Dell XPS 15 9500 Display

[Shannikk]

I've been looking to get a new laptop for work, and wanted something that I might be able to run photoshop on as well.  I'm looking at a Dell.  All of the specs seem to be in line with what you recommend (10th gen i7 8 core, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB solid state).  I've read that this is a good laptop for editing, but wondering about what display to choose.  The option is a 15.6" FHD+ (1920 x 1200) InfinityEdge Non-Touch Anti-Glare 500-Nit Display or a 15.6" UHD+ (3840 x 2400) InfinityEdge Touch Anti-Reflective 500-Nit Display.  I would usually go for the UHD, but since it is OLED I fear burn in, and have also heard to avoid touch screens at all cost.  Would you recommend either, or do you feel both are still not good enough for editing.  Thanks for the help!!

[Shannikk]

Actually I was wrong.  Neither is OLED so that's not an issue.

 

[Brian]

It's really the display panel type more than anything. It's very easy to fall for the marketing terms, I don't care if it makes you breakfast in the morning, your laptop's internal display NEEDS to be IPS Based. (aka In-Plane Switching.) Often manufacuters will install the cheaper TN (Twisted Neumatic) display panels, which have a quicker response time, thereby being better suited for video games, but when it comes to Photographs and Video, IPS is the only way to go. Sadly, finding a IPS-Based Laptop is a real PITA. You will find laptops that meet all of my recommendations, but then you get to the display panel and it's usually TN, which disqualifies it.

In case your are wondering, IPS panel technology helps insure things like Color, Contrast, and Sharpness are consistent from edge to edge. Plus the viewing Angle is much better; usually around 170 Degrees or so. TN panels don't do this. They are great for general computing and not photo editing or video editing.

If you can't find a laptop that has a IPS panel, you would then need to consider purchasing an external IPS based Display AND use a digital dort, like HDMI or DisplayPort to get the most out of your external display. Don't EVER use the old 15-pin Blue VGA Ports, those were meant for 20" CRT (Tube) Displays, not today's fancy flat-screens.

[Brian]

OLED will most certainly give you burn-in problems. They have gotten better, but even fancy top-of-the-line LG OLED Displays have warnings printed in their manuals. I'd stick with LED for a computer display, Getting a IPS Screen will be more than enough. Remember, you aren't watching movies, you are editing photos. You need to see detail in the blacks / shadows.

[Shannikk]

Good news!! Both screens are IPS 170 degrees, 85/85/85/85.  The colour gamit on the FHD is 72% NTSC typical, and 100% adobe minimum on the 4K UHD.  Pixels aon the FHD are 2 million and change, 8 million and change on the UHD.  PPI on FHD is 141, UHD is 282.  Like I said, UHD is touch screen as well, and don't know if that is a detriment or bonus.  Do either of these look like something usable?  

[Brian]

Touch Screens traditionally are a bitch to calibrate. Though some have reported little to no problems in this dept. That said, I personally would rather not edit with fingerprints on my display. I'm also more interested in the Color Gamut when it comes to sRGB, because that's the mode you will be editing in. Regardless on what you read on the internet, and everyone always seems to say "ADOBE RGB!!" The truth is, as soon as you export to JPEG, by default...JPEG is sRGB. So why spend all that time in Adobe RGB when the final output is sRGB? That's why Damien and I recommend sRGB. You want color consistency, from ACR --> to PS --> to JPEG.

So what do I recommend for sRGB? About 90% or better. Especially 95%+ for sRGB.

[Shannikk]

So would you say the FHD is better because it's not touch screen (honestly, I don't even know how the 72% NTSC typical relates to sRGB)?  Also, I think I totally bought a camera way out of my league (Nikon D850), but saw somewhere that you recommend 64 GB of RAM to run photoshop when working on the monster files this thing produces.

So I guess my final questions are 1) which screen would you choose out of the two above and 2) 32 or 64 GB of RAM.

Thanks again for all of the help 

[Brian]

1 hour ago, Shannikk said:

Also, I think I totally bought a camera way out of my league (Nikon D850), but saw somewhere that you recommend 64 GB of RAM to run photoshop when working on the monster files this thing produces

Oh yeah. Even at 40GB on my fancy 2017 iMac those files didn't really "flow" that well in PS until I upgraded to 64GB. I just shot my son's Engagement Photos yesterday and I took my D4s, since it's better in low light (and it's faster.) I edited some of those D4s files today and the difference between a 20MB Raw file and a 100MB Raw file is quite obvious. Also, when it comes to a D850...you need the best glass to go with it. That stupid camera has costed me so much money. I had to buy the newer 24-70 f/2.8E and a 70-200 f/2.8 E lens just to feed those 45MPs.

If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have purchased a D850 and held off buying anything. Oh well. My next body will probably be a Mirrorless.

As far as the laptop, I would go for the non-touch display. Thinks also don't always scale correctly when using 4K on a 15" screen, everything is so tiny until you tweak things. The issue really is with the damn laptops itself, I'm not a fan at all for people using them for photo editing. But people still want them and they keep asking. If you really want a dead-on editing screen, use a calibrated external display.