I need a new pc... However.

I'm thinking about a surface pro. Anyone have one for editing pics? Photoshop cs and lightroom..

Fstoppers review on the MS Surface Pro 4,
They are going to review it from a photographers point of view.

I'm still torn. Lol.

I'm curious as to if anyone has used it for of and lr. I'm intrigued with the pen for editing in ps but not sure how well editing in lr would be.

Will it be your only editing machine? If so, will you also be connecting it to a proper keyboard, monitor, external HDD and Wacom tablet when you don't need the portability?

The pen works just fine, but like other small laptops the screen size would drive me crazy for anything but occasional and simple editing. The same thing goes for it's most direct competition, the MB Air. Frankly I give this hobby up if I had to edit on a screen less than 24"

I use a SP because I want the pen input to take written notes using OneNote. With that I never carry a pad of paper anymore. It's light to carry around and lays flat on a table during a meeting when I use it as a tablet. I have LR6 and PS6 installed on it, but I rarely use it for editing as I have a much more powerful/better equipped desktop built for that purpose.

The fastest CPU available in the Surface Pro 4 is only about 60% as fast as the CPU in my 4 year old desktop PC. Lightroom is very CPU dependent when rendering previews on import and rendering jpgs on export. I'd sure hate to go backwards that far. Plus, the small form factor means its not well suited to running hard for long periods of time.

This is what I was wondering. I would have the ability to make it a full blown desktop and use my larger monitor but if I have to drop $2k to future proof with a great processor. It's not worth it.

It's seems like a great idea for portability but I wonder if it's not really there to replace a desktop for editing in predominantly lightroom.

mike_311 wrote in post #17861301
This is what I was wondering. I would have the ability to make it a full blown desktop and use my larger monitor but if I have to drop $2k to future proof with a great processor. It's not worth it.

It's seems like a great idea for portability but I wonder if it's not really there to replace a desktop for editing in predominantly lightroom.

IMO, no mobile device can really replace a true desktop for CPU intensive tasks unless you just don't care about waiting. Desktop chips will always be faster because they have much bigger heat and power budgets.

mike_311 wrote in post #17861301
This is what I was wondering. I would have the ability to make it a full blown desktop and use my larger monitor but if I have to drop $2k to future proof with a great processor. It's not worth it.

It's seems like a great idea for portability but I wonder if it's not really there to replace a desktop for editing in predominantly lightroom.

No laptop, even a Macbook Pro or the Surface Book will come close to the power you can get from a similarly priced desktop. A desktop is also a lot easier to upgrade.

I have a Surface Pro for portability (work, vacation, etc.) and a well spec'd desktop for editing.

However, if you don't require a lot of power and want a small laptop there is no reason why you can't use a Surface Pro, Macbook Air, Book or 13" MB Pro as your only computer and have a dock to attach to all of your devices. None of these are desktop replacements though. For me, if I were stuck and could only have a laptop I'd be able to get by with the highest spec'd 15" MB Pro (and run Windows 10 on it, since I hate OSX) or an similarly spec'd Levovo, with a dock.

In the end it really depends on how you use a computer (size of files, number open at the same time, what brushes you use, what other applications are open at the same time, etc.).