Laptop - What's needed under the hood?

I've finally reached the day that I'm going to get a laptop dedicated to my photography and post processing. The real truth is I'm just not sure what is needed. I'm not a pro and I'm not interested in gaming. That being said I'm absolutely open to sound advice and direction. I'm just a hobbyist who wants to take, process, and print my photos. Some of which I'd like to frame and display. I'm leaning towards Lightroom and will do predominantly digital photography and a bit of video to promote some of the HS kids I coach in baseball to perspective colleges. I've read some reviews about the Asus 751 and 752 but when reading the specs It looked like a foreign language. So then.... gigs, vid cards, speed, ?? Hell I'm even unsure what to ask y'all but, I know there's some very solid advice on this forum. So many thanks in advance.

You are going to get a lot of good advice here. Pretty much everyone who posts after me is going to be much more knowledgeable than me. I’ll say this, though:

I’ve been digitally editing photos (very basic editing) for over 6 years now. Until this last February, Every photo was edited on laptops that cost less than $400. I ran Lightroom on systems that most people here would laugh at. I never really had any problems except the occasional video edit could be pretty slow. Lightroom would lag some, but not much for just doing a few photos.

I upgraded in February to an HP Omen. The specs, if I recall correctly, are : quad core i7, plenty of RAM, and a hybrid ssd hard drive. This system makes going through and editing thousands of photos much easier for me. For example, last winter I shot about 20,000 youth basketball photos and edited/printed over 3,000 of them. Saving a few seconds on each one saved me a lot of time overall.

So I guess what I am saying is: just about any laptop will work for you. Nicer laptops will make the experience more enjoyable. A quick google of the Asus models you mentioned makes me think that your budget is enough to get a quality system, so I think you’ll be happy with your choice.

I’ll stop rambling now and let the experts help you out with specifics. I’ll end with one suggestion: Trust them when they say that a ssd hard drive is the way to go. If you’ve never had a computer with ssd, you’ll be amazed at how fast it is - for example, starting up the computer takes just a few seconds.

Under the hood, you need: a power supply, video card, motherboard, CPU, RAM, storage drive, keyboard, touchpad, monitor...

Just playing I avoid laptops like the plague, but I'm sure you'll get help!

Watch the deals at https://www.pcmag.com/​best-deals-today. For instance, right now you can get a Dell Inspiron 15 5000 Intel Core i7-7500U 15.6" Win10 Pro Laptop w/ 512GB SSD for $580, a savings of $320. Details: Inspiron 15 5000 (5566) Intel Core i7-7500U Dual-core KABY LAKE 15.6" Notebook Computer with 512GB SSD. Free Shipping after coupon code: "ISNPSAVE320" (Exp Soon). This laptop is normally on sale for $750, so you're getting extra $170 off. 5.19lbs, 15.6" 1366x768 LED-backlit LCD, Black system color Core i7-7500U 2.7GHz (up to 3.5GHz Turbo) Dual-core KABY LAKE 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, dual-band 802.11n WiFi + Bluetooth Intel HD 620 integrated graphics w/ HDMI Windows 10 Home, DVD burner, USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, SD Card slot.

Sir- if you're using lightroom for managing your workflow and video editing, then look for a unit that has an isp monitor so it may be properly calibrated, a quadcore cpu, a minimum of 16gb ddr4 ram, NVidia GeForce 1050 or greater video card because it has 2gb ram. SSD for OS to reside on and an external hd for storage including the LR program itself. Since your in Austin I'd look at dell refurbs as they have a full warranty. they update inventory every Thursday at midnight.
If you're someone that will pay to "buy it right the first time", then this company is a totally upgradeable builder, where their price-points aren't over any customized unit you supply the specs for to any laptop mfg, the caveat.....its 100% upgradeable in the future, whereas any other unit you buy today, is essentially a throwaway unit. eurocom: http://www.eurocom.com …g(7)MobileSuper​computers....
dell refurb: http://www.dell.com …0&VEN3=11150414​0557292954
I was steered-off the dell alienware models by knowledgeable sources due to the display they use, it was suggested the inspiron display was better....I originally had the mindset of- thought the gaming setup would be ideal but I don't know a lot about this, apparently they experienced it firsthand, was the caution advice?????

john from PA has provided you with another nice link to keep an eye on.
good luck.

craig_k wrote in post #18497502
Sir- if you're using lightroom for managing your workflow and video editing, then look for a unit that has an isp monitor so it may be properly calibrated, a quadcore cpu, a minimum of 16gb ddr4 ram, GeForce 1050 or greater video card because it has 4gb ram. SSD for OS to reside on and an external hd for storage including the LR program itself. Since your in Austin I'd look at dell refurbs as they have a full warranty. they update inventory every Thursday at midnight.
If you're someone that will pay to "buy it right the first time", then this company is a totally upgradeable builder, where their price-points aren't over any customized unit you supply the specs for to any laptop mfg, the caveat.....its 100% upgradeable in the future, whereas any other unit you buy today, is essentially a throwaway unit. eurocom: http://www.eurocom.com …g(7)MobileSuper​computers....
dell refurb: http://www.dell.com …0&VEN3=11150414​0557292954

john from PA has provided you with another nice link to keep an eye on.
good luck.

"IPS" monitor.
VA is also good, IMO; I prefer it. (Not AHVA, which is IPS.)

Many thanks Craig. I must learn what all these feature do, and exactly what they bring to the price point. I'll give them a look, read to gain more clarity, and purchase one within the next 3-7 days. I should have mentioned that I'll be asking similar questions about a like monitor to team up to my new laptop. I'm starting to notice things/terms like I7, SSD, 16 gigs of Ram as a good to go option. Thanks again for taking a moment to share. I'll certainly let you know what I end up going with.

Moto4SK: you'll get good input from most here, no doubt sir........I'm looking for an laptop upgrade myself, I posted awhile back for input and found-was given the alienware avoidance-eurocom link..... i'll add please don't get in any 3-7 day purchase window....if you're definitely going to be using a higher caliber- larger display for your editing then the smaller 13" or 15.6 size machines will do the job as long as they are 'tricked out" with appropriate chip-16+gb memory- NVidia 1050 + card....there are threads on monitor upgrades here at this site that could be helpful.
the dell website had an inspiron 15.6 with i7quadcore- 16gb ram or more- nvida 1050 for less than 900 in a scratch-dent model for less than 900 . first refurb matching those spec was 1500? ..john from pa link on daily prices on basic machines with plenty of chip-ram-video card may be the better watch since monitor will most likely be separate purchase. in LR its the added memory and video card specs that are most important.
I stand corrected on the 1050 video card its 2gb memory, not 4........point being is you'd "be better off" with a card with its own dedicated memory over one that does not.

Thank you John. I'm noting the specs you shared and will look for comparisons abd price points.... Still has my head spinning a bit. Again thank you Sir.

decent information on general comparisons

https://www.laptopmag.​com/articles/cpu-comparison

Hey Craig! This is a solid read. Very easy to understand info. I'm starting to see/recognize some of the parts names and associated numbers. Thx!

For some, Dell is a four-letter word.

But for what's it's worth, here's Dell's Back Friday deals...

http://deals.dell.com/​category/gamingpcs

http://deals.dell.com/​category/premiumpcs

You don’t need the best video card or multi-core processor for Photoshop or Lightroom. The only exception is if you want 10bpc color space with Photoshop: in that case, Nvidia Quadro cards offer that functionality. If you’re doing video rendering, then multicore/ high GPU cud a cores come into play. Lightroom doesn’t utilize multi-threading, so if your comparing processor A vs B: go for the one with the higher clock speed.