Laptop Recommendations
2 watchers
Sep 2022
4:51pm, 28 Sep 2022
1,032 posts
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stilldreaming
Daughter 1 is doing photography course and needs laptop to run Photoshop and for Web design and stuff. She always wants the best of the best (!), but as she's short of funds we're looking for recommendations for suitable laptops that will go the distance. I have no idea!! Thanks in advance 🙂
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Sep 2022
5:01pm, 28 Sep 2022
28,217 posts
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fetcheveryone
The machines for artwork in commercial settings are (in my experience) usually Macs. They are not cheap - but I am typing this on one that I got in 2012. I've replaced the battery a couple of times, and changed the hard drive for a faster solid state one - but it's still doing the business. I think it may outlast me. It's a Macbook Pro, and there are various prices depending on how much RAM, processor speed, screen size etc.
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Sep 2022
5:21pm, 28 Sep 2022
18,448 posts
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rf_fozzy
If money is an issue, then consider a refurbed one and stick as much RAM as you can cram in and a new SSD in. If doing image based work, you might also need a decent graphics card. You may also want to think about having a separate monitor/screen as laptop screens aren't the easiest for image based work. I find the bigger ones (15+") OK, but are a pain to move around in a bag (i.e. if you want to take to work etc), but the smaller ones (14"-) don't always have enough screen space. Predictably, I've ended up with 2 now aging laptops - a 14" low spec one for carting about and a better 15" which is essentially a desktop replacement. Macs are expensive and as I'm finding with the one I've been given at work (not my choice), can be a bugger to upgrade once they get to a certain age and start to stop supporting OS upgrades (made difficulter by an IT service that is a PITA). All of this is to say that you need to come up with a list of priorities in terms of specs (storage, memory, processing power, graphics, size, portability, etc etc ) and then balance them off against each other to find something in your price bracket. |
Sep 2022
5:27pm, 28 Sep 2022
6,556 posts
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um
Does she have a monitor? Probably best to spend a bit of the budget on as good / large one as you can. Lap top? How much post image processing is she planning or needing to do? Probably looking at a fast graphics accelerator, quite a bit of memory. Here's a couple of random web 'best laptops for photoshop'. They seem to support fetch's post. justcreative.com creativebloq.com As an ex HP employee, I'd probably go HP and Windows, because that's what I know. But as fetch and the posts say, Mac is normally the commercial/professional choice. Is there any advice from the course provider? Also could be best to stay in line with their preferred or recommended make/model/brand. And then there's storage. How much is she consuming? Is she shooting and keeping RAW images? That will swallow disk. I've recently invested in a 12TB WD external drive and 2TB of cloud (for life) to keep my photos on. (£200 and £350 respectively. Not sure if that's good value or not. But my 1TB laptop had somehow got filled up. That may open up a discussion of priorities of where to spend? It will always cost more than you want, so some compromise may be needed. |
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Sep 2022
5:29pm, 28 Sep 2022
18,450 posts
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rf_fozzy
Ah no, not HP! Sorry, cannot stand them. They always break. |
Sep 2022
6:03pm, 28 Sep 2022
20,341 posts
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Sharkie
Definitely Mac all the way for professional design work (I was a graphic designer and illustrator and art director.)
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Sep 2022
6:38pm, 28 Sep 2022
1,033 posts
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stilldreaming
Thanks for comments .. a lot to think about and a bit more research to be done!
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Sep 2022
6:45pm, 28 Sep 2022
93,205 posts
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Hanneke
Yes, Mac... I was forced to do my professional.photo shopping of RAW originals on a laptop running windows... It is still going, the laptop, 14 years old now... But the screen sucked for post processing. |
Sep 2022
6:46pm, 28 Sep 2022
9,520 posts
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becca7
Apple offer quite generous academic discount as well.
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Sep 2022
10:09pm, 28 Sep 2022
18,455 posts
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rf_fozzy
So you only pay 150% of a pc price instead of 200% I've never understood why people pay the premium for the "privilege" of having a Mac. Maybe it's just me. |
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