New Laptop ?

pillman

Opinions from Smug Comrades appreciated. Time for a
new laptop that I will use mainly for photoshop. CC is not for
me as I own CS6 which is more than enough for my picture editing.
Has to be windows also. Specs below. SSD option is $400 plus as
750G @ 7200 is standard. Your time is appreciated
Current specs cost $1700 plus tax
$1300 dropping the SSD



Your Summary
VAIO S Series 15 Custom Laptop
3rd gen Intel® Core™ i7-3632QM quad-core (2.20GHz / 3.20GHz with Turbo Boost)

Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
Fresh Start

15.5" LED backlit Full HD IPS display (1920 x 1080)

NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640M LE (2GB) hybrid graphics with Intel® Wireless Display technology

256GB (128GB x2) solid state drive with RAID 0

12GB (4GB fixed onboard + 8GB removable) DDR3-1333MHz

CD/DVD player / burner

Internal lithium polymer battery (4400mAh)
Color: Silver

ziggy53

I moved this to the Digital Darkroom, where we discuss computers and similar processing hardware.

That Sony looks nicely specified (I repeat, "Nicely Specified") as a Photoshop CS6 machine.

Edit: If you're looking for guidance on the SSD option, I don't think that you absolutely need it. If you have the budget for it, it can speed up some operations, especially extremely complicated, multi-layered and large images.

pillman

Thanks Ziggy. I guess a SSD could be added in future as a scratch disk.
$1300 sounds better than $1700 for sure.

pillman

Hard drive option. $60 for
1TB @ 5400 rpm. The 750 @ 7200 is
Standard. Is it worth the $60 for upgrade ?

Richard

Yes

ziggy53

I would take the 7200 rpm HardDrive any day. 5400 rpm is pretty slow.

Apply the $60 towards a big, external hard drive instead. VAIO S Series 15 appears to come with 2 - USB 3.0 ports. "If" they are powered ports (which is unclear from the Sony specifications, check with Sony) then you could drive (for instance) an external Transcend 1 TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive ($86, free shipping), to give you 750GB internal and 1TB external, for a total of 1.75TB.

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-USB-External-Hard-Drive/dp/B005MNGQ6C/ref=amtcd_B0056TYYD4_B005MNGQ6C

This keeps your fast HD on the system, but allows a large external HD for either offloading part of the primary HD or for backup of the primary HD. (The backup function would be my recommendation.)

pillman

ziggy53 wrote: »

I would take the 7200 rpm HardDrive any day. 5400 rpm is pretty slow.

Apply the $60 towards a big, external hard drive instead. VAIO S Series 15 appears to come with 2 - USB 3.0 ports. "If" they are powered ports (which is unclear from the Sony specifications, check with Sony) then you could drive (for instance) an external Transcend 1 TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive ($86, free shipping), to give you 750GB internal and 1TB external, for a total of 1.75TB.

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-USB-External-Hard-Drive/dp/B005MNGQ6C/ref=amtcd_B0056TYYD4_B005MNGQ6C

This keeps your fast HD on the system, but allows a large external HD for either offloading part of the primary HD or for backup of the primary HD. (The backup function would be my recommendation.)

Great advice. Going to Check out Transcend now

Newsy

Two points you will need to check out with the Sony.

1. does the backlight offer near full coverage of the sRGB color space

2. Is Sony still having issues with "Red is Orange"


Far too many of the laptops offering IPS panels that are under $2000 USD, have used a back light that provides just 67% coverage of the sRGB color space. You can check this out here... http://www.notebookcheck.net/

Notebookcheck.net is one of the few laptop review sites that check out the gamut coverage.

The review for this particular model of Sony Vaio S says it does NOT have adequate coverage.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Sony-Vaio-SV-S1511X9E-B-Notebook.80171.0.html


As to Red is Orange.... Google it. It as also known as Orange-gate. Here is one example.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/6/2931113/sony-vaio-se-screen-also-suffers-from-red-orange-color-inaccuracy


.

pillman

Thanks so much for the heads up. Had heard about orange/red
Issue. Will call support.
Suggest if you will a windows brand without those problems.

Newsy

The only laptop under $2000 with an IPS panel in its' screen that I know of without color/gamut issues is the ASUS UX32VD. There may be more - I just have not seen them or found a review with a gamut chart showing full coverage. Over $2000 there are Dell & HP workstation type laptops that are the real deal for photo editing on the go.

Check these out. I think the IPS panel has been pulled from both the Dell and HP 15" leaving only the 17" models

Dell Precision M4700
- 15.6" 1920x1080 IPS panel (may not be offered at this date, see note below)
- you want the "Premier Color" option to get the wide gamut IPS panel but Dell may have delisted this offering
- I believe this model, with the Premier Color option, is a wide gamut display offering near 100% coverage of the sRGB and AdobeRGB color spaces


Dell Precision M6700
- 17.3" 1920x1080 IPS panel
- you want the "Premier Color" option to get the IPS panel
- wide gamut, near 100% coverage of the sRGB and AdobeRGB color spaces


HP Elitebook 8570w
- 15.6" 1920x1080 IPS panel (if still offered)
- the best panel is the "DreamColor Full HD display" option, if still offered


HP Elitebook 8770w
- 17.3" 1920x1080 IPS panel
- the best panel is the "DreamColor Full HD display" option
- wide gamut, near 100% coverage of the sRGB and AdobeRGB color spaces


.

pillman

Thanks for your time. Will check out
all of them

Richard

If you're thinking about $2k, you might also want to look at the Lenovo W530 series, which can be configured for FHD screen with built-in color calibrator, among other options. http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/w-series/w530/

pillman

That sounds like a winner
Still checking it out
Thanks

Newsy

Lenovo W530 with color sensor & FHD 1920x1080 screen
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-ThinkPad-W530-N1K43GE-Notebook.80062.0.html

.

Jabba

I bought the Sony last week. Got it home and it had two deal-breaker issues for me. First was that when I plugged it in for the first time, the plug was loose where it entered the computer- it would rotate thru quite an ark when I wiggled it. I searched the web and immediately learned that this has been a consistent problem with Sony for quite a while. I checked the other similar Sony machines at the store where I bought it- many suffered the same weakness.

Second issue on the unit I had was heat. It got way too warm- and the lone vent for the fan was right in the center back edge of the machine- where it would rest on my leg when I used it as a "laptop".

I returned the unit- and since they didn't have any others (and I was spooked about the power plug fault) I ended up with a Samsung ATIV Book 6 Very similar specs, $100 cheaper ($1150) and now that I've had it for a few days- a better machine all around.

I was a Lenovo guy- still am I suppose- but their screen quality consistently gets poor reviews. In shopping this new unit, I was consistently disappointed in the actual quality of the Lenovo machines versus the spec sheet on them. This Samsung has an absolutely gorgeous screen!- Check them out!

pillman

Thoughts. ASUS

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2408007,00.asp

Newsy

pillman wrote: »

Thoughts. ASUS

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2408007,00.asp

TN Panel for sure, gamut coverage is suspect

Has the horsepower but would work best with an external monitor for color critical editing.

I'd take out one of the 750G drives and add an 250G to 500G SSD to really make it fly.

VacuBlaster

Saw a You Tube video the other day and the guy was bragging about how quickly CS6 opens up using a SSD as opposed to a HDD. It did open up instantly and I have now obtained an SSD and put it into my desktop and fully intend to install CS6 onto it. Makes the laptop lighter and less moving parts to go wrong. My suggestion is to go with SSD if you can afford it.

VB

bandgeekndb

If at all feasible, get an SSD / HDD combination (I'm talking 2 drives, 1 SSD, 1 HDD, not a combination drive like the Seagate Momentus). The SSD will make the OS, and all programs you run launch lightning fast, as well as save you a decent amount of battery. Then, use the HDD for photo storage. If you get a large enough SSD (256GB is only about $200 these days), you can install Windows and CS6 easily, and have lots of space to spare. You could load photos onto the SSD, work on them in Photoshop, then when done, copy off to the HDD for storage (this workflow also allows you to use an external HD if you don't have room for 2 drives in your laptop of choice).

I currently use the Samsung Series 9 15", and it is one of my favorite purchases. SO thin and light, SSD for insane performance, and battery lasts forever. Downsides from a photographer standpoint though: panel is very angle-dependent, if your angle of view is off by even a little, colors start to look wonky, and there is no discrete graphics, which will significantly help drive Photoshop performance.

Here's the specs I'd be looking for in a photography laptop: Superb panel, 256GB SSD, 8GB+ of RAM, Photoshop-compatible video card.

~Nick