Laptop for Photo Editing (2013)

<p>This will be my primary and only machine for editing work.<br>

Unless, I can be convinced otherwise I am looking for an IPS panel machine.<br>

I care more about the display then performance. I just want the system to be able to efficiently batch edit, encode, export, and import DNG Raw files into Lightroom 5 without huge wait times. <br>

My Budget is around 1200-1300. The Macbook Retina 13 is beautiful and the screen seems to be the best available, but it is a bit out of my budget AND it is a 13 inch AND it seems a bit underpowered, though I have no idea in reality.<br>

I was also looking at a Asus UX31A - half the price, IPS, but also a small 13" display and also maybe underpowered.</p>

<p>Please help with some suggestions, if you feel like you can weigh in here.<br>

Thanks</p>

<p>I've been convinced for 4+yrs, that small screen may be OK for a road edit (or rough edit), but you just can't get the IQ or proper determination from small screen. True, Asus had 1080P screens in small version for quite a while....and I'm not even talking about 17" type furniture. My suggestion is to get larger quality monitor (24-27-30") so you can track the nuances of your photos and your edit process. It's sort of like judging the image by what you see on the net - knowing that there is more to it. </p>

<p>Les</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Check out the Sony SVS15127PX/B at your favorite place to spend money. My son has one. Gorgeous display -- HD IPS -- and fast.</p>

<p>However, there is another option here.</p>

<p>For the most part, there is enough horsepower in better laptops to do the job for photoediting--the limitation is the size of the screen and perhaps also its color capabilities.</p>

<p>However, many laptops will support a larger, external monitor that is capable. <br>

When you're not on the road, just hook up the external desktop monitor.</p>

<p>Depending on the machine and the operating system, this might even give you a two-screen operation, which can be very desirable.</p>

<p>I use a 17" ASUS with an IPS display, and it's quite good for editing. But the pixel pitch is pretty darn tight, and once you've edited on a 27 or 30-inch display, there's no going back. But that ASUS display is more than adequate for work if I don't have a choice. <br /><br />BTW, there's no reason you can't hook up a good external display to whichever laptop you get, should your budget provide for it.</p>

<p>thanks for the responses everyone, buying a second monitor was in the back of my mind to begin with.</p>

<p>Is there a reason to go mac over pc in this regards? disregarding general OS preferences. <br>

Is a mac much better at processing (and displaying) photos and editing via lightroom/photoshop?</p>

<p>How about a Macbook refurb?</p>

<p>I bought my first Mac in 1984 (it was why 1984 wasn't going to be like <em>1984</em>), so yeah, sure the Mac is better.</p>

<p>I worked for a number of years on Windows machines, and with the same software, they really were pretty good.</p>

<p>But, it goes without saying [;)] that the Mac is better and <a href="

better all the time</a>.</p>

<p>I bought a Lenovo 530 a few months back specifically to process D800 RAW files. My old system was a tower and simply to old and slow to handle D800 RAW file sizes. At the time, The 530 could be installed with Windows 7.</p>

<p>The Lenovo 530 can be configured with a screen color calibrator which is very nice. When it is time to calibrate, you click a few things, close the lid, wait for the finish beep/light and you are done. So much easier than my old calibration process.</p>

<p>The Lenovo 530 can handle four external monitors with a docking station. </p>

<p>I put in a large SSD drive to help speed up photo processing. The SSD drive is very nice. I did not buy one from Lenovo but installed one myself. </p>

<p>Later,<br />Dan</p>

<p>Like Dan, I have a Lenovo W530 and it works fine. I mostly edit b&w files from a Monochrom, so color calibration hasn't been a priority. But I export files to a thumb drive and take it to the digilab I use (they use Macs), and have never had to tweak the images much to print on their system.</p>

<p>Dan, could you please clarify if your 530 is W530, or T430 or the E530. <br>

Thanks,</p>

<p>Tibi</p>