Desktop or Laptop? If Laptop, 15" or 17"

I just got the blue screen of death from my dinosaur PC so it is time for a new one and I am debating between getting another Desktop or go with the Laptop and docking station. I plan to stick with Window, btw.

If I go with Laptop, is 17" too big to lug around when needed?

What do you use and why is one better than another?

Is 1K a decent budget for a new PC (SSD is must have)? If you know of a deal "bang for the buck" in the 1K budget, please help and share. Please also remember to vote.

Thank you for your help in advance!

Desktop all the way for me. I have no need to process photos in the back seat of a car in the middle of no where so I use a desktop PC with two 27" screens.

If your editing photos and a professional (like you are) I would prefer a full time desktop. Laptops are slow even my work laptop (dell workstation laptop quad i7, 16GB ram, Nvidia Quattro) is slow compared to my home desktop. The expansion alone is worth it for a desktop.

When i am editing on the laptop its a quick edit. When I edit a big trip or a wedding (aka have a lot of photos to edit) I go on the desktop and enjoy it much better. The speed alone is worth it.

You can build a good PC for $1K(no monitor included). Since your in Socal cruise over to microcenter in Tustin and get your processor + motherboard there. I would highly suggest getting a X99 platform (really great processor right now would be the i7-5820k). The i7-5820k should last you years to come. This will also get your into DDR4 which will last for a very long time (DDR3 is on its way out).

If your ever concerned with downtime with your PC if and when a Laptop dies it takes a pretty long time (weeks) to get it fixed. When you have a desktop and a motherboard, power supply, ram etc go out you can replace them from readily available places. I have had a power supply go out and was up and running later the same day. When you have a desktop you have free reign of upgrades you have to power to put what you want and need into that system. If Adobe actually starts writing their programs to utilize more of a video card power you can upgrade a video card that fits you needs. I would highly suggest getting a Desktop

I would say go with a good desktop and pick up a cheap tablet or similar for traveling. I used an Asus made for gaming and it worked great, had a 17" screen, the thing was a beast, but it was big and heavy .... to big to use on a plane. So if you did go with a laptop go with a 15" for easy traveling and dock to a monitor at home.

Desktop.

If you got a laptop, you'd probably wanna get an external monitor because laptops tend not to have the greatest displays and if you did get one with a good display your gonna have less flexibility on the other components on it.

As for an i5 vs i7, there was another thread (here)


1k should be good enough to build a decent rig but you can honestly find some builds out there, like on Toms Hardware, that can give you a starting point that you can modify to fit your budget. If it still holds true, a GPU wouldn't provide any speed improvements and remember to get a hefty amount of RAM from the get go.

Personally i'd stick with an i5 over an i7 and use the difference towards a larger SSD.

Laptops are made of compromises. If you want fast editing, a good screen, and good ergonomics, get a PC. Laptops are only helpful if you need portability, and they're the expense of those things listed above. You still need a keyboard, mouse, and external monitor, so they take up more space on your desk.

This really depends on your needs. I see that you have done wedding photography and if you want to do things like presenting slideshows at receptions, then laptop all the way. Otherwise you should consider a desktop. This is all to say you should consider your needs and not ask what others think.

Almost two years ago I had a similar dilemma. I bought a desktop I think it was a perfect choice. Desktops offers much bigger versatility, are more efficient and are far better upgradable than laptops. Parts for desktops are cheaper than for portable computers as well.

We do event photography, I just ordered my second laptop. The first was an ASUS G75, 17" I-7 processor @2.4 Ghrtz, with 32 gig of RAM & 1 TB SSD. Works great running our Photo Parata & Darkroom software. The second is a Xidax XM-10 17", running a new I-7 processor @ 3.5 Ghrtz, 32 gig of RAM & 1TB SSD. I can plug either into my ASUS 27" monitor at home for editing.

I use a 17" Toshiba laptop - i7 4700MQ processor, 2.4Ghz, 24Gb RAM, 256Gb SSD, plus 750Gb 7200RPM hard disk. 17" full HD (1080P) screen. Everything opens instantly, and is portable when needed.

I use USB3.0 for external storage, and have no issues.

For processing a Desktop.

It has no overheating issues, like a laptop does, you can also store lots of Terrabytes of photos.

On the other hand, if you travel a lot, a Laptop is sure handy, I would go for a 17" one, to be better able to process those files.

What I recommend:
At least Intel Core i7 (or equivalent) 8 threaded processor @3.2GHZ (or better)
At least 16GB of RAM, to be sure all those files are fitting in there, if you work with panoramas often, then you should aim for panoramas.
At least a 240GB SSD, to work with files, and for the OS (or another for the OS)

This also applies to a laptop.

What I recommend also is: 1x 3TB HDD in the Desktop PC, to store your archived images locally.
Another 3TB HDD removable (for example a WD My Book), as a second copy of the Archive for safety reasons, should NOT be always attached to the PC, onyl when syncing.
Also buying a Blu-Ray burner also helps, to keep some precious pictures safe as a 3rd copy.

But yeah, I would go for a desktop

I echo what others have said above, there is no substitute for a decent desktop for processing photos and videos, preferably with dual monitors.

However, even as an amateur I've found it useful to have a cheap laptop to take out and about on weekends away, holidays or road trips. I really would miss not being able to check and back up stuff in the evenings but there is no way I would give up my desktop at home, IMO you just don't get enough "bang for buck" with laptops.

Thanks Guys for all your tips and advises!
I baseline my dead desktop and it is up and running again (just for now until I pick a better PC). I decided to get a desktop over the laptop and looking at get something like a Dell XPS 8700:
I7 (4 gen.)
8/12 GB RAM
128/256 GB SSD
2/3 TB WD Black HDD (x2 so I can setup to have them run as mirror, I'll have to learn how to do this)

I plan to keep it within 1K, if possible. Please keep advise, tip and pointer coming. Thanks!

I use a desktop. you can get more grunt out of a desktop than a laptop.

However if you wanted a combination of both I would get a 13" laptop to use out and about. It wouldn't be used for editing but when I am out in the world I can use it as storage and for previewing the images.

Tigerkn wrote in post #17190334
Thanks Guys for all your tips and advises!
I baseline my dead desktop and it is up and running again (just for now until I pick a better PC). I decided to get a desktop over the laptop and looking at get something like a Dell XPS 8700:
I7 (4 gen.)
8/12 GB RAM
128/256 GB SSD
2/3 TB WD Black HDD (x2 so I can setup to have them run as mirror, I'll have to learn how to do this)

I plan to keep it within 1K, if possible. Please keep advise, tip and pointer coming. Thanks!

If your comfortable with it building your own that would yield higher quality components. Since your in Socal making a trip to Microcenter would save you money on processor and Motherboard. If you would like some help Im available.