buying a laptop for photoediting

mr_rush

my current laptop is about to die.
Need a new one and since I've started getting into dSLR photography thought i'd get one with decent photoediting specs.

An advice?
I guess I need a large amount of ram - either 1 or 2 gb and a fast processor. Not sure about which companies have the best screens for photoediting. The Sony Vaio's look good and the x-black screen seems to be pretty sharp but not sure about colour accuracy.

budget is probably around £1500
I've go photoshop cs2 already

advice appreciated

albertross_2

You don't need to spend anywhere near 1800, have a look at www.dmxdimension.com for bargains, a £400 laptop will do all of the above.

Blacksheep1979

Depends on what the op is wanting to do exactly but he will need a fairly powerful laptop and I'd advise at least 2gb ram.

mr_rush

albertross - for photoediting using CS2 you need a lot of ram. £400 gets you a slow laptop with a crap screen (for what i want to do).

albertross_2

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/systemreqs.html

Blacksheep1979

yes but here's what m$ say you need to run xp pro

Here's What You Need to Use Windows XP Professional

•PC with 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233 MHz minimum required (single or dual processor system);* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
•128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
•1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space*
•Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor
•CD-ROM or DVD drive
•Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

taken from

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/upgrading/sysreqs.mspx

would you honestly enjoy running xp on a system of that spec?

albertross_2

£400 buys a lot more than the minimum spec of either XP or photoshop.

Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2080 1.73GHz 1024MB 120GB 8x DVD Writer 15.4" WXGA Intel® Media Accelerator 950 Vista™ Business £387 N06642

The point was, you don't have to spend £1800, but if the OP wants to, it is their money.

Farway

I think your biggest problem using a laptop for serious photo editing will be the screen, not just size but colour rendition & quality of image compared to what you will actually print out

I do mean serious photo editing, not the holiday snaps for which I'm sure a laptop is fine

mr_rush

farway - i know. i'm also thinking about buying a cheaper laptop and then getting a decent 21 inch + screen that I can use for photos

albertross_2

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=478533

Farway

mr_rush wrote: »

farway - i know. i'm also thinking about buying a cheaper laptop and then getting a decent 21 inch + screen that I can use for photos

Good idea

I use a 21inch CRT, plent of good second hand ones around now due to CAD office monitors being replaced by flat screen

Depends how much space you have I guess, luckily I have plenty and my photo editing really benefits from the larger screen and quality.

Mind you I still take cr*p photos, but at least I can see them clearly