16 inch laptop for photo editing

Hardware
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Hi,

I am thinking about getting a new laptop. Currently I have one and it’s ok, 5 years old, dual graphics with Nvidia, sRGB screen, 16 GB of RAM, but I kind of always prefer my desktop, mainly because the laptop only has a 14-inch-screen. Traveling and working simply doesn’t work for me with that laptop.

So I was figuring maybe working on a laptop would be more fun if the screen was a bit larger. So I could e.g. visit relatives/friends abroad for longer time and work at the same time. And of course edit photos (mainly with darktable and RawTherapee), which is kind of also part of my work.

Such a laptop would not be cheap, I am aware of that fact.

What do you think about this one, e.g.:

I think it’s interesting because it has a non-glare-100%-dcip3-screen. And if I understand the specs correctly, charging the battery works via Thunderbolt, so I would probably need a new charging cable and a charger, if I don’t want to carry the original power supply with me which seems to be rather large. Well and of course for charging with a powerbank.

Do you have experience with such hardware? Does it like Linux? I would probably install Kubuntu on it and dual boot it with Windows 11, and probably also some Arch derivative on an external SSD, or leave all Linuxes on the external SSD.

Thanks in advance and best regards from Austria

Anna

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It can be charged using a USB C cable. I have considered* a MSI laptop before, but am not confident in it. I am concerned about packing so much in such a slim form factor. *[The eventual replacement of my decade old budget laptops. :slight_smile:]

Have you considered purchasing a larger portable monitor? You may want a more powerful laptop anyway, so perhaps this is not the path for you.

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Then I have to carry the old laptop + the monitor with me…

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I recently bought a Framework 16, albeit without the dedicated graphics card for a little more than 2000 Eur (DIY edition). That is still more than a “bargain offer” from a big brand, but I like the concept of easy upgradability and reparability.

My system (you can choose other components):
Ryzen™ 7 7840HS
32 GB RAM
1TB NVME
16" Display 2560x1600 anti-glare matte 100% DCI-P3, 165Hz, 500nit
2.1 kg

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Is it fun to work with?

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The start was bad, because the keyboard was broken. Support via E-Mail was fast, but I had to answer many question, test things and send photos. In the end I got a replacement, and I am happy since then.

Display is fine, keyboard is okay, and I also like the touchpad. I did not buy the dedicated graphics card, because its expensive and heavy. darktable with the integrated graphics works fine for me. But it depends on what you plan to do and what you are used to.

Working with the FW16 is definitely more fun than with my old Thinkpad 470s (which is a nice machine). I only use Linux on the Laptop (Arch).

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Consider the weight. Larger screen needs more battery, so more weight. I would also consider a separate laptop portable screen. That way you only carry it for longer trips.

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For shorter trips I use my tablet. On longer trips I don’t need much battery power because I would only use it where I have electricity. The msi laptop I linked to in the first post weights 2 kilograms.

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For the more affluent, the Lenovo P series. Come with a factory-calibrated 16" IPS display, in three possible screen definitions.

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Thanks for the tip. Actually the ThinkBook 16p G5 IRX seems to be interesting, too, and is cheaper than the msi.

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I don’t know whether your location would be a problem (Brexit, spit), but you could always have one built by this company. This would allow you to have the specification that you want.

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I am not sure about this — 15 and 16" laptops are among the cheapest (for a given specs). If you can live with a display of 1920x…, you can get various Asus Vivobook and Lenovo IdeaPad models with this form factor in the €500–800 price range, depending on the amount of RAM (16 or 32, check if you can add it yourself, usually cheaper). These usually have a 0.5 TB SSD, but just pop it out and add a 2TB one or whatever you like (that would set you back about €120, but you can move it to another computer when this one croaks).

The price increases a bit when you have a dedicated graphics solution. I can live without it on the go, but if you need it for Darktable, check the specifics before you buy.

If you want higher res display, the prices go up to about €1300. But then they have higher specs. I would try 15" with 1920x… as a reasonable compromise — with my above-40 eyesight, I cannot notice the difference between this and higher res.

The hardest to find are matte displays. I have an Asus Vivobook with a DCI-P3 screen, and it is vivid as heck. I initially found that a disadvantage when working on photos, I adjusted to it gradually.

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I just bought a 15,6 inch Asus gaming laptop here in Norway. Matte screen, 100% DCI-P3, 2560x1440 and Nvidia RTX 4060. It was on sale for about €1235, full price is a bit more. I love it so far. Darktable flies on it, and this is my first laptop with fully functional suspend and somewhat decent battery life on Linux Mint. Had an old 17 inch before, which became much too big.

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Unless there are separate, dedicated panel settings, I would advise against anything but sRGB display panels. Apple’s macOS is the only color-managed operating system, with Windows and Linux are both behind on that front and you will experience unnecessary difficulty getting ‘predictable’ results.

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… i think the OP will be fine in that regard.

i have worked with an MSI laptop (older now) and battery life is a real issue. when running the nvidia gpu it’s more measured in minutes than hours. not sure i’d get one of these again for travel. also the particular price range here is above my head.

just my 2ct.

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If you’re implying that I meant that OP is somehow incompetent, you are mistaken.
It’s all about needing extra effort working around the shortcomings of the OSes / HW manufacturers.

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Use Xorg, run displaycal, load ICC profile in colors/xatom, load ICC profile in editor app… What am I missing?

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When opting for an ‘extended gamut’ built-in monitor, you will have to accept that only correctly color-managed applications will show your pixels correctly.

Everything outside those color-managed applications will be blasting sRGB through a DCI-P3 panel, which means the colors will be over-saturated (even though the profiles are set correctly)

For example, external monitors usually have different ‘modes’ (the ones you pick with the on-monitor buttons), like sRGB, DCI-P3, etc. Laptops usually do not (which means you’re stuck with a DCI-P3 ‘mode’ forever). So an sRGB pixel of (1, 0, 0) will be output as ‘maximum power’ red on the DCI-P3 panel, on non-color-managed applications (such as some web-browsers, games, desktops, etc. etc.)

A lot of graphics software also, by default, exports sRGB colors, which means that one will always have to attach a monitor profile, and then convert to sRGB (hence my comment about extra friction)

And, if one gets tired of how sporadic good color-management is in software and decides to switch to full-sRGB workflow, one will find it’s barely possible. Setting the profile to sRGB will only make all colors to be over-saturated equally (which is likely better?)

Microsoft are working on it, but only a handful of systems support it, and it might introduce more problems that it will solve (ACM / Automatic Color Management):

There are ways around it, like

or

(But the former two will be at cost to performance, since they have to de-saturate the pixels through software (think ‘overlay’))

Hopefully this helps understanding the ‘issues’ around laptops with non-sRGB panels.

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Thanks. I think I know enough about color management/wide gamut and I think I can handle those issues. Color management is indeed complicated for a lot of people but I think I am not one of them.

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The MSI laptop is not interesting for me any more. Thanks to the tip of one of the guys here, a Lenovo Thinkbook seems more interesting at the moment, I think. Since it can be ordered without Windows, it’s even considerably cheaper.

Well and, by “working while traveling” I don’t mean working while sitting in a train or on a plane, but going to my cousin’s place in Florida or some tiny village in Transylvania (that has proper mobile network reception though) and staying there for 2 months. Obviously, I cannot carry my desktop PC and my 24-inch-wide-gamut-screen to Florida…

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