Which version of Lightroom? (Migrating from LR v.6)

Wow.  Thank you for that great answer.  It pretty much covers everything in detail, except one question that I forgot to ask:  Will I be able to access my old LR v6 catalogs using Lightroom Classic? 

Thanks,

Steve

My answers to your questions-

My old lightroom could live on two devices. Can I run Lightroom classic on both the laptop and the desktop with just one license/subscription?

Yes.

If I do any edits on the laptop during the photo sessionn, will the edits move when I migrate the photos to the desktop -

No. The edits will NOT "migrate" from one Classic Catalog to another Classic Catalog.

The situation is the same as two LRv6 installations on two computers.

MULTIPLE COMPUTERS- How to use (Lightroom Queen)

or should I wait until the photos are home and on the desktop?

This will only happen IF you use the 'Cloud' Version of Lightroom on the laptop! Then they will sync up to the Cloud and Download to Classic on the desktop (when Classic has 'Sync' turned on.)

Which version of Lightroom should I use considering this use case?

Lightroom-CLASSIC, IF you want the same situation as you had with LRv6. (See link above re 'Multiple computers)

Lightroom-CLASSIC on the desktop, and Lightroom on the Laptop- if you want the Cloud syncing.

My old lightroom could live on two devices.  Can I run Lightroom classic on both the laptop and the desktop with just one license/subscription?

You can install Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, and Photoshop on as many computers as you want. But, the programs can be only activated on two computers. Also, in theory, you are only supposed to run on one computer at a time . Also the license is for one user, you are not supposed to share.

If I do any edits on the laptop during the photo sessionn, will the edits move when I migrate the photos to the desktop - or should I wait until the photos are home and on the desktop?

I am not into syncing, so I am not the member to answer that. When you get around to trying, make sure you read everything on it.Yes it is possible

Which version of Lightroom should I use considering this use case?

 Adobe Marketing is universally hated for their stupidity, They blundered big time. I will not get into the history of program names and how that has confused many. Instead I will state the following

Lightroom Classic, LrC, currently version 11.0.1. Is what you are used to. It is the direct descendant of Lr v6.It runs on your computer.  It uses a catalog on a hard drive. Can access photos anywhere.

Lightroom, Lr, currently v5.0. Is not what you want. It is also known as Lightroom Ecosystem (Cloud-based), has Adobe nickname Lightroom Desktop, has member Nickname Lightroom Cloudy, and my personal nickname Lr POS. It runs on your computer. It uses an Album stored on the Cloud. It stores photos on the Cloud. In theory, it can be used to sync between different computers (seek separate help on that, not my bailiwick)

Now you acquire Lightroom Classic, and all the Adobe Creative Cloud apps via subscription. This involves selecting and paying for an Adobe Plan. Be aware that Lightroom Classic does not have it's own plan with just Lightroom Classic. That other app, Lightroom, dies, and that fouls many customers up, they want to just migrate from Lr 6 to the subscription, and they get the wrong one.

Lightroom Classic is available via the Adobe Photography Plan. Their are two flavors, a 20GB one and a 1TB one, that is cloud storage that you might not use much. The Photography plan includes Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, Bridge, Adobe Camera RAW, and a few others.

What you do not want is the Adobe Lightroom Plan, just one flavor, 1TB. The Lightroom Plan only includes Lightroom Ecosystem (Could-based)

Some additional info

When you subscribe, you will need to download and install the free Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop App (ACCDA). In the subscription plans, you do not directly install the various applications (normaly) Nor sign in via the applications. That is done via ACCDA. You sign in via ACCDA. The ACCDA is always running in background, leave it alone. Typically you sign in, and leave it as such (unless you have good reason) as signing out will deactivate the applications

ACCDA  is used for (amongst other things) to

• Install the various applications included with your subscription
• Uodate/Upgrade those applications
• Authenticate your subscription status,
• Activate the various applications if account is authenticated
• Deactivate the various applications if authentication fails outside of grace period.
• Deactivate the various applications if you sign out
• Install Adobe add-ins
• Install Adobe Fonts
• others

A note about Adobe Plan payment. You can pay monthly or Annually. Be aware that in either case you are signing up for a year. If paying annually the license authentication grace period is a bit longer. Typically ACCDA will call home, will contact Adobe servers every 30 days to authenticate, if you are without Internet access at that point, a grace period will apply, and ACCDA will keep occasonally trying.

For Lightroo Ecosystem, you do need Internet access. For Lightroom Classic you only need the Internet occasonaly as to check your subscription. A trick for when you ate going on a long trip without Internet is to sign out via ACCDA  then sign in, this forces a authentication check.

The current version of Lightroom Classic is 11.0.1

warmly/j