where there’s smoke there’s forum fire
Ok, I did a search and nothing sprang out so here we go:
Can anybody tell me which screen is best for photographic viewing and editing (and bear in mind that I am looking at a laptop), and also whether Lightroom 2 is good for XP, Vista and Windows 7? I think it is a question of 32 or 64 bits? I'm not too current on those details.
Thanks guys.
Not sure what you mean by which laptop screen, but perhaps you mean you want a laptop hooked up to a large LCD screen? Anyway we've covered this before.
"What LCD monitors do you recommend for Windows?"
http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=885
"Monitors"
http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=426
"What software do you prefer?"
http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=50
"Software Recommendations"
http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=1891
"Are you upgrading to Windows 7"
http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=720
Mac discussion thread
http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=1984
OK spray I've changed the title of your thread to make it sound less like the previous discussions we've had. But guys let's keep this thread discussion to WINDOWS ONLY MACHINES
We all know you Apple fanboys recommend macbooks but you guys already have a thread to discuss that. So let the Microsoft fanboys handle the laptop recommendations for this thread.
Spray give us your budget otherwise you are going to get a bunch of laptop recommendations. Like the $4000USD dual screen IBM W701DS!
This is the laptop SprayNPray is considering
Toshiba Satellite L350-262
Display: 17.0 in. Toshiba TruBrite WXGA+ TFT High Brightness display
Internal Resolution: 1440 x 900
Graphics: Mobile Intel GMA 4500M (total available graphics memory can be up to 1342 Mb with a 32-bit operating system and 3 Gb system memory or 1759 Mb with a 64-bit operating system and 4 Gb system memory)
OK Niko, my budget is small, small, small. I liked the look of that Toshiba because it is only £349 and is 17". As you mentioned the battery life is only 2-1/2 hrs, but I would usually have it plugged in to the mains. I can keep an eye out for a good monitor to add as suggested by Heartyfisher in the other thread, but for now I have to go with just a laptop.
Hmm so that's about $500USD. That's a pretty small budget for a "good" laptop. I don't know about that particular Toshiba but my experiences with Toshiba laptops hasn't been very good.
What about this Gateway model? I'm not sure if it's available in Europe but it's pretty good spec-wise.
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/gateway-nv7915u/4505-3121_7-33970181.html?tag=rnav
I know it's over your budget but perhaps you should wait and save up more.
I'd recommend you get a 64bit computer running Windows7 and with no less than 4GB or RAM. A good graphics card is a must for "proper" photo editing but at that price range you're going to have to settle with so-so graphic specs.
I also wouldn't recommend a netbook. You need a "real" computer if you plan to use it with lightroom, Photoshop, GIMP, etc.
When you are picking a laptop, look at the resolution, not just the screen size. There are different densities, often within the same model. Higher resolution usually works better.
I doubt you can buy anything now without Windows 7 x64, fortunately it's a real good choice. Windows 7 will use more memory than XP to keep things in memory to make it seem much faster, so the more memory the better. Most of the stuff on my system will start in only a few seconds.
A faster hard drive is usually better than a larger slow drive unless you have a lot of storage requirements. But even the fast small drives are at least 160 GB now.
OK guys, that is good advice - thanks.
The Toshiba definitely isn't as good as that Gateway, for sure I was attracted by the low price and hoped it was going to be good enough.
I thought about upgrading the RAM in my machine and getting a second screen but the French say it's not possible and 2Gb is the max (drat). The plus of getting a second PC is that I wouldn't have to keep prying the wife off our only machine to get to it!
Just my 2c,
spraynpray. for photo editing, try to get the maximum amount of RAM and the speediest processor possible. Graphics cards shouldn't be prioritized, as it usually only helps speed up image rendering (eg, zooming in pictures), but your CPU does all the heavy lifting. Avoid anything with Celeron on it like the plague. It's slow for most tasks. At the very least a pentium dual core or a Core i3 should be looked at.
As for Windows 7, I quite like it over XP cause it feels more responsive, and the new interface has really grown on me. It's also quite scalable, being able to run smoothly even on 5 year old hardware. Works like a charm on modern PC's too!
The laptop that Niko looked at should be about the spec you would like, provided it's within budget, else a Pentium Dual Core T series would be good too.
A friend of mine who owned his own computer company always told me never to buy computers from any of the major manufactures like Dell, Gateway, Toshiba, and the list of many others. This advice applies for either desktops, or laptops. The brand name companies do not manufacture their own laptops, they are made from "whitelist" manufactures like Spartan, Asus, or Acer. You would be much better served finding a small reseller in your area and buy one of those. You'll also avoid the propriety parts or software the name brand companies love putting into their computers that keep you coming back to them as well as all the bloated demo software that the companies install to subsidize their profit margin.
As far as desktops, the big names may assemble their own, but certainly don't manufacture any of the components that go into them. They are sourced out at the cheapest possible cost, and many time scaled down versions of what you can buy in the store. You may think you have a SoundBlaster X-Fi in your computer, but it is not the same card you can buy in the store, it is usually missing some capabilities.
I have gotten to the point now I just build my own computer, and have to tell you I have never experienced the problems or hardware failures many of my friends have who bought the name brand garbage.
@ pbnj
I'll agree on the "do not buy brand name desktop" part because it is normally simple to either build one or get the shop to build one to spec, usually at a higher spec than a brand name at similar cost. And I also agree on the 'nerfing' of parts. However, for laptops, I'd personally recommend going for a brand name laptop.
While true that most brands farm out their work to other firms (Clevo, Averatec, and Asus are contractors who build the brands designs. Big name brands do not simply take a beige box and whack on a sticker nowadays), the quality is typically quite respectable. For example, I've personally owned 2 Dell XPS series laptops and they have not let me down in build quality nor features, and the same can be applied to my fathers' Vostro and friends Inspirons. Note that this is my personal experience, and I know people who've had terrible experiences too.
I think that reliability and after sales service should be one of the things that should be on the top of criteria that one ought to look at, because laptops aren't easy nor cheap to repair when they go bad.
Thanks zhinsara and pabnj, there is just the kind of advice that I need in there. Living in France means that a lot of the advice doesn't help me much, but I can get stuff from England OK.
it is said that you dont need a computer for digital photography...
i m using a 1440 900 19" one, anything smaller would be too small.
my thoughts:
1. screen resolution
vertical resolution definitely needs to be at least 900;
most of the Asus offerings are 1366x768 (I have the N81Vp-C1, a Dell XPS M1210, and a couple of older Inspirons).
the 768 is too small - personally I'd opt for a 1080 with a larger form factor (at least 16 to 17);
2. Asus vs HP/Dell (generally)
the N81Vp compared to the HP that I use at work and the Dells that I've had -
Pros - cheap, value for money (good processor + graphics card), quiet, great ventilation
Cons - keyboard has Fn/Ctrl placement, trackpad's click buttons are ridiculously hard to click, keyboard flex, cheap plastic, lots of BSODs after waking from Sleep mode
3. More specifically for photography
-importing from CF card;
when looking for a new laptop I'd be looking for either an ExpressCard slot, a FireWire, or USB 3.0 (regular USB 2.0 is a non-starter)
- i7 720 for processor, a reasonably mid to high GPU, 4 to 8GB of RAM,
and if you have the $$$ - go for SSD instead of HDD.
-shortlist:
Asus G73 (powerful machine, but lack of fast ports)
HP Envy 15/17 (more $$$, no MIC input)
both a strong CPU and large memory save you from the filters. dont trust anything with a memory less than 1GB for Photoshop.
notice the RPM of the HDD, higher RPM = higher speed, very important while saving,loading, and working as virtual memory in Windows.
and the most important point is, choose the Tri-Color LED BACKLIGHT ones.
most of the laptop screens are too BLUE for photoediting, Choose MacBook if you are confused with color correction.
Thanks for the tips guys.
Seems to me that for the price I want to pay (cheeeep) I need to visit a shop I know in England where they will be able to build me what I want. So I need HD 17" (min)screen, 4Gb RAM (min), 2GHz clock, 7200RPM 500Ghz HDD?
I'm getting palpitations of the wallet here...
spraynpray said:
Thanks for the tips guys.Seems to me that for the price I want to pay (cheeeep) I need to visit a shop I know in England where they will be able to build me what I want. So I need HD 17" (min)screen, 4Gb RAM (min), 2GHz clock, 7200RPM 500Ghz HDD?
I'm getting palpitations of the wallet here...
2Gb RAM would be OK for PS,but i think you should do some calculation:
opening 30 pictures of 12MP at the same time would cost you 30X12X3(3 when in RGB mode)MB = 1.08GB
so choose carefully between 2Gb and 4Gb.
a 500G HD is okay for all uses.
try get a tri-color backlight or your photos would look a little bluish while editing, and if you correct them then it would be a little reddish while printing.
Nivakon said:
2Gb RAM would be OK for PS,but i think you should do some calculation:opening 30 pictures of 12MP at the same time would cost you 30X12X3(3 when in RGB mode)MB = 1.08GB
so choose carefully between 2Gb and 4Gb.
a 500G HD is okay for all uses.
try get a tri-color backlight or your photos would look a little bluish while editing, and if you correct them then it would be a little reddish while printing.
My experience of that shop is that 4Gb of RAM will not cost me much more than 2Gb. I'm confused - why would you open 30 full res pictures at the same time? Aren't they thumbnails in Lightroom until you select them?
I normally skim the import, delete the crap (majority and work on the one or two (if I'm lucky) that I like. Anyway, I did open two pictures for comparison the other day and it crippled my current 2Gb!
pre-loading, pre-calculating, pre-processing... all these interesting designs would kill your memory.
an btw i have never tried the LR, PS is all I'm on
yes i do open them(skimmed ofcourse) at the sametime and do sharpen ,resizing and noise reduction on nearly every of them!
and you can test all of your softwares on another computer and check the usage of memory via TASKMGR.EXE(ctrl alt del)
hope that would give you a better idea on purchasing the laptop.
ignore my grammar mistakes, i m still a highschool student, and English is not my mother lang.
Your English is better than my Chinese Nivakon :^)
...and my French probably!
wait hold on praynspray, whats your budget like and what have you considered so far?
@nivakon, you don't need any special screen in particular, just get the thing color calibrated using spyder or pantone huey and you will get acceptable results. Learnt it the hard way. Any monitor requires calibration before using it for photo apps.
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