# Laptop advice please



## Deleted member 39308 (Jul 31, 2019)

Hi 

My current Windows laptop is both old and very heavy so I am looking to replace it. I need a Windows based laptop for travel only so not looking for a specification to meet everyday performance use, but I would like enough performance to run Lightroom Classic and lightweight work in Photoshop.

I am looking at this HP Envy model: 

Intel® Core™ i7 8565U (1.8 GHz base frequency, up to 4.6 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology, 8 MB cache, 4 cores)
39.6 cm (15.6") diagonal Full-HD IPS BrightView micro-edge WLED-backlit multitouch-enabled edge-to-edge glass (1920 x 1080)
16 GB memory
512 GB PCIe SSD storage
NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250 (4 GB GDDR5)
My old laptop struggled with Lightroom so really need to make sure the specifications would mean a pleasant experience using Lightroom whilst travelling. Anybody able to comment if these specifications are up to the job?

Many thanks


----------



## PhilBurton (Jul 31, 2019)

Ad Astra said:


> Hi
> 
> My current Windows laptop is both old and very heavy so I am looking to replace it. I need a Windows based laptop for travel only so not looking for a specification to meet everyday performance use, but I would like enough performance to run Lightroom Classic and lightweight work in Photoshop.
> 
> ...


Some thoughts:  When I bought my latest laptop, a Lenovo T560 (rugged system for business travel) I paid extra for a touchscreen.  I regret that now, becuase I hardly ever use the touchscreen.  On my phone and tablet, sure, the touchscreen is the primary way to control the device.  But with a laptop you have a keyboard and touchpad and/or mouse, so using the touchscreen breaks up the flow.  Also, I don't hold my laptop in my hand, so I have to "reach over" to use the touchscreen.  

Further, the touchscreen seems to have a "softer" surface, and it's already got several large, annoying scratches.

If/when/ever I replace this laptop, I will not pay extra for the touchscreen option.

Phil


----------



## Replytoken (Aug 1, 2019)

My biggest concern with the machine specs that you have listed is that it is not clear how much of the sRGB color gamut the monitor can reproduce.  If you are concerned about color fidelity, you would ideally want  machine that can reproduce at least 100% of sRGB.  Some displays are even capable of reproducing 100% of Adobe RGB, but there are not a lot of machines out there that can do so.  Otherwise I think that the specs should be adequate unless you are really thrashing LR.

--Ken


----------



## noahliam244 (Aug 1, 2019)

I am a Lenovo user. After 2 year letter, I feel better to use my laptop.


----------



## Deleted member 39308 (Sep 14, 2019)

Still looking at options for a new laptop, my main need is light weight for travel and I have narrowed it down to two options:

option 1 

AMD Ryzen™ 7 3700U Processor
39.6 cm (15.6") diagonal FHD IPS micro-edge WLED-backlit multitouch-enabled edge-to-edge glass (1920 x 1080)
16 GB memory; 512 GB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD Storage
AMD Radeon™ RX Vega 10 Graphics
option 2

Intel® Core™ i7-8565U (1.8 GHz base frequency, up to 4.6 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology, 8 MB cache, 4 cores)
33.8 cm (13.3") diagonal 4K IPS micro-edge WLED-backlit touchscreen with Corning® Gorilla® Glass NBT™ (3840 x 2160)
16 GB memory; 1 TB PCIe® NVMe™ SSD storage
Intel® UHD Graphics 620

option 1 with AMD Ryzen has slower CPU (Intel option is about 11% faster according to reviews) but the AMD integrated graphics is faster and has standard screen resolution. Smaller disk space but enough for travel use. 

I guess it boils down to two questions: performance and screen resolution:

1)  Does anybody have experience of the AMD Ryzen™ 7 3700U Processor on a laptop for Lightroom use? Is it fast enough for basic Lightroom use when traveling? 

2) 4K screen resolution on a small laptop does it make any sense? Adds a lot to the cost, does it make sense for use only for use on  a laptop screen?


----------



## clee01l (Sep 14, 2019)

I am in the process of replacing my travel Laptop (MBP) with an iPadPro running the mobile version of Lightroom. It does not replace the desktop (the laptop never did, not enough “oomph”). I’ve traveled with a 13” rMBP for years and this 13” iPadPro overs me what I need for mobile Lightroom use. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Deleted member 39308 (Sep 14, 2019)

Hi

I did think about an iPadPro but didn't think it could do what I do on a laptop. Basically I do lots of I/O. I need a USB connector to read from an XQD card reader to load raw files onto the lap top, and then make a second copy to an external hard disk drive so I  have three copies including the XQD card copy.
I put the hard drive in the check-in baggage and XQD cards in separate bag to laptop so hopefully at least one set of images will make it home with me.

Whilst traveling I would typically rename the raw files, do some key wording and some draft editing in Lightroom.  I would leave the real editing until I get home on my dersktop PC. So really looking for something light weight with I/O capability and enough performance to drive Lightroom. My current Laptop is neither light weight nor up to running Ligthroom.


----------



## Replytoken (Sep 14, 2019)

Ad Astra said:


> Still looking at options for a new laptop, my main need is light weight for travel and I have narrowed it down to two options:
> 
> option 1
> 
> ...


I do not know the screen quality of the two machines with respect to brightness, color gamut and accuracy, but I would not be interested in a 1080 screen on a 15" laptop.  I would take the smaller screen, higher resolution and larger drive (and Intel processor), but those would be my choices.  Then again, I do not do much that needs a dedicated video card, so Intel's on-board graphics usually suites me fine.

Good luck,

--Ken


----------



## dpirazzi (Sep 15, 2019)

I've been happy with my Dell XPS 15 laptop with dock. It is the 9550 model which I've had for 3.5 years, and performance is good enough that I stopped using a separate desktop. The newer models have better cpu and gpu specs than mine so should handle LR and PS well. I went with the 1080 non-touch display, and run it with two larger, profiled, Adobe RGB displays  when in the doc. I'm sure HP has something similar.


----------



## clee01l (Sep 15, 2019)

Ad Astra said:


> I did think about an iPadPro but didn't think it could do what I do on a laptop. Basically I do lots of I/O. I need a USB connector to read from an XQD card reader to load raw files onto the lap top, and then make a second copy to an external hard disk drive so I have three copies including the XQD card copy.
> I put the hard drive in the check-in baggage and XQD cards in separate bag to laptop so hopefully at least one set of images will make it home with me.


I am doing all of the above.   I have a 512GB iPadPro (the same storage that I have with my MBP).   I bought a USB-C iDisk that has 1TB of storage as well as 1000mAh as a battery to backup and charge the iPadPro, iPhone and anything else that might need a battery top off.   For my Camera I use a USB-C XQD card reader that allows me to import the images from my camera.  At the moment I have to import them to the iOS Photos app and from there to the Lightroom app.  I understand that after iPadOS13 is released, I will be able to import directly from the card to the Lightroom app.   My first flight with this setup is on Saturday and like you, the iDisk will be packed in checked baggage and the camera/cards and iPadPro will go into carryon.    I have been simulating the trip workflow since I got the iPad Pro a few weeks ago.  I have not encountered any negative effects.  In fact I think starting my workflow on the iPadPro instead of in Lightroom Classic may even enhance my workflow.

I used my Laptop for Web browsing, Email, news spread sheets and word processing and Lightroom.   Though not recently, I have used the laptop to give lectures with Keynote/Powerpoint.  I can manage all of these tasks formerly done on the laptop with the iPadPro.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N2NQYZ2https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LGM3BBQ


----------



## Mike_HNL (Sep 16, 2019)

Ad Astra said:


> Hi
> 
> My current Windows laptop is both old and very heavy so I am looking to replace it. I need a Windows based laptop for travel only so not looking for a specification to meet everyday performance use, but I would like enough performance to run Lightroom Classic and lightweight work in Photoshop.
> 
> ...


I really don't know much about the HP Envy series, but it looks interesting. I've used a Dell XPS 13 with touchscreen for the past several years and I've been very satisfied with its performance, It's very fast and I have no problem running LR, even using an SSD external hard drive as my main working drive. It also comes in a 15" version. It is very light and has a small form factor, making it enjoyable to travel with. I find myself using the touchscreen (with a pen) most often when working in LR, especially when doing detailed work.


----------



## Deleted member 39308 (Sep 18, 2019)

clee01l said:


> I am doing all of the above.   I have a 512GB iPadPro (the same storage that I have with my MBP).



Interesting, and an iPadPro is definitely a lighweight solution. Now I will have to ask a Basic question. Do I have to run Lighroom CC on IOS on the iPad? i.e. no way to run Lightroom Classic? I thought Lightroom CC was cloud based, I would not have any WiFi access where I am travelling to. Can you use Lightroom CC on local files on the iPad?

Can I also save XMP side car files along side the raw files in Lightroom CC?

Never looked at Lightroom CC hence my lack of knowledge and bias towards Lightroom Classic.


----------



## clee01l (Sep 19, 2019)

Ad Astra said:


> Interesting, and an iPadPro is definitely a lighweight solution. Now I will have to ask a Basic question. Do I have to run Lighroom CC on IOS on the iPad? i.e. no way to run Lightroom Classic? I thought Lightroom CC was cloud based, I would not have any WiFi access where I am travelling to. Can you use Lightroom CC on local files on the iPad?
> 
> Can I also save XMP side car files along side the raw files in Lightroom CC?
> 
> Never looked at Lightroom CC hence my lack of knowledge and bias towards Lightroom Classic.


Lightroom (Formerly Lightroom CC) is the mobile app that runs on mobile platforms like iOS, iPadOS and Android.   While it is cloud based and you will (eventually) need an internment connection to get the work done  in the iPad Pro to a Lightroom Classic catalog file that only runs on the PC/Mac platforms.   Because the internet may not be available or too slow,  I also have a 1TB iDisk described earlier to make a backup copy  of the data collected on the iPadPro.

I’m not sure the  mechanism that the cloudy version of LR  is XMP or something unique to Adobe  Cloud.  But  Adobe sends both the original  image file to the cloud along with a file(?) of the adjustments .   When you. Lightroom Classic syncs to the cloud, your original image file and any LR adjustments made  on the mobile device  are stored locally on the PD/Mac.   The XMP data is added to the catalog file as the Lightroom Catalog file is the universal local container for  everything associated with Lightroom.

A bit of explanation of the pieces of Lightroom  and how they integrate to the cloud. 
The Lightroom app has versions for mobile devices  and  for PCs/Macs.  These work with a universal cloud storage container to  manage and provide your Lightroom images everywhere there is an internet connection .  Your Lightroom images are available from any device that can run the Lightroom (mobile) app or via a web browser.  
Lightroom Classic is the PC/Mac app the requires a local storage container for both the images and the catalog contents.    It can be set up to sync to  with Lightroom in the cloud.  It works by sync’ing  collections to albums in the cloud.  With images that are sourced locally,   Lightroom sends a smart preview (smaller fully functional  DNG) to the cloud for use by mobile devices.   Images that are sourced from a mobile device, Lightroom  stored the full sized original file in cloud storage and this original image file gets sunc’d back to Lightroom Classic. 

The Lightroom app that is PC/Mac based can also on option store images locally along with a copy sent to the cloud.    Because of this redundancy, I would recommend not running Lightroom (cloudy) alongside any Lightroom Classic.  
There are two subscription plans that include Lightroom Classic.  The  20GB plan is probably not sufficient to  base all of your originals in the cloud and if you import a lot of originals  via mobile,  you might need to maintain  close watch on you’re 20GB limit  using it to only funnel originals to  Classic.


----------



## Deleted member 39308 (Sep 22, 2019)

Many thanks Cletus, that is a useful description. If I have understood correctly the IOS Lightroom version has to sync the raw file and the edits to the cloud which I then sync down to my desktop Lightroom Classic.  I assume Adobe went this way because of the limitations of file transfer on the mobile apps. I usually get close to filling my two 120GB XQD cards when I go on tours so the default cloud capacity of 20GB is a limitation. 

I have just completed booking my flights and the internal flights have very small weight allowances so I definitely need to keep both check-in and cabin baggage weight as low as possible.


----------



## clee01l (Sep 22, 2019)

Ad Astra said:


> Many thanks Cletus, that is a useful description. If I have understood correctly the IOS Lightroom version has to sync the raw file and the edits to the cloud which I then sync down to my desktop Lightroom Classic. I assume Adobe went this way because of the limitations of file transfer on the mobile apps. I usually get close to filling my two 120GB XQD cards when I go on tours so the default cloud capacity of 20GB is a limitation.


. I usually keep my XQD card content when traveling and not erase until I need the space or I’m home and everything is safe. I have the 1TB plan so I am not concerned about the 20GB limits but with some internets connections, I might not sync to the cloud until I return (this is why I redundantly backup up on the trip (iPad storage, XQD original s and iDisk Backup.). 
Adobe syncs the RAW image file, the small XMP adjustment file (probably an XMP) and all end up in the CLassic catalog eventually. 




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------

