In General terms....

First off, I am NOT a tech type of person. I fear having to buy a new laptop, but it is time. My current Dell Vostro is 4 years old, running Windows Vista.

I general terms, would a gaming laptop be something to look for as my next laptop? That thought occurred to me as they are likely faster with more of everything important. Is there anything to my thinking? I'm in Canada, looking to spend something under $2000, and don't want to get into SSDs. I do want a minimum 1 tB hard drive @ 7200 rpm. This HAS to be a laptop. Any thoughts on my thinking? And if you feel like making a suggestion, I'll listen. I have searched here and been following various threads. My NEXT big hurdle after deciding and buying is transferring LR4 from my current to my new laptop. I have all my photo files on a Drobo. TIA.

Hey Ian,

The biggest problem with laptops, even "gaming" ones, is that their displays are relatively color inaccurate; it's difficult to impossible to find any that offer an IPS screen (where you can get really true color reference).

Most of the laptops are running much cheaper TN panels for their displays, and the color palettes and brightness work well for showing off movies and games; but for photo editing, they can really drive a person nuts.

Do you have a good, external monitor that you're using for the bulk of your editing? If so, that alleviates those concerns; in which case, I don't see why not

Besides the HDD space, make sure you're getting 8+ gigs of RAM; that'll make more of a difference for your editing than just about anything else in there...

Snydremark wrote in post #14867993
Hey Ian,

The biggest problem with laptops, even "gaming" ones, is that their displays are relatively color inaccurate; it's difficult to impossible to find any that offer an IPS screen (where you can get really true color reference).

Most of the laptops are running much cheaper TN panels for their displays, and the color palettes and brightness work well for showing off movies and games; but for photo editing, they can really drive a person nuts.

Do you have a good, external monitor that you're using for the bulk of your editing? If so, that alleviates those concerns; in which case, I don't see why not

Besides the HDD space, make sure you're getting 8+ gigs of RAM; that'll make more of a difference for your editing than just about anything else in there...

Hi Eric, thanks for the thoughts. Yes, I forgot about the IPS display, and when I googled IPS laptops I found several. It's just finding one that also has a good-sized HDD @7200. RAM - I'll try to go 12+ gigs if I can. Thanks a lot for the ideas!

Care to share which ones you've found? I haven't had any success finding good ones in the past, but I'd love to have a decent laptop.

I just googled IPS screen laptop, and this was one of the top in the list :

http://forum.notebookr​eview.com …tebooks-ips-displays.html

And here's another couple :

http://www.laptoprevie​ws.com …here-to-find-them-2011-12


http://forums.whirlpoo​l.net.au/archive/19199​11

I've just bought an Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A. It's an i7 Ultrabook with a truly stunning 1920x1080 IPS panel. It only comes with 4GB of RAM and has a 256GB SSD but more than copes with Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4 and Capture One 6 Pro, all chewing 5D MkII RAW files.

I use a Quato Intelliproof monitor on my desktop so I'm used to the very best quality and the panel in the Zenbook Prime is right up there. It's matt too unlike the pointless glossy retina display in the new Macbook Pro.

HankScorpio wrote in post #14871548
I've just bought an Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A. It's an i7 Ultrabook with a truly stunning 1920x1080 IPS panel. It only comes with 4GB of RAM and has a 256GB SSD but more than copes with Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4 and Capture One 6 Pro, all chewing 5D MkII RAW files.

I use a Quato Intelliproof monitor on my desktop so I'm used to the very best quality and the panel in the Zenbook Prime is right up there. It's matt too unlike the pointless glossy retina display in the new Macbook Pro.

Thanks for that's, Hank. I was looking at the Zenbook but was concerned about the 4 gig of Ram. I don't want to muck with an SSD either, so I ruled it out.......for now but I appreciate the info, more to think about.

Just out of curiosity, why no SSD? I would never go back to battery sapping slow old spinning drives.

HankScorpio wrote in post #14871639
Just out of curiosity, why no SSD? I would never go back to battery sapping slow old spinning drives.

1. Too new for me
2. They all seem to have limited capacity......people say just store apps on the SSd and everything else somewhere else.....seems silly to have to newest highest tech and then limit it. (just my thinking....like I say, I am not a tech guru so have something of a limited understanding of all this stuff)
3. I don't run on battery very often, almost always plugged in, so no battery sapping issues for me
4. That's why I want the 7200 HDD over the 5400.

That's fair enough. Consider a hybrid drive though if you can find a suitable laptop with one. You get the speed of SSD for your OS and apps (and trust me the speed boost is huge) plus the size of a spinning drive, all in one package.

HankScorpio wrote in post #14871762
That's fair enough. Consider a hybrid drive though if you can find a suitable laptop with one. You get the speed of SSD for your OS and apps (and trust me the speed boost is huge) plus the size of a spinning drive, all in one package.

Thanks, I'll check them out. Never heard of a hybrid drive before

HankScorpio wrote in post #14871639
Just out of curiosity, why no SSD? I would never go back to battery sapping slow old spinning drives.

There is virtually no difference in battery drain between the two. Real life application, you could not measure it.

YP5 Toronto wrote in post #14873239
There is virtually no difference in battery drain between the two. Real life application, you could not measure it.

I would beg to differ.

http://m.tomshardware.​com …iew-benchmark,3139-7.html

HankScorpio wrote in post #14873536
I would beg to differ.

http://m.tomshardware.​com …iew-benchmark,3139-7.html

Your average notebook will consume anywhere 20W (netbook) to as high as 100+W for some gaming notebooks.

If we take a standard business config, say an Lenovo T420 notebook (I5, 4GB Ram, Nvidia, 7200 rpm drive). This will rate at 45-65 watts of moderate use, with a peak of 65 watts.

Lets say the 7,200 rpm drive at peak is using 2.5 Watts, and an average SSD peaks at 1.5 watts (using the link you provided.

1 delta out of 45-65....

No real world gains.

Moreover, the link you provide doesn't match up to what many of the vendors list as average and peak watt consumption.

Regardless...the differences are so small it can't be felt or measured in the typical usage of a notebook.

I am a huge fan of SSD...i have been using them since they first came out. I have 10 various drives in use at my home.

...I also have a experience in the field as a brand manager for HP/Compaq for 3 years, Toshiba for 10 and now Lenovo 2+.

In general terms you will pay extra for anything designated "gaming", it is marketing and it works. Alot of "gaming" laptops are glitzed up with LED lights and fancy cases, none of which get you better performance.