Hi all,

I have no pc at home at the moment and am about to purchase a notebook/laptop for general use and particularly saving and manipulating my photos (I'm hoping to get Photoshop in the near future). I am most familiar with Dell pcs as use at work and I feel comfortable with them, my friend recommends HP (probably because he works for them!) and they have a basic notebook on sale at the moment for just under £400 (I have a limited budget but could probably go up to about £600).

My question is, does it really matter what make I go for, and how much do I need to be thinking about memory size and special features bearing in mind I will be using it for photography more and more in the future. I'm not very technical and don't really understand the ins and outs of different features available at this moment in time, but I'd like to get something that will give me the capacity to expand on and utilise my skills in the future without having to upgrade or purchase new equipment.

Thanks for any advice!

Hi Schors,

Some key questions that you need to answer (everyone feel free to add more )

Will you be using Photoshop as your main imaging editing application?
This will affect the memory requirements.

How big are the files that your camera creates? Are they JPG or RAW?
This will determine how much storage space you require.

Do you regularly want to use your laptop outside your home?
This will affect what size screen you should choose, plus battery life.

Hi Mark

I'll answer these in the hopes that some kind sould may then make a recommendation!

Will you be using Photoshop as your main imaging editing application?
This will affect the memory requirements.

Yes - as far as I'm aware that's the main application I'll be using for a while.

How big are the files that your camera creates? Are they JPG or RAW?
This will determine how much storage space you require.

Usually between 3 and 5 mb - JPG at the moment, maybe RAW in future when I've figured out how to use files properly.

Do you regularly want to use your laptop outside your home?
This will affect what size screen you should choose, plus battery life.
I will occasionally use it outside the home but not regularly, I haven't got another pc or screen at home.

Thanks for giving me some things to think about Mark!

Ange

First thing you should check, if you intend to edit photos, is the quality and the size of TFT the screen.

Don't buy one without comparing some screens (take some shot on a USB).

I am working on a Fujitsu Siemens Notebook and it is nearly as powerfull as a desktop (or I don't care about the difference) BUT the TFT screen (1280x800) is too small for portrait shots and is of a very average quality

Thanks for the advice - that's very helpful!

Ange