Laptop for photo editing

Neames

Guys,

Foolishly, I hung about too long and didn't pull the trigger on the Asus Zenbook in Currys. Now it's gone up to over €800. I just can't pay that amount knowing that it once was less than €600.

So, I'm keen to pick something up in the next few weeks.

Any thoughts on this:

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-14-ce3501sa-14-laptop-intel-core-i5-512-gb-ssd-silver-10198859-pdt.html

I'm going to be using it for general stuff as well as (light) photo editing and (some light) programming.

If there's a better option out there and comes in close to €700, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

not bad but if you are serious about photo editing may not suit as the colour-accuracy of the screen is quite poor.

this is going to be the case with most laptops under a grand tbh

the UM431DA zenbook does have decent colour accuracy actually tho.

if that's not really important to you go for it.

otherwise maybe bite the bullet and pick up the zenbook.

that Zenbook -> it wasn't less than 600 btw - it was 659 iirc.

Neames

glasso wrote: »

that Zenbook -> it wasn't less than 600 btw - it was 659 iirc.

Thanks Glasso,

If I increased the budget to 900 or 1000...is there anything you'd recommend.

I was looking at something from the dell 7000 range...comes in just under a grand.

https://www.dell.com/en-ie/shop/laptops/new-inspiron-14-7000/spd/inspiron-14-7490-laptop/cn74901

yes the dell 7000 14 is a nice-looking machine.

there is a 10% off deal ending tonight with the START10 code to bring it down to near 900 from 1000

https://www.dell.com/en-ie/shop/laptops/inspiron-14-7000/spd/inspiron-14-7490-laptop

that or the zenbook are both good options.

both have soldered ram (very common nowadays in laptops - particularly lighter ones) but 8gb is fine for photo editing.

did you go for the dell 7000 14?

Neames

I haven't pulled the trigger yet Glasso...

Waiting for the payday!

maybe see if a discount offer comes back on the base model or on the 2nd one in the range - the mx250 card is worth having for an extra 100 imo.

Neames

glasso wrote: »

maybe see if a discount offer comes back on the base model or on the 2nd one in the range - the mx250 card is worth having for an extra 100 imo.

Glasso,

The ZenBook has dropped to €719 now.

What do you reckon? Is this a safe enough bet at this stage. Anything else I've seen to come close to this is up around the €1000 mark.

Going to finally press buy today but wouldn't mind if you gave your final view.

I think that it's a very good deal at that price and the reviews on the net agree.

the colour accuracy of the screen is good enough for photo editing.

the ryzen 5 4-core cpu is plenty for your needs to run things smoothly

the build quality (metal) and lightness is very good for the price

I'd say go for it.

you have to spend 300 more to get anything better imo

Neames

glasso wrote: »

I think that it's a very good deal at that price and the reviews on the net agree.

the colour accuracy of the screen is good enough for photo editing.

the ryzen 5 4-core cpu is plenty for your needs to run things smoothly

the build quality (metal) and lightness is very good for the price

I'd say go for it.

you have to spend 300 more to get anything better imo

Thank you so much Glasso

You're very good to offer so much advice in this forum.

Purchased now. Looking forward to getting it.

FFVII

Any difficulty putting a HDD in that Zenbook?

FFVII

FFVII wrote: »

Any difficulty putting a HDD in that Zenbook?

it's an ultrabook. doesn't have space for one.

you could buy a bigger m.2 ssd 2280 size and put it in.

FFVII

glasso wrote: »

it's an ultrabook. doesn't have space for one.

you could buy a bigger m.2 ssd 2280 size and put it in.

Jesus!

That's a massive failing on that. I was wondering why I couldn't get a definite answer on it.

It's a real pita the lack of storage in a decent laptop nowadays.

Thanks Glasso.

The search goes on.

FFVII

FFVII wrote: »

Jesus!

That's a massive failing on that. I was wondering why I couldn't get a definite answer on it.

It's a real pita the lack of storage in a decent laptop nowadays.

Thanks Glasso.

The search goes on.

it's not a failing - the vast majority of people buying ultrabooks don't want HDDs - they want a small and light laptop. there is simply no space to fit in a 2.5 inch hard drive in a modern ultrabook because they are so thin and with the desire for bigger batteries. the move to cloud also means that storage is not as big of an issue. it's not them, it's you lol!

HDD's are pretty much only provided in gaming laptops these days (in conjunction with an ssd)

you would find that older (not on sale anymore) 14 inch and still some current 15.6 inch units have a space for a 2.5 inch drive (but often now the space is inside but the cables and housing are not provided making it a pain to find the right bits to put one in)

ssds are a lot cheaper if you need a bigger one - a 1tb sata ssd is not much more than the price that a 1tb HDD was 5 years ago.

FFVII

£113 for a 1 tb SSD on Amazon, not bad.

But how do you get windows on that then?

FFVII

FFVII wrote: »

£113 for a 1 tb SSD on Amazon, not bad.

But how do you get windows on that then?

this is nearly 20 sterling cheaper.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dataram-Internal-Solid-State-Interface/dp/B07NXX3LSY/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=1tb+ssd+2280&qid=1579198447&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyS01FR0NGTjUxMlBCJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUExMDE1MDAxMTMxSDdUNElZOE9LQyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUExMDI5NDA4MVRHWUQ4QVhXUkFBMyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

if you found an even cheaper sata 2280 which should work here (check) somewhere you could save even more. you would sacrifice some speed over pcie

you could then sell your existing pcie one for 30 to 40 euro maybe


you swap in the new ssd and then what you do is install windows from a usb key
you download windows from microsoft and install on a usb key (8gb or more)
then set to boot from usb through bios.

it's all simple enough - just google a little

best to do before you install any further programs.