new pc, need advice

[monkey44]

I'm set to buy a new laptop - it has a gaming graphics card, and my tech self is not very tech smart - can any one tell me if that makes a difference with photo processing? I was looking at it based on the high-end video graphics capability, but am not sure if that means a 'not so good' thing for images ... I don't 'game' at all, and use primarily DPP and Photoshop. I'd expect it would be better for images, but don't want to say later, Oppps, should have asked that question ... thx BD

NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 960M (4.0GB) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX12 (Maxwell) w/ Optimus

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Lightroom can use the ability of a graphics card to speed up processing. This started with LR 6.

If you want to watch HD video, or edit it, then its very graphics processor sensitive. The GTX 960 is recommended for Lightroom.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/lightroom-gpu-faq.html

 

[monkey44]

thx ...

I don't do any video at all - only stills.

But want to make sure this type video card does not 'detract' from image processing in Photoshop - I don't use Lightroom, altho' not saying I won't - but Photoshop does everything I need at the moment.

Sometimes the questions we don't ask hurt more than the ones we do, and my tech smarts are a bit weak interpreting hardware and software and firmware.

 

[chauncey]

Using a laptop for PP would produce some OKAY images if you're satisfied with good enough.
Unless you attached it to a quality desktop monitor.

 

[Mikehit]

I enquired about this on several fora when looking for my last laptop and apparently graphics cards make little to no difference when editing stills. So the advice I got was that if you are not into gaming, an integrated graphics card is good enough, and spend more money on pure RAM which at the moment is quite cheap.
Or as Chauncey says, spend a couple of hundred pounds on a good monitor for when doing critical editing (the Dell 2412 is superb value for the money, recommended to me buy a professional photo retoucher).

 

[Don Haines]

thx ...

I don't do any video at all - only stills.

But want to make sure this type video card does not 'detract' from image processing in Photoshop - I don't use Lightroom, altho' not saying I won't - but Photoshop does everything I need at the moment.

Sometimes the questions we don't ask hurt more than the ones we do, and my tech smarts are a bit weak interpreting hardware and software and firmware.

I do a lot of panoramas.... The GPU processing with an Nvidia card really speeds things up. It will be the same on stills. You might not notice it if you do one at a time, but you will with batch processing.

A solid state hard drive to run lightroom from will also speed things up.

 

[9VIII]

Right now I just want a cheap 4K monitor, you can get some at Monoprice but supposedly they're releasing a colour accurate 4K IPS panel sometime this year (said Q1 at CES). I would jump on a 4K laptop but most of them seem half baked (and way too expensive).

My seven year old laptop does photo processing well enough for me, but it's not like I have any super macros or scripts set up for processing hundreds of photos, processing one picture at a time I bet your cell phone could do a decent job (if Canon would make a mobile version of DPP).

 

[brianftpc]

What are the complete specs of this laptop

 

[monkey44]

What are the complete specs of this laptop

http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-gl752vwdh74-eta-novdec-p-8748.html

But I'm upgrading to 256gb Samsung on both OS "C" drive and the "D" storage drive. And staying with Win7 pro -- I can't update to Win10 without buying a batch of new software too -- plus, I like Win7, have three PC's with it in and want all PC's the same OS ... I don't know why? It just feels better to my non-tech self.

I'm very tech smart for the tech part of this - primarily lean software and use it ... so the "build parts" leaves me puzzled.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

What are the complete specs of this laptop

http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-gl752vwdh74-eta-novdec-p-8748.html

But I'm upgrading to 256gb Samsung on both OS "C" drive and the "D" storage drive. And staying with Win7 pro -- I can't update to Win10 without buying a batch of new software too -- plus, I like Win7, have three PC's with it in and want all PC's the same OS ... I don't know why? It just feels better to my non-tech self.

I'm very tech smart for the tech part of this - primarily lean software and use it ... so the "build parts" leaves me puzzled.

It sounds like a good choice as configured in your link.


Laptop monitors are usually pretty bad, but there are a few good ones. That's priority no ONE !! I think the one you picked is good, but look at or read reviews from test labs.

At $250 for a 1TB M.2 SSD, I'd certainly upgrade. 1TB M2 drives are currently in short supply, and run $300. I have mostly 512GB SSD's and wish they were larger. My images are on 3TB drives and are being upgraded to 4TB.

You can always add a second 2.5 inch SSD for less than they charge, a 960GB runs about $200 on sale (Be patient, it will happen). a 500GB SSD runs ~$100. The 1TB spinning drive they offer will be plenty fast enough for data storage.

 

[wsmith96]

A solid state hard drive to run lightroom from will also speed things up.

You aren't kidding. I use an HP workstation and Adobe lr cc gave it a fit until I got an ssd. My copy of lr 5 had no performance issues on the same machine.

 

[monkey44]

The package you see in that link is standard - I've upgraded some but it only shows in my account, not on that link.

I've elected to go with NO mechanical drives, even storage. So will upgrade this package to the 250gb Samsung EVO or the 500gb Samsung EVO SSD for both internal drives. Probably the 500gb's ... and I'll add the dual 8gb RAM for a 16gb RAM package.

I buy 250gb SSD external drives for storage, and can add easily to those and link USB when needed -- and, it keeps less data on each drive just in case one happens to fail. I do dual backup on all RAW files, and then just pull a copy when I need to work it for a project and leave all original RAW files on a back-up external SSD ... I've lost data a couple times on mechanical HD, and avoid those like the plague once SSD became available.

Thanks for the info guys -- will probably read all the stuff I found on these and make a choice this weekend. The company is here, in USA - fifteen years, and seems pretty reputable - and has lots of 5 star reviews. When I call on the phone, I always get the same tech, no 'on-hold', and he's very savvy and mature. That's important, and it comes with a one year warranty and lifetime tech support.

And, regards the screen -- I travel a lot, so will use quality monitor when at home ... but for the road, this one looks pretty good.

 

[brianftpc]

Just make sure you get the m.2 and that its NVme. If you can afford the 500GB or 512GB i would get it bc in the past SSDs can slow down the more you fill them up. Also the larger drives tend to be faster.

http://m.newegg.com/Product/Details?itemnumber=9SIA12K3U60461

 

[monkey44]

Thanks again guys - I pretty much figured this out now, but just want to be sure I'm not forgetting something, or make a mistake not asking a Q I should ask ... my tech knowledge is too limited ... it only gets me in trouble, not out of it ...

 

[Efka76]

Hi monkey 44, I have Gamers laptop, which I use for post processing (Asus G751JN). My specs are almost the same as yours but I have more powerfuls GPU Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M. I can exactly tell you what is good and what is bad with laptop:

1) Very important fast processor as it has direct impact in Lightroom images rendering and Photoshop image processing. That]s the most important thing!
2) SSD significantly fastens the whole process if you have programs installed and LR catalog stored in SSD. AS of today it is not very efficient to buy SSD for data / photo storage as good and high capacity HDD should be used on that.
3) 16 GB RAM is really sufficient - if you have 32 GB or even 64 GB you will not notice sigificant difference as this RAM will not be used in full.
4) GPU - unfortunately LR and PS only partly use GPU. It can not fully use GPU as games do. For example, GPU is used when you use Liquify and other tools in PS, LR also use in only some processes. So practically you will not notice big difference between very powerful and powerful GPU. THere are more peculiarities regarding GPU usage but that will not be interesting to many readers.
5) Good ventilation - really important as when you use laptop un full capaicity (e.g. processing images in LR) it might overheat and processing speed might be reduced. My laptop heating is very wisely solved.
6) Bad things - this and mine laptop monitors are crap as they are 6 bit only. Even very well calibrated monitors is not able to show colors as 6bit +FRC or 8 bit monitors. If you want to have appropriate retuching, buy good external monitor.

I hope that helped you a little bit.

 

[monkey44]

Yes, helps a lot - make me feel comfortable with this one. I'm not sure I can do any better for the price. My plan is: use this laptop on the road (frequently) and hook into a monitor at home for details when it needs it ... and I'm not sure if any laptop has a good monitor until (maybe) it gets into a price range beyond my wallet.

I'd contemplated desktop instead, but then would have to buy TWO, as I still need one for travel. So, decided it was practical for home use with a better monitor.

Glad to hear someone has direct practical experience with this unit ... will go forward today unless anyone has a recommendation per the laptop screen upgrade or quality with similar price and same "guts" ... thanks Efka76 ... BD

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Yes, helps a lot - make me feel comfortable with this one. I'm not sure I can do any better for the price. My plan is: use this laptop on the road (frequently) and hook into a monitor at home for details when it needs it ... and I'm not sure if any laptop has a good monitor until (maybe) it gets into a price range beyond my wallet.

I'd contemplated desktop instead, but then would have to buy TWO, as I still need one for travel. So, decided it was practical for home use with a better monitor.

Glad to hear someone has direct practical experience with this unit ... will go forward today unless anyone has a recommendation per the laptop screen upgrade or quality with similar price and same "guts" ... thanks Efka76 ... BD

Here is a link to reviews of laptops with large screens, you may have read it. YMMV

http://compreviews.about.com/od/deskreplace/tp/DesktopReplace.htm