Need a (edit windows) laptop for photoshop

RoyceSraphim

So my tech illiterate family member needs a (edit: windows) laptop for her media courses and will work with photoshop most of the time. What is a good laptop for this program to run fast and well and to be future proof for about uhhhh, lets say 3 years.

She'll shape her budget around what I recommend, so lets start high and then go low.

ben0207

macbook pro 13".

godmode

If we're talking about starting high, might as well go for Macbook Pro 17" - that way you can see details better.

If you really wanna go all out, wait a few months in case Mac develops the Retina screen for the Pro, for super crazy resolutions.

(Actual release timeline of the Macbook Retina screen is pure speculation, I might add.)

RoyceSraphim

Anything windows based? She already has a mac and feels that she needs a windows vehicle....I probably should have put that in the title.

godmode

Ooooh...that's a little more tricky. I mean, I bought an HP Pavilion dv5 "entertainment laptop" that has lasted me almost three years now, the first year and a half of which it ran really well. I had Photoshop on it, yes, and it was okay, but I only used it for that because I was deployed.

I'd be willing to bet that the new HP Pavilions with modern processors and more RAM would work pretty darn well. And if she doesn't bog it down with too much extra junk like I did, it should last her a good long while.

godmode

You're probably looking for something with a mobility Radeon (or the nVidia equivalent...I don't know nVidia), an Intel i7, 15"-17" screen, at least 8GB of RAM

Djeet

Budget? If I needed to procure a laptop for professional print work I'd probably go with either a Dell Precision or an HP Elitebook. With a CPU with 4 physical cores (i7 quad core), 8 GB RAM, a discrete GPU for 2D (probably a Quadro or FireGL with 2 GB VRAM), and the wide gamut screen will probably start around $2k-2500.

You could probably spend half that going for something oriented towards the consumer market (with a gaming GPU instead of a "workstation" GPU), though I'm not sure how the change in GPU architecture would affect workflow. And go with a nice external IPS monitor instead of paying the premium to have it in the laptop.

Synthesis

HP Pavillions will do it--nothing glamarous, I assure you, but they come with Windows 7 64-bit (duh) and run Photoshop adequately, even on the cheapo models like mine.

Mr Obersmith

I just bought a Dell XPS15 i7 w/ 8GB of RAM for this very purpose myself. Working out well so far and cost me about $1500. I did get a cyber monday deal out of it so it may be more expensive now. I have seen it recommended for photo work, but I don't remember exactly where I saw those recommendations.