Laptop as desktop, also Photo Editing

gonegreynow · 20 Jan 2026 at 11:42

Morning all,
My 14 year old I5 desktop is on its last legs now, although I have managed to lock in W10 security updates until late 2026.
So, I not only need a replacement ‘desktop’ but due to issues connected with getting older, I need to find a way of being able to work on a huge back log of digital photos in the lounge. I’ve now realised that my days of sitting at a computer, locked away upstairs, spending hours in Lightroom are over.
If I can’t bring the process downstairs where my most comfy chair is, nothing is going to get done. I’ve accepted that now.
The logical choice seems to be a laptop but it would also need to double as my main desktop. To begin with, I can see it used as a desktop, lid closed, 80% of the time.
Any thoughts/suggestions would be very welcome as I seem to be going round in circles.
I’ve gone windows>mac>windows and along the way, I’ve even come up with bonkers thoughts of an IMAC and moving it around the house! That’s how desperate I now am to arrive at some sort of a decision.
Main requirements would be;
Wide Colour gamut for photos
Sufficiently good integrated graphics to run Lightroom
Min IPS screen
Absolute max budget £950, preferably less.
Expandability of RAM/Storage preferable.

Many thanks

sandys · 20 Jan 2026 at 23:14

In your comfy chair are you working on a screen that's down there already or expecting to work on your lap?

Just wondering as comfy lounge chairs generally aren't great for working and generally touchpads and lappy keyboards aren't the best for editing, so will you have two work areas?

Due to age, do you anticipate strength issues, will you need to limit size and weight of said machine for portability/handling?

gonegreynow · 21 Jan 2026 at 00:17

sandys said:
In your comfy chair are you working on a screen that's down there already or expecting to work on your lap?

Just wondering as comfy lounge chairs generally aren't great for working and generally touchpads and lappy keyboards aren't the best for editing, so will you have two work areas?

Due to age, do you anticipate strength issues, will you need to limit size and weight of said machine for portability/handling?

Thanks for the reply.
I have a wonderfully comfortable ‘Stressless” chair. I’ve just managed to get hold of an adjustable laptop table - purpose made for the chair - and I’ve just started to see if I can get comfortable with a laptop on the table ( borrowing my wife’s laptop).
So, I can now sit, slightly reclined, with laptop at arms length, no weight or heat on knees/lap as the laptop is supported by the table.
if this moves forward, it will only be the one work area, i.e. the chair. The only other screen I have in the lounge is the TV.
Weight not an overriding concern although, if possible, I’d choose a lighter laptop.

sandys · 22 Jan 2026 at 20:25

I was thinking about this and I think you could almost buy any of the run out 2025 models and it is going to do an amazing job compared to a 14yr i5, laptops now have all the cores, so much fast RAM and fast storage, it's going to be another level.

I guess the only sticking points really will be the quality of screen and the interface, for example the type of keyboard and touchpad you'd like to use and the screen quality, I think you'd need to do a touchy feely session really.

I think after that it is choosing the amount of RAM you need, many laptops now have soldered RAM, so you get what you get once you go slim and light and you'd need to pick something with SODIMMs if you want upgradeability. How much do you need and what storage levels?

After than I guess the only other thing to think about is whether you need a particular GPU for accelerated processing in your apps.

gonegreynow · 22 Jan 2026 at 22:01

sandys said:
I was thinking about this and I think you could almost buy any of the run out 2025 models and it is going to do an amazing job compared to a 14yr i5, laptops now have all the cores, so much fast RAM and fast storage, it's going to be another level.

I guess the only sticking points really will be the quality of screen and the interface, for example the type of keyboard and touchpad you'd like to use and the screen quality, I think you'd need to do a touchy feely session really.

I think after that it is choosing the amount of RAM you need, many laptops now have soldered RAM, so you get what you get once you go slim and light and you'd need to pick something with SODIMMs if you want upgradeability. How much do you need and what storage levels?

After than I guess the only other thing to think about is whether you need a particular GPU for accelerated processing in your apps.

Thank you again for taking the time to reply.
Co-incidentally, and after spending far too much time checking out laptop specs on-line, I reached virtually the same conclusion.
When I think of all the times over the years that I’ve said to people looking for a camera “go into a camera shop and see how the camera feels in the hand”, I suddenly realised that I needed to do exactly the same with a laptop. And so I popped into a high street store earlier today and had a play with several laptops in my price range. I’m glad I did - the feel of the keyboard became one of the more important things.
I’ve now arrived at a small list of manufacturers/models and am fairly sure I’d be happy with any of them.
The one thing which has proved the most difficult to identify is the colour gamut of the screen. Sometimes buried several pages down on the spec sheet.
I was quite shocked how many laptops offer 45% NTSC which is no good for photo editing. I know I need to take care here.
Initially, I was obsessed with not having soldered RAM but then I started thinking how likely it would be, in reality, of me wanting to upgrade. And the answer is, probably not a lot!
The GPU will have to be an IGPU and I’m happy I know which of the Ryzen/Intel options would suit. (Intel ARC/Radeon 840/860).
Hopefully I’m just a few small steps away from buying something.
Thanks again.

cokecan · 23 Jan 2026 at 11:49

Given you're used both Windows and Mac over the years for this work, I hear the newer M4 based MacBook Air's are incredibly capable with Lightroom. The displays are decent and certainly considered "good enough" for colour accuracy and have arguably fairly decent keyboards/trackpads. Based on your expected use case, I'd guess you're in the market for a 15" display. That one starts a little bit higher than your budget (£1,199) and is the bottom end spec. You'd likely want a bit more RAM at the very least so this may be a non-starter given the price increase. I don't know what your storage requirements are here (e.g. do you have a NAS or network shares available with your photos/libraries on?) so the base storage may also not be adequate but given the price to increase it, a TB/USB-c storage may be an option...though certainly not as neat.

gonegreynow · 23 Jan 2026 at 11:59

cokecan said:
Given you're used both Windows and Mac over the years for this work, I hear the newer M4 based MacBook Air's are incredibly capable with Lightroom. The displays are decent and certainly considered "good enough" for colour accuracy and have arguably fairly decent keyboards/trackpads. Based on your expected use case, I'd guess you're in the market for a 15" display. That one starts a little bit higher than your budget (£1,199) and is the bottom end spec. You'd likely want a bit more RAM at the very least so this may be a non-starter given the price increase. I don't know what your storage requirements are here (e.g. do you have a NAS or network shares available with your photos/libraries on?) so the base storage may also not be adequate but given the price to increase it, a TB/USB-c storage may be an option...though certainly not as neat.

Thank you for taking the time.
Having read back through my original post, I fear I may have unintentionally misled. Apologies.
I mentioned an IMAC, not because I have any experience of Macs or Mac OS (I’m an IPAD user) but because I quite like the look of them and for a very short (mad?) time, I even thought that I could turn it into something portable. But reality struck and the thought of carrying it up and down stairs daily soon made me realise it wasn’t very sensible.
Having visited a store yesterday, I’m ever so slightly inclined to one of the very many Lenovo offerings.
And I thought it was confusing enough choosing hi-fi speakers - laptops are on another level!!

cokecan · 23 Jan 2026 at 12:21

No apologies needed, I may have misread

My current preference at work is Lenovo's and have been super impressed with their build quality and reliability...at least with the business-grade devices (ThinkPad P1 Gen7's and more recently the ThinkPad T1g Gen 8's)
What model Lenovo's have you seen that you like the look of?

radderfire · 23 Jan 2026 at 12:27

Go Mac if you can afford it, but I think they are probably over budget for the kind of spec you'd need. A 15" MacBook Air might be within budget. It would be worth pushing budget to go Mac in my opinion, as I think the overall experience, reliability and support will be better (I don't have a Mac myself though).

Otherwise, a Dell or Lenovo with appropriate spec would be fine. Bump up the memory for a better experience. LG laptops are also worth a look as decent support but I think they'll be over budget.

If you don't mind refurb, look at the official Dell Outlet for a better spec for less.

gonegreynow · 23 Jan 2026 at 12:59

cokecan said:
No apologies needed, I may have misread

My current preference at work is Lenovo's and have been super impressed with their build quality and reliability...at least with the business-grade devices (ThinkPad P1 Gen7's and more recently the ThinkPad T1g Gen 8's)
What model Lenovo's have you seen that you like the look of?

Thank you.

I have been going round in circles trying to get clear in my mind where all the Lenovo offerings sit in their range.
I started looking at Thinkpads and initially decided against because so many screens seem to be 45%NTSC colour gamut and I need it for photo editing. Only then did I realise that you could change the spec when buying direct with Lenovo. So thinkpad is possible even though I am bamboozled by E/L/P/T/X. The list goes on. Added to which, it’s nigh on impossible to go into a shop and have a look.

Ideapads are/were of interest and I went into Currys yesterday. They have several models but I was drawn more to the YOGAs, but again so many models under the main model name.

Thinkbooks are probably a no.

Struggling also with the format. Standard laptop or 2 in 1. Probably no-one can help with that.

No sure about hinge durability on a 2 in 1 though.

gonegreynow · 23 Jan 2026 at 13:04

radderfire said:
Go Mac if you can afford it, but I think they are probably over budget for the kind of spec you'd need. A 15" MacBook Air might be within budget. It would be worth pushing budget to go Mac in my opinion, as I think the overall experience, reliability and support will be better (I don't have a Mac myself though).

Otherwise, a Dell or Lenovo with appropriate spec would be fine. Bump up the memory for a better experience. LG laptops are also worth a look as decent support but I think they'll be over budget.

If you don't mind refurb, look at the official Dell Outlet for a better spec for less.

Thank you.
MACs have been on/off my list for some time. Even though I’m an IPAD user, I just don’t know if I want to go all in on the MAC OS ecosystem.
Dell would be fine if I could easily find out the colour gamut offered on their screens. I’m not finding it prominently displayed on the model’s spec page. I suppose I’ve given up really which is a shame.
LG possible and I’ve seen something called the Gram.
As you’ll see above, I guess I’m tending towards Lenovo as of now but I cannot tell you how confused I’ve become at looking at the myriad of different models within each range.
Choosing hifi speakers or camera gear is a breeze compared to this.
Thanks

cokecan · 23 Jan 2026 at 13:59

gonegreynow said:
Thank you.

I have been going round in circles trying to get clear in my mind where all the Lenovo offerings sit in their range.
I started looking at Thinkpads and initially decided against because so many screens seem to be 45%NTSC colour gamut and I need it for photo editing. Only then did I realise that you could change the spec when buying direct with Lenovo. So thinkpad is possible even though I am bamboozled by E/L/P/T/X. The list goes on. Added to which, it’s nigh on impossible to go into a shop and have a look.

Ideapads are/were of interest and I went into Currys yesterday. They have several models but I was drawn more to the YOGAs, but again so many models under the main model name.

Thinkbooks are probably a no.

Struggling also with the format. Standard laptop or 2 in 1. Probably no-one can help with that.

No sure about hinge durability on a 2 in 1 though.

I know what you mean about the E/L/P/T/X identifiers lol. As I understand it, they are all part of the business-grade ThinkPad range and really just define the price point and available specs. I believe E is the entry level, L is more general/mainstream, T is a broad workhorse, X is ultra portable and P is the traditional mobile workstation. As you get up the range, the laptops get more premium in terms of build quality and performance....having said that I can't see any difference between the T and P series in terms of build quality. For all intents and purposes it's the same chassis with slightly different GPU

I would imagine the P with its workstation GPU's likely qualify for ISV certification which some organisations may be looking for.

Can't say I know much about the Yoga. The 2 in 1 thing is possibly more personal preference as you suggest. I've used Microsoft Surface Pro's over the years and while they were -fine- I personally think Windows is a horrible place to use touch controls. Let's just say if you're expecting iPad levels of user friendliness....think again!

On the colour gamut query, websites like rtings often report in-depth colour gamut and screen performance on many devices including a lot of laptops. If you find a device that looks good on the spec front but are struggling to find information on the colour gamut, might be worth checking rtings or similar websites incase they've done a review to get the extra information you need.

Last thing I could suggest is that this might be a fairly good use case for an AI such as ChatGPT or Gemini to do the leg work searching for potential suitable laptops that meet your minimum spec and colour gamut requirements. You can then take this information and go a bit deeper into your own research

Brok · 27 Jan 2026 at 10:24

gonegreynow said:
Thanks for the reply.
I have a wonderfully comfortable ‘Stressless” chair. I’ve just managed to get hold of an adjustable laptop table - purpose made for the chair - and I’ve just started to see if I can get comfortable with a laptop on the table ( borrowing my wife’s laptop).

Hi there, are you able to share a link for the laptop table you have please? I've also got a stressless chair and have recently ordered one of the round table attachments that you can get to put a mouse on, but I'm still stuck with a keyboard on my lap. If there's a good option for a table that fits over the legs I'd love to see it. Thanks.

For anyone wondering why, I need to use a mouse left handed for certain games (aprgs, mmorpgs) and so the standard lapboards never work for me. I do have a Corsair K63 lapboard for FPS which I do play with mouse in right hand!

gonegreynow · 27 Jan 2026 at 14:43

Brok said:
Hi there, are you able to share a link for the laptop table you have please? I've also got a stressless chair and have recently ordered one of the round table attachments that you can get to put a mouse on, but I'm still stuck with a keyboard on my lap. If there's a good option for a table that fits over the legs I'd love to see it. Thanks.

For anyone wondering why, I need to use a mouse left handed for certain games (aprgs, mmorpgs) and so the standard lapboards never work for me. I do have a Corsair K63 lapboard for FPS which I do play with mouse in right hand!

Hi. Yes, of course. Happy to help in any way I can.
Just to let you know (because it wasn’t relevant in my original message), I understand that Stressless stopped making this table several? years ago and I think the only place to get hold of one now is on the used market.
Up until i got mine (I ended bidding against others on E-Bay), I had been looking at 2nd hand chairs which included the table and contacting the sellers to ask if I could buy separately.
Luckily, I then found mine and I’m delighted with it.
I’ve had a look on line - There is a seller on Facebook who advertised a table about 2 hours ago. I have no idea if it’s still available or if you live anywhere near (shropshire, I think).
In addition, there are another couple of FB sellers with chairs for sale where I can see the laptop table in the photo.
Ditto, Ebay where I found one seller (table in 2nd photo).
The laptop table is rectangular and very adjustable, including tilt.
If you don’t manage to find a photo on line, I’d be happy to take a picture of mine (assuming you can post photos on here without having to go to a hosting site??)

Brok · 27 Jan 2026 at 14:49

gonegreynow said:
Hi. Yes, of course. Happy to help in any way I can.
Just to let you know (because it wasn’t relevant in my original message), I understand that Stressless stopped making this table several? years ago and I think the only place to get hold of one now is on the used market.
Up until i got mine (I ended bidding against others on E-Bay), I had been looking at 2nd hand chairs which included the table and contacting the sellers to ask if I could buy separately.
Luckily, I then found mine and I’m delighted with it.
I’ve had a look on line - There is a seller on Facebook who advertised a table about 2 hours ago. I have no idea if it’s still available or if you live anywhere near (shropshire, I think).
In addition, there are another couple of FB sellers with chairs for sale where I can see the laptop table in the photo.
Ditto, Ebay where I found one seller (table in 2nd photo).
The laptop table is rectangular and very adjustable, including tilt.
If you don’t manage to find a photo on line, I’d be happy to take a picture of mine (assuming you can post photos on here without having to go to a hosting site??)

OK thanks, I see it now. I'll have a think about it and keep an eye on the 2nd hand channels.

gonegreynow · 27 Jan 2026 at 14:50

Good luck

mOdO · 29 Jan 2026 at 20:46

I'm in a similar boat but also use premiere pro.

£1k doesn't seem to get you much these days but I've narrowed it down to Acer swift with the oled or yoga pro. I keep comparing the macbook air m4 and macbook pro m3 pro as they are similar price.

I'll probably get a refurbished laptop to keep cost within budget.

DD_Crash · 30 Jan 2026 at 13:48

I would go for a used gaming laptop as it will have a graphics card which will make editing a lot quicker