Laptop for FiL
Discussion
Hi all. I m well out of date with non Mac hardware but FiL has asked me to source him a new windows laptop.
£1000 budget.
He s a heavy photoshop user and wants a 4tb internal hard drive to store all his raw photos. Is an M.2 the latest thing to have?? I see there s some 4tb for around £200 but do these things fit laptops? How would I go about installing windows on it, or would I use it as ‘photo’ storage only?
Won t be playing games, and has a good monitor so screen not that important.
Any recommendations?
£1000 budget.
He s a heavy photoshop user and wants a 4tb internal hard drive to store all his raw photos. Is an M.2 the latest thing to have?? I see there s some 4tb for around £200 but do these things fit laptops? How would I go about installing windows on it, or would I use it as ‘photo’ storage only?
Won t be playing games, and has a good monitor so screen not that important.
Any recommendations?
Edited by audi321 on Friday 6th June 20:25
You say laptop but as he'll be using an external monito would a mini PC work for him?
I've been using a Geekom IT12 for two years and it's been flawless. Loads of ports and can have an additional 2.5" or M2 SSD installed internally (very easy to do BTW).
Latest is their IT13:
GEEKOM Mini PC Mini IT13 2025 Edition, 13th Gen Intel i9-13900HK Mini Computers (up to 5.4 GHz), 32GB DDR4 2TB M.2 NVMe Gen4*4 SSD Desktop Computer | Windows 11 Pro | 8K Iris Xe Graphics | USB4.0 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F2H755G8?psc=1&r...
I'd buy again without hesitation.
I've been using a Geekom IT12 for two years and it's been flawless. Loads of ports and can have an additional 2.5" or M2 SSD installed internally (very easy to do BTW).
Latest is their IT13:
GEEKOM Mini PC Mini IT13 2025 Edition, 13th Gen Intel i9-13900HK Mini Computers (up to 5.4 GHz), 32GB DDR4 2TB M.2 NVMe Gen4*4 SSD Desktop Computer | Windows 11 Pro | 8K Iris Xe Graphics | USB4.0 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F2H755G8?psc=1&r...
I'd buy again without hesitation.
If he takes it to a camera club on a weekly basis, why is the screen not important? Do they have decent ones to connect to at the camera club?
M2 is just a form factor. Doesn t really mean anything other than the storage will be on a flat pcb (of differing sizes) that you can slot in and out internally. Just make sure they match in size.
I d start looking at gaming and workstations for laptops with a spare m2 card slot. Separate out the OS install from the photo storage. That way if his collection grows, he can just replace one SSD, keep the rest of the machine intact.
What a palava to buy a brand new laptop, clone the disk over etc. If it has issues, they might want you to stick the original SSD back in for warranty support etc.
M2 is just a form factor. Doesn t really mean anything other than the storage will be on a flat pcb (of differing sizes) that you can slot in and out internally. Just make sure they match in size.
I d start looking at gaming and workstations for laptops with a spare m2 card slot. Separate out the OS install from the photo storage. That way if his collection grows, he can just replace one SSD, keep the rest of the machine intact.
What a palava to buy a brand new laptop, clone the disk over etc. If it has issues, they might want you to stick the original SSD back in for warranty support etc.
Edited by wyson on Sunday 8th June 19:27
Na, for heavyweight photoshop, I’d be looking at 32GB RAM and 45w processor as well, but that depends on his workflow, if he is using lots of layers, the megapixelage of his camera etc.
And I’d be looking at a colour accurate screen.
But suddenly the machine is looking like a £2k, not £1k machine, and I'm making a lot of assumptions.
And I’d be looking at a colour accurate screen.
But suddenly the machine is looking like a £2k, not £1k machine, and I'm making a lot of assumptions.
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