The Wife's Christmas present: Which tablet, hybrid, or notebook to use?

[PopV]

Greetings,

Although I use Photoshop and PrPr daily, I'm strictly a desktop guy and know little to nothing about portable options.

My wife has a growing photography portfolio and wants to start submitting stock. She would probably start using Lightroom for editing, but may move up to Photoshop if she gets comfortable.

Therefore, I'd like to read your opinions on a halfway decent editing package that won't break the bank. Hybrid tablets with digitized screens, such as the Surface 4 Pro or one of the Lenova products? I need something that will take pen input and not overwhelm her.

~$1500 is the max budget for this purchase.

Thanks!

[Moved from non-technical Forum Lounge to Hardware forum... Mod]

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[JFPhoton]

You are in the wrong forum.....this is for Premiere Pro and concerns hardware for video editing. Better to seek info from Photoshop users. Still photography should naturally not require as "beefy" a machine as for current video editing, however, it may require good components rather than pedestrian types.

[PopV]

My post was moved without my knowledge or permission. I originally posted in "The Lounge" which is described as: Welcome to an area dedicated for you to chat about topics that don't directly relate to product help and support.

I assumed, because I was not asking for Adobe support, The Lounge forum was the appropriate place to ask.

********** To whoever chose to move my post, this is not about Premiere Pro. If you're going to move me to a hardware forum, it should be Lightroom, or maybe Photoshop.

[Brad Lawryk]

Not sure on who moved it but you had originally posted in the correct forum. I'll have it moved back for you.

But to answer your question, my wife loves the 'Surface Pro' that I got for her. I personally hate it, but she loves it. And as us married guys know ... a happy wife is a happy life. 😉

[MichaelKazlow · Accepted solution]

Moved the post back to the Lounge.

My recommendation is to give her an IOU and get her a Surface Studio next Christmas. Looks like a sweet machine if you want hands on tablet. The problem I have with the Surface Pro, Yogas and such is their small screen size. I could live with it if I had a nice large monitor to attach as a 2nd screen. But I am spoiled with a 27" main screen and a tiny 20" second monitor.

[PopV]

Thanks Brad and Michael for taking the time to reply.

I've spent a while today looking at the available options. I think the decision would be much easier if for some inexplicable reason HP hadn't dropped the digitized screen in their (2016) Spectre x360 (it was in their previous model). Unless there's something else I'm missing, that leaves the Surface Pro and the Lenovo Yoga X1 with me leaning towards the latter.

And I'm with the both of you...I couldn't work for very long on one of those things. I have two 27s and a wide 22" that I work on. But, who knows, maybe propping my feet up and sitting in a more comfortable chair would be a nice diversion.

Thanks again, fellows.

[Nancy OShea]

I would start with min-requirements to run the software she'll be using most.  Keep in mind that min-requirements are not always optimal for best performance.   Memory, memory, memory is king.

System requirements | Adobe Creative Cloud

System requirements for Photoshop Lightroom for Mac and Windows OS

Photoshop system requirements

Nancy

[PopV]

Thanks, Nancy.

Day two of my search reveals I am now leaning towards the Asus Transformer 3 Pro. The specs are nice:

- i7

- 16GB RAM

- 512 GB M2 SSD

- Extra Wide Gamut 3k screen (121% sRGB)

- active pen (wacom digitizer)

Price is a bit more than I wanted to spend (~$1500.00)

I'll sleep on it tonight and decide tomorrow.

[PopV]

I realized I had not awarded a "Correct Answer" winner, so after much thought I decided to give it to Michael for having the temerity to suggest I give my wife an IOU for Christmas.

[macanica]

Hey PopV I would also recommend a ipad pro. I personally use it for web design and it is great for the price. Buy the apple pencil and boom everything you wanted for about $1200.00.

Downside: It is not a full fledged computer but adobe does a great job making all their mobile apps.

Upside: The mobile apps are easier to use since they have only the most important features. Also depending on how good your wife is with computers an ipad may be beneficial for her since you can't get viruses.

If you want a full fledged mobile computer I would also recommend the surface book or the surface studio.