# Recommendations for a Win Laptop



## BobT (Feb 12, 2022)

I'm looking for a Windows laptop that is LrC capable with a suitable monitor for travel purposes to complement the PC at home which will remain the primary starage and PP unit.


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## Replytoken (Feb 12, 2022)

After sorting by screen quality, resolution and color gamut, I would initially recommend setting a budget, and determining what size/weight, RAM and storage you want.  I find the reviews here to be quite helpful:  https://www.notebookcheck.net/ , especially with respect to screen quality.

Good luck,

--Ken


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## BobT (Feb 12, 2022)

Replytoken said:


> After sorting by screen quality, resolution and color gamut, I would initially recommend setting a budget, and determining what size/weight, RAM and storage you want.  I find the reviews here to be quite helpful:  https://www.notebookcheck.net/ , especially with respect to screen quality.
> 
> Good luck,
> 
> --Ken


Thanks Ken, I'll certainly check that out.  I was hoping there might be a couple of LrC user's favourites but perhaps it's not that simple.


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## Gnits (Feb 12, 2022)

I had a seriously bad experience trying to get a laptop for Lightroom/Travel.  It was a fully specified machine with an AdobeRGB capable screen, a dedicated GPU, fastest processor I could purchase, 1TB disk and max memory.   I noticed very early on that performance was seriously below par. It took me a while to discover that the Thunderbolt port was not working at anything like the specified speed, but I also noticed that programs like Word and Outlook were suffering incredible lag. I spent months escalating my issues with higher and higher levels of management. Eventually I got a report stating that the device was working as designed and there was nothing I could do to improve the situation.  I could prove that the GPU was not working. I eventually got a statement that the GPU only works for high performance apps and that the laptop did not recognise Lightroom or InDesign as such.  I got my money back.  This took six months of pain.

The reason I am making this point is that purchasing a high specified laptop is a challenging exercise.  My best advice is to find someone who has a laptop working to the spec you want that they are satisfied with (ie a recommendation from good experience).  You may get plenty of feedback here, I hope you do.

My background has always been Windows and the deployment of large scale Windows based enterprise solutions. I am not cultured in the fine art of the Mac world. But if I was buying a laptop now I would opt for one of Apple's MacBook Pro.  The main reason is that they have solved the main architectural challenge of sharing  cpu memory and graphics card memory (rather than having two pools of memory and wasting performance by shuffling data between these processing nodes when required).  I will dig up and private mail you the make and model of the laptop which was a disaster for me. 

I do not want to get into brand bashing, but I would not like anyone to repeat the nightmare I experienced.


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## clee01l (Feb 12, 2022)

I'd opt for a Windows Surface for travel is I was only limited to the Windows OS.   I would also probably run Lightroom (cloudy) on it instead of Lightroom Classic.  Syncing to a master Classic catalog via the Adobe Cloud is much simpler and convenient than Importing from another catalog.


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## Replytoken (Feb 12, 2022)

Gnits said:


> I had a seriously bad experience trying to get a laptop for Lightroom/Travel.  It was a fully specified machine with an AdobeRGB capable screen, a dedicated GPU, fastest processor I could purchase, 1TB disk and max memory.   I noticed very early on that performance was seriously below par. It took me a while to discover that the Thunderbolt port was not working at anything like the specified speed, but I also noticed that programs like Word and Outlook were suffering incredible lag. I spent months escalating my issues with higher and higher levels of management. Eventually I got a report stating that the device was working as designed and there was nothing I could do to improve the situation.  I could prove that the GPU was not working. I eventually got a statement that the GPU only works for high performance apps and that the laptop did not recognise Lightroom or InDesign as such.  I got my money back.  This took six months of pain.
> 
> The reason I am making this point is that purchasing a high specified laptop is a challenging exercise.  My best advice is to find someone who has a laptop working to the spec you want that they are satisfied with (ie a recommendation from good experience).  You may get plenty of feedback here, I hope you do.
> 
> ...


I am assuming that since you did not mention the manufacturer that you would not be comfortable do so?  That would be a company I would want to steer clear of unless things have drastically changed.

--Ken


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## Gnits (Feb 12, 2022)

A fully specified Dell laptop. Leading edge at the time I ordered.


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## BobT (Feb 12, 2022)

Gnits said:


> A fully specified Dell laptop. Leading edge at the time I ordered.
> 
> View attachment 18119


Thanks for the heads up.  I was seriously considering that company.  Having built a PC in the past, it's hard to imagine what they could have done to have throttled the machine back so much unless they fibbed in the specs.


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## BobT (Feb 12, 2022)

clee01l said:


> I'd opt for a Windows Surface for travel is I was only limited to the Windows OS.   I would also probably run Lightroom (cloudy) on it instead of Lightroom Classic.  Syncing to a master Classic catalog via the Adobe Cloud is much simpler and convenient than Importing from another catalog.


Thanks!  That sounds like a safe option.  My only reservation is that I once had a Surface 3.  It performed very well and was a delight to use but it deteriorated physically and ultimately the touch screen failed.  It might be worth another try.


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## clee01l (Feb 13, 2022)

BobT said:


> Thanks! That sounds like a safe option. My only reservation is that I once had a Surface 3. It performed very well and was a delight to use but it deteriorated physically and ultimately the touch screen failed. It might be worth another try.



I haven’t any experience since the original Surface Pro. The current model it Surface Pro 8. I’d recommend getting the 16GB RAM model with 1TB SSD.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Gnits (Feb 13, 2022)

I bought a Surface Pro for astro photography in the field. Needed a Windows device to align an astro mount.Battery died just after warranty. Only used it 3 or 4 times. Never got any astro shots with the device. So sad. Now, looks good as new in its box, but only  a paperweight. My next portable purchase will be an Ipad 11 inch Pro. (12 inch too heavy for me). My ancient ipad Mini 4 is still as good as new and using the latest O/S.

For certain tasks the modern tablets are superb, but for other tasks I want the full blown functionality of a full laptop or desktop. This mainly because of the apps I want to use.  For more than a 2 or 3 day trip I will be happy to bring my laptop and a tablet. 

Re Dell laptop purchased. I felt that it was specified to look good on a web site, but the internal advanced features were there but did not work together.( eg Thunderbolt port, gpu card, speed of internal nvme ssd). As I write this, it appears that the motherboard used was not fit for purpose. I dealt with multiple layers of support and knew by the level of interaction that I knew more about the product than the tech support.


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## BobT (Feb 13, 2022)

clee01l said:


> I'd opt for a Windows Surface for travel is I was only limited to the Windows OS.   I would also probably run Lightroom (cloudy) on it instead of Lightroom Classic.  Syncing to a master Classic catalog via the Adobe Cloud is much simpler and convenient than Importing from another catalog.


So, do I have this right, you have Cloudy on the laptop which stores to the cloud, then with LrC on you desktop synced to the cloud, you pull down images to your desktop hard drive and master catalogue?  Do the edits made in Cloudy come down as if they were made in LrC?


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## clee01l (Feb 13, 2022)

BobT said:


> So, do I have this right, you have Cloudy on the laptop which stores to the cloud, then with LrC on you desktop synced to the cloud, you pull down images to your desktop hard drive and master catalogue?  Do the edits made in Cloudy come down as if they were made in LrC?


Yes, You have that workflow correct.    Lightroom (mobile) to Adobe Cloud.  Adobe Cloud to Lightroom Classic.    The only thing that needs to be managed is the Adobe Cloud Storage as determined by your plan.  Lightroom (mobile) uploads full size images which count against your 20GB Photography plan limits.   It does not take much to fill a 20GB plan.  For this reason, I have 1 TB of Adobe Cloud.


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## Replytoken (Feb 13, 2022)

Gnits said:


> A fully specified Dell laptop. Leading edge at the time I ordered.
> 
> View attachment 18119


Thanks.  I am not normally one for naming names, but your story was too compelling.  Most of my recent laptop experiences have been with Lenovo and with HP.  I miss the days of IBM ThinkPads, but my recent Yoga has been acceptable enough for light duty use.  My HP is a work machine, and is also fine for light duty use.  I am a bit surprised by Dell, as the XPS is one of their flagship lines for laptops.

This is another reason why I like Notebookcheck.  They report on things like throttling,  when it occurs and how much of an impact it has on the CPU.

--Ken


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## PhilBurton (Feb 14, 2022)

Replytoken said:


> Thanks.  I am not normally one for naming names, but your story was too compelling.  Most of my recent laptop experiences have been with Lenovo and with HP.  I miss the days of IBM ThinkPads, but my recent Yoga has been acceptable enough for light duty use.  My HP is a work machine, and is also fine for light duty use.  I am a bit surprised by Dell, as the XPS is one of their flagship lines for laptops.
> 
> This is another reason why I like Notebookcheck.  They report on things like throttling,  when it occurs and how much of an impact it has on the CPU.
> 
> --Ken


I started out with IBM ThinkPads, and then bought ThinkPads from Lenovo.  No real issues, except that my 2017 Lenovo T560 no longer has the UltraBay, for a second hard drive or another battery.  But the entire laptop industry has moved away from those features.  I was planning to get a replacement machine this year, but I'm frustrated that main memory is now soldered in and for many models, so is the SSD.  I used to get stripped down models and upgrade memory and replace the low-end HDD with an SSD with third-party parts.  Lenovo charges so much for those upgrades. 

Now it looks like I have no choices except to pay The Man.


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## Replytoken (Feb 14, 2022)

PhilBurton said:


> I started out with IBM ThinkPads, and then bought ThinkPads from Lenovo.  No real issues, except that my 2017 Lenovo T560 no longer has the UltraBay, for a second hard drive or another battery.  But the entire laptop industry has moved away from those features.  I was planning to get a replacement machine this year, but I'm frustrated that main memory is now soldered in and for many models, so is the SSD.  I used to get stripped down models and upgrade memory and replace the low-end HDD with an SSD with third-party parts.  Lenovo charges so much for those upgrades.
> 
> Now it looks like I have no choices except to pay The Man.


Its  not just Lenovo.  All of the major companies are moving in that direction.  Like you, I often upgraded RAM and storage on my older machines.  There are a number of models that still allow you to do so, but not as many as there used to be.

--Ken


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## PhilBurton (Feb 15, 2022)

Replytoken said:


> Its  not just Lenovo.  All of the major companies are moving in that direction.  Like you, I often upgraded RAM and storage on my older machines.  There are a number of models that still allow you to do so, but not as many as there used to be.
> 
> --Ken


Ken, I'm sure it's all the major companies, led by Apple.  Do you know of specific laptop models that still allow component upgrades?


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## Replytoken (Feb 15, 2022)

PhilBurton said:


> Ken, I'm sure it's all the major companies, led by Apple.  Do you know of specific laptop models that still allow component upgrades?


The last I could remember, and that was about three years ago, some of the Thinkpad T series models still allowed RAM upgrades.   have n ot shopped for a machine in about that time and do not know what has transpired since.  You would need to dig a bit into some reviews to see if they are still offered.

Good luck,

--Ken


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## Steven_LR (Feb 15, 2022)

Windows Surface Pro 8 for Business (Microsoft Store) has a user changeable SSD


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## clee01l (Feb 15, 2022)

PhilBurton said:


> Ken, I'm sure it's all the major companies, led by Apple. Do you know of specific laptop models that still allow component upgrades?



It only is the sensible thing to do if you are the manufacturer of a critical set components. The biggest problem that I have seen with the Windows OS is the almost infinite number of permutations and combinations of hardware that can run the OS. I think it is impossible to test every permutation and combination. As such many of the issues that come to this forum might be solved with a standard set of hardware. Apple controls this by controlling the hardware in every Apple Device. Other manufacturers are doing the same.

With laptops and tablets getting smaller and thinner, many components are not designed to be removable as they are soldered to the MB. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## BobT (Feb 18, 2022)

From the wise comments above and elsewhere, I've taken the attitude that laptops are not the right tool for serious use of LrC.  I'll use what I have and run Cloudy on it as as suggested by Cletus.  With the money saved I've ordered the bits to build a new PC to replace the 12 year old clunker.


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## PhilBurton (Feb 18, 2022)

BobT said:


> From the wise comments above and elsewhere, I've taken the attitude that laptops are not the right tool for serious use of LrC.  I'll use what I have and run Cloudy on it as as suggested by Cletus.  With the money saved I've ordered the bits to build a new PC to replace the 12 year old clunker.


Bob,

Did you order a new graphics card?  Which one?  A nice new (NMVe) SSD will also do wonders for system performance.


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## BobT (Feb 18, 2022)

PhilBurton said:


> Bob,
> 
> Did you order a new graphics card?  Which one?  A nice new (NMVe) SSD will also do wonders for system performance.


Haven't ordered the graphics card yet but a 1TB NMVe SSD.  Don't want to say too much about it till it's running, if it runs


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## Gnits (Feb 18, 2022)

BobT said:


> From the wise comments above and elsewhere, I've taken the attitude that laptops are not the right tool for serious use of LrC.  I'll use what I have and run Cloudy on it as as suggested by Cletus.  With the money saved I've ordered the bits to build a new PC to replace the 12 year old clunker.


I came to the same conclusion. At the time the gpu prices were crazy and no stock, bought an entry level. Not sure when (if ever) is the right time to upgrade my gpu.  I subsequently bought a laptop for travel, but with no expectations it would be a work horse, but would be a travel convenience to allow me review and backup my images in the field.


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## PhilBurton (Feb 18, 2022)

Gnits said:


> I came to the same conclusion. At the time the gpu prices were crazy and no stock, bought an entry level. Not sure when (if ever) is the right time to upgrade my gpu.  I subsequently bought a laptop for travel, but with no expectations it would be a work horse, but would be a travel convenience to allow me review and backup my images in the field.


+1 to what @Gnits just wrote.

I have been doing some preliminary research for my next laptop, to replace a 2016 Lenovo T series (for business users).  These days, your choices seem to be affordable, light and compact (but not upgradable and pretty limited in general) or else powerful, but big and heavy and bulky and very expensive.   I like the light and compact models, but a model with 16 GB and at least 1 TB of storage won't be cheap.

Because of the limited internal storage in my current laptop, I have been travelling with a 4 TB external drive for image files.  Clunky at best.  Impossible to use on a plane because the fold-down tray (in peasant class) is just not wide enough.

To be clear, I'm speaking only about Windows systems.  I have no knowledge about the new Apple M1 systems.


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## BobT (Feb 12, 2022)

I'm looking for a Windows laptop that is LrC capable with a suitable monitor for travel purposes to complement the PC at home which will remain the primary starage and PP unit.


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## BobT (Feb 19, 2022)

clee01l said:


> Yes, You have that workflow correct.    Lightroom (mobile) to Adobe Cloud.  Adobe Cloud to Lightroom Classic.    The only thing that needs to be managed is the Adobe Cloud Storage as determined by your plan.  Lightroom (mobile) uploads full size images which count against your 20GB Photography plan limits.   It does not take much to fill a 20GB plan.  For this reason, I have 1 TB of Adobe Cloud.


Getting off topic, but I just watched this tutorial about about file transfer between Lr and LrC.  It's brilliant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xniwcrv53c


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## BobT (Feb 22, 2022)

PhilBurton said:


> Bob,
> 
> Did you order a new graphics card?  Which one?  A nice new (NMVe) SSD will also do wonders for system performance.


Phil,
While waiting for parts to arrive, I experimented a bit on my laptop.  It has an Intel i5 8th gen CPU with 8GB of ram and UHD integrated graphics.  I loaded LrC and ran Super Resolution on a 16MP file.  It did it in 1min 15sec.  The CPU was on 20%, the integrated GPU 100% and memory on 95%.  So, not too bad really.  The PC I'm building will have an i7 12th gen CPU also with UHD integrated graphics and 32GB of memory so I don't think I need a separate GPU just yet.  That's just as well because they are terribly expensive right now.  Of course things might change later if LrC introduces more powerful AI graphics intensive features.  At this stage, I'm not interested in buying other graphics intensive apps like Topaz and DxO, I'm paying enough for Lr.


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