which Laptop to buy

[DebraB]

Amazon prime day has 139 laptops on sale. I do not like making decisions on what to get (mine is 13 years old). I have looked at the hardware requirments to run ACDSee. recommended is intel i5 or better,or ryzen5 or 7, 8 GB ram, 1920 x 1080 resolution, 2 GB of available hard space, and I think somewhere it said 512 GB SSD, and Windows 11. Right now I have ACDSee 2018 photo studio standard and will be upgrading to 2022 photo studio home, ultimate. I will be using the laptop mostly for digital scrapbooking, some photoediting, and an occasional watching a movie.
I have done searching through filters to narrow down my search for laptop.

Questions:
1. Is there a difference between brands of computers or is it really just personal preference. Right now when I put the filters in I see HP, Lenovo, Acer, ASUS, Dell Any recommendations?

2. A gaming laptop is a bit more expensive, would it be recommended because of the graphics--and scrapbooking?

3. There were some that had an Iris graphics card? don't understand at all

4. There are some that run windows 11 home and some windows 11Pro....I'm assuming the windows 11 home is sufficient because I'm not doing anything business wise; or does it not matter if it is home or pro as long as it is windows 11?

5. anything else I should be asking or making sure I get?

thanks for all the info I know you guys regularly give.
Deb

[Greyfox]

DebraB

To some extent your choice will probably be governed by your budget.

I would first consider whether you want a smaller 14" screen model for perhaps better portability, or a larger 15.6" screen model. The larger 15.6" frame models may have a keyboard that includes a dedicated numeric keypad section, where the reduced frame size of the 14" models may not have the dedicated number pad. That can be quite important if you do a lot of work with numbers. Also whilst on screens, some modern laptops have touch screens where as others don't. Your intended use may govern which type you prefer.

You should then decide whether you want to trade off higher performance against perhaps a lower battery run time. An Intel i7 (or the equivalent AMD processor) will give better performance than an Intel i5 (or its AMD equivalent) particular with CPU intensive tasks, but generally at the expense of a shorter on battery run time.

My preference would be to look at laptops that come with at least 16GB of RAM, a minimum of 512GB Solid state drive (preferably NVMe M.2) and if possible a discrete Nvidia or Radeon graphics card with a minimum of 4GB of memory. These can provide better performance than the entry level Intel Iris XE Cards (see https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compar...9532vsm1268515)

Heat dissipation can be an issue with laptops so I would look for models that have a metal frame (chassis) as the heat dissipation is generally better. You might also consider comparing the level of cooling fan noise. That can be an issue if you do voice recording for video, even when using an external noise cancelling microphone.

Make sure the laptop model has sufficient external ports to handle both your existing devices (external drives, external monitors, external card readers, Ethernet etc) as well as any other peripherals you think you might want to use with it in the future. Also compare the WiFi capability.

Perhaps consider the clarity of the keyboard key lettering, particularly in low light. You may find the color used with some backlit keyboards not to your taste.

I would not overlook comparing applicable warranties, and in particular who has to pay the cost of freight and insurance if the unit has to be returned for warranty repair. Whilst on the subject of repairs, laptop batteries are generally considered to have a life of about 1000 charge cycles, or between 2 to 4 years. Nowadays in order to produce slimmer units most laptop batteries are internal and are not user removable like they were with older laptops. When it comes time to replace them, it will most likely have to be done by a servicing company. Cost and time may depend on the availability of a suitable replacement battery, and the complexity of the replacement task, so perhaps check with your local laptop repair specialists as to which brands they think are better in this regard.

I have personally had quite good results from Acer, Asus and Dell laptops. I've also unfortunately experienced cooling issues with an HP, but that may have been just the particular model. Brand name would not be high on my list of preferences though.

Hope some of that helps.

[brajaq]

Very nice synthesis by Greyfox. For my personnal use, I find laptop screens too small for picture editing. If I used a laptop I would have to buy an external large display screen.

[DebraB]

thank you greyfox for your input. When you talk about portability I even debate if I should get a laptop, or buy a desktop since when I am doing scrapbooking and most things with photos I am at home. The only time I take my laptop is going to kids and grandkids place and I usually don't have time there to scrapbook, or vacation and my phone would suffice and be what I use anyway. Something else to consider.

[brajaq]

With same performance, desktops are cheaper, more reliable. They may easiliy be upgraded (memory, disks). But you have to buy the screen (my desktop and my screnn were almost the same price about 400 € each)

[AliGW]

With same performance, desktops are cheaper, more reliable. They may easiliy be upgraded (memory, disks). But you have to buy the screen (my desktop and my screnn were almost the same price about 400 € each)

Cheaper - yes. More reliable? Not in my experience. I have had more issues with desktop PCs than laptops (always good, well-known brands), so no longer purchase desktop PCs.

[dl7aht]

DebraB

... and if possible a discrete Nvidia or Radeon graphics card with a minimum of 4GB of memory. These can provide better performance than the entry level Intel Iris XE Cards (see https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compar...9532vsm1268515)

I am surprised to read the recommendation for a discrete graphic card in this post. In ACDSee's official hardware recommendation there is no graphic card mentioned. Are we sure that the software makes use of an discrete graphic card?

[Greyfox]

In ACDSee's official hardware recommendation there is no graphic card mentioned. Are we sure that the software makes use of an discrete graphic card?

From https://www.acdsee.com/en/products/p...mate/features/



From the help file

Nowadays I would be surprised if anyone doing image and/or video editing would not be looking for a decent GPU when purchasing a new PC.