i3 or i5?

Hey guys!

I'm about to buy a new laptop, and I wanted to know if you think that I need an i5 processor or i3 is enough. Been thinking of an asus laptop.
It's a laptop for school (office and that stuff) and photo edit, mainly lightroom, no photoshop. Oh, and I'm not a gamer.


Marco

Buy the best you can afford. If that means you can afford the i5 than go with it. I've yet to see anyone say their computer is too fast.

Ahah, that is true!!

Another thing, you think a 13inch screen is small for photo editing?

makande wrote in post #11187585
Ahah, that is true!!

Another thing, you think a 13inch screen is small for photo editing?

Personally I think it is. I have a 13" MacBook (aluminum one that's spec'd like the pros) and it's sometimes tiring using the screen. I usually have it connected to a 22" display but the quality of the monitor isn't great so sometimes i end up using the laptop display.

makande wrote in post #11187585
Ahah, that is true!!

Another thing, you think a 13inch screen is small for photo editing?

Yes, too small. You could use an external though as Marc mentioned.

Yeah, I was thinking of getting an external monitor too for when I'm really doing "photo work"!

Thanks.

One more question:
Do I need a really good graphics card? Is a "512MB DDR3 SDRAM dedicated" enough for Lightroom??

makande wrote in post #11232046
Do I need a really good graphics card? Is a "512MB DDR3 SDRAM dedicated" enough for Lightroom??

As long as it's DD3, then it should be good enough. Do they even sell DDR2 graphics cards any more??

In general, any $50 card out there right now is plenty for 99% of the stuff a typical LR user needs. The only 1% exception is if you get into heavy *video* editing and start multi-tasking that along with Lightroom.

13" screen is small for photo editing, but I love the compactness of a 13" machine when actually travelling with it. If your laptop never leaves the house, ask yourself whether a) you aren't better off with a desktop machine or b) if you ocassionally want to lug it around, whether you mind dragging around a 15" or larger machine.

The past few years I've been using a 2007 macbook with a (second hand) 23" Apple Cinema Display for photo editing. The display and non on-the-road editing has now shifted to the Mac Pro.