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Light capable laptop for DXO use

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UncleVanya

UncleVanya

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My dad wants to upgrade his laptop. He is interested in a lightweight and fast for processing laptop. He bought a MacBook Air m3 chip 13 but isn’t a Mac user and after a day he’s tossing in the towel and returning it. He wants a windows 11 computer 13-15” good screen and not heavy. He wants a good amount of ram and storage.

DXO recommended hardware requirements:

Recommended system configuration: ● Intel® Core™ processor or AMD Ryzen™ with 8 cores ● 16 GB RAM ● 4 GB available disk space ● 1920 x 1080 display ● Microsoft® Windows® 10 version 22H2 or 11 version 22H2 (64-bit) ● For DeepPRIME, DeepPRIME XD and DeepPRIME XD2s: o NVIDIA RTX™ 2080, AMD Radeon™ RX 6700 with latest drivers with 8GB of VRAM New in DxO PhotoLab 8.3.1

He would prefer Amazon but is probably open to any well established online option.
 
UncleVanya said:
My dad wants to upgrade his laptop. He is interested in a lightweight and fast for processing laptop. He bought a MacBook Air m3 chip 13 but isn’t a Mac user and after a day he’s tossing in the towel and returning it. He wants a windows 11 computer 13-15” good screen and not heavy. He wants a good amount of ram and storage.

DXO recommended hardware requirements:

Recommended system configuration: ● Intel® Core™ processor or AMD Ryzen™ with 8 cores ● 16 GB RAM ● 4 GB available disk space ● 1920 x 1080 display ● Microsoft® Windows® 10 version 22H2 or 11 version 22H2 (64-bit) ● For DeepPRIME, DeepPRIME XD and DeepPRIME XD2s: o NVIDIA RTX™ 2080, AMD Radeon™ RX 6700 with latest drivers with 8GB of VRAM New in DxO PhotoLab 8.3.1

He would prefer Amazon but is probably open to any well established online option.
Click to expand...
ASUS have some 15.6" with Nvidia 4060s.

Available depending on model with 16Gb or 32Gb.

We had a Vivo Pro 15.6", 32Gb, 1Tb, 4060. Ryzen processor I think but they have i7 and i9s also. Less than 2kg.

We upgraded to a slightly larger of the same family, with a 4080, latest i9 and a slightly larger battery (I think the one above was something like 70Wh Vs 99).

In the UK they can be had for circa £850.

We have quite a few Vivo books and there pretty good for size/weight/power/price. Regularly batching hundreds of images through TAI and LrC (as a sequence).
 
Forgot to mention - he uses an OM Systems OM-1 mk1, 20mp m43 camera. I doubt he will really tax the system but I'm trying to help him find what might work best.
 
UncleVanya said:
Forgot to mention - he uses an OM Systems OM-1 mk1, 20mp m43 camera. I doubt he will really tax the system but I'm trying to help him find what might work best.
Click to expand...
Even with 20MP raw some processes on a machine similar to what I described won't be super rapid. The tasks he does will be more relevant than whether it's 20, 30, 50 etc MP.

If the number of images is say less than 100, and we ask lots of different tools to do fancy things such as AI NR, AI upscaling and so forth then on a machine like that expect a few hrs or a bit less.

Spend 4x the money, double the weight, half the life span, expect it to perhaps take half as long.

That's kind of the very rough limits.

I use an i9, 32GB ram, 4070, 16" Asus as my run around and works well. If all I was doing was teams, MS office and internet browsing I wouldn't use it - if go for a machine which is more energy efficient (I've a 15" i7 dell that uses about 9W ! Great for long plane journeys).
 
UncleVanya said:
Forgot to mention - he uses an OM Systems OM-1 mk1, 20mp m43 camera. I doubt he will really tax the system but I'm trying to help him find what might work best.
Click to expand...
He might still want to have a discrete GPU laptop. My travel X1 Carbon Gen 9 (2.5 lb) with integrated GPU takes 30-60 seconds to export an OM-1 image. The latest G13 (2.2 lbs) has 30% boost.

I looked but don't own the ASUS ROG Zephyrus 2025 G14 (3.5 lbs) and G16 (4.3 lbs), both have proper discrete GPUs.

For comparison, my old 6-year old Legion Y7000P/Y540 (32GB/4TB, 5-6 lbs) GTX 1060 (6GB) does DXO PLE 8 with 10-20 seconds exports. The new Legion Pro 7 (upgraded from 32GB/1TB to 64GB/4TB, 5.8 lbs) RTX 4090 (16GB), about 2-4 seconds. IMHO, 4060 and 4080 are sweet spots.

When purchasing a laptop, keep an eye on the RAM slots (soldered or not) and the SSD slots (m.2, 1 vs 2 and 2280 vs 2242) for upgradability.
 
DXO PL8 runs quite well on a Yoga Pro 7i Gen 9, 155H, Nvidia 4050 and 32 GB.

It's more lightroom, that's really heavy on the system. Adobe has top optimize it's code.

No problem with PL8, C1 and dark table, they fly.

If it's not urgent, he might want to wait for new Intel processors in summer. The current generation is optimized for mobile/battery use. The 155H is one generation earlier.
 
Ephemeris said:
UncleVanya said:
Forgot to mention - he uses an OM Systems OM-1 mk1, 20mp m43 camera. I doubt he will really tax the system but I'm trying to help him find what might work best.
Click to expand...
Even with 20MP raw some processes on a machine similar to what I described won't be super rapid. The tasks he does will be more relevant than whether it's 20, 30, 50 etc MP.

If the number of images is say less than 100, and we ask lots of different tools to do fancy things such as AI NR, AI upscaling and so forth then on a machine like that expect a few hrs or a bit less.

Spend 4x the money, double the weight, half the life span, expect it to perhaps take half as long.

That's kind of the very rough limits.

I use an i9, 32GB ram, 4070, 16" Asus as my run around and works well. If all I was doing was teams, MS office and internet browsing I wouldn't use it - if go for a machine which is more energy efficient (I've a 15" i7 dell that uses about 9W ! Great for long plane journeys).
Click to expand...
He will likely edit 1 file at a time. His volume is also low. The only reason for the graphics card is legitimately to let him use the highest quality noise reduction when he is experimenting without it taking a long time. On my Ryzen 5 machine with integrated GPU chip I see times for a single image processed with Prime XD that cross into minutes. With a good dedicated GPU I'm expecting that to drop precipitously.

DXO states:

DeepPRIME is fully GPU-optimized on Windows as well as on macOS.

For a better experience, be sure at least to match our recommended requirements:
  • Microsoft Windows recommended requirements: NVIDIA RTX™ 2080, AMD Radeon™ RX6700 with 8GB of VRAM (or upper), and the latest drivers.
  • DxO DeepPrime leverages the native core ML software and Apple Silicon hardware GPU and uses Apple neural engine acceleration.
On such GPUs you should expect a processing time of about 2 Mpx per second (or faster with better GPUs).

This suggests to me that with the recommended hardware his processing time for a single 20mp file will be around 10 seconds - perfect for his attention span. If it takes too long he will never use it.
 
UncleVanya said:
Ephemeris said:
UncleVanya said:
Forgot to mention - he uses an OM Systems OM-1 mk1, 20mp m43 camera. I doubt he will really tax the system but I'm trying to help him find what might work best.
Click to expand...
Even with 20MP raw some processes on a machine similar to what I described won't be super rapid. The tasks he does will be more relevant than whether it's 20, 30, 50 etc MP.

If the number of images is say less than 100, and we ask lots of different tools to do fancy things such as AI NR, AI upscaling and so forth then on a machine like that expect a few hrs or a bit less.

Spend 4x the money, double the weight, half the life span, expect it to perhaps take half as long.

That's kind of the very rough limits.

I use an i9, 32GB ram, 4070, 16" Asus as my run around and works well. If all I was doing was teams, MS office and internet browsing I wouldn't use it - if go for a machine which is more energy efficient (I've a 15" i7 dell that uses about 9W ! Great for long plane journeys).
Click to expand...
He will likely edit 1 file at a time. His volume is also low. The only reason for the graphics card is legitimately to let him use the highest quality noise reduction when he is experimenting without it taking a long time. On my Ryzen 5 machine with integrated GPU chip I see times for a single image processed with Prime XD that cross into minutes. With a good dedicated GPU I'm expecting that to drop precipitously.

DXO states:

DeepPRIME is fully GPU-optimized on Windows as well as on macOS.

For a better experience, be sure at least to match our recommended requirements:
  • Microsoft Windows recommended requirements: NVIDIA RTX™ 2080, AMD Radeon™ RX6700 with 8GB of VRAM (or upper), and the latest drivers.
  • DxO DeepPrime leverages the native core ML software and Apple Silicon hardware GPU and uses Apple neural engine acceleration.
On such GPUs you should expect a processing time of about 2 Mpx per second (or faster with better GPUs).

This suggests to me that with the recommended hardware his processing time for a single 20mp file will be around 10 seconds - perfect for his attention span. If it takes too long he will never use it.
Click to expand...
This may be too personal a question, but how old is Dad? I seem to detect a lot of inflexibility.

(I'm 70, Probably not getting a MacBook anytime soon, but I think I could handle it. I haven't owned a Mac since System 7.)
 
BobKnDP said:
UncleVanya said:
Ephemeris said:
UncleVanya said:
Forgot to mention - he uses an OM Systems OM-1 mk1, 20mp m43 camera. I doubt he will really tax the system but I'm trying to help him find what might work best.
Click to expand...
Even with 20MP raw some processes on a machine similar to what I described won't be super rapid. The tasks he does will be more relevant than whether it's 20, 30, 50 etc MP.
Click to expand...
He will likely edit 1 file at a time. His volume is also low. The only reason for the graphics card is legitimately to let him use the highest quality noise reduction when he is experimenting without it taking a long time. On my Ryzen 5 machine with integrated GPU chip I see times for a single image processed with Prime XD that cross into minutes. With a good dedicated GPU I'm expecting that to drop precipitously.

On such GPUs you should expect a processing time of about 2 Mpx per second (or faster with better GPUs).

This suggests to me that with the recommended hardware his processing time for a single 20mp file will be around 10 seconds - perfect for his attention span. If it takes too long he will never use it.
Click to expand...
This may be too personal a question, but how old is Dad? I seem to detect a lot of inflexibility.

(I'm 70, Probably not getting a MacBook anytime soon, but I think I could handle it. I haven't owned a Mac since System 7.)
Click to expand...
He’s 85, And he’s not completely hopelessly inflexible, but his computer savvy isn’t the best or the worst. He knows enough to get by on win 10. The transition to win 11 is pretty painless. But his patience… it’s legendary for being nearly non existent.
 
UncleVanya said:
BobKnDP said:
UncleVanya said:
Ephemeris said:
UncleVanya said:
Forgot to mention - he uses an OM Systems OM-1 mk1, 20mp m43 camera. I doubt he will really tax the system but I'm trying to help him find what might work best.
Click to expand...
Even with 20MP raw some processes on a machine similar to what I described won't be super rapid. The tasks he does will be more relevant than whether it's 20, 30, 50 etc MP.
Click to expand...
He will likely edit 1 file at a time. His volume is also low. The only reason for the graphics card is legitimately to let him use the highest quality noise reduction when he is experimenting without it taking a long time. On my Ryzen 5 machine with integrated GPU chip I see times for a single image processed with Prime XD that cross into minutes. With a good dedicated GPU I'm expecting that to drop precipitously.

On such GPUs you should expect a processing time of about 2 Mpx per second (or faster with better GPUs).

This suggests to me that with the recommended hardware his processing time for a single 20mp file will be around 10 seconds - perfect for his attention span. If it takes too long he will never use it.
Click to expand...
This may be too personal a question, but how old is Dad? I seem to detect a lot of inflexibility.

(I'm 70, Probably not getting a MacBook anytime soon, but I think I could handle it. I haven't owned a Mac since System 7.)
Click to expand...
He’s 85, And he’s not completely hopelessly inflexible, but his computer savvy isn’t the best or the worst. He knows enough to get by on win 10. The transition to win 11 is pretty painless. But his patience… it’s legendary for being nearly non existent.
Click to expand...
Sounds like he's doing well.

My late father couldn't use a DVD player, because the idea of switching inputs on a flat panel TV was beyond him. I've known younger people of my generation who had trouble with that, too, even if they used smartphones and tablets.
 
UncleVanya said:
Ephemeris said:
UncleVanya said:
Forgot to mention - he uses an OM Systems OM-1 mk1, 20mp m43 camera. I doubt he will really tax the system but I'm trying to help him find what might work best.
Click to expand...
Even with 20MP raw some processes on a machine similar to what I described won't be super rapid. The tasks he does will be more relevant than whether it's 20, 30, 50 etc MP.

If the number of images is say less than 100, and we ask lots of different tools to do fancy things such as AI NR, AI upscaling and so forth then on a machine like that expect a few hrs or a bit less.

Spend 4x the money, double the weight, half the life span, expect it to perhaps take half as long.

That's kind of the very rough limits.

I use an i9, 32GB ram, 4070, 16" Asus as my run around and works well. If all I was doing was teams, MS office and internet browsing I wouldn't use it - if go for a machine which is more energy efficient (I've a 15" i7 dell that uses about 9W ! Great for long plane journeys).
Click to expand...
He will likely edit 1 file at a time. His volume is also low. The only reason for the graphics card is legitimately to let him use the highest quality noise reduction when he is experimenting without it taking a long time. On my Ryzen 5 machine with integrated GPU chip I see times for a single image processed with Prime XD that cross into minutes. With a good dedicated GPU I'm expecting that to drop precipitously.

DXO states:

DeepPRIME is fully GPU-optimized on Windows as well as on macOS.

For a better experience, be sure at least to match our recommended requirements:
  • Microsoft Windows recommended requirements: NVIDIA RTX™ 2080, AMD Radeon™ RX6700 with 8GB of VRAM (or upper), and the latest drivers.
  • DxO DeepPrime leverages the native core ML software and Apple Silicon hardware GPU and uses Apple neural engine acceleration.
On such GPUs you should expect a processing time of about 2 Mpx per second (or faster with better GPUs).

This suggests to me that with the recommended hardware his processing time for a single 20mp file will be around 10 seconds - perfect for his attention span. If it takes too long he will never use it.
Click to expand...
That depends what one asks of the software. For example in Topaz Gigapixel and Photo AI some new features take a vast amount more processing, even my 4090 laptops work hard.

If it's say using DeepPrime, some other weeks in Photolab assuming that's where DeepPrime is being run) that sounds reasonable. I check in a short while what a similar species but 4070axhine does and let you know
 
number_5 said:
UncleVanya said:
Forgot to mention - he uses an OM Systems OM-1 mk1, 20mp m43 camera. I doubt he will really tax the system but I'm trying to help him find what might work best.
Click to expand...
He might still want to have a discrete GPU laptop. My travel X1 Carbon Gen 9 (2.5 lb) with integrated GPU takes 30-60 seconds to export an OM-1 image. The latest G13 (2.2 lbs) has 30% boost.

I looked but don't own the ASUS ROG Zephyrus 2025 G14 (3.5 lbs) and G16 (4.3 lbs), both have proper discrete GPUs.

For comparison, my old 6-year old Legion Y7000P/Y540 (32GB/4TB, 5-6 lbs) GTX 1060 (6GB) does DXO PLE 8 with 10-20 seconds exports. The new Legion Pro 7 (upgraded from 32GB/1TB to 64GB/4TB, 5.8 lbs) RTX 4090 (16GB), about 2-4 seconds. IMHO, 4060 and 4080 are sweet spots.

When purchasing a laptop, keep an eye on the RAM slots (soldered or not) and the SSD slots (m.2, 1 vs 2 and 2280 vs 2242) for upgradability.
Click to expand...
He is looking to start with 16gb.
As far as integrated hour vs discrete - I have a ryzen 5 based machine with Vega 8 integrated gpu. It’s faster than just using the cpu - by 2-3x max. So pretty slow but not useless. I’m looking only at something with a dedicated gpu for him.
 
Pixel8888 said:
DXO PL8 runs quite well on a Yoga Pro 7i Gen 9, 155H, Nvidia 4050 and 32 GB.

It's more lightroom, that's really heavy on the system. Adobe has top optimize it's code.

No problem with PL8, C1 and dark table, they fly.

If it's not urgent, he might want to wait for new Intel processors in summer. The current generation is optimized for mobile/battery use. The 155H is one generation earlier.
Click to expand...
He’s got money burning a hole in his pocket. lol. He wants it and he’s going to get it. This is why he bought and is now returning a MacBook Air m3 chip laptop already.
 
New info. Dad is saying he’s more likely to just use jpgs and a few slow edits won’t kill him.

Refocusing on 14” screen 1 TB / 16 GB ram light machines.
 
UncleVanya said:
New info. Dad is saying he’s more likely to just use jpgs and a few slow edits won’t kill him.

Refocusing on 14” screen 1 TB / 16 GB ram light machines.
Click to expand...
I think I would still opt for something with a mobile graphics chip except if you really want much longer battery life.

My little dell last a year on a battery machine I do manage to edit photos.

However I use the web versions of Photoshop and lightroom. I even get fancy noise reduction. Perhaps that's an option
 
And he's into a new plan now...

He wants a TV and a computer but has only a computer today. He uses his laptop as his computer but wants to able to sit back farther and see it. So now we are talking about a desktop and a monitor. He doesn't need a laptop - the reason for light weight I found out was to be able to move it off the shelf below the tv to the kitchen table. So why not use a monitor and keyboard and a desktop I asked - you can get a 27" screen and not have to have a TV. (He only uses the computer streaming apps now...)

That's where we are...

He has discussed all in one and desktops. But the two problems with all in one systems - limited choices of monitor specs, and difficulty mounting it to a VESA mount.

Sorry for the rollercoaster - now you know what it can be like... lol
 
A laptop with an external 4K (or not) monitor will work as well. With the dual monitors, laptop + external, he can watch streaming on the laptop's and do the editing on the external. This is how my dad (84) and myself's setup.
 
Last edited:
UncleVanya said:
And he's into a new plan now...

He wants a TV and a computer but has only a computer today. He uses his laptop as his computer but wants to able to sit back farther and see it. So now we are talking about a desktop and a monitor. He doesn't need a laptop - the reason for light weight I found out was to be able to move it off the shelf below the tv to the kitchen table. So why not use a monitor and keyboard and a desktop I asked - you can get a 27" screen and not have to have a TV. (He only uses the computer streaming apps now...)

That's where we are...

He has discussed all in one and desktops. But the two problems with all in one systems - limited choices of monitor specs, and difficulty mounting it to a VESA mount.

Sorry for the rollercoaster - now you know what it can be like... lol
Click to expand...
There are a few 15/16" tablets 😀
 
number_5 said:
A laptop with an external 4K (or not) monitor will work as well. With the dual monitors, laptop + external, he can watch streaming on the laptop's and do the editing on the external. This is how my dad (84) and myself's setup.
Click to expand...
I have my laptop set to use the screen and my external at the same time. But my desk is wider than his cart. He doesn't have the setup to do two screens due to physical limitations in space. But that's a nice idea. I don't tend to do anything but edit when I'm editing myself. I can see the appeal but I haven't got the brainpower to attend to both.
 
Last edited:
UncleVanya said:
number_5 said:
A laptop with an external 4K (or not) monitor will work as well. With the dual monitors, laptop + external, he can watch streaming on the laptop's and do the editing on the external. This is how my dad (84) and myself's setup.
Click to expand...
I have my laptop set to use the screen and my external at the same time. But my desk is wider than his cart. He doesn't have the setup to do two screens due to physical limitations in space. But that's a nice idea. I don't tend to do anything but edit when I'm editing myself. I can see the appeal but I haven't got the brainpower to attend to both.
Click to expand...
That's why I have to watch a video multiple times :-P

Here are a couple of decent iGPU alternatives (both with Soldered RAM, but SSDs are more or less upgradable):
  • Beelink: came across when looking into low power laptop, but this is a 'desktop'. More powerful than the Legion Go. You can search YouTube for its performance.
  • Legion Go: it's a handheld gaming console with 8.8" screen. I removed the gaming controller (use graft tape to cover the contacts) and Legion Space (gaming dashboard app). Found this on DPR forum; someone was using it for video editing. It's port limited but solvable with an USBC hub.
 
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