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New Laptop - Request for info

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by SVincent on Sat Nov 09, 2024 6:32 pm

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Hi - I plan to upgrade my 7 year old Dell 15 inch XPS Windows 10 16gb RAM laptop. I have read many of the more recent laptop discussions in this forum to get ideas - other than the latest XPS 15 because I think I really will not like their new XPS 15 keyboard (it doesn't have typical spring-loaded keys and the keys are very close to each other).

Does anyone have experience with this XPS keyboard? Otherwise, I like the idea of Dell for their support relative to other PC companies, generally.

Also, is the Razer Blade 15 still a recommended laptop with an Intel 7i chip, Nvidia 4070, 32gb Ram? With today's AI denoising, I'd like a laptop that can processes 45mb images in seconds and have some longevity when processing gets even heavier. Open to suggestions - thank you!

Edit to add: Typical photo-related usage includes Lightroom (LR Denoise, exporting, masking, etc.), DXO PureRaw, some Photoshop

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by photoman4343 on Sun Nov 10, 2024 11:27 am

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I cannot address the XPS keyboard matter. I gave up on Dell about 10 years ago when I had a XPS laptop they admitted had problems caused by them but would not fix or address.

I am new using a five year old 15 inch Lenovo ThinkPad Extreme X1 laptop with 32 GB Ram and a dedicated GPU (video card) that is now outdated for DXO PL7 Elite if i were to use the most advanced noise reduction offerings. I may replace it with another Lenovo product, maybe from their Legion series. Or maybe a laptop from MSI like the SI 16" Prestige 16 AI Evo Laptop. It comes with two choices for a microprocessor, the Intel Core Ultra 7 or the Core Ultra 9. The Core Ultra 9 model comes with a GPU. The Core Ultra 7 has Arc graphics. I am trying to learn more about the cost/benefits of these two choices.

For travel I much prefer a 14in or 15in laptop, but there are tradeoffs with what you can get on the smaller laptops.

Make sure whatever laptop you want to buy has the ports you need.

I am interested in what others have to say about a new laptop.

Joe Smith

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by E.J. Peiker on Mon Nov 11, 2024 9:11 pm

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The RazerBlades are very fast machines but are better as a desktop replacement than a mobile computer. They tend to weigh a lot as a total system in part due to the large and heavy chargers they require. They also have pretty limited battery life if running the nvidia graphics card which also gets them pretty hot. You really have to go into system an nVidia configuration setting and turn off the discrete graphics card for everything but your imaging applications if you want good battery life. They are very fast though. I've changed to MSI laptop computers personally with Intel ARC graphics. No they aren't nearly as fast as discrete graphics but the performance is surprisingly good and the screens are out of this world. Chargers are much smaller and lighter USB-C chargers making the overall travel weight less than half of the Razer with a 16" screen. In the end it really depends on what you need out of a laptop. Do you want stellar performance and not care so much about battery life or heat, or do you want what will still significantly outperform your old computer but be much lighter with fantastic battery life.

E.J. Peiker http://www.EJPhoto.com
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/EJ-Peiker-Nature-Photographer/

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by SVincent on Tue Nov 12, 2024 1:56 pm

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Thank you E.J. & Joe - really appreciate your feedback.

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by photoman4343 on Tue Nov 12, 2024 2:59 pm

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I just saw a smaller screen version at B&H--
MSI 13.3" Prestige 13 EVO AI+ Laptop (Stellar Gray)

Key Features
2.2 GHz Intel Core Ultra 7 258V 8-Core
32GB LPDDR5x RAM | 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
13.3" 2880 x 1800 OLED Display
Integrated Intel Arc Graphics

Thanks EJ

Joe Smith

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by Wildflower-nut on Thu Nov 21, 2024 5:03 pm

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E.J. Peiker wrote: The RazerBlades are very fast machines but are better as a desktop replacement than a mobile computer. They tend to weigh a lot as a total system in part due to the large and heavy chargers they require. They also have pretty limited battery life if running the nvidia graphics card which also gets them pretty hot. You really have to go into system an nVidia configuration setting and turn off the discrete graphics card for everything but your imaging applications if you want good battery life. They are very fast though. I've changed to MSI laptop computers personally with Intel ARC graphics. No they aren't nearly as fast as discrete graphics but the performance is surprisingly good and the screens are out of this world. Chargers are much smaller and lighter USB-C chargers making the overall travel weight less than half of the Razer with a 16" screen. In the end it really depends on what you need out of a laptop. Do you want stellar performance and not care so much about battery life or heat, or do you want what will still significantly outperform your old computer but be much lighter with fantastic battery life.

could you be a little more specific. the MSI site is not easy to work.

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