Help Me Configure for Photo Editing

Hi All;

I am trying to build a laptop that will be used mainly as a mobile photo editing machine (Photoshop, Lightroom, and maybe some video editing as well). I want a small laptop so the m1330 fits the bill. Anyway, I have configured one with the following specs:
- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9500 (2.6GHz/800Mhz FSB/6MB cache)
- Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1
- Tuxedo Black
- 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
- Slim and Light LED Display with VGA Webcam
- Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
- Ultra Performance: 128GB Solid State Drive
- CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
- High Definition Audio 2.0
- 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)

Questions:
1) Will the solid state HD benefit me? Anyone know which brand Dell is using? It seems that the larger SSD HDs tend to be slow.
2) I plan on using Vista 64, will there be any issues on the above config?
3) The price after the 30% coupon will $1752 (not including tax/shipping). Is this a decent deal?
4) Any other recommendations? Should I go for the Latitude series? Maybe wait for the next Mac Book Pro replacements?

 

I am getting a laptop for the same reasons. I got the 250GB 7200rpm drive, couldn't really say how much benefit a solid state drive will provide but I find 7200rpm drive in general to be fast enough for opening and saving files. Your only possible concern for disk speed is if photoshop has to swap to disk for filter effects on large files. If you are going to be doing that kind of intensive editing though I don't know if a 13" laptop would be appropriate, for that reason I went with the 1530.

Do you have a desktop workstation for your main editing, or plan to hook up to an external monitor?

I would also like to setup mine up with Vista 64bit, especially since lightroom 2 is now 64bit capable.

What do you shoot with? what files sizes are you dealing with? JPEG or RAW?

 

Thanks for the reply. I do use a desktop for my main editing. The laptop will be used mostly for culling images and picking favorites (through Lightroom) and maybe a bit of retouching through Lightroom and Photoshop. Any hardcore editing will be done on the desktop. I am looking into a 13 incher as I want something very portable. I might also use the laptop during client meetings (though I know a larger screen would be better for this). But hey, if you give me enough compelling reasons to go with a 15 incher, I might just do that .

P.S. Files are 12MP RAW files about 10MB to 25MB in sizes (RAW Fuji files are huge!).

 

No real compelling reasons for going for the 15" for me other than I think with the 1440x900 resolution I think details would be just a bit too small for my liking. I would go to a store and compare some 13" laptops to 15" ones to see what works best for you.

Performance wise I don't know how much of a benefit if any the SSD would have for you. I assume you will be copying your flash cards to the laptop on location or shooting tethered? In either of those cases speed will be liimited to the USB bus which any hard drive can more than keep up with. Though SSD is new technology and is pretty cool you may be able to save some money by going with a standard hard drive.

 

I just received my m1330 yesterday and bought it for the same reasons that you did. I opted for the 320gb as I know I'll need the space. I use the finepix jpeg setting on my Sony a700 and those don't take up as much space as RAW. (I'm too busy right now learning about other aspects of photography and haven't delved into the world of RAW yet).

 

I think I will opt for the tried and true 7200RPM HD. Have you guys noticed any performance issues? How does it handle the editing software?

 

I'm still waiting on my laptop to finish being built and get shipped to me. But I imagine it should be no different than a desktop 7200rpm drive. The funny thing is that my laptop will actually have more power than my desktop until I upgrade it. Right now my desktop has 2.8Ghz Pentium D with 3GB ram and a 500GB and 320GB 7200rpm drives.

I can't wait till my XPS shows up

 

Resolution, resolution, resolution. A 15 incher will allow you to get the 1920x1200 screen which is glorious for photo editing. Lightroom is absolute murder on anything less than 1680x1050 in my experience. Even if your laptop won't be your main machine, its still hard to do anything on a screen with poor resolution, especially after working with a respectable desktop monitor.

I got the 7200HD in mine, and have no qualms about the speed in Lightroom or CS3. I just wish I got a bigger one as the 160gb went QUICK. Though 60GB of RAWs a year will do that I guess.

If you are bringing your laptop everywhere you go, it might make sense to consider the 13 incher as it will be a lot easier to carry around, but the 1530 is still pretty portable and with the WUXGA screen it was made for photo editing.