing from the living room couch or travelling. Desktop all the way here...
 
Alright, desktop it is then!
I've just found a custom builder 2 miles away from me, so I'll get in touch and see what they can do.

Thanks again.
 
I built my PC about a year ago and it does me fine. It's a AMD Quad core 3.4Ghz, 2Tb hard drive, 8Gb of DDR3 1600 Ram, Nvidia GT250 1Gb Graphics and a Blu Ray writer running Win 7 Ultimate and has a 23" HD monitor and cost less than £650. The equivalent in PC world was just over £1,300. For loading and processing photos it runs like lightning and still surprizes me from time to time as to how fast it runs programs.
 
Where did you get the parts from? I had a look at building my own in the past, and the parts always came out dearer than buying a pc from a shop.
 
It's worth noting that at the moment that the cost of parts, hard drives and RAM, are at a premium at the moment due to flooding out in Asia. Might Ben worth hanging on for a bit until supplies pick up.
 
garry71 said:
Where did you get the parts from? I had a look at building my own in the past, and the parts always came out dearer than buying a pc from a shop.
Click to expand...
Normally people buy from

Ebuyer: http://www.ebuyer.com/
Scan: http://www.scan.co.uk/
Overclockers: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/
Novatech: http://www.novatech.co.uk/

I NORMALLY find ebuyer cheapest. It may cost the same as buying one, but the components (PSU & motherboiard in general) can be better for the same price.

The pick of the CPUs now is i5-2xxx or i7-2xxx. Get one with a K suffix if you want to be able to overclock (you'll also need a P67 or Z68 based motherboard).
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. Very interested in building my own now, it'll make a change from building guitar amplifiers with valves in 'em! (one of my other hobbies)
 
I managed to build one myself in the end, and bought the following parts:

Core i5 2500k
OCZ 120 gig Agility SSD
8 Gb Corsair Vengance 1600Mhz
Sony DVD writer
OCZ ModXstream 500w psu
Fractal Design Arc Mini case
Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3 motherboard
Windows 7 HP

It's very good with raw files, I can move a slider and see the changes as I move it! 100% zoom is instant as well, on my laptop it'd be about 10-20 seconds for it to zoom in.
I'll be having a go at recording my own music as well, my old pc was too slow for anything like that.

Cheers
Garry
 
You didn't mention your monitor, this is probably the most important part of any photo editing PC if you want to print your images. You want a half decent CALIBRATED screen if you want to print what you see on screen.

I am only saying this as I am envious of your PC spec :-)
 
Cheers Danny, truth is I don't have one yet, I've been using an old 15 inch CRT to test the pc out on.
I'm only just starting to research monitors, but it looks like my budget will be about £150 ish for one.

I didn't plan at all for the monitor, and thought they were all the same until I started looking around the other day, so any suggestions at this stage would be welcome :)
 
Thanks Neil, I've put it on my watch list.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top