Laptop recommendation for image processing.

[cteckwee]

Hi folks,

I would like to buy a laptop in this coming Comex show. I am eyeing on a laptop(Lenovo Idealpad Y470) with Intel i7 2630QM (2.0GHz, 6MB L2 Cache) , 8GB DDR-3 RAM, and NVidia GeForce 550M DDR3 2GB graphics card. Would it be good for photo editing softwares such as Photoshop CS5, Lightroom and Nikon Capture NX? I am not too sure if the softwares mentioned benefit from the discrete graphics card?


Hope to hear your opinions, thanks.

 

[Rashkae]

You will not notice much, if any, benefit from buying a laptop with a high-end card. Most important is:

1. Large, color-calibrated screen. High resolution, and my own preference is matte over glossy.
2. RAM. Lots of it. 8GB is good.

The Lenovo looks good, but it's designed more for watching movies.

 

[yqt]

My own personal preference, get an Apple. I'm still using my Apple Powerbook G4 and it's still working fine for me.

 

[cteckwee]

Thanks for your inputs, I do agree that matte LCD is good. Since high-end graphics card will not really help, probably I will choose a model with lower end card.

 

[cteckwee]

My own personal preference, get an Apple. I'm still using my Apple Powerbook G4 and it's still working fine for me.

I do quite a bit C++/Matlab programming which I already get used to Windows environment. Probably a bit difficult for me to migrate to Apple. Nonetheless, I really love Apple's high definition screen. Every picture seems so sharp on it. Correct me if I am wrong, it seems that Apple's laptop specifications are lower than the one I mentioned?

 

[campoes]

If you choose laptop for the portability, then this one might be good option (provided u willing to burn ur pocket )

[video=youtube;H2Nbn4bjf6s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Nbn4bjf6s&feature=related[/video]

 

[edutilos-]

Hi folks,

I would like to buy a laptop in this coming Comex show. I am eyeing on a laptop(Lenovo Idealpad Y470) with Intel i7 2630QM (2.0GHz, 6MB L2 Cache) , 8GB DDR-3 RAM, and NVidia GeForce 550M DDR3 2GB graphics card. Would it be good for photo editing softwares such as Photoshop CS5, Lightroom and Nikon Capture NX? I am not too sure if the softwares mentioned benefit from the discrete graphics card?


Hope to hear your opinions, thanks.

Probably minimal benefit.

Those specs are good for photo editing. My only concern with laptop most of the time is that the screen will never match up to that of a good desktop screen.

Btw, I've heard the Apple monitors can make photos look better than they actually are - which can be a bad thing, if you think about it.

 

[SilentSeth]

Thanks for your inputs, I do agree that matte LCD is good. Since high-end graphics card will not really help, probably I will choose a model with lower end card.

Color accuracy is important especially for print designs.

Try to google "screen calibration chart", or probably something like this http://www.fotolia.com/id/5122012. Follow the instruction on the website. On a good screen, you should see like (for example) XX number of gradients from black -> red -> white. If your screen only able to produce less than that standard, means your screen is.. well.. not that good =)

My personal preference for image editing other than Apple will be Asus. The screen on some high end models (seems to be) properly calibrated.

PS please also share if there's anyone of you know any other Windows based laptops with a good screen but not bigger than 14 inches. I'm also looking for a good replacement in the near future =)

 

[cteckwee]

I do quite a bit C++/Matlab programming which I already get used to Windows environment. Probably a bit difficult for me to migrate to Apple. Nonetheless, I really love Apple's high definition screen. Every picture seems so sharp on it. Correct me if I am wrong, it seems that Apple's laptop specifications are lower than the one I mentioned?

Thanks for the suggestion but it seems overkill as I don't play computer games on laptop.

 

[jsprtan]

My choice - 17" MBP. Large screen and best of all 7~8hrs battery life super user friendly. BTW do get a 64 bit OS if you have more than 4GB of RAM. If not you will not be able to access any thing more than that as that is limited by the number of address avaliable on a 32 bit system.

 

[cteckwee]

Probably minimal benefit.

Those specs are good for photo editing. My only concern with laptop most of the time is that the screen will never match up to that of a good desktop screen.

Btw, I've heard the Apple monitors can make photos look better than they actually are - which can be a bad thing, if you think about it.

You got the point too, kinda frustrating if Apple's monitors don't reflect the original photo quality.

 

[cteckwee]

Color accuracy is important especially for print designs.

Try to google "screen calibration chart", or probably something like this http://www.fotolia.com/id/5122012. Follow the instruction on the website. On a good screen, you should see like (for example) XX number of gradients from black -> red -> white. If your screen only able to produce less than that standard, means your screen is.. well.. not that good =)

My personal preference for image editing other than Apple will be Asus. The screen on some high end models (seems to be) properly calibrated.

PS please also share if there's anyone of you know any other Windows based laptops with a good screen but not bigger than 14 inches. I'm also looking for a good replacement in the near future =)

Currently I am using monitor calibrator on my old laptop (NEC brand), I think with it the color should be quite accurate.

 

[jsprtan]

I do quite a bit C++/Matlab programming which I already get used to Windows environment. Probably a bit difficult for me to migrate to Apple. Nonetheless, I really love Apple's high definition screen. Every picture seems so sharp on it. Correct me if I am wrong, it seems that Apple's laptop specifications are lower than the one I mentioned?

Actually those spec are close, only the graphics card offered by apple is not 2 GB ram. For compatability, you can still dualboot or even run virtual machine (such as Virtual Box) in OSX. Now a days alots of software are porting their windows software into OSX so not really an issue.