What's a good laptop?

[DDirector]

I currently have a custom built desktop computer. But I'm going to need to change over to owning a laptop. I a.m. not a computer tech. I don't know what would be needed and what wouldn't be in terms of specs.

I would be editing photos 75% of the time & video 25% of the time. But I will be don't more video in the upcoming months/years, so it will be 50/50 eventually. (1080p-4K)

I'm hoping on spending less than $1500 CAD.
I am okay with a custom built computer (a this will allow me to upgrade I that future) or a factory-built one.

I am from Canada.
What can I get?
What specs do I need?

[jamedia.uk]

You missed out "how big is a moving target?"

What programs do you use for editing photos and video?
This may have a bearing on the choice of computer.

[BrianMurphy]

And the always important: What is your budget?

[DDirector]

Lightroom. Photoshop. Premiere.

[Greg_E]

Nothing in the $1500 range will be really upgradeable. You'll need to move into a higher price range to get something that has a graphics card that you can replace/upgrade. Processor is almost always soldered in place on machines in that price range. Amount of RAM will be whatever they give you, but probably only two sockets. You'll be on an i-series processor, none of the Xeon based laptops are even close to $1500 (unless things changed very recently).

[Jim Feeley]

A friend has been through a few ASUS gaming laptops and likes them as a breed. He's a staff shooter & sometime editor for his state-wide PBS group. Also does some work on the side. I've seen him cut HD in Premiere on them while on the road... Seems to work well (and he's a good editor). Also seem to hold up fairly well. Here's the rundown of the options from ASUS USA:

https://www.asus.com/us/Notebooks/Ga...ries-Products/

I'm leaning towards getting one, too. Lots of options for screen size & resolution, RAM, drives, etc. But you can get real work done on a sub-$1500 laptop. I'm leaning towards:

UHD screen (maybe)
32GB RAM
SSD boot drive
spinning data/footage drive (though I may shift my drive choices around).

[nyvz]

What screen size?

Get the latest specs, i7-7700hq or higher cpu, gtx1060 or higher, 4GB+ VRAM, thunderbolt3. And for sure before you buy anything, look on notebookcheck.net and see how the screen rates. Be sure the screen at least covers sRGB is has good viewing angles (must be IPS really) and has ~1000:1 contrast.

I have last generation Acer V Nitro Black which is a very cost-effective laptop with quite a good screen. Better specs than a Macbook Pro for $800. I looked at some ROGs but they seemed kind of overpriced and ugly, and again check the screen carefully since low latency gaming TN screens are terrible for color accuracy.

If you want top specs and don't mind a big heavy "laptop" (desktop cpu/gpu, user upgradeable) maybe look at sager/clevo?

[nyvz]

https://www.techbargains.com/deal/43...-xps-15-laptop

Not a bad option if you want something high mid range and quite portable. Comparable to MacBook pro.

[DDirector]

What are the most important specs to be looking for?

[Batutta]

What are the most important specs to be looking for?

If editing 4k, you'll need a Quad Core processor and at least 8gb ram. A dedicated graphics card with at least 2GB VRAM would be ideal as well, although the newer integrated graphics chips are getting better and better, so they might be able to handle 4k video. Probably any Apple laptop, even the cheapest, could handle any flavour of 1080p video just fine. I used to edit on a macmini up until a few years ago, but upgraded for 4k. Thunderbolt is nice but not really necessary. I edit mostly off USB 3 drives.

[DDirector]

How do I know if it's quad-core if it doesn't say specifically?

So, anything:
i7-6700+
GTX 1050+
4GB VRAM
16GB RAM

Is that all I need to make sure?
Which is the most important feature to have over the other?

[Greg_E]

If it doesn't have a "Q" at the end of the numbers, it isn't a quad core. Ideally you want an "HQ" processor, the H is high performance (or something like that). Assuming your normal application make use of the graphics card, then having a better graphics card can be more important than a CPU. But knowing how these "mixed mode" GPU's work, I would go with reasonable GPU and best CPU available. The "mixed mode" is what nVidia once called the Optimus feature, uses the Intel GPU for battery saving and switches to nVidia when an application needs horsepower or is 3D. I've had mixed results with this Optimus technology which can include audio/video sync issues. Set the sync on the Intel processor and then manually switch to nVidia and the sync is suddenly off (or go the other way too).

Discrete graphics cards are better in this regard because they never involve the integrated GPU, but this isn't a hard and fast rule with laptops as they all strive for battery life and often leverage the lowest power device when possible.

[Capt Quirk]

I will avoid Asus, had a real issue years ago, could never get support on it. I am also now the owner of an Acer, and that will never happen again. As far as processors go, I am a die hard AMD fan. Had a new processor go south on me, it was a 2100mhz, and suddenly became a 1500mhz. The shop I had build the machine tried to tell me it was because I had a 1500 in my machine, even though they sold me the 2100. AMD said to send in the chip, a new one was on the way. Doubt you would get that with Intel.

[DDirector]

Gotcha.
Im looking through Canada Computers, and I found this..
Seems decent.

MSI
15.6"
True Colour IPS
Intel Core i7-6700HQ
16GB DDR4 (2x8GB -- Expandable to 32GB)
128GB SSD + 1TB HDD
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060

Around $1,650 - $1,850

[Greg_E]

That should be decent.