running LR4 on a remote computer and accessing via remote deskop, any downside?

i'm new to LR, still learning using old RAW files.

i run LR on a remote computer, a headless "desktop" computer positioned downstairs, and access that computer via remote desktop.

this configuration allows me the flexibility to have a powerful computer tucked out of the way, and not be overly bothered about limitations imposed using a laptop as a KVM. connection is via a gigE network.

this configuation also enables me to start the "desktop computer" batch processing then leave it to it whilst i work on the laptop doing other stuff.

my laptop has a large ~16inch full HD display so desktop space isn't a problem.

so far this arrangement seems to work well, however can anyone see a potential problem i might face with this configuration? desktop will be getting an upgrade to an i7 soon, something i could never do with my laptop

I wouldn't depend on the colors coming through accurately over RDP.

I don't have anything similar to that these days. The one issue that comes to mine is that Lightroom is not designed to "run" over a network. That is, the installation and the catalog are meant to be run on one machine. But, I'm not sure as to what the specific limitations would be. For example, if you are actually successful at running LR via your "remote desktop" setup, then that's good to know, but then it is likely that you won't be able to access the same LR catalog from your "desktop" via the network.

But, like I said, I'm not set up that way and can't give more of an "informed" comment!

LR is installed and running local on the desktop computer

the desktop computer is merely controlled using the laptop

I would have thought that color management would really be messed up running LR this way. Hopefully René or one of the other CM guru's will chime in.

To my understanding, the benefit of a gigE network is rapid communication between devices so one could stream movies from their desktop to their TV or in you case, work on photos on a laptop anywhere you like (IE, in front of the TV, in bedroom, in office, etc.). Am I correct?

You are asking if you might run into any limitations or problems with this setup.

If you are planning on working on your photos at home only, the only issue I see is that your laptop's display may have limitations with reproducing color correctly at different viewing angles. This may or may not be an issue to you. If it is, you may want to acquire an IPS monitor that has the appropriate ports to connect up to your laptop--some are color calibrated while some may require third party software for calibration.

If you are planning on being able to work on your photos when you are not at home, thus not being able to connect to your gigE network to access your desktop, then you'll have to rely on whatever system you actually have in front of you. You may or may not find your laptop adequate for working on your photos. If you plan on working on your photos when you are not at home, you must consider how you would like to sync the catalogs on each system.


Edit: Bob brings up an interesting point. I do hope that more experienced users can give feedback about such a setup.

VCY, good points!

A few years ago I wanted to get a high-end laptop as a "portable workstation". So at our local "electronics superstore" I worked with the computer staff to put together a "custom" laptop with a high-quality monitor and a dedicated graphics card, as well as good "internals" that could handle Photoshop as well as the new Lightroom. It cost $2k, but I was quite happy with it, both as an at-home machine that I could use either my big-screen TV or an external monitor with it, but especially because I could take it "on the road" and have a very capable workstation with me!

But for your day-to-day "consumer" laptops, then yeah, I'd recommend a good external monitor...! You can use the laptop screen in a "dual monitor" setup, but have the calibrated external one as your actual photo display device!

I use an app called Chicken to remote control my home media server ( Mac Pro) from pretty much anywhere with a MacBook Air. Both screens are calibrated, and so far as I can see, there isn't any issue with color, just with screen redraws, even on a gigabit network. By that I mean colors look fine, but I wouldn't want to try modifying the color balance etc. without a direct view. I can work in photoshop or bridge, but it's not a particularly useful or efficient way to work.

You don't need to worry about LR's catalog, since you'll be running LR on the machine where the catalog resides and only your video is being transferred to the laptop.

I do it, Lightroom running in a virtual machine on my ESX server accessing the catalog over the network, catalog/images/etc stored on my NAS. Great for sitting on the couch via wifi to do keywording/basic stuff/etc.