Laptop Advice Request

I retired a little over 4 years ago, and now spend 6 mo’s / year traveling in our Motorhome.  At the time, I asked for advice re: a laptop that would serve as my primary photo editing machine.  I took EJ’s advice, got a Lenovo Thinkpad W540, and it’s served me well.  Its better than my desktop at home, which is seeing very little use as anything but a photocopier!  The Lenovo is getting a little long in the tooth, and my wife has gotten into nature photography, so it’s become a timeshare situation. I think I’m looking at 2 new machines! On top of that, I’d like something that can handle the Topaz programs.  I know I want a Tb of storage, I (think I) know I want as much RAM as possible, but beyond that?  I’m not very knowledgeable about computers; specs on graphics cards, processors, etc are all Greek to me.

- The Lenovo OLED display sounds awesome, but it’s really pricey, and I’ve been satisfied with my existing display.
- Machine will primarily be used for PS, as well as web browsing, email, etc.  I’m not at all into gaming or video.
- Performance and durability far outweigh weight concerns.  I’m not interested in paying extra for Carbon Fiber.
- Again, Greek to me - I currently have 32 GB of RAM, and an “Intel Core i7-4930MX CPU @ 3.00 GHz 3.20 GHz” - I’d guess that that’s a dinosaur by today’s standards, but I sure don’t want performance inferior to my existing machine.
- I can’t say “price is no object”, but I’m not looking to cheap out

I’m not interested in Apple (for a number of reasons).

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!  TIA

I'm recommending the Razer Blade 15" model these days:
https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/razer-blade

Wow, never knew laptops could do the 144Hz and 240Hz refresh rates. I just purchased a 144Hz monitor for gaming only for my desktop, those added frames per second gaming make a huge difference.

EJ - would you still prefer a custom desktop from puget over one of the Razer desk tops?

Again, I plead ignorance and dependence on the kindness of “strangers” to help me spend my money. . .
Reading reviews, I’m a little wary of the Razer, and I’ve had a good run with the Lenovo, so I’m thinking about the ThinkPad P53s, but I’m not sure about the need for / desirability of these options for my needs:

 The following “8th generation Intel Core processors:
-i5-8365U w/ vPro (1.60 GHz, up to 4.10 GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 6 MB Cache)
-i7 8565U (1.80 GHz,  up to 4.60 GHz w/ Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 MB Cache)
-i7 8665U w/ vPro  (1.90 GHz up to 4.80 GHz w/ Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 MB Cache)
*The i7 8665U Processor will be upgraded automatically to 16GB onboard memory for an additional amount
EDIT: The DeNoise system requirements page recommends i7 or greater, 4GHz and above - “minimum” is i5, 3 GHz and above

My current setup is 3 GHz 3.2 GHz (???), I don’t have a clue re: “Turbo Boost”, the numbers concern me. . . .

Selectable memory DIMM
-8, 16, or 32 GB DDR4 2400 MHz

Graphics Card:
The NVIDIA QUADRO P520 2GB will be fine for the Topaz AI photo editing programs?
EDIT: The Topaz DeNoise system requirements page says “2GB dedicated VRAM (GTX 740 or greater)” falls under “minimum - expect slow performance, large files (however that’s defined?) may cause crashing”

Again, thank you!

Edit - I still plead ignorance (if you’re not already convinced), but this doesn’t look good to me

Eia wrote:EJ - would you still prefer a custom desktop from puget over one of the Razer desk tops?

Yes.  This thread is about laptops though

Craig,

Your current machine has a 4th generation i7 while the new ones generally have 8th or 9th generation i7.  You can't compare the clock speed across the generations.  A current generation 1.8GHz processor can easily be faster than a 4 generation 3.2GHz processor.  Also the memory in a current machine will be two or more times as fast.  Basically, get the fastest i7, preferably 9th generation (but 8th gen is still OK), that you can afford and get 32GB of RAM if possible that is at least 2667MHz in speed.  As for graphics, get discrete graphics not Intel Iris graphics.  Consider 4GB of VRAM a floor and going as high as 8GB of VRAM is a benefit.

Thank you for taking the time to explain! I’ll have to revisit the Lenovo site, then maybe revisit the RazerBlade too; I mentioned some concerning reviews, (mainly about temp/heat), but my current W540 gets pretty warm, too, and I do trust your judgement over some random person griping on the Internet.

Craig, at the Lenovo site, check out the ThinkPad Extreme 1 laptops. They come in different configurations on hardware and screen resolutions. I purchased a 15 inch model a year ago that has 32GB Ram, a 1 TB SSD, and a video card with 4 GB Ram. I have had no issues with it.

photoman4343 wrote:Craig, at the Lenovo site, check out the ThinkPad Extreme 1 laptops. They come in different configurations on hardware and screen resolutions. I purchased a 15 inch model a year ago that has 32GB Ram, a 1 TB SSD, and a video card with 4 GB Ram. I have had no issues with it.

Do you run the newer Topaz AI programs on it?  If so, how long does it take to DeNoise and sharpen a file?  (I’m strictly amateur, I doubt I’ll have a file >50 Mb in the foreseeable future, if ever.)
We’re on the road, kind of “in Limbo” right now, so I’m taking my time and not jumping on a new purchase.  I love the Think Pad, but it’s got a few years under its belt - it currently does what I need, but I’m afraid to sink too much $ into storage upgrades, and i don’t think I can upgrade the video to handle Topaz.  
Thanks.

Craig Lipski wrote:

photoman4343 wrote:Craig, at the Lenovo site, check out the ThinkPad Extreme 1 laptops. They come in different configurations on hardware and screen resolutions. I purchased a 15 inch model a year ago that has 32GB Ram, a 1 TB SSD, and a video card with 4 GB Ram. I have had no issues with it.

Do you run the newer Topaz AI programs on it?  If so, how long does it take to DeNoise and sharpen a file?  (I’m strictly amateur, I doubt I’ll have a file >50 Mb in the foreseeable future, if ever.)
We’re on the road, kind of “in Limbo” right now, so I’m taking my time and not jumping on a new purchase.  I love the Think Pad, but it’s got a few years under its belt - it currently does what I need, but I’m afraid to sink too much $ into storage upgrades, and i don’t think I can upgrade the video to handle Topaz.  
Thanks.

Along those lines, I did a little test using AI Sharpen on an out of focus 61 megapixel image using the focus module:
- 8th generation i7 at 3.6GHz using Intel UHD620 graphics - 51 minutes
- 8th generation i7 at 3.6GHz usin nVidia GEForce 1080 grahics - 49 seconds
- 9th generation i7 at 4.2Ghz using Intel UHD630 graphics - 39 minutes
- 9th generation i9 at 4.5GHz using nVidia Quadro 4000 graphics - 31 seconds

In other words, the graphics card makes an insane amount of difference...

I can’t find anything (that I can understand) re the Quadro t1000 or t2000 - both are 4Gb, and available as options on a unit I’m looking at; thoughts?

Craig Lipski wrote:I can’t find anything (that I can understand) re the Quadro t1000 or t2000 - both are 4Gb, and available as options on a unit I’m looking at; thoughts?

Both will be fine but the t2000 is better as you would expect.

My tentative plan:

Lenovo ThinkPad P53 Mobile Workstation

15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, anti-glare with Dolby Vision™ HDR 400, 500 nits

9th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-9750H (2.60GHz, up to 4.50GHz with Turbo Boost, 6 Cores, 12MB Cache)

Windows 10 Pro 64

32GB DDR4 2666MHz (2 or 3 Qs here: I can get 1 32 GB RAM  or 2 16s - I’m guessing 1 big card or 2 smaller?  Same price - is one option preferable?  I can also get 64 GB for considerably more money - for my use as described in the OP, is this advisable?)

1TB SSD PCIe

NVIDIA® Quadro® T2000 4GB

Any red flags or suggestions here?

Thanks in advance

If you get the single 32GB, the upgrade to 64 will be a lot cheaper as you just need one module, where if you go with two 16GB and you ever want to upgrade, you will need two 32GB modules.

Looks like an excellent system.

E.J. Peiker wrote:If you get the single 32GB, the upgrade to 64 will be a lot cheaper as you just need one module, where if you go with two 16GB and you ever want to upgrade, you will need two 32GB modules.

Looks like an excellent system.

Thank you!

Upgrade it yourself for $170
https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/ct3 ... ct15399071

E.J. Peiker wrote:Upgrade it yourself for $170
https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/ct3 ... ct15399071

$295 for Lenovo to do it - a significant difference if I end up buying 2.  Is it as easy as open up the laptop, plug it in, and I’m good to go?  Paying someone to do it would obviously cut into savings.  I (think I) know that more RAM is almost always better; how would i see the difference based on my OP?  And, with that, I hope I’m done being so needy here!

Craig Lipski wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:Upgrade it yourself for $170
https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/ct3 ... ct15399071

$295 for Lenovo to do it - a significant difference if I end up buying 2.  Is it as easy as open up the laptop, plug it in, and I’m good to go?  Paying someone to do it would obviously cut into savings.  I (think I) know that more RAM is almost always better; how would i see the difference based on my OP?  And, with that, I hope I’m done being so needy here!

I just looked it up and it is not an easy upgrade.  Stupid computer design
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIgk6pvZTac

the upgrade process would be the same for you.

E.J. Peiker wrote:

Craig Lipski wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:Upgrade it yourself for $170
https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/ct3 ... ct15399071

$295 for Lenovo to do it - a significant difference if I end up buying 2.  Is it as easy as open up the laptop, plug it in, and I’m good to go?  Paying someone to do it would obviously cut into savings.  I (think I) know that more RAM is almost always better; how would i see the difference based on my OP?  And, with that, I hope I’m done being so needy here!

I just looked it up and it is not an easy upgrade.  Stupid computer design
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIgk6pvZTac

the upgrade process would be the same for you.

That actually doesn’t look too intimidating to me - so long as it’s “plug and play” and I don’t have to mess around with telling the computer what to do with it.  Thanks again for all your help!