I’m looking to update my laptop for one that will be solely used for photo and video editing. Are there any recommendations?

Do you need the portability? Much better value if you stick it on a desk.

Best processor, best graphics card you can afford and expandable ram?

It’s all about the £££

macbook pro-retina with 16gb ram and a small thunderbolt raid solution from lacie/g-tech.

i7 2.3GHz 15″ MacBook Pro Retina.

Yeah portability is a must and preferably less than a grand

Yeah portability is a must and preferably less than a grand

In that case, find another £99 and get the 13″ i5 Retina.

Take a look down the Dell Outlet list (i7/2gb Nvidia GT/SSD/15″ £1000 delivered)
http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/SecondaryInventorySearch.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dfh&cs=ukdfh1&puid=75c70b7e

Business section is probably better you can select by chip/graphics/screen resolution etc.

In that case, find another £99 and get the 13″ i5 Retina.

i would get a refurb non-retina 15in thats got a 4-core i5-i7 and then when funds allow fit an SSD and the 16gb of ram you will need, having used a 13in and now on a 15in retina 4-core it’s much quicker and you need the 15in to run resolve (which is free and one of the best grading apps out there)
FWIW i use FCP-X, resolve, helicon focus, capture-1 and photoshop daily on big 2-10gb files with mine.

I have a Dell Inspiron 15 – 7537, has a i5 with 6 GB RAM and Nvidia 2BG graphics card.

I’m very happy with the performance but I’m not too happy with the screen. Doesn’t have the greatest contrast so you either loose detail in dark areas or have the screen too bright and then wash out detail in light areas. Can’t seem to figure out how to get both. Its a touch screen so not sure if that effects the performance maybe the standard (non-touch) is better?

*edit – that was from their Outlet for £645 delivered.

Thanks for the recommendations, plenty to have a look at

Macbook Pro all the way. Simples.

Find someone who can educational apple discount and get a 13″ Mac pro for £945