I'm finally setting up my home office and want to get a Laptop
to do some work in Lightroom 2 and download pics. I wanted to know
which Laptop will do the best job for this application. I like the dell's
and the Apple but there are more $$$.
Which one would you recommend? Would like to get some input.

Thanks,

Alfredo.

Any laptop with a 64 bit OS, a reasonably fast dual core processor and 4 or more GBs of memory will be fine. In other words, most laptops/notebooks on the market now.

If you want a high resolution screen, larger hard drives or two hard drives, quad core processor, then you're looking at more money.

The first type I've mentioned will be fine for getting images off your memory card, culling and sorting, but I wouldn't recommend it as your only photo editing machine.

If you plan to do all your photo editing on a laptop, then get the best, i.e. most powerful one you can afford and buy a separate, good quality, monitor.

You will get a lot more power for much less money in a desktop machine.

I got a 15" lenovo w500. I think for lightroom your laptop should have at least 256MB of discrete graphics memory...i looked at getting a quad core laptop (the 17" from dell) but couldn't see much value to justify the cost as dual core was just fine based on what i read. With 4GB of ram, a Intel T9600 (2.8GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2), and ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 (512MB) driving a 24" monitor my laptop is very fast even with the large 1DsIII raw files.

I use a 2 year old 15" MBP with 4GB ram (it's maximum). I run LR2 and CS4. It's my main and only photo editing computer for a few reasons - I'm not able to run a desktop computer if I wanted to. A laptop will do great if you need the portability but if you don't then getting a tower or a desktop will be better. I love my laptop but it's a hassle. I bring it to my office, I plug in my external photo drive, I plug in my back-up (apple time machine drive), I plug in the LAN line (because it's faster then our wireless), and I plug in the printer if I'm doing printing. If I'm going to be a ton of editing I then also plug in a mouse. I unplug all of this at the end of the work day. Bottom line - the laptops these days are amazing but only if you need to.

bigalbacore wrote:
I'm finally setting up my home office and want to get a Laptop
to do some work in Lightroom 2 and download pics. I wanted to know
which Laptop will do the best job for this application. I like the dell's
and the Apple but there are more $$$.
Which one would you recommend? Would like to get some input.
Thanks,
Alfredo.

More $$$
Description Part number Unit price* Quantity Price*
ThinkPad W700ds - 1 Yr Depot Warranty
Edit 2757CTO $5,264.00 1 $5,264.00
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Core Extreme Processor QX9300 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 12MBL2) 1
Operating system: Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate 64 1
Operating system language: Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate US English 1
Display type: 17" WUXGA 400NIT TFT+10.6"WXGA+ TFT 1
System Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M 128-core CUDA parallel computing processor 1GB (dedicated) 1
Total memory: 8 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM) 1
Keyboard: Keyboard US English 1
Pointing Device: Ultranav + Fingerprint Reader + Pantone Color Sensor + WACOM Digitizer 1
Camera: Integrated Camera 1
Primary Hard Drive: Non-RAID HDD, 250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm with Disk Encryption 1
Second Hard Drive: Non-RAID HDD, 250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm with Disk Encryption 1
Optical device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Ultrabay Enhanced (Serial ATA) 1
System expansion slots : Compact Flash + Express Card(34mm) 1
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth PAN 1
Wireless Card: Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology 1
Battery: 9 cell Li-Ion Battery 1
Power cord: Country Pack North America 1
Language pack: Language Pack US English 1
Derived COPT: ODD SW Royalty: ODD SW for DVD Recordable and Vista 1
Accessories and options:
4 Year Depot Upgrade with 4 Year ThinkPad Protection 41C9336 $379.00 1 $379.00
ThinkPad 170W AC Adapter 41R4421 $119.00 1 $119.00
ThinkPad Digitizer Pen 41U3143 $49.95 1 $49.95
ThinkPad W700 Mini Dock 43R8782 $225.99 1 $225.99
ThinkPad Bluetooth Laser Mouse 41U5008 $40.46 1 $40.46
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elite ThinkPad W700ds with discrete graphics
From: $6,879.90 *
Sale price: $6,078.40 *
Total savings: $801.50 *
After rebate: *