Looking to buy a Laptop

[Christopher Miller]

I've been thinking of buying a laptop on which to process my photos and was wondering what you guys could recommend. I would like a PC with a decent screen for viewing and processing photos, plenty of disk space, and preferably in the $400-$500 range. Any advice would be most appreciated.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Think we need more spec. i.e., size of monitor, RAM etc, amount of hard drive etc. Christopher. Not sure if you'll get too much in that price range.

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks Jackie. I think I would probably want a screen of about 15", a 250-300 GB hard drive at minimum, and probably at least 3 GB RAM. Any suggestions?

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Dell Inspiron 15 inch laptop. 499 +. Falls into your specs and price point.

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks Jackie. I'll look into that.

[c.w. moynihan]

The Lenovo W500 is probably the best laptop available for photo editing available, mainly due to the quality of the lcd and the fact that it's not a glossy panel (it's matte). I am unaware of any other laptop that even offers a matte screen these days. I bought a W500 a few months ago with Win 7 64 bit, run CS4 with 4 gig DDR3 ram on it and it calibrates very well with calibration tools...in my case the Color Eyes calibration package.

Lenovo W500: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/notebooks/.../w-series/w500
coloreyes: http://www.integrated-color.com/cedp...esdisplay.html

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks for the advice. The Lenovo W500 appears to be way out of my price range though.

[c.w. moynihan]

Thanks for the advice. The Lenovo W500 appears to be way out of my price range though.

oops, missed that part...:cool:

[Bill Coatney]

You might look at the K series made by Asus-- thin profile and standard weight

3 gig of RAM 320 gig hard drive-- 4 USB ports-- 15.6 screen-- 800 front side bus--DVD/CD burner - 6 cell lithium battery -- around $450 +/- at Best Buy

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks Bill. Gives me some more options to look into. I am being to wonder whether a 300-360 GB hard drive would be enough. Are there any recommendable laptops that would have say a 500 GB hard drive and still be within my price range?

[Nancy A Elwood]

Christopher I aways carry an extra portable HD on trips and such so having a huge one internal on a laptop is not so important. I just got an udgraded Dell Inspirion 15 with 320 gig HD, the T6600 core duo CPU, 4 gigs ram and the separate graphics card for $725.00. I like it enough and so far runs all the programs I need for traval photography, as in Photomechanic, CS3, NX2 with alot of speed. The monitor, although glossy works just fine. I have used my Huey pro on it to calibrate it and so is much better. It even came with a built in web cam which works a treat.

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks Nancy, sounds like I'll definitely want an external hard drive too. I haven't made my decision yet, still want to do some research. Anyone else with advice or recommendations please feel free.

[Roger Clark]

Christopher

You might also check out the response to my similar question:
I Need a New Laptop--suggestions?
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=55015

I haven't found what I want (it's looking impossible) but if I compromise on weight a little, I can probable finsd it.

Roger

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks, Roger, I'll take a look at that thread.