Which laptop processor and processing programme? (1 Viewer)

Ok my laptop (which is very old!) is struggling with even the basics of processing photos - to be honest it's struggling with most things.
Am going to treat myself to a new laptop but was wondering which processor I should opt for. My choice is between a laptop with an i3 or i5 processor or an AMD A6 processor. Does anyone know much about the AMD A6 and whether it is as good as say the i3 for photo processing.

I thought that while I was at it I would get a photo processing programme. I have no experience with these as I have only used the free programme that came with my canon camera. The choice is basically between photoshop elements and lightroom. I am leaning toward photoshop elements as I am doing an online photography course and part of this involves training in using photoshop. However I was wondering what the pros and cons of the 2 programmes are for bird/wildlife pictures?

Any help/advice appreciated.

The trouble with processors is all the numbers that come after the i3, i5, A6 bit. The A6 comes in 5 different flavours, i3 4 and i5 4 so there is considerable overlap in performance. But photo processing is not that processor hogging compared to gaming or video editing.

As regard photo programmes, Lightroom is mainly aimed at the photographer and is great at tweaking photographs, where as Elements is a jack of all trades and can be used to create graphics, add frames, add text, swap heads around etc. If you just intend to tweak photos then Lightroom is more capable than Elements. For the purposes of your course do you mean Photoshop Elements or full Photoshop as they are very different beasts!

Any other questions feel free to ask

Just to add to Mono's reply, Photoshop elements does most of the programme that the full Photoshop programme does but is very considerably cheaper. I don't think you will require the more ambitious programme and that the elements version should meet all of your requirements.

Thanks - In terms of the computer processor are there any numbers etc I should look out for after the A6 or i3? I am only looking at photo processing not gaming or video editing so should they all be ok?

In terms of use I am simply looking at taking RAW photos and then tweaking (sharpening etc) to get the best out of them. Not really interested in creating graphics etc but adding text would be useful. Would lightroom be the best for this?

Not sure if my course is going to use elements or full photoshop but there is no way I can afford the full photoshop!

Mono said:

The trouble with processors is all the numbers that come after the i3, i5, A6 bit. The A6 comes in 5 different flavours, i3 4 and i5 4 so there is considerable overlap in performance...

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Plenty of good advice IMO in the two replies above. Generally the the Intel processors will outperform the AMD A6 variants. Just Google the particular models to get a quick idea of how they perform for photo editing, include "photo editing" in the search title. AMD's generally have better integrated graphics capability, not very relevant on a laptop for your needs.

Is there any way you can keep the old laptop for mobile applications and move to a PC for editing? You'll get far better value, performance and a decent screen size for the budget of a modest new laptop. Just a thought? Here's an interesting article in this respect.

Don't neglect the other specs as well. 4GB of RAM is now commonplace and will work fine with Elements, I'd consider that the minimum.

Elements or LR? Short answer...Elements. Lightroom is a great programme, fantastic cataloguing features, isn't limited to 8-bit depth etc. If that all sounds like latin then Elements is a great program to start with IMO, does everything well and is more flexible than LR.

You can download both for a month's free trial from Adobe~here's a link. With Adobe's new subscription model very few will use the full Photoshop any longer IMO, more advanced users seem to be moving towards LR and using something like Gimp (free) alongside to replace PS operations. HTH

What do you want out of your photo editing software? If you want to convert raw, and tweak a bit, then both your candidates will do the job.

Lightroom also turns your photo collection into a catalogue. If you take the trouble to put keyword tags onto each image then it allows you, for example, to find all your pictures of a robin with a simple search. You can create various collections of photos without having to duplicate them, because Lightroom will just keep a list and then query its database if you want to look at that particular collection.

It also never touches the original raw image you took - it merely stores the instructions you want to apply to it. That way, if in the future more powerful software comes out, you can edit all your photos again from scratch without having to archive a copy of the raw image first.

I really like these features a lot, and Lightroom has become very much the main program I use. If these don't sound like something you'd find really useful then I would agree that sticking with Elements is the better choice.

My main machine is a laptop as well (haven't had a proper desktop for a long time now), so I can see where you're coming from. It seems you tend to keep the machine for a long time, so I would recommend getting the most powerful one you can afford (put as much RAM in as possible). That will make it as futureproof as possible (but doesn't really protect you from wanting to use software which requires a new machine).

But Jumbo is right, in terms of what you get for your buck desktops are cheaper, so it's definitely worth spending a bit of time on whether you really want a laptop. I use mine with an external monitor and keyboard - I wouldn't want to use the built-in screen for photo-editing.

Andrea

Thanks for all the advice - plenty to think about!
In terms of screen size is it simply the bigger the better or is there something else I should be looking at?

kneonlight said:

In terms of screen size is it simply the bigger the better or is there something else I should be looking at?

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Big is impressive, but not always better. The integrated graphics on the computer's CPU will limit you to something like a 24" monitor, and of course there's always a budget consideration.

In the real world ,and on a budget, there are plenty of good quality 21-23" monitors that will be a huge step up from those fitted to most laptops and a pleasure to use.

Here are a few under £150
-ASUS VS239H-P 23-Inch. £140
-Dell Ultrasharp U2312HM £140
-Asus VS229H 21.5" screen, £120.


If you only intend your photos to be viewed on the 'web then that's it. However, if you intend printing, or getting them printed, then there's the thorny issue of monitor calibration to deal with, and this applies to any route you take whether it's a laptop/pc/separate monitor for use with a laptop etc.

If you will be editing your photos you clearly want (need) what you see on the screen to bear some resemblance to the print you end up with. Most screens are much too bright and the colours aren't accurate, so when you get your prints back from the online printers they are much too dark and the colours are different from those you see on your screen.

The solution is to calibrate your monitor using a calibration device. The ColorMunki Smile is the cheapest available (around £60) and does a decent job. Before buying one edit a few photos and get them printed, if you are happy with the results then great, but eventually you'll need to calibrate your monitor if you want to take your photography beyond the most basic level IMO otherwise any edits are just a guess.

I hope I'm not making this sound too complicated and offputting, a decent budget screen is really worthwhile and will help you get the most enjoyment out of a great hobby. HTH

I say that nore important than the processor is to get a machine with a SSD, and keep your photos on an external, big HDD if you don't have enough space. Then get the fastest Intel processor you can afford. Don't worry about getting discrete graphics, they're for gaming really.

Thanks for all the advice

I started with Elements and found 10000 images it crashed under load of images. I have become a Lightroom zealot. Now with 80000 images on file and it still fast. I have Photoshop CS6 for some editing situations but find Lightroom is much more intuitive to use and being able to apply edits to a bunch of images at once is great. See Adobe TV for professional videos on how to use Adobe programs.