Brian

What are you actually editing on? A Server of some kind or an actual workstation? Having a quality P/S is a good thing, but choosing the right Video Card AND using the Drivers that Adobe's Products like, such as the NVIDIA Studio Driver - Windows 11, along with having enough RAM is key. Don't forget having a decent cooling setup; Water-Cooled might be a better choice for you than an Air-Based only system. Video Cards that I recommend currently are still NVIDIA's products, usually a RTX 5070 with 12GB VRAM at a Minimum, and if you can swing something like a NVIDIA - GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card - Gun Metal, even better. Especially with Large Panos...which I also do and can totally relate; I often have to divide photos into 3rds and process each separately, then combine them at the end. Otherwise, my system crashes or the fans sound like a Jet taking off. RAM, that's another thing you are going to consider. Unfortunately, with all of the AI Slop and products being diverted to Data Centers, which haven't been built, are driving up the cost. For your needs, I'd look at least getting 96GB of DDR5 EEC RAM, or more. Also, you will need a motherboard that supports ECC. So there's that. CPU? I always used to recommend Intel's Chips, but Intel is being stupid and the latest chips have a flaw, which causes them to short out. Intel says they have released a Motheboard / BIOS Patch, which should take care of the issue, but Chips are still dying and Intel isn't Warranting them. So currently, AMD seems to be a better bet at this point. For your needs, I'd probably recommend a Ryzen 9 9900X/9950X. Power Supply? Yes, you want quality. 850 Watts is the minimum I'd recommend, and I'm going to tell you to invest in a 1000 Watt "Platinum" Power Supply. Here is a Montech Century II 1050W Power Supply. I've also had good luck with EVGA Power Supplies, but I've also seen bad reviews with Customer Service Experience. Of course, you need to take things with a "Grain of Salt," Power Supplies work or they don't and after a period of time, manufacturers will usually tell you to "Pound Sand." Now there is one more thing you need to worry about!!! The Electrical Line Conditioning on the power itself. I highly recommend APC's UPS Sine-Wave products. There is absolutely no sense in building a $5000 Computer, only to use a el-cheapo power strip that's 10 years old purchased from a Big-Box Store. THAT'S JUST STUPID. Here is my UPS that I purchased a few years ago, and is currently sitting at my feet as I type this: APC UPS Back-UPS Pro 1500VA Sinewave UPS, 900W Battery Backup. Not only does that UPS save your ass in the event of a "Power Blip," it also monitors the current coming into your CPU. Now, that UPS is from 2022, and a power supply of 1000 Watts or more, we might need to get a bigger model (something like a 2200VA model.) In any case, you will want one that has "Sine Wave" Technology. Yes. You can buy all the fancy hardware, and still have issues. Plus, not only is Server Grade things more expensive, Photoshop will most likely not take advantage of all that stuff you are throwing at it, there needs to be a balance. In 2026...that $999 Computer Bundle isn't going to cut it when it comes to Photoshop. Likewise, building a Server with a XEON CPU that is meant for SQL Databases is just a waste of money...Photoshop will just ignore all of the extra tech. That's why a i7 CPU was only about 5-7% faster over a i5 about 10 years ago. PS never took advantage of what made a i7 CPU so fast. Personally, I'd recommend a High-End Motherboard, 96GB - 128GB DDR5 ECC RAM, NVIDIA RTX 5080 16GB VRAM, Liquid Cooling, NO STUPID RGB STUFF (you are editing photos and don't need to deal with color casts messing you up,) and a quality IPS-Based Display. HD capacity...at least 1TB, preferably 2TB OR have a 1TB main drive and a 2nd 1TB Drive that is just meant for PS's Scratch Disk. You can tell PS to use the 2nd drive because at the current prices of HDs, you are spending BIG bucks on a 4TB m.2 Drive. Power Supply, probably around 1000 Watts, but 850 Watts is still viable, you just need to get a CPU with higher-grade materials.

It happens.

They should be fine, just as long as it's a IPS Panel. That said, you may have to upgrade your Calibration Device / Software which may not be completely compatible with Mini-LED Lights. Technology just keeps pushing out things and old farts like me must adapt. If you do get a Mini-LED, please report back on how things go and if it calibrates well, matches your physical test prints, etc. Be sure to mention the Make / Model. Thanks!

Are you editing in LR first? This usually happens when doing something like a HDR or Panorama Merge in LR, possibly ACR. If you just opened the file (with no edits what-so-ever,) and it says, "Layer 0" just flatten and it will turn into the Background Layer that you are used to.

IPS stands for In-Plane-Switching. This type of display panel ensures that colors, contrast, sharpness are consistent from corner to corner, which is kinda important for editing photos. If your laptop doesn’t have one, it’s not a huge deal, you will need to purchase an external IPS Display and edit off of that. “That means I’m tied to a Desk!! I must be free!!” Yep. It sucks. This is why I really don’t like Laptops being used for Photo Editing, as 99% of them do not contain IPS Screens. I just got tired of arguing since people have a love-affair with laptops.

Recent Microsoft updates have been causing your exact issue. You can return it, but I’m 80% sure it’s going to happen with another unit, as soon as the crappy windows updates happen. It’s a Windows 11 thing Yes, you should routinely run Windows Update Manually, but not right away; meaning, let others be the Guinea Pigs and not you. For example, I just saw a notice that a recent windows 11 update killed access to hard drives. So lots of computers can’t boot. Lenovo updates are almost never automatic and you should run the Lenovo Update Tool every few months or so. I’m not sure what Lenovo calls their software now, just type Lenovo in the start menu and something should pop up.

The link I just sent...it's in stock. https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadt/thinkpad-t1g-gen-8-16-inch-intel-laptop/21td000mus?orgRef=https%3A%2F%2Fask.damiensymonds.net%2F I just added one to my cart: It's just the 2025 model, which is fine. I'd buy it directly from Lenovo, sooner...rather than later.

That one is close, but it does not contain a IPS Display Panel. For editing photos and such, it NEEDS to be a IPS Based Display. Those suckers are tough to find in a Laptop, so if it's not mentioned in the tech specs, there is a 99.99999999999999999% chance it doesn't have one. I don't care about how fancy the OLED stuff is...it needs to be IPS, ESPECIALLY if you are editing photos.

It should be. At its core, PS is still PS. If you have any weird issues, you can always downgrade and stay at that version. I’m stuck on PS 2023 due to my 2017 iMac. I won’t dare upgrade, no matter how much Adobe Bugs me.

No to either of those! I’m sure money is tight, but a $1000 laptop isn’t going to cut it for today’s modern Photoshop. What is a dead give-away is the “Intel UHD Graphics.” That video card is meant for general computing, wasting time on FB, watching YouTube, Netflix, doing taxes, answering e-mails…everything else BUT Photoshop! Adobe’s products are using the GPU and dedicated Video Memory in order to support all the new AI Slop, fancy tools, and for a performance boost. Hell, even things like ACR use the GPU these days! (Graphics Processing Unit) Photoshop with the Intel UHD Integrated Graphics, will do nothing but complain and give you error after error message, and the lag…the lag will be unbearable. This isn’t CS6, where you could get away with a low-end card; PS has become a REAL Bloated Beast in 2026. Now for the fun part. Since AI is all the rage and companies are jumping on the bandwagon, things like RAM and Storage are going to be priced at a premium since manufactures are catering to them and ignoring the consumer market. Even my beloved Crucial RAM is no more, Micron has shut that part of the business down in order to sell to AI Data-centers. . So expect to pay $3000-$4000 for a Windows Laptop that’s “Good for Photo Editing” in 2026. This is a laptop that you should be looking at for Photoshop in 2026: Lenovo Laptop for Photoshop Now before you ask, no…there really isn’t a cheaper alternative. Everything costs so much in 2026, because things are “Made in China.” So you have Tariffs messing with things. But keep this in mind, Rent is between $1800-$2000 a month, houses that should be $300,000 or less are being sold for $500,000+. A Big Mac Meal used to be $5, now it’s around $14. EVERYTHING IS MORE EXPENSIVE!!! Now with RAM shortages, it’s only going to get worse.

Did you by any chance update ALL the Windows Drivers AND Lenovo Drivers?

No to either of those! I’m sure money is tight, but a $1000 laptop isn’t going to cut it for today’s modern Photoshop. What is a dead give-away is the “Intel UHD Graphics.” That video card is meant for general computing, wasting time on FB, watching YouTube, Netflix, doing taxes, answering e-mails…everything else BUT Photoshop! Adobe’s products are using the GPU and dedicated Video Memory in order to support all the new AI Slop, fancy tools, and for a performance boost. Hell, even things like ACR use the GPU these days! (Graphics Processing Unit) Photoshop with the Intel UHD Integrated Graphics, will do nothing but complain and give you error after error message, and the lag…the lag will be unbearable. This isn’t CS6, where you could get away with a low-end card; PS has become a REAL Bloated Beast in 2026. Now for the fun part. Since AI is all the rage and companies are jumping on the bandwagon, things like RAM and Storage are going to be priced at a premium since manufactures are catering to them and ignoring the consumer market. Even my beloved Crucial RAM is no more, Micron has shut that part of the business down in order to sell to AI Data-centers. . So expect to pay $3000-$4000 for a Windows Laptop that’s “Good for Photo Editing” in 2026.

Too bad, Adobe says you don't have a choice. Since you have a fairly recent Mac, with the M2 chip, you should be "fine." In your case, I'd update to PS CC 26.11.2. PS CC 27.xx.xx is a whole other version with its own set of quirks / problems.

You are right. that ThinkPad T1g Gen 8 Intel (16") is even better, and has current technology. I will warn you, it's on clearance, meaning it's about to be discontinued!!! SO CLICK BUY WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!! Now, before you ask, that T1g Gen 8 isn't "outdated," not by any means, it's just on "Clearance" because Laptop Models / Configurations tend to only last around 90 days or so, before they are replaced with another configuration. Why am I telling you to not wait for the "Gen 9" version? Because of the Display Panel. It's IPS and those are damn hard to find on laptops. Since you are editing photos on said laptop, the screen NEEDS to be IPS Based.

Very Cool!!!