Wigelii
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Contributing Member
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Posts: 667
laptop for photo editing: "major" improvement isn't there
Jan 28, 2022
3
The last 4 years I did my photo editing on a HP Spectre X360 15inch with a 8th gen I7,16GB RAM and a 4K touchscreen.
For photo editing I mainly use Capture One (all upgrades), Topaz Denoise AI, Topaz Sharpen (Alien Skin) Exposure and Blow up and for large format printing Qimage ultimate.
I never had the feeling that my 'old' laptop was slow.
However:
1. on my HP laptop, 1 of 2 USB-C port was not functioning anymore and the Touchpad didn't work well anymore
2. Both on multiple forums and on Youtube I was reading / watching reviews on laptops for photo editing and I often read / heard discussions and opinions about laptop being not powerful enough for photo editing (often while tested with the same software I am using).
I had 2 choices:
- sending my laptop to HP for repair of the USB-C port and the touchpad
or
- buying a new laptop
By following all the discussions and reviews I started thinking that even though I didn't feel that my laptop was slow, in reality it was slow compared to what I could expect from a standard modern laptop.
This made me decide too buy a new one.
I bought a Dell XPS17 9710 with a 11th gen I7, PCIe 4.0 2K SSD, 16 gb RAM, Nvidia 3060, 4K touch screen.
- The new laptop is a nice machine BUT the performance difference isn't that big.
- The (according to reviews) fantastic 4K screen of the Dell is great ... but so is the 4K screen of my 4 years old HP.
Like I stated in the beginning, I felt that my old HP with 8th gen I7, PCIe 3.0 SSD and an older graphical card was powerful enough, and I still feel that way.
My conclusion is that one should take all the statements about laptops not being powerful enough for photo editing and all the raving about "the best laptop ever" and similar statements, should be taken with a BIG grain of salt.
So, don't be fooled into replacing your machine for 'much better' performance if your current PC is just a few years old, just because all reviews claim that "this is an incredibly fast machine" or that the performance of the photo editing software is soooo much better.
And if you do buy one, don't think that you need the most powerful processor, latest interface or top graphical card. Last years model will do fine too, so, if you can find a previous year model at a bargain price, don't hesitate. It will do fine.
If I could choose again, I would have my 4 years old HP laptop repaired instead of buying the best an latest new laptop.