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Geoffrey Coelho

9 Years Ago

Laptop For Photo Editing

I looked at MacBook Pro with Retina display today. Powerful, and beautiful display. But even at 15", it's smallish. I'd probably use an external monitor. One drawback, to me, is that there are only two USB ports.

Anyone using a machine for photo editing that they're really happy with (or had bad luck with) who would care to share some insights?

Thanks.

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April Moen

9 Years Ago

I own a 15" MacBook Pro and a 27" iMac. Both work great for photo editing, but, yes, the MBP is too small for my tastes. I have hooked it up to our 42" LCD TV and it works like a charm. I have not had any issues with the limited number of USB ports. I bought a USB hub just in case, but I think I've only used it once or twice. I take my MBP with me when I'm meeting with my graphic design clients, and it has never let me down or crashed on me. Can't say the same for Windows laptops I've owned, though to be fair, I haven't owned one in many, many years.

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

I'm using an HP ENVY Touchsmart. So far, so good. Got it last year for Christmas. Took some time to get it the way I want it, going from an XP desktop to an 8.1 touchscreen, but I like it very much.

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

USB Port - You can get a USB hub to expand it.. You can have some thing like 127 devices connected to one USB port.

 

Steven Ralser

9 Years Ago

I use a MBP retina 13"; however photo work will be restricted to when I travel. Otherwise I use my 27"iMac (now if I could only afford a 27" retina iMac)

 

Steven Ralser

9 Years Ago

I use a MBP retina 13"; however photo work will be restricted to when I travel. Otherwise I use my 27"iMac (now if I could only afford a 27" retina iMac)

 

Murray Bloom

9 Years Ago

Can an external monitor even be connected via USB? I've always used HDMI or DVI, or RGB on older computers.

 

Roy Erickson

9 Years Ago

I never edit on a lap top - we have two - ones is a dell - the other an HP - neither of the monitor screens are reliable for editing. Depending on the length of the trip - I keep the photo's on the sd card or transfer it to a thumb drive - although now I have a portable external drive that I take.

and yes - get a hub - I have one that will take 4 USB plugs in it.

here's ads from amazon for Mac hubs .

 

JC Findley

9 Years Ago

I have never edited on anything buy laptops.

 

David Bridburg

9 Years Ago

I made way for my Dell PC and Asus monitor mainly because my 2010 Toshiba laptop did not have HDMI.

I needed the Terabyte of HD. I needed the 12 GB RAM for PS. I needed the Quadcore for PS.

Laptops now often have HDMI.

Dave

 

Melany Sarafis

9 Years Ago

The external monitor for my 13" Mac has 4 USBs on the back.
1 is used to connect the laptop, 1 the keys, 1 an external hard drive for photo storage, and 1 another external for TimeMachine. This leaves the 2 on the laptop available for the graphics tablet, thumb drives or anything else I need.

 

Lois Bryan

9 Years Ago

Geoffrey, I went to the MacBook Pro you mentioned above, with Retina Display, in January. The size difference from my previous was an adjustment, but I got used to it quickly. My thought was if it really bothered me, I'd get a monitor. I move around so much ... either here in the house ... or when we go travel Pennsylvania, that I really can't make a bigger machine practical. As to only having 2 usb ports ... it's fine. I don't have a clue what all these other ports are for ... the store sold me something ... some whiz bang lightning thing ... but I've never been able to match it up with anything. So. It's a great little machine. My biggest gripe is it's only 500GB which means I'm always trailing external HDs.

 

Geoffrey Coelho

9 Years Ago

Very helpful replies, thank you. Is 16GB a must? Will 8 GB do?

 

David Bridburg

9 Years Ago

Geoffrey,

I now upgraded to 16GB. Really you need at least 12GB. But you can operate with 8GB.

If you hit Control Alt K you bring up the performance window controls for PS. You can then go to between
70 and 80% of available RAM, I go to 75%, usage of your available RAM. I use 11 GB of RAM with my PS, NOTE PS 64 bit
program. They still bundle the PS program, but it is PS 32 bit.

You will need the speed probably.

Dave

 

Lois Bryan

9 Years Ago

Geoffrey, I'm at 16GB. But I use some heavy duty programs, sometimes several running at once.

 

Billy East

9 Years Ago

I use a MBP 15 /retina for captures on the camera, but never for editing. The thunderbolt two connection on the MBP lets you connect to high end monitors , but when all is connected you have a flexible but not easily portable computer system. The better option is always a desktop because of video card size and power supply requirements especially when using workstation cards . I edit on a windows workstation with a quadro k 6000 which has Memory Size 12GB GDDR5 compared to the k5000 (for Mac) which only has 4GB GDDR5.
What you edit and for what purpose is a big factor. If one is editing photography for a pod site with a 25 mb file size limit in which the image goes through at least three levels of compression, after you edit it a laptop is ok for editing , but editing HD photographic images for a gallery wrap ,"fineart" outcome especially in large print sizes-you are better off with an editing system that gives you the benefit of the highest visual quality. And then there is the editing skill factor. Finally there is the cost. How much are willing to spend on editing hardware?

 

Billy East

9 Years Ago

"JC Findley 1 Day Ago
I have never edited on anything buy laptops."

Editing is certainly a crucial part of digital photography. More importantly editing through experience will often enhance the photographic technique of any photographer. More time is spent editing the photograph than capturing it.I would suggest you begin learning the basics of photographic editing if just to establish a better communication with whomever edits your photography. Editing is also a highly personnel attribute to any photograph. Buying a laptop, which I'm sure most of have done, will not eliminate the process of editing.

 

Geoffrey Coelho

9 Years Ago

Billy, as far as cost it's looking like I'm at $2500 to get the configuration I want. Then there's the extras ... like a 3-yr warantee for $350. And another $200 to bring a 27" iMac from 8 to 16 GB. It's starting to push the limit of what I can manage right now.

 

Billy East

9 Years Ago

Geoffrey;
Happy Thanksgiving.
1. Do you own a 27" imac retina at present.
2 Do you edit hd video?
3.. Are you -now shooting or plan to shoot above 50 mp .
4. Your work is edited award winning and may I say very sharp, it's a pleasure to view bravo! I could even count the checks on the grip of the M4- Excellent and straight lines on the buildings
great photography.
My question is what do want a future editing system to do for you?
Another question is have you seen the new 27" 5k imac retina
Here is the tear down of the machine:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+Retina+5K+Display+Teardown/30260
Here's a good point about the i7 cpu option processor:http://www.cnet.com/products/apple-imac-27inch-2014/2/
davidbdyer Oct 29, 2014
@Theduckofdeath @davidbdyer The difference is in the number of compute units and the speed they are driven. A good graphics card is important for a lot more than games. Adobe PS, AE, Pr, AutoCad, FinalCut and others use the graphics card to accelerate processes. An iMac is more of a home computer than a pro level machine but with a 5K screen and the top end i7 CPU it could be a good substitute. Even with a desktop graphics card getting good FPS on 5k wouldn't be likely.

So. what we have is graphics card from tiger direct .com All this hardware is MS windows- not mac.

Amd Radeon R9 M290x 2gb of gddr5- $300.00 $270.00 after rebate.

Closest I could get: to the r9 m295

Amd radeon r9 290 4 gb gddr5 $370.00 $350.00 after rebate.
These are the desktop models, ones in the imac are laptop models called portable.
Power consumption 150 watts to be safe on both the 2 and 4 gb cards.

cpu
Imac offers an i5 and I7 intel

intel i5 cpu
tigerdirect :
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8037045&csid=_61
$235.00
add $ 60.00 for a decent fan
Intel i7 cpu:

Intel Core i7-4770K Processor - Quad Core, 8MB L3 Cache, 3.5GHz, 84W, Fan, Unlocked Multiplier, 1250 MHz Graphics Core Speed - BX80646I74770K

$340.00 there are others check them out.:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=intel+i7+processor
I don't know what system you have now, let me know and I'll work up a price comparison. Just to see what you can save. you will need a mother board and ram, but that depends on your cpu choice. You will also need an oem operating system:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=7686&srkey=windows%208%2064%20bit
$89.00

I have not priced it yet but a dell xps model outperformed the Imac retina 5x. buy a slight margin.

Well I have to drive my drunk relatives home now, Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Geoffrey Coelho

9 Years Ago

Update. After much agonizing I decided to go with a desktop PC. This is a significant upgrade from my old Dell XPS 410 which I've had since 2006 or 2007.

It should be here on Tuesday.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1059535-REG/dell_x8700_3130blk_xps_8700_7_i7_4790_16gb_2tb_windows8_164_black.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1098119-REG/acer_um_hx2aa_001_k272hul_bmiidp_27_led.html

 

Iris Richardson

9 Years Ago

You can add other monitors and make it work that way.

 

Jack Torcello

9 Years Ago

Plugins to manipulate photos have higher graphics card
and graphics drivers requirements than before.

OpenGL can often be an issue (a typical component of
modern graphics drivers). Probably best to have OpenGL
version 3.2 or better to be sure your computer is powerful
enough.

Here is a tool which tells you your version number
http://www.realtech-vr.com/glview/

 

Geoffrey Coelho

9 Years Ago

I don't have any idea what that means, Jack. The graphics card is detailed in the product specs in the link above. If this machine isn't powerful enough for any photo editing that I'll ever do, then I give up.

ETA: more here: http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-745-oem/specifications

 

Billy East

9 Years Ago

You made the right choice!

 

Anthony Parker

9 Years Ago

Depending on what you're willing to spend, you can edit on a laptop. Would you be willing to go with something along the lines of a 17-inch laptop (Alienware or other gaming class machine) or one of the workstation class laptops. These are perfect if you plan on using 3D applications, video editing software, and anything else you can throw at them. I don't know how many USB ports are available on these, but you can always purchase a USB hub. Or, you can get the desktop equivalent and an 24"-27" HD monitor.

 

David Bridburg

9 Years Ago

Geoffrey,

You went very high end on the PC. No one can fault you there in the least.

But the monitor is high end old tech 8 bit color depth.

The Dell or Asus 10 bit color depth monitors would be better choices.

Dave

 

Thomas Zimmerman

9 Years Ago

Editing photographs with a laptop is like pulling a trailer with a compact car.

Nice desktop.

 

Alexis Birkill

9 Years Ago

David: The graphics card in that computer can't operate at 10-bit. A 10-bit monitor would operate in 8-bit mode anyway.

 

David Bridburg

9 Years Ago

Alexis,

What about the 4600 card by Intel?

I just Googled it. No in January 2014. I dont know if they updated it since. Still Googling.

Dave

 
 

Alexis Birkill

9 Years Ago

David: Unless it has 'FirePro' or 'Quadro' in the name, it almost certainly doesn't support 10-bit mode. No consumer-grade graphics cards support it to my knowledge, and certainly not the extremely basic Intel integrated graphics chips like the HD4600 series (these aren't graphics cards as such, they're embedded in certain mid-range Intel processors, for people who only really need to run office applications). Something like a Quadro K2200 will give you a modern card with reasonable performance that supports 10-bit mode, although you may want to spend a bit more for something with a bit more future-proofing.

You'll also need to enable 10-bit mode in Photoshop and (at least for AMD cards) in the driver settings: http://www.eizoglobal.com/support/compatibility/photoshopcs6_nvidia_amd/

Finally, many cards and displays only support 10-bit mode over a DisplayLink connection, not HDMI or DVI.

As I mentioned in my message a couple of weeks ago, it really isn't worth it for most people -- there's so many things you'd be better off spending money on. That's not to say you shouldn't buy a 10-bit monitor (they're often better in other aspects, simply because they're higher-end), but I wouldn't base any decision solely on whether it was 10-bit or not, because chances are it'll never actually see a 10-bit signal.

 

David Bridburg

9 Years Ago

Alexis,

Thanks for the info.

Dave

 

Geoffrey Coelho

9 Years Ago

Dave,

The computer and monitor set me back less than $1500. Sort of top end, I guess, but reasonably priced. I hope this unit will take care of my requirements for some years. I had my old Dell XPS-410 for 8 years.

 

Angela Sachs

9 Years Ago

I do my editing on my desk top... it is a Dell. My question is a little off topic, but what are the best photo editing programs or software to use? Right now I have what came with Windows and Gimp. Thanks

 

This discussion is closed.