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Jorge Cevallos's picture

Laptop for photography editing?

Dear Friends,

I am about to buy a new laptop that I will use for editing my pictures. I used to have a Macbook Pro 2013, but broke down, and since then I´ve been using a really basic computer. I don´t want to fix my old laptop because it only has 4gb of RAM, and here in my country, that type of services is considerably expensive. I loved the retina display of the laptop. However, this time, I am thinking of not getting an Apple computer anymore because I will not be able to upgrade it in the future, and I don´t want to keep getting a new computer all the time. For that reason, I´ve put my interest in a workstation HP ZBOOK. Is that a computer you would recommend in comparison with a Macbook Pro? Please, give me your advice.

Greetings,
Jorge Cevallos

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5 Comments

Why not Dell XPS 15? I read only good things about it. I'm now also on a MacBook Pro, 2015 version, but probably in the future... It depends what direction will take Apple and Microsoft.

Thanks, Valdo. I will read about it.

So I got reamed by my photography professor in school for using a laptop to edit images on. He would see me working and always cringe at the sight of me using a laptop to edit images. His experience was beyond reproach and won the argument before I could get a word in edgewise. He would always say "If you want the color right to calibrate, custom white balance, use color profiles and a color checker (or 18% grey card)

I finally broke down a couple years ago and bought the 27" Mac display. Along with my Wacom Pro tablet and some creativeLive classes I've become expertly proficient in Photoshop.

Currently, I run a 2016 MacBook Pro (high end) connected to a 27" Mac Display (low end) to ensure my range is squared away. Honestly with both laptop, and monitor calibrated with a Color Munki, shooting with color checker and proper color profiles I do see a difference between the two computers (Laptop and monitor).

The best advice I can give is: ask yourself if you can afford it. Really ask yourself. If it's not too much of a stretch then invest, but as photographers, we get G.A.S. (gear acquisition syndrome) don't buy things that you don't need unless your photography is paying for them, or you want to have the most badass desk set up on the planet.

Hope this helps.
BTW what do you mean "I will not be able to upgrade it in the future" is Apple planning to lock us out of upgrading hardware?

I agree with you with regards to using a big screen instead of just a laptop to edit pictures more easily. However, I am limited by the fact that whenever I need to buy something, I don’t import it directly to Ecuador (that would be extremely expensive); instead I have a friend or relative, who travels regularly to the States, bring the stuff I need without paying any taxes. I have always been reluctant to get something that is too big because I know how hard it is to travel with large suitcases.

What I meant by not being able to upgrade a Macbook laptop is that you just can’t open it and add more RAM in the future. That’s exactly what happened to me now. When I bought my latest laptop, I wasn’t interested in graphic design or photography, but when I got into editing photography, I found out that my laptop was terribly slow.

I think I have suffered from G.A.S., and that is what I tried to avoid when I got my last laptop, however, if I had added 500 more dollars for a more powerful mac 4 years ago, I wouldn’t have to buy a new laptop now.

Thanks for your time to give me your advice. God bless you.

I finally decided to go for the Dell Precision 7520 http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/workstations-isv-certified-dell/new-... I will be getting it by the end of this year.