Is this a good laptop for photo editing?

Minerva69

I'm an amateur photographer and I'm just getting into using Photoshop & Lightroom (Creative Cloud versions). I'm looking to replace my old laptop but I'm on a tight budget at the moment. I saw this advertised on tv, would this be a good one to get? http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-15-af067sa-15-6-laptop-white-10132644-pdt.html

bsod

good is subjective, someone posted earlier about their inability to get on with the mouse buttons on a HP laptop, a little thing like that can make all the difference between a good and a poor choice.

Ram and disk are a good size, but there are better processors around. Most things on sale in that price range should meet this

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/system-requirements.html

RobTang

For photo editing the most important thing is the screen, ideal you needs something that can deliver 100% of the SRGB or adobe RGB gamut.
Generally speaking only the very high end workstation laptops have them,


Honestly I would probably spend the money on a decent second hand IPS monitor from ebay and a calibration device.

I_have_spoken

Resolution isn't that impressive, on a 15.6" screen for photo work I'd be shooting for 1920x1080 and maybe forego a dedicated graphics card to hit your price point.

[Deleted User]

bsod wrote: »

someone posted earlier about their inability to get on with the mouse buttons on a HP laptop, a little thing like that can make all the difference between a good and a poor choice.

Not getting on with the trackpad isn't exactly a deal breaker.

A Wireless (or, if suitable, a Bluetooth) mouse will solve it.

Pincher

If you want true colours, Apple screens are what you really want.

Photo editing is hardly compute intensive, so anything will do.

The only thing that stands out with the HP is the 2TB hard disk.

I never liked Currys, they always try to sell me a Warranty. You get two or three year warranty included with John Lewis, so if you are the kind that ends up buying warranty, work out the total on the Currys deal.

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/care-plans-laptops-304-commercial.html

£149 for three year Care Plan. £109 for two years.

enfield_freddy

the CPU used is not worth screaming about


its a AMD A8-7410 APU which rates as 810th from the top of the league


that machine is fit only for emails and slow web , having a CPU score of 2579


note how they have added extra ram , now 8g in an attempt to mask the CPU


why do you need 2t of storage on a laptop? , you would be better having a much faster ssd drive fitted , and buy a cheap n cheerful external drive


http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php




this is not the machine for running your programmes quickly

Yolina

Pincher wrote: »

If you want true colours, Apple screens are what you really want.

Nope, you need a good screen, doesn't have to be Apple
An IPS panel, preferably matte, with a good contrast ratio and good colour gamut is what you really want, and obviously you calibrate it regularly.

Photo editing is hardly compute intensive, so anything will do.

Depends on what you do. Simple edits for things like levels, saturation and sharpening won't require much (and getting photoshop just for that is completely overkill). Pretty much any computer will run that.

If however, you process from RAW files, use a lot of layers and do complex work, then some stuff can take a looooooong time if your machine doesn't have the grunt.

The OP won't get all that on their budget though unfortunately.

OP any chance you can keep using your current laptop for now and save up a bit more for a replacement? If you post in the PCspecialist forum, the people there can spec you a custom machine for a given budget and usage.

bsod

before the what you need specs run away with themselves ...

what's fit for purpose for a casual amateur user cropping a few photo's, is not the same as a pro doing front covers for cosmopolitan. The only spec mentioned in the op is the software required, the machine mentioned can run it, as can everything else, and has plenty of storage and ram to boot.

People are able to edit photo's without spending 1000's all the time. The idea that the processor or the screen is only fit for emails or slow web browsing is uninformed

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bob

buying a new laptop with an unusable trackpad when there are so many alternatives available would be silly.

enfield_freddy

yup I can edit photos on my raspberry Pi , I started one on the 23rd of july , just plugged the HDMI lead into the TV , its got to 75% , should be done for Christmas.


as I posted above , the laptop is very low powered and probably not suitable for the use he requires ,

Sharon87

OP before you buy anything I would go into all the computer shops and have a play about with the keyboard and mouse/track pad. Although for Photoshop I always prefer a mouse as it's a lot easier to use when editing delicately.

The laptop you have linked to doesn't have a good graphics card, it's the lowest in the series of that make, so may not support intense Photoshop very well.

My advice would be to either save up and spend a bit more or wait till sales are on and get a better laptop at less cost. I waited until January sales and got a laptop that was £700 for £500. It's been my best laptop I've had as before I only used to spend £350 on a laptop and they always went slow after a year or so.

When looking for laptops google the processor and graphics card with the word 'review' after them to see what other people are saying. No point buying a laptop with 2tb hard drive, 8gb of RAM only for it to run slow because of a rubbish processor or graphics card!