Yet another new laptop thread

Hello everybody,

I wish to buy a laptop optimized for Photoshop, LR, a few stitching softwares and light scientific computing. Due to portability issues, I am thinking of getting an ultra-portable like Lenovo X220 or Dell Vostro 3350 and use it with an external IPS display (rather than building a desktop or getting a Lenovo W520 like workstation). My main interest is stitching and PP (with moderate layering) on 10-15 images from 5D Mk II like sensor.

My questions:
1. Is dual core i5 2410m (with 8GB memory) decent enough for the above mentioned purpose? If not, would getting a dual core i7 2620m processor see any significant increase in performance?
2. For Photoshop, do I need a discrete graphics card instead of Intel HD 3000?

For reference, my current system is Dell Studio 15, Core2 Duo, 3 gb ram, 32 bit Vista

thanks,
hrishi

I've just got a new lenovo e520 with the i5 2410 let me layer up a couple of 5d2 images and I'll let you know it performs.


I'm thinking an i7 quad could be a better option though.

@Moppie,
thanks for your reply. I look forward to your test. I've heard most of the processes in Photoshop are memory intensive rather than processor. So if I use 8gb ram and a ssd (for scratch disk) can i get away with dual core i5?

I understand that quad core i7 is significantly better than 2 core i5, but being a grad student, a 13" laptop would be perfect for me, and none of them sport a 4 core i7. However, I would really hate it if I buy the i5 and then find that it is useless for editing stitches of upto 5-10 5DII images. I mean I wouldn't mind it taking 2-3 minutes more to complete the same task as 4 core, but if it takes like 30 mins more, then i would really hate it!

And any inputs regarding the graphics card?

thanks,
hrishi

@moppie,

I was wondering whether you tried the i5 2410m with stitched 5DII images.

thanks

have you checked out Asus's range ?