# Bought Dell XPS 15 Laptop Dedicated for Lightroom Classic - Suggestions?



## George Burrows (Dec 13, 2017)

Operating System:
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info): Windows 10 Dell XPS 15, Latest CC version

Greetings,

Lightroom and any Adobe product will be the only programs on my new Dell XPS 15. I am looking too gain insight from users as to having LR on a dedicated machine.

I have not been active here for several years. Since then I made some changes. I stopped working in two worlds. Windows is my forte. I am comfortable with LR Classic and store my photos on a 9T NAS. I have a custom made desktop. I am ashamed to state that it is a mess with too many broken addresses to photos.

I do not know enough about the CC/cloud, other than it looks like an app as opposed to a program.
 Also I understand I cannot edit with NIK or other programs.

Thank You in Advance,

George


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## Linwood Ferguson (Dec 14, 2017)

I'm not quite sure what aspect you want comments on.  I have an XPS 15 and like it, it's a fine laptop, the display (if you get the high res one) is excellent.  I'm not a fan of the lack of an RJ45 on it, but otherwise nice, fast (I bought the high end drives and CPU and memory). 

I do not like editing on a laptop myself; some people do.  I prefer a couple of huge monitors and a big desktop for editing.  But I've got LR on the XPS and it runs fine, reasonably fast.  The touch screen (if you got it) is not fine enough to provide adequate control so I still use the touchpad or a mouse, though you can get it into the touch screen mode which provides really large controls on screen -- almost too large, but makes it possible to easily use the touch screen.

The CC vs. Classic issue is a huge topic, but you say dedicated to classic, and if you like it I suggest staying there unless you have a need for the CC version and the cloud.

Is there something more specific you are asking?


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## MarkNicholas (Dec 14, 2017)

That was my first reaction... what is the question ?

If I were you I would take some time to sort out your access to photos and to generally try get them all into one place in as much an organised fashion as time and patience will allow.


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## George Burrows (Dec 14, 2017)

Ferguson said:


> I'm not quite sure what aspect you want comments on.  I have an XPS 15 and like it, it's a fine laptop, the display (if you get the high res one) is excellent.  I'm not a fan of the lack of an RJ45 on it, but otherwise nice, fast (I bought the high end drives and CPU and memory).
> 
> I do not like editing on a laptop myself; some people do.  I prefer a couple of huge monitors and a big desktop for editing.  But I've got LR on the XPS and it runs fine, reasonably fast.  The touch screen (if you got it) is not fine enough to provide adequate control so I still use the touchpad or a mouse, though you can get it into the touch screen mode which provides really large controls on screen -- almost too large, but makes it possible to easily use the touch screen.
> 
> ...



I apologize. I was not sure how to ask as I actually have two questions and a hint of a catalog mess. ( I need to edit photos on the road. I do not need to do all of them. All my photo editing is on PC)
1st: Are there benefits to making a PC Adobe specific?
2nd: CC or Classic. I have decided to stay with the classic. This brings up sharing with Dell XPS (Hi-Res touch screen, high-end drives, CPU, and memory) and desktop (2 large monitors).

Amendment: I unboxed XPS last night. It is amazing. The resolution is remarkable.  The Macbook 13" will move to my drum kit.
3rd question: When I use my laptop how do I edit photos then transfer to my PC without importing RAW files?


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## Linwood Ferguson (Dec 14, 2017)

1) No, not really.  While there are exceptions, generally speaking having other software on a system but not having it running has minimal impact on performance or reliability.  The common exceptions include things running all the time (database servers, web servers), or if you are extremely tight on disk space, neither of which should apply to a new computer. 

2) Classic (again, see exception at the end) offers a more traditional and deeper set of capabilities.  CC is a version 1 (or now 1.1) product, and there's a lot that is not there yet, enough though given it is a V1 product it's fairly complete.  Worst case for someone who has a somewhat confused mess of image locations is to use both, by the way.

3) The synchronization between two PC's in Classic is no better than it was in LR 6/2015 -- it's just not there, and the various workaround to make it work properly are confusing and error prone.  There are a ton of topics here and elsewhere that give some ways to make it happen, but none of them are what you might call robust, and all have a myriad of ways where the human operator can screw them up easily without realizing it.  Lightroom CC (the new thing) is aimed at fixing that, though the cure may or may not be worth it -- it requires a migration to completely cloud storage (which requires fast internet), and you give up some editing features as well as some metadata, and a lot of 3rd party integration. But it is a 100% fix for synchronizing two devices, it just does it.  Some caveats: 

a) It fixes synchronization once you clean up your mess and have one, single, fully merged, nothing-missing catalog.  Do NOT even consider migrating while you have a mess with some items disconnected. 

b) Take serious the "fast internet aspects".  It's seriously an internet hog.

And finally (c) one way to address your synchronization issue is not think of keeping the two in sync, but rather of using one as a pipeline to the other.  There are still some quirks to work out, but if you think of it as a one-way path, the techniques are less error prone.  E.g. you shoot and while in the field or travelling you ingest and edit on the laptop, and then once you get home you move those images to your desktop (with the edits and metadata) and then delete them from the laptop -- do not try to keep them in sync, just a one time move.  That's a much less problematic path in classic, though clearly not as useful a path as complete sync.

(c') Your comment about "edit photos then tranfer to my PC without importing raw files" is confusing -- if you transfer to your PC you need to transfer the raw files AND the edits AND the metadata.  There are two basic approaches to this - transfer as a catalog you import and merge as a catalog, or write metadata to sidecar files and move the files and sidecars and import on the desktop.  The latter is simpler for a few files, the former is more complete but logistically a bit more difficult to move the exported catalog and get the drive paths right. 

Final caveat: there are all sorts of scenarios where people will say you can use Classic with CC, and sync in various ways - none are simple, and Adobe themselves does not recommend using them together.  You technically can, but especially if your consider yourself a beginner I would not recommend it (I'm not nearly a beginner and I do not recommend it to myself).  Think of them as two different products, with a migration path from Classic -> CC, but it's a migration path, not a sync, in practical terms.

Final suggestion: Clean up your desktop first.


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## George Burrows (Dec 14, 2017)

Fer


Ferguson said:


> E.g. you shoot and while in the field or travelling you ingest and edit on the laptop, and then once you get home you move those images to your desktop (with the edits and metadata) and then delete them from the laptop -- do not try to keep them in sync, just a one time move.  That's a much less problematic path in classic, though clearly not as useful a path as complete sync.
> 
> -- if you transfer to your PC you need to transfer the raw files AND the edits AND the metadata.
> 
> ...



I need to:
1) research: moving images to desktop (with the edits and metadata) and then delete them from the laptop
   a)transfer as a catalog you import and merge as a catalog, or write metadata to sidecar files and move the files and sidecars and import on the desktop.  The latter is simpler for a few files, the former is more complete but logistically a bit more difficult to        move the exported catalog and get the drive paths right.
2) Research: Cataloging, paths, and proper import to correct location. 
    b)Clean up desktop

Thank you sir.

George


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## Linwood Ferguson (Dec 14, 2017)

Start with cleaning up the desktop.   

Let me give you a slight head start on the migration.  

*Using XMP*

When you edit in Lightroom (a raw file) the edits are stored in the catalog, but you can also write them separately to a "sidecar" file.  For Nikon this means you have a FILENAME.NEF as the raw file, and beside it as FILENAME.XMP.   by default this does not occur, but you can do it with the menu options METADATA, SAVE METADATA TO FILES with all the files selected first.  You can also set a preference so it is done automatically: Edit, Catalog Settings, Metadata, Automatically write changes to XMP, which you could set on the laptop to always have them ready.

Stored in the XMP are all the develop settings, and most metadata.  Absent are cross-image items like presence in collections, stacking, etc.  

If you take just those two files and make them available on your desktop, then do an import, PROVIDED you do not also overwrite the settings with any develop presets applied during import, then they come in with all the develop settings and metadata present already.  You can make them available most easily, if you are a bit windows literate, by sharing your laptop drive to the desktop, and importing directly from where they were saved on the laptop (do an import/copy not import/add or import/move).  In this way there's really no preparation, you can do it as soon as you get home and plug in (just leave the share present).   Once safely confirmed to be on the desktop, you can delete from the laptop using Lightroom (delete from disk option). 

In doing this you need to be aware of things that might be done twice, e.g. I mentioned develop presets applied on the laptop should not be applied during import, but also file renaming, metadata presets, etc. should generally not be done again as they overwrite what was on the laptop.

*Using Catalog*

I rarely do this so am not going to give you a play by play, but fundamentally you need to get some or all of your laptop catalog visible from your desktop, including the images, AND have the image paths be correct.  You can copy the catalog and images over, you can export a portion of the catalog to a new catalog and copy that (and images).  The trick is that on the desktop the new catalog has to be functional, meaning that the path that lead to the images on the laptop (e.g. c:\myphotos\20171201\image.mef) has to end up being the same on the desktop, and/or you have to fix it.  Once the new catalog is functional (you can actually open it and check), then you open your desktop catalog and import the transfer one.  Getting the paths right is the most difficult part for most people who do not live and breath computers.

The catalog import is a bit more complete, and also does a merge, so if you try bringing in the same image more than once it will flag that (the XMP process will also to a lesser degree).  It also doesn't try applying presets of any type, so you do not need to worry about that.

Personally I've done both, but do the vast majority of my moves with XMP data as it is simple and fast.  Others I know vastly prefer catalog merges.  Both are reasonably well documented and fully supported by Adobe (as opposed to trying to sync catalogs; not meaning to imply adobe will support you with help, just that they won't claim it broke Lightroom). 

*Caveats to both*

Both assume you have identical setups in some areas that are not automatic.  Your preferences should generally be similar, especially ones that affect file handling (e.g. treat jpg with raw as separate), metadata characters and other how-to-apply-metadata settings.  You also need to have identical camera and lens profiles on both if you have created any yourself (lightroom will keep its own the same if you run the same lightroom version on both, it is your own that you need to worry about).  You also need to take care with third party plugins that might be auto-action-related, e.g. publishing (you don't want to sync to the same web site from both, generally, at least not without knowing exactly what you are doing).  Perhaps the biggest issue is to find a path (pun intended) for transfer of data that YOU completely and totally understand, and do it the same way each time, so that you do not have files go missing in movement, or double up and discover them months later wondering "how did this get there".   So that means once fully migrated in one direction and backed up there, delete the old, entirely.

And remember this works best as a one way migration.  You can migrate an image back, but the issues come in then when you try to take it back the other way, especially if both have been edited separately.


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## George Burrows (Dec 14, 2017)

Thank you Leonard. Your information will certainly give me direction. The key is for me to read it thoroughly. This is the area I never grasped, thus ending up dismantled since 2006.  I know my way around computers fairly well, it is the METADATA that is foreign.  As I did not understand, I moved on to editing and stayed there. I find lost files is do a NEF search. I have files of duplicate photos.
 You have given me a project. I will post my progress as well as questions. Thanks for your time and knowledge,
George


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