laptop recommendations

[mhahn]

<p>Any recommendations for a moderately priced laptop to use for photo editing? I have a laptop with a 12.1 inch display, which for me, is too small for photo editing. Any recommendations for screen size?</p>

[stp]

<p>15" or 17" macbook pro. A new model was released just a few weeks ago that has some game-changing features. It will probably replace my desktop model. Unfortunately, I doubt that it would be considered moderately priced.</p>

[leighb]

<p>I use an Apple 13" MacBook Pro with the Apple 24" LED Cinema monitor. This gives me the best of both worlds.</p>

<p>The display is huge, great for photo editing and general computer use. Yet the laptop itself is small enough to carry to the studio or wherever I might need it.</p>

<p>The combination cost less than the 15" MacBook Pro, and to my mind represents a much better value due to its versatility.</p>

<p>Whatever you get, put in all the RAM it can hold. This is the single greatest performance improvement.</p>

<p>- Leigh</p>

[garrison_k.]

<p><em>A new model was released just a few weeks ago that has some game-changing features.</em></p>

<p>The latest MBP is in the middle of another saga. Which reminds of a "saga" thread I could update. Anyways, there's 74 pages in three weeks on the apple discussion forums. If you're thinking of MBP, I'd steer clear of it for awhile.</p>

<p>http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2768351&start=135&tstart=0</p>

<p>I'm with Leigh. But there's problems with Thunderbolt and Apple displays as well. I do like the lapop and large monitor set-up, but in Windows and dual-boot with Ubuntu. I think 24" is perfect size and is about as much load I'd want to put on a laptop gpu. The Sandy Bridge cpu is showing up in Dell's now and that, with 4 gigs of ram, is very affordable.</p>

[smarksphotography]

<p>Good advise from others here already.<br>

You might be able get the previous generation of MacBook Pro a bit cheaper now that the new ones are out. Even two generations back will be good. I was able to get a non LED cinema display on Craigs List for a decent price too. Oh, if you can get a Matt screen on the powerbook, I'd consider it. </p>

 

[digitaldog]

<p>The new Macbook is awesome, I have one (15”), no issues, super fast. I’ve driven a 30” NEC off it, no issues either. </p>

[mhahn]

<p>Just in general, why does everyone recommend Macbooks (i.e., any old Apple laptop?) over non-Macbooks?<br>

Thank you for your responses.<br>

Martin</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>The new MBP 15" is a game changer, however, as Garrison says there does seem to be a problem at the moment that many are having. I'd wait til it's sorted out, but that computer now makes a laptop generally as powerful as a desktop if you need that capability. Of course you would want an external monitor as well. You could even get a NEC for around the price of a Apple Monitor.</p>

[Brad_]

Like Andrew, I have a new one as well, except a 13" i7 model. Super fast and the battery lasts a long

time. The issue about driving external displays with the recently released models was solved in a software

update a few days ago via OS X 10.6.7

 

>>> Just in general, why does everyone recommend Macbooks (i.e., any old Apple laptop?) over non-

Macbooks?

 

They just work, and the OS is robust. Hardware is well-integrated to the software. Along with millions of

others, I've yet to have ANY virus/malware/etc issues. And have never bought any protection software to

deal with that. Since the late '80s.

[garrison_k.]

<p><em>Just in general, why does everyone recommend Macbooks (i.e., any old Apple laptop?) over non- Macbooks?</em></p>

<p>Build quality. It's night and day compared to plastic Dell HP's etc. But Samsung Series 9 is really nice. My fist choice in Windows laptop<br>

http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP900X3A-A03US-features</p>

[Uhooru]

<p>The MBP's really are a joy to work with. I've only had my one and only, and it works really well with virtually no problems. It's a late 08 model. Compared to the newish less than 1 year old HP's we use at work, and the Dell's a couple of people use, the MBP just seems easier to use and 0 problems. With the other's they have the IT maven in their office all the time tweaking stuff.</p>

[mhahn]

<p>I've never used a Mac. Have always used non-Macs at work.</p>

[wmervine]

<p>Martin there are some differences in using a mac, as the operating system is quite different to windows. However I've seen quite a few people at work make the transition fairly easily. I use a custom built pc at home with Windows 7, and have built multiple computers for friends and clients. But when it came to buying a laptop, I bought a MBP. After nearly 5 years of service, I'm awaiting my next one. Why mac? Reliability. While Win 7 is a big improvement over XP, I find that that OSX simply is more stable. <br>

I used to run windows on the MBP as well for windows specific software, and it runs natively these days very well. I no longer need to do so as all the software I need to use is now available for mac.<br>

However, if you feel you want to stay with windows, the better brands of laptop seem to be Dell, Samsung, Toshiba, Lenovo, Gigabyte. Just make sure you use the 64 bit version of win 7 to use 4 or more Gb of ram.</p>

[simon_crofts]

<p>I'm about to update my laptop, and as far as I can see at the moment, there is no choice except for a Macbook. Non-Macs are ruled out simply because of screen proportions - incredibly, it doesn't seem possible to find a laptop with anything less widescreen than 16:9 proportions. Screens this wide are pretty much useless for photo editing because there is not enough height to edit vertical images, especially once you've allowed for Photshop menu bars along the top and bottom. Even for horizontal images, you're left with not using the full width of the screen., the extra width is just wasted space and weight.</p>

<p>The Macbooks are not that much better, with 16:10 proportions they are still widescreen. But the extra height compared to PC's means that the 15" or larger ones are just about usable.</p>