STBear

With a budget of around $800 I am looking at a Dell Studio 14 laptop to use for photo editing and web surfing. No gaming. I plan on using Lightroom 3, Nikon View NX and Photoshop Elements. I don't do a lot of post processing but want to start. I am looking at an I5-450 processor with 6G of RAM or an I5 520 with 4G of RAM. Any suggestions as to which combo would be best. Is it better to have a faster processor or more RAM. I have a 2209 WA monitor I will be hooking up to it for editing when at home.

Thanks.

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JDtech

I would steer you toward the business-class Latitude series. For about the same money you can get the Latitude 6410, which is more rugged.

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STBear

Thanks. I'll take a look at the Latitude series.

Ken-L

A Latitude would be nicer, but with Core i5, 4GB RAM, you would have only a 160GB HD at a price just over $900.

With a Core i5 and 4GB of RAM, your $800 budget does put you in a Dell Studio Laptop.

Dell Studio 15
Price$789.99

COLORS Black Chainlink
PROCESSORS Intel® Core™ i5-450M (2.4-2.66Ghz, 3M/4 threads)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
HARD DRIVE 500GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
BATTERY OPTIONS 56 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
VIDEO CARD Intel® HD Graphics
WIRELESS CARDS Intel© Centrino© Advanced-N 6200
HD DISPLAY 15.6” High Definition (720p) LED Display with TrueLife™ and Camera
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X Slot Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.2
KEYBOARD Standard Keyboard
MOBILE CONNECTIVITY Internal Mobile Broadband not included

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Jon Foster

I'd have to say go with a business class machine as well. We do a lot more service on the lower end systems like the Studio's.

On the other hand we sell a lot of the cheaper MSI notebooks in the $550 - $600 range. They are turning out to be pretty strong contenders and won't break the bank.

Jon.

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STBear

Thanks all. The Latitudes are a little more expensive. I am checking out the outlet store.

I hadn't heard of MSI. I'll take a look but I have had good expierencies with Dell over the years and had planned to stick with them.

Ken-L

I just looked at the MSI site, and was dissappointed that they do not offer any product with Windows 7 Professional, which is what I want in any system I buy.

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Jon Foster

Right now it's a bit hard to find Win 7 Pro on anything with a lower end price range. And if you are looking for a 17" display it's even harder for some reason.

Jon.

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Ken-L

I found Pro on a 15.6", here's the thread: Heresy: I'm about to leave Dell!

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"An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way." - Bukowski