Laptop for photo editing

Looking to invest in a laptop to be my primary editing station. For editing I use combination of light room, photoshop, and DXO. My budget is $1k to $1250. So far I’ve been looking for something that’s at least,

8th gen i5 or i7
16gb ram
500gb SSD

Is a 4K screen worth it or just standard HD fine?

Currently I’m considering these,

https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …h73_i7_8750h_2_​2_ghz.html

https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …ing.html/pageID​/accessory

https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …_iii_xtreme_i7_​9750h.html

All look like nice machines and well capable of performing editing tasks. I’d go with the Asus or Lenovo but that is just a personal preference for “brand” names. I do think service etc. will be better with Asus and Lenovo, if needed. You likely will find it easier to change the SSD to something larger, if needed, on these two brands as well. But you purchase, check the actual Lenovo site for deals. I know at the moment there is an “eCoupon” worth about $200 off on some of the Lenovo laptops.

John from PA wrote in post #18897450
I do think service etc. will be better with Asus and Lenovo, if needed.

A few years ago I had good service from Lenovo. Bought a laptop directly from Lenovo. Received it with a cracked screen.
Contacted Lenovo and they refunded my money right away.

Corporate wise, we alternate back and forth between Dell and Lenovo, with Dell having a slight edge. Both have great service in my opinion, although to be truth both are very reliable and service is seldom needed.

So many folks want to use their laptop for photo editing. If you are doing so for casual shots, the built in laptop screen quality is adequate. But if you want to do critical editing with the need to have accurate portraying of brightness and contrast and colors, plug in an EXTERNAL IPS monitor!!! There are many adjustments in an external monitor, that an internal monitor just does NOT PROVIDE! and you need to have done some fundamental Brightness and Contrast adjustment to most monitors before you do the Calibration process with a calibration measurement device. The factory adjustment is set to provide a very bright and contrasty setting that works well to show off the laptop in a bright retail store setting, but the typical working environment for photo editing is NOT so bright as a retail store.

Wilt wrote in post #18897479
So many folks want to use their laptop for photo editing. If you are doing so for casual shots, the built in laptop screen quality is adequate. But if you want to do critical editing with the need to have accurate portraying of brightness and contrast and colors, plug in an EXTERNAL IPS monitor!!! There are many adjustments in an external monitor, that an internal monitor just does NOT PROVIDE! and you need to have done some fundamental Brightness and Contrast adjustment to most monitors before you do the Calibration process with a calibration measurement device. The factory adjustment is set to provide a very bright and contrasty setting that works well to show off the laptop in a bright retail store setting, but the typical working environment for photo editing is NOT so bright as a retail store.

Have a desk top and dell ultra sharp ips monitor but with having two year old twins it’s very hard to sit at a desk and work. At least with a laptop or tablet we can work while they are cuddled up to us watching a movie or something. I know it’s not ideal but in our situation it’ll work better for us and do better then editing on our iPad like we currently do but it can’t process raw files so that’s why I’m looking for a laptop.

Beleive ive narrowed it down to two options,

https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …s_core_i7_8750h​_16gb.html

Vs

https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …ator_i7_8750_gt​x1060.html

Both are,

I7
16gb ram
512 32gb ssd

With the lenovo on sale for cheaper I'd lean towards it currently but curious what other who may have owned both brand would recommend based on quality?

Also is windows 10 home vs pro a big factor when deciding?

I know Macs have a recent history of rubbish keyboards, but aside from that, any reason you wouldn't consider one? I run both Windows and Mac and, although I understand it's a personal preference, I'm always more efficient on Mac. They recently updated things a bit and the prices are in line with the computers you linked to.

Also you're getting an IPS screen built-in which have been amazing.

Biggest reason is cost, for just a basic macbook pro the cheapest one is over $1600 and that's with an i5, 8gb ram, 256gb ssd, vs windows for less money I can get a 9th gen i7, 16gb ram, 1TB ssd. Apple is just alot less computer for a lot more money from what I see looking at specs.

https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …6_legion_y540_g​aming.html

BB70Chevelle wrote in post #18897975
With the lenovo on sale for cheaper I'd lean towards it currently but curious what other who may have owned both brand would recommend based on quality?

Also is windows 10 home vs pro a big factor when deciding?

I'd still go with the "brand" name machine, the Lenovo. That machine, the Legion, was available a few months back at Costco for $900. Currenlty no stock is shown on the Costco website.

On your question of Home vs. Pro, I'd get the Pro. You will have more control over your machine, especially when updates occur. A good detailed write up can be found at https://www.microsoft.​com …re-windows-10-home-vs-pro.

Went ahead and purchased a microsoft surface pro 6,

i5
8gb ram
128gb ssd

Got it as an open box item for a good amount off full price. Plus got a samsung 128gb micro sd card for it and the pen and a cover.

Really wanted the form factor of a tablet and these internals plus full versions of photo shop and light room are a major step up over using our ipad and Photoshop express for light editing work. If I need anything more then this I'll go to my desktop but this should be a good mobile platform for us.

I've been working on a Surface Pro 3 for 3-ish years now I think

I hope they have fixed the microsd slot - lots of reports (and I've experienced it as well) that the drive will randomly unmount, and come back up a second later... can cause issues depending on how it is used... also doing windows updates, would never finish if there's a card in that slot...

I also do have a couple of small USB hubs, and small 128gig/256gig sticks/drives to store stuff

BB70Chevelle wrote in post #18898675
Went ahead and purchased a microsoft surface pro 6,

i5
8gb ram
128gb ssd

Got it as an open box item for a good amount off full price. Plus got a samsung 128gb micro sd card for it and the pen and a cover.

Really wanted the form factor of a tablet and these internals plus full versions of photo shop and light room are a major step up over using our ipad and Photoshop express for light editing work. If I need anything more then this I'll go to my desktop but this should be a good mobile platform for us.

If you can, you might want to reconsider. The Surface Pro 6 is not upgradeable with respect to the SSD, and truthfully 128 GB is just not enough. See https://www.ifixit.com …ace+Pro+6+Teard​own/113786.

Really? In the US they start at $1300. Specs are only one side of the story. There's a reason higher-spec'd Androids benchmark slower.

I am in the US but couldnt find them anywhere for that price unless it was a older model.