laptop vs desktop

[michaelwalter]

<p>I used to have a desktop that I did my photo processing on (LR3). It went South so I started using my laptop. I am having concerns. It seems that the angle with which I am viewing the screen has a remarkable effect on brightness, etc. </p>

<p>Do any of you exclusively use a laptop for your PP? I thought I might get some feedback before I go an buy another desktop PC.</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Note that you <em>can</em> usually connect an external display to your laptop. The display you were using on your desktop machine can probably be used, as-is, with your laptop when you don't want to be subject to the laptop's typical only-one-narrow-sweet-spot viewing angle.</p>

[szrimaging]

<blockquote>

<p>Note that you <em>can</em> usually connect an external display to your laptop. The display you were using on your desktop machine can probably be used, as-is, with your laptop when you don't want to be subject to the laptop's typical only-one-narrow-sweet-spot viewing angle.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>You may need an adapter/certain cable depending on connections on the monitor and laptop, but after that, it should work just fine.</p>

<p>Right now, I am exclusively using a three year old laptop from HP. One thing to note is that not all laptop screens are created equally. Mine, has a pretty good viewing angle so I don't get too much shift. Others are horrible. That said, external monitors usually provide better angles and better colors, so yeah, I would try hooking it up.</p>

[michaelwalter]

<p>I will give that s hot. Thanks.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>However. There is this. You will almost always get more computing power in a desktop than in a laptop of the same cost.<br>

The best solution is to have both, as you did previously. Otherwise, the business of adding an external monitor to a laptop is the next best thing.</p>

[michaelwalter]

<p>I have a flat monitor, so there is no cost with that option. But, as you say, today's prices are so cheap for so much I have to wonder...</p>

[mendel_leisk]

<p>Just my 2 cents: I much prefer a traditional desktop with separate display, decent tactile keyboard, and of course a mouse. I've just upgraded our two home systems and am very happy with the results: there's some good desktop solutions out there.</p>

[stp]

<p>My current MacBook Pro is more powerful than my previous desktop model, but I agree with JDM that laptops cost more than comparable desktops. I use my laptop exclusively, but it is connected to a large external monitor, and I use a different keyboard and mouse. However, it's easy to disconnect and take the laptop on the road. If I do any editing with it while on the road, I'm very conscious about viewing angle.</p>

[danny_low]

<p>There are some laptops with good screens for photo processing but most ,as you have found, do not have good screens. There are two solutions. If your laptop has a separate video out port, you can attach a good photo processing desktop monitor to it. The second is use the iPad as the second monitor for programs such as Photoshop that support dual monitors. The iPad is one of the best monitors for photo processing. I know professional photographers who use their iPad to make presentations to potential clients.</p>

<p>Personally I use a desktop for my serious photo processing and my laptop only to screen out the obviously good and bad photos on my trips. So when I return, I have a manageable number of photos to edit. The reason is, as others have pointed out, you can get a more powerful desktop for the same amount of money. And you can get the best monitor you can afford.</p>

<p>Danny Low</p>

[walter_degroot]

<p>you did not say what happened to the desktop<br>

First thing is File corruption<br>

sometimes cause by a virus but more likely a bad hard drive..<br>

If the desktop will boot up to the setup screen it is possibly JUST the hard drive.<br>

sometimes a bad hard driev will cause slow booting or just hank up.<br>

if there is NOTHING<br>

then it may really be dead<br>

avoid taking it to "your local friendly store"<br>

as they will spen minimum time diagnosing and try to sell you new parts without saving old date.<br>

Sata drive are now less expensive than the older ide/eide /pata drives<br>

but now is not a good time as the flooding in aisia has caused driev prices to double,</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>Laptop screens don't do well for Photoshop operations, compared to desktop monitors, for the very reasons you cite. You can use a desktop monitor with a laptop, but the video card in laptops is usually embedded in the mother board, and is not as flexible nor as powerful as even modestly priced desktop cards.</p>

[michaelwalter]

<p>Walter, it was (is) a combination of things. The drive started flaking out. Plus, it is old. The processor is slow and it only holds 512MB max of memory. Way too little for things like photo processing. I bought the laptop from work because I could get it cheap. It does have a VGA port, and I still have the flat monitor from the old PC so I will attach it when I do any future processing.<br>

The thing I hate is that it only has 2 USB ports on it. I have to use a mouse. I just can't deal with the touch pad. The chichlet was even worse. So, I attach my card reader and load the RAW files to a desktop folder. Then I unplug the mouse and plug in my 2 external hard drives and fire up LR3 and import/backup to the disk drives. Then I have to unplug my backup drive and plug in the mouse. THEN, I can start editing. I have a 4-port extender, but it only seems to work when it wants to.</p>

<p>It would be nice to have a desktop with a ton of hard drive and only one external backup disk and plenty of USB (2.0) ports. Well, Christmas is coming. :-)<br>

I'm sure there will be plenty of sales coming.</p>

<p> </p>

[robert_martin5]

<p>I have Photoshop CS5 on my Laptop and Desktop. When away from the desktop I use the Laptop for image processing (RAW files), but I have to reprocess them with the Desktop to get the best images. I have an LCD IPS Panel for the desktop, but the Laptop is not an IPS panel. I have both profiled with iOne Display, but the Laptop color is not as good and viewing angle is terrible. </p>

[john_fonseca]

<p>Greetings, all.</p>

<p>If I may, I wanted to provide an opposing opinion to what most folks were saying here.</p>

<p>I never thought I would, but about two years ago I switched all of my stuff onto my laptop, and only used my PC desktop for gaming. I never looked back.</p>

<p>I'm on my second generation of desktop replacement laptop and it's by far higher performing than any desktop I've had, except when it comes to gaming. That's when Edward's comment about laptop integrated (shared system RAM) or discrete GPU is really true, with 3D rendering. I know that PS added a feature a couple of versions ago to utilize GPU to assist in PS operations. I never really saw a difference.</p>

<p>As others have said, the laptop display is not to be trusted, especially in an environment with changing lighting conditions. Similarly, when I'm out and about I use it to reject and tag. I'll some editing, but will always check it at home before a web publish or printmaking. Nevertheless, what I'm dealing with in LR3 on the laptop is what I'm dealing with period. I used to have to move stuff over, including the catalog and then things were in two places. </p>

<p>Naturally at home I connect it to a proper monitor (or two), but most of the work is already done. When it's hooked up here (gig ethernet, USB peripherals on one port, 1394b 3TB backup drive, DP video, optical audio out) it's just like have a nice desktop except it doesn't make any noise. I carry it with me every day on the train to NYC and when I open it up and connected it through my iphone, it's just like being home (computer-wise). Of course I back up the heck out of it since it's out in the wilds almost every day.</p>

<p>Now, this isn't a $500 Best Buy laptop aisle special (and there's nothing wrong with those). It's a March '11 Macbook Pro, 15" w/ non glare hi rez display. Quad i7 2.3GHz CPU, 8 gigs 1600MHz RAM. AMD HD 6750M 1 gig RAM (it's not that great as previously stated), and 2x Crucial C300 256 gig SSDs in RAID0 (I can usually bench a read of around 490 MB/sec and writes around 475).</p>

<p>All told it cost me about $3500 for the unit itself and the upgrades I performed. I could have built a monster desktop and had enough left over to buy a Macbook Air, but then I wouldn't have the unified environment that I was looking for.</p>

<p>Thanks,<br>

John</p>

[michaelwalter]

<p>I will admit that with my budget, getting "professional grade" anything is out of the question. I would love a d3 or even a d300, but I like my d90 and it will do for now. The most I have ever spent on a lens is $650. I protect it like a jewel. I never take my laptop "in the field". I say all of that because getting the most I can squeeze out of a dollar is important to me. I am a doctoral student and money can be a bit short at times. <br>

I noticed that Best Buy has a desktop (I have a monitor from the old system) for about $350 that has 6GB of RAM, a 3Ghz CPU and 500 GB of disk. Plus, you can get an HP tablet with this system for an additional $150. I am thinking about that quite a bit.<br>

This weekend I am going to hook up a monitor to the laptop and try editing a few photos and see how it goes. If I am still not satisfied, then it's off to BB.</p>

[danny_low]

<p><em>"I noticed that Best Buy has a desktop (I have a monitor from the old system) for about $350 that has 6GB of RAM, a 3Ghz CPU and 500 GB of disk. Plus, you can get an HP tablet with this system for an additional $150. I am thinking about that quite a bit."</em></p>

<p>In my experience, this is a very adequate system for serious photo work. More memory would be better but that is the only criticism I have of this system.</p>

<p>Danny Low</p>

 

[hjoseph7]

<p>I had the same problem with my Dell Inspiron laptop. Although I rather do my editing on my desktop, sometimes the laptop is the only option especially if you are out in the field. Trying to edit pictures with my original screen was and excercise in frustration. So I called Dell and purchased a higher resolution screen from them. Then I had it installed for an additional 80 bucks at the local computer repair shop. I am very happy with this screen since it almost matches and/or sometimes exceeds the performance of my more expensive NEC LCD on my desktop. </p>

[michaelwalter]

<p>To add to my misery, last night my 1TB USB drive started heading south on me. I loaded LR3 and some of the photos had patches of color and streaks all over them. I managed to get everything backed up by using another USB disk and the C: drive on the laptop (which is now full). I had begun backing up to a second drive with 2011 stuff (when I import). I may have lost some stuff from 2006, but I think I salvaged most of it. I had seen this before, but I wrote it off as a bad SD card. However, this time the photos were already on the disk. They were wedding photos, but I had already backed them up for the bride and burned a DVD of them, so I am ok there.<br>

Time to buy, I guess. The 100GB drive on the laptop is way too small.</p>

[imran_lakhani]

<p>In this fast-changing technological world, sometimes you are faced with some difficult choices. For instance, your current computer has matured to the ripe old age of six months and has been deemed obsolete. Now it's time to purchase a new computer and the question is, "Should I buy a laptop or a desktop?" But just because laptops are the new craze, it does not mean that you should run right out and get one. There are benefits and drawbacks that must be weighed.<br>

Of course, the main benefit of a laptop is the portability. This can be a huge benefit, allowing you to take your computer to and from work, on planes, on camping trips, and practically anywhere else. Along with this benefit comes a large drawback. It is just as easy for someone else to walk off with it as it is for you. Laptops are stolen at an alarming rate, because they are just so easy to steal. And when that computer is stolen, not only do you lose the value of the computer, but also all of your valuable data.<br>

Another major drawback of a laptop is that their parts are "proprietary" which means that if your laptop breaks, only the company that made it will be able to fix it, and after the warranty expires they will be very happy to charge you an exorbitant price for that service. While with a desktop computers, you are able to take advantage of your local computer store which will often fix it at a much more reasonable rate.<br>

A third drawback to the laptop craze is that in general, laptops are far more expensive than desktop systems. For the price of an average laptop, you could purchase a much more powerful desktop. Of course, what you are paying for is the portability of a smaller design, but is that worth it? While it can be very fun to take your computer with you on a camping trip, how often do you need to type something up while fishing?<br>

Now, the laptop is a very important part of the computer market, and I am not trying to dissuade people from buying them if they have need for them, but I have just seen far too many people dissatisfied with their laptops and wishing that they had purchased a desktop.<br>

View more at: http://www.techyv.com/questions/desktop-computer-versus-pc-laptop</p>

[steven_p]

<p>I've been a portable computer user exclusively for personal reasons, for quite a long time. The addition of "Sandy Bridge" i7 (quad core/8 thread) processors in notebooks are a significant game changer for those who prefer portables. Write speeds on conventional hard drives are the slowest link in the chain.</p>

<p>Earlier this year, while people were lined up waiting to buy Apple's latest iPad, they quietly introduced one of the fastest notebooks ever produced. (Speed benchmarks are very close or better than last year's Mac Pro, Tower.) PC notebooks with comparable hardware can be had for 1/3 the cost of apple's design.</p>

<p>2011 has been a great year for Intel's 2nd gen. processor line.</p>