How would this laptop do for Photo Edits and General Use??

[scottie]

I ran across what I think is a nice Dell refurb, but wanted to check with those more knowlegeable about laptops then I. We will use it as a family general use laptop, do some photo storing and editing on it and watch some movies while traveling on vacation too. What do you all think?
Its about $455 after rebate and before tax.:

Dell Studio 15 (1537) Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 (2.00GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium

Memory
3 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)

Hard Disk Drive
320 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)

Video
Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD

Software Upgrade
Microsoft Works 9.0

Media Bay
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability

Certified Refurbished
Certified Refurbished

Web Camera
Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Web Camera

Network Interface Card
Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card

Hardware Upgrade
6 Cell Primary Battery
65W AC Adapter
Fingerprint Reader Touchpad

Laptop Screen
15.4 WXGA LED Laptop Screen Display with TrueLife

System Color
Tangerine Orange

 

[dcox931]

not bad for the price to be honest..

harddrive has a decent amount of memory, 3GB of ram will come in handy when dealing with large .tiff or raw formatted files.

All in all.. well worth the pricetag. Plus its a Dell.

 

[scottie]

not bad for the price to be honest..

harddrive has a decent amount of memory, 3GB of ram will come in handy when dealing with large .tiff or raw formatted files.

All in all.. well worth the pricetag. Plus its a Dell.

Thanks for the reply. I ended up getting one with a 9 cell battery but all the other options the same for a few $ more. Cant wait for it to arrive!

 

[deletedpenguin]

Sounds good, especially for the price. Just make sure to color correct your monitor, as laptops vary quite a bit when it comes to color temp etc.

 

[scottie]

Sounds good, especially for the price. Just make sure to color correct your monitor, as laptops vary quite a bit when it comes to color temp etc.

Thank you, I wasnt aware of that (first laptop). Any suggestions of where to read up on how to adjust the monitor?

 

[deletedpenguin]

Thank you, I wasnt aware of that (first laptop). Any suggestions of where to read up on how to adjust the monitor?

There are a number of hardware color "eye's" available on the market that would help you, but they can be a few hundred dollars. Otherwise, if you have Photoshop, it comes with a software 'color corrector' where you'd just have to eyeball it. Bring it next to a desktop and just adjust to the best of your ability.

 

[GrillMouster]

The screens on notebook computers aren't ideal for photo editing. The image color and brightness changes at different viewing angles. Notebook screens have very narrow viewing angles and by nature of their design, they're always at different angles each time you use them. An external monitor would be a better solution, but a calibrated notebook monitor is better than nothing at all. You can go the cheap route and get the Huey calibrator. If you want something better, go for the Eye1 Display2 calibrator.

 

[Groucho]

I agree on laptop screens not being suitable. Trying to edit photos on my wife's laptop (like if I'm on vacation), or even just viewing them, is usually an exercise in frustration. (It would be much worse, even, with my work-provided laptop!) The view angle is fairly narrow on laptop screens, so you have to look directly at them, and often you can't even seen the entire screen in one consistent light. Many of the cheaper laptops have extremely glossy screens, too, which makes glare a serious issue. Ours is a Thinkpad with a matte screen (calibrated with the Spyder2Express) and it's just no fun for photography - I didn't even bother trying to do any editing last trip, I just waited until I got home to my desktop and CRT monitors. An external monitor is really the way to go if you want to do any kind of serious photo work.