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~ Updated on: 2019-07-02 (Original Post: 2017-07-14)
We are often asked: what is the best computer for photo editing? If you have the cash to burn, you can simply go out and buy the best computer to run Photoshop and Lightroom. In the real world, however, buying a computer for photo editing is a daunting and expensive experience; especially for new photographers who have just started out. After buying a camera, lenses, and all the extras, your cash reserves might be depleted. The reality is, that all your expensive camera gear, will come to nothing if you don’t have a reliable and fast computer system, on which to edit your photos.
Photographer and Sony Imaging Ambassador Manny Ortiz made this 6.5-minute video sharing the top 5 reasons he chose a Dell XPS 15 laptop over a MacBook Pro in 2017 for his photo and video editing. Best Editing App Linking Phone and PC/Mac/Tablet Lightroom Don't forget that the photographer's package allows you full rein of Lightroom and Photoshop for $9.99USD/month.
In this article, which we update regularly, we shed some light on what we think is the best computer for photo editing and hope to save you a lot of time, money, and heartache…
Desktop, or Laptop?
Another uncertainty is whether you should buy a Desktop Computer or a Laptop?
The first question you should ask yourself is; do you travel around a lot, or do you mostly work from home? Desktop PC’s have great upgrade potential but are a hassle to move around. Laptops, despite their limitations in terms of specs and upgradeability, are better for people who are constantly on the move.
Another aspect you should take into consideration is screen size. Editing on a big monitor is much more pleasant than struggling with a smaller laptop screen. If you consider buying a laptop only, then also consider buying an additional large screen for photo editing.
What most professional photographers do, is buy a laptop for on-the-road work, and then have a beast of a system at home or office, for editing that demands a lot of disk space and processing power.
We recommend staying away from All-in-One PCs (where the hardware is built into the screen) as they seriously lack upgradeability. It’s also impractical for photographers who need multiple drives for storage. The general exception, however, would be the Microsoft Surface and the iMac, which both have impressive specs and offer excellent monitors. These high-end, very expensive machines, will last years before needing an upgrade.
PC, or MAC?
For editing, the latest iMac will run the latest Photoshop and Lightroom apps seamlessly.
One of the most frequently asked questions and a widely-debated topic is: which is better, Windows or MacOS?
My advice is, get the system that you are most comfortable with. I grew up with a PC and am often a bit confused when using MAC. However, the opposite will be true for someone that really knows their way around MAC. One definite advantage of MAC is the more “limited” product range compared to the vast variety of Windows-based PCs. In other words, if you buy a new MAC, which only comes with medium – high-end specs, you can be pretty sure that it will be able to run your editing programs seamlessly; whereas an uninformed user, might buy a low-spec PC, which can’t do the job. On the other hand, if you do your research and buy a proper PC, you will get more “bang for your buck” as well as future upgradeability.
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Hardware Requirements
The five most important hardware components for editing in Lightroom and Photoshop are:
- Storage Drives
- Memory (RAM)
- The Processor (CPU)
- The Graphics card (GPU)
- Monitor
1. Storage Drives
![Best photo editor for photographers on mac 2017 shortcut Best photo editor for photographers on mac 2017 shortcut](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126482415/291339953.jpg)
The Hard Disk Drive (HDD) has been around for so long that all drives are generally called Hard Drives. In recent years, however, the Solid State Drive (SSD) has become ever more popular. In a nutshell, the difference between a Hard Disk Drive and a Solid State Drive is that the one has rotating disks inside it and the other is solid, with no moving parts. This in effect causes the SSD to be able to access data extremely fast, whereas the HDD has to wait for the rotating disks to warm up before you can access the files.
I’m listing the storage drive first as I believe it to be the most important part that will save you time. It determines the speed at which the computer can access the data stored on the drive. This is where Solid State Drives come in handy as it can reduce your computer start-up (boot) time to under 10 seconds! If that got your attention, then the next question is, probably; how much storage capacity should my SSD have? SSD’s generally have smaller capacities than their older HDD counterparts and the larger ones are quite pricey!
That is why we recommend using an SSD to run your Operating system, software, Lightroom catalogue and cache drives while using a large capacity hard drive for storage. Typically, a 500GB SSD will be adequate for your OS, Photoshop, Lightroom, and any other software you might be using. We then recommend getting a second or even third Hard Drive of 2 – 4 TB which you will then use as storage for all your photos, data, and documents. Obviously, you will need an additional external hard drive(s) to backup your Photos and Lightroom Catalog(s).
Minimum Specs | Recommended Specs |
Polarr photo editor 3 for mac. 2 Hard Drives:
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2. Memory (RAM)
RAM is the second most important hardware, as it increases the number of tasks the CPU can handle at the same time. Simply opening Lightroom or Photoshop uses around 1 GB RAM each. Once you open a file (PS) or start scrolling through your pictures (LR) they each start using up to 4 GB RAM. Combined with the Operating system using about 2GB RAM for itself to run the latest Lightroom Classic together with Photoshop, we recommend a minimum of16GB RAM. Anything less will cause your PC to slow down or even stop responding; especially when carrying out strenuous tasks like creating an HDR or Panorama.
Minimum Specs | Recommended Specs | Not Recommended |
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3. Processor (CPU)
The CPU(Central Processing Unit) is the part the computer that is commonly referred to as the “brains” of the computer. It is responsible for carrying out all the tasks you (or any software) give. How effective Lightroom will work when applying filters or adjusting sliders, depends on how good the CPU is. Adobe’s software is usually built to better support Intel products. Therefore we recommend the Intel “Core-I” CPU Range. Don’t buy anything that has “Pentium” or “Celeron” in the name, unless you like wasting time or hate yourself!
From benchmarks available on the net, and from testing it ourselves, it seems Lightroom prefers CPU’s with faster internal clock-speeds. This is great news, as it means that you will get better performance from an affordable quad Core i5 running at 3.8GHz, or a Core i7 running at 4.2GHz than a ridiculously expensive Core i9 with 18 cores running at 3.2GHz.
Interestingly, this seems to be true for Photoshop as well. Therefore, if you mainly use Photoshop and Lightroom, and are not running any other high-end applications that require many cores, you can stick to the more affordable i5 or i7 CPU’s!
To quickly see what generation an Intel CPU belongs to, look at the first out of 4 digits after the brand name. For example, Intel Core i7 – 6700. The “6” in 6700 indicates that it is a Sixth Generation Intel CPU.
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4. Graphics Card (GPU)
Both Photoshop CC and Lightroom Classic will benefit from having a fast, dedicated graphics card. Although Photoshop has been supporting graphics hardware acceleration for some time now, previous versions of Lightroom were under-performing with the graphics processor turned on. However, it seems that the latest version Lightroom Classic is now taking advantage of the graphics processor. We recommend you enable it and see what it does. For editing, we recommend a dedicated graphics card with at least 2 GB VRAM. If you’re using large, fancy pants, high-resolution 4K or 5K monitors, we recommend that you get a graphics card that has at least 4GB dedicated VRAM.
Recommending a specific graphics card is tricky, especially since new cards are released frequently. However, we recommend buying a mid-range to high-end NVIDIA, or Radeon card, that supports DirectX 12 or OpenGL 3.3, or later:
Minimum Required Specs | Recommended Specs |
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5. Monitors
Buying a proper high-resolution display with accurate colour is essential for photo editing. With Quad-HD (QHD) and Ultra-HD (UHD) monitors on the rise, we can now view our photos with crisp, sharp details. QHD and UHD resolution typically range from 2560 x 1440 to 3840 x 2160. Unfortunately, in the South African context, these monitors are expensive, but getting one now will be more “future proof”. If you’re on a tight budget go for at least a Full HD screen (1920 x 1080). In the case of Windows-based laptops, make sure that you don’t fall into the trap of buying one that supports a lesser resolution than Full HD.
This brings me to another important aspect. Does size really matter? For photo editing, it does! We recommend getting a minimum size of 27 inches or consider getting two 24-inch screens, which is perfect for multitasking and editing. If you have the cash to splash, then consider spoiling yourself with at least a 32-inch ultra-wide, curved monitor and make sure it supports UHD resolution. It will be expensive, but being surrounded by so much real estate will be utopian!
Another aspect you should consider is the screen technology, which determines the image quality, colour accuracy and viewing angles. Go for a backlit LED screen with IPS technology, or similar technologies like PLS (Samsung) or AHVA. Stay away from TN and VA Panels, which don’t cut it for editing.
Finding a screen that offers colour accuracy and a wide range of colour (gamut) is equally critical. The two most important colour spaces offered in screens are sRGB and Adobe RGB. sRGB is the general standard for the Internet and most software applications but covers a limited colour range compared to Adobe RGB. Adobe RGB was developed to represent the full range of colours achievable on CMYK printers. Even though Adobe RGB covers a wider range of colours, it might be counterproductive in that Windows and other software applications will show the colours incorrectly. Photoshop, however, will display Adobe RGB colour space perfectly, whereas Lightroom uses an even larger colour space, ProPhoto RGB, which is not yet supported by monitors. If you use Lightroom mostly, then the difference between an sRGB or Adobe RGB monitor will be negotiable.
Some professional, top of the range monitors offer Adobe RGB and even built-in hardware calibration, to assure absolute colour accuracy. These high-end monitors can cost tens of thousands of Rands and are overkill for the average photographer. If you wouldn’t spend that much money on a professional screen, consider buying or borrowing an optional calibration tool, such as the Spyder Pro, or X-Rite ColorMunki and buy a monitor that covers 99% – 100% of the sRGB colour space.
Key specs to look for in a monitor:
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A note about Colour Management and Workflow:
If you are considering professional commercial photography, where colour accuracy – from shooting to print – will be of the utmost importance, I recommend reading John Fox’s article on Colour Management. This is perhaps one of the most comprehensive articles you will ever find on the topic.
6. Input Devices
Mouse:
- A critical piece of hardware that is commonly overlooked. Having a good mouse goes a long way in speeding up and easing retouching. We recommend getting yourself a Gaming Mouse, which will offer ergonomics and improved control. Some gaming mouse devices, even come with additional weights, which can improve accuracy when performing precision tasks! Finally, remember to get yourself a proper mousepad, which will enable you to use the mouse with increased accuracy on any surface.
Card Reader:
![Best Best](https://fullylicensekey.com/wp-content/uploads/best-free-photo-editing-software.jpg)
- A compatible USB 3.1 card reader that can read the type of card (s) your camera uses, will save you the hassle of connecting your camera to the PC every time you download photos.
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS):
- To add an extra layer of protection, you can safeguard your setup by adding a UPS, which allows you to save your work, and safely turn off your computer in the event of a power failure.
Recommended Specs
Buying a machine according to the specs below will assure fluid and relatively “painless” editing:
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How can we help you?
I hope that this article has shed some light on the hardware side of photo editing. Feel free to leave a comment with any questions, or connect with us on our Facebook Group
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It even offers an intuitive and easy-to-use interface.
![Photo](https://static.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/wavepad.jpg)
Best Photo Editor For Photographers
We also strongly recommend that you read our article on “Getting more speed in Lightroom Classic“
Photo Editor For Photographers
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