Ponderin’ about getting a laptop so I can do computery things without shutting myself away on my own.

Given all laptops seem to have really short screens these days I’m concerned about whether the screen will be big enough for a bit of photo editing and the like. Currently I use 1280×1024 which is tall enough but could be a bit wider; laptop screens are all 1366×768 which is wider (good) but not as tall (bad).

Will it be fine, or will it just drive me mad that the screen isn’t big enough? Does anyone else do a bit of gentle photoshopping (picasa and photoshop elements in particular) on a laptop?

17in macbook pro with 1920×1080 or 15in with 1680 x 1050 matte screens, glossy screens have too much contrast for working on images imho. they are also 6bit dithered to 8 bit so not the most colour accurate or able to reproduce most of Adobe1998 colourspace.

dunno about pc laptops, maybe the dells/hp’s can be specced with higher res in a 15in size?

Not all laptops are at 1366×768 shop around you’ll find on that suits your needs, mine runs at 1440×900.

I had the same problem a year or so ago. Found a sony vaio with a 15,5 inch 1920×1080 screen, so maybe give them a go. I’m always surprised how much people care about the ram in a laptop without paying any attention to screen resolution.

sony vaio had one coming up 4 years with 16.5 screen every bit as good for editing photos use elements 9. my pc really redundant at moment

My 17″ Dell is 1920×1200 too; they’re out there, but not overly common.

External monitor?

External monitor or shop around for higher res laptops. My dell precision is 1680×1050 and I wouldn’t like to go below that really in the vertical for Photoshop. Anything less makes the images annoyingly small for.me active to all the toolbars. Some 17″ dell precisions go to 1200 on the vertical. Expensive, but really well built and a second hand one will have plenty of life left in it.

My laptop runs at 1280 x 768 (14″ widescreen). I don’t find it too limiting and can always plug it in to an external monitor if needs be. Only really use picasa for editing photos (7 year old laptop struggles with anything else) but do some design work in inkscape too. I find the lack of the second screen which I’m used to at work more annoying than the smaller screen size.

I prefer to have a smaller, more mobile laptop with the option to work on a bigger monitor than a bigger laptop to lug around all the time ymmv.

Size really isn’t the issue, for editing images you need the best colour reproduction you can get, so find a graphics system that will display max colour depth. Trashed several images by editing them on a 2000 quid Dell who’s colour repro is poor.

What are 15″, 1050 or 1080 screens like for size of things on the screen? I don’t think my budget or the weight carrying capacity of my knees would stretch to a larger laptop, so it’ll almost certainly be a 1366×768 screen as they seem to be far more common in the “affordable” range…

I’m not overly bothered about the screen displaying colours perfectly as long as it’s adequate – all my photos are personal ones that I like to tinker a bit with rather than anything more serious. This computer runs Flux so the colour temperature changes throughout the day anyway… 🙂 It’s just the vertical size that bothers me.

I’ve just had a brief play around moving the toolbars in Photoshop; I’ve just made it a lot better for this screen by minimising a few occasionally used windows which I didn’t know you could do, so I’m a bit more confident about that. If Picasa is okay (I use it sometimes on my 1024×600 netbook and it definitely is too small for that) then it sounds like a goer…

I asked a similar question here, recently:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/if-i-buy-a-new-laptop-what-should-i-do-to-it-and-is-this-a-good-choice

I looked about and following a suggestion from turnerguy that I should perhaps look at a bigger screen I compared some laptops in John Lewis & the 17.3″ screen with higher resolution looked like it would suit my news better. So I bought this:

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Acer%5FAspire%5F7750%5FCore%5Fi5%5FLaptop%5FLX%2ERN802%2E025/version.asp?PID=384

Only had it 5 days or so, but very pleased so far. It is by no means portable though compared to some laptops, but that wasn’t high up ny priority list.

Dell specced with an IPS monitor (+ buy a calibrator if your really fussy or use Calibrize.com if you’re not). You’re never going to get perfect colour repro from any laptop screen.

If you want an external monitor you can’t beat an LG IPS235 for about 150£ish – am using two of them and have sold my fancy NEC wide gamut thingy as these are better for what I do.

An external monitor will mean being back at the desk again, which is what I’m trying to get away from. I’ll still have the current monitor if I need it, but I’m hoping I can get away without.

Stumpy01, thanks for that link; looks like I’m after something very similar to you (although I’m less bothered about the performance, anything will be faster than the current 2007 mac mini I’m using at the moment!). I think I ought to go have a look at some 15″ and 17″ laptops and see what they look like in real life; that 17″ of yours seems within budget…

Admittedly this is a few years ago but I went for an Acer laptop (similar to what Stumpy01 links to above) due to the screen size and resolution.
At the time I was doing a lot of photo editing (freelance writing/photography) and my old computer simply didn’t have the RAM for it.

With that in mind, my priority with a laptop was processing power and screen size and the Acer fitted the bill perfectly. They still seem really good value for money, loads cheaper than Sony etc but really well specced.

My Dell Precision 6600 is 1920 x 1200. Used for 3d CAD. I find it too small to be honest, but at work its dual monitored onto a 22″ screen so looking at that mostly.

A 17″ Macbook Pro’s screen is 1920 x 1200, plenty big enough and the new Sandybridge ones are unbelievably powerful. A 15” might also work for you.

I’ve not really done much on the new laptop yet, but it does seem very fast and the screen is nice. Possibly a bit glossy with lights behind you, but nothing too major.

I’ve just done recovery discs, uninstalled all the guff software that it came with (not tons of it, but enough to want to get rid) and I’ve uninstalled the trial McAfee & put Microsoft Security Essentials on it.

Very pleased so far.
Acer Direct were painless to deal with and got the laptop to me on the next day. Only slight complaint was an e-mail they sent trying to sell me all sorts of stuff once I’d placed the order; extended warranty, AV protection, pre-despatch set-up etc. I just said no to all of it and they sent it out without bother.

I’ve just had a brief play around moving the toolbars in Photoshop; I’ve just made it a lot better for this screen by minimising a few occasionally used windows which I didn’t know you could do

if you toggle the tab and f keys plus know your tool shortcuts you only really need the layers and adjustments visible and can work with an image filled screen most of the time.

re. calibration – a couple of designers i know say it isn’t worth it as your screen might be perfectly calibrated, but if the printer’s setup isn’t, you’re stuffed.

re. calibration – a couple of designers i know say it isn’t worth it as your screen might be perfectly calibrated, but if the printer’s setup isn’t, you’re stuffed.

screens aren’t perfectly calibrated out of the box, for that you need a hardware calibrator (eye-1/spyder-pro etc) and a decent screen in the first place. i’m not surprised a designer told you that seeing as their screens are usually turned up to max brightness* and not calibrated properly and used in bright white studios.

*instead of 120cd/m2 D65 2.2 gamma. with a known black point and contrast ratio to match the paper stock as close as possible.

what’s the point of having a linearised printer and custom paper profile if it doesn’t match your screen?

Sony laptops can be bought with 1080P screens as an option, my wife has a 15.4 1920*1080P screen which she finds ok. Screen is glossy though.

I have an older Dell Precision laptop which is 1920*1200 and the screen is matt – the processor is an older Core2 thingy though.

You will probably need a business laptop to avoid a glossy screen.