Laptop for Photography - thoughts on Asus Strix G15?

JohnStewart

JohnStewart

JohnStewart

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I'm looking to buy a new laptop which will almost exclusively be used for Adobe Lightroom, which works best with lots of cores (when importing and exporting images and generating 1:1 previews), and a fast single core clock speed when editing.

I've read through most of the threads in this forum and I see there's a lot of love for the Legion 5 Pro, but availability seems to be an issue, and some reliability issues with poor support. I tried the Lenovo site to check the configuration options, but it's not even listed any more so assume they have sold out of their next allocation of stock.

Another option that came to my attention was an Asus Strix G15 (G513QM-HF120T), which is currently available for £1099.

It comes with the 5900HX processor instead of the 5800H, but both are 8 cores and a marginal difference in clock speed.

The display is 1080p, but 300Hz and 100% Adobe RGB. Not as bright as the Lenovo though, but it will never be used outside.

It has a 3060 instead of the 3070, but as it's not going to be used for gaming this isn't a concern.

Same 16Gb of RAM, but no option to upgrade at the time of buying - would need to buy 32Gb or 64Gb if I wanted to upgrade.

512 SSD instead of 1TB, but I'd likely upgrade this anyway.


Has anyone got/used one of these Asusu Strix G15 models and got any feedback on the screen, keyboard, battery life, reliability etc based on real life use.

Any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated
 
I am pretty much in the same situation going to upgrade my ITX PC with all new innards and like yours will be used for Photography editing and have been buying odds n sods for a new build in the last few weeks and bought 32gb of memory which for me is a must for editing lots of images and huge file sizes etc

looking at the dire graphic card situation beginning to think i might of been better off getting a high spec laptop for the graphic card but having said that my plan is to get the new alder lake cpu and use the onboard graphics till prices of cards is more sensible

so cant really advise as to what laptop but i would make sure you get 32gb ram
 
Th0nt said:
The new macbooks look like content killers unless you dont like apple stuff?
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I did look (drool) at those, but they are way over budget (£3k+ for the 16" M1MAX model) and need extra dongles for USB3, RJ45 etc.

I do like Apple stuff having both an iphone and ipad, but I have tried using various mac models over the years and didn't really get on with them.
 
Buttkicker said:
I am pretty much in the same situation going to upgrade my ITX PC with all new innards and like yours will be used for Photography editing and have been buying odds n sods for a new build in the last few weeks and bought 32gb of memory which for me is a must for editing lots of images and huge file sizes etc

looking at the dire graphic card situation beginning to think i might of been better off getting a high spec laptop for the graphic card but having said that my plan is to get the new alder lake cpu and use the onboard graphics till prices of cards is more sensible

so cant really advise as to what laptop but i would make sure you get 32gb ram
Click to expand...

I am in the same situation as yourself, but given the limited availability of CPUs and GPUs over the past year, I opted to upgrade my old X99 system (5820k) with a 6900k 8 core processor, and 64Gb or RAM both purchased from Ebay. The RAM is only 2666Mhz but made a noticeable difference over the 16Gb of 2133 I had before. I agree and 32Gb will be the minimum I will get.

With new CPUs just around the corner from both AMD and Intel along with DDR5 and PCIE5, I've decided just to wait and see what evolves in the next 12 months, as my desktop is now fast enough for what I need it to do, and look at getting a new laptop instead.
 
JohnStewart said:
I did look (drool) at those, but they are way over budget (£3k+ for the 16" M1MAX model) and need extra dongles for USB3, RJ45 etc.

I do like Apple stuff having both an iphone and ipad, but I have tried using various mac models over the years and didn't really get on with them.
Click to expand...

They’ve got a longer learning curve since you’re used to Windows, but once you go Mac, you never go back :-)


They are, in my opinion, infinitely better laptops than Windows equivalent devices.

They’re just so well optimised by comparison, using a Windows laptop feels like a portable desktop, rather than something made for portable use.
 
I've got the 5 Pro and use it for Lightroom occasionally. The big benefit of the 5 Pro is the QHD screen, good brightness and 16:10 screen format.

It's a bulky beast but has a spare m2 slot.

I doubt the 5900HX vs 5800H makes any noticeable difference.
 
Minstadave said:
I've got the 5 Pro and use it for Lightroom occasionally. The big benefit of the 5 Pro is the QHD screen, good brightness and 16:10 screen format.

It's a bulky beast but has a spare m2 slot.

I doubt the 5900HX vs 5800H makes any noticeable difference.
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Many thanks, I think you are 100% spot on about the processors not making any real differnce :) I don't mind it being bulky as I'll not be carrying it far. It was the high brightness screen and 16:10 aspect ratio that appealed about the Lenovo (matches my monitor set-up at home for the desktop).

I often have tight deadlines for getting photos published and a 2-4 hour drive home after an event so was thinking with a suitably fast laptop with decent battery life I could copy the images onto the laptop, import them into lightroom and build all the 1:1 previews whilst en-route. A quick edit for a few images and get them emailed at a suitable stopping point. When I get home, I would just copy the whole directory with raw files and Lightroom catalogue and previews onto my desktop at home. I've tried this with my current laptop (about 7 years old), but it takes about 90 minutes to generate the 1:1 previews and it only lasts about 35-45 minutes at best on the battery at 100% CPU utilisation. The RJ45 would allow me to copy the files directly over my home network, without having to use memory cards or swamp the wifi and catch hell from my kids or wife for making youtube buffer :D
 
MrRockliffe said:
They’ve got a longer learning curve since you’re used to Windows, but once you go Mac, you never go back :)


They are, in my opinion, infinitely better laptops than Windows equivalent devices.

They’re just so well optimised by comparison, using a Windows laptop feels like a portable desktop, rather than something made for portable use.
Click to expand...

I'll perhaps take a trip into the local Apple store at the weekend and have a play with one :)
 
Th0nt said:
:rolleyes:

The 14" is £1899. Im sure the time made up in performance improvement will justify itself rather shortly! :p
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I've just read that the new machines aren't available until 26/10 so no trip to the Apple store for me. If they offered a massive performance/battery life improvement over the windows equivalent, then my man maths says the cost could potentially be justified :D

I think I'll wait a few weeks until reviews are out and keep an eye out on the Lenovo availability at the same time.
 
JohnStewart said:
I've just read that the new machines aren't available until 26/10 so no trip to the Apple store for me. If they offered a massive performance/battery life improvement over the windows equivalent, then my man maths says the cost could potentially be justified :D

I think I'll wait a few weeks until reviews are out and keep an eye out on the Lenovo availability at the same time.
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Im not a mac/apple fan to be fair but everything I have seen on their new processor/gpu tech is really positive. As you meet this criteria (not gamer, photo stuff, battery life, QoL etc.) I would be definitely applying the man maths and justifying this I don't think you will be disappointed.
 
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CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
OCUK is selling the Asus G14 with a 1440p display and a Ryzen 9 5900HS for £1299.99:
https://store.overclockers.co.uk/as...ryzen-r9-5900hs-gaming-laptop-lt-2fa-as.html?

It seems to be a decent laptop:
https://www.ultrabookreview.com/46631-asus-zephyrus-g14-2021-review/

The display has almost 100% DCI-P3 coverage and the shell of the laptop is made of magnesium alloy.

I would save the £600 over the Apple laptop and invest in some decent portable storage as backup.
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Many Thanks, I had originally discounted the Zephyrus model due to the smaller 14" screen size and lack of RJ45, but a less power hungry GPU, better quality screen and 1TB SSD partially offset this. It does say max 32Gb RAM on the OC listing and 1 SSD slot only, so will see if that's actually the case, as ideally I'd like 64Gb eventually and a separate drive for storage. When I upgraded my desktop to 64Gb and simulated my normal workload, memory usage peaked at over 40Gb.

I can never have enough disks and backup devices :D Currently my cameras each write to two memory cards simultaneously, I then copy them onto an NVME SSD for fast working, and overnight copy them onto a RAID array (10G capable NAS is planned) and then backed up about once a month to an external drive which I keep offsite . The memory cards aren't re-used for about a month as I have enought to cycle through for a few events, and if I copied them onto a laptop, they remain there until I need the space. At times I have 6 copies, but over time this drops to 2, with one of these being in a RAID array and the other an offsite external drive.
 
JohnStewart said:
Many Thanks, I had originally discounted the Zephyrus model due to the smaller 14" screen size and lack of RJ45, but a less power hungry GPU, better quality screen and 1TB SSD partially offset this. It does say max 32Gb RAM on the OC listing and 1 SSD slot only, so will see if that's actually the case, as ideally I'd like 64Gb eventually and a separate drive for storage. When I upgraded my desktop to 64Gb and simulated my normal workload, memory usage peaked at over 40Gb.

I can never have enough disks and backup devices :D Currently my cameras each write to two memory cards simultaneously, I then copy them onto an NVME SSD for fast working, and overnight copy them onto a RAID array (10G capable NAS is planned) and then backed up about once a month to an external drive which I keep offsite . The memory cards aren't re-used for about a month as I have enought to cycle through for a few events, and if I copied them onto a laptop, they remain there until I need the space. At times I have 6 copies, but over time this drops to 2, with one of these being in a RAID array and the other an offsite external drive.
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Looks like I preaching to the converted!! I sort of do the same and make sure I have a few different copies of my photos too!! :D

I think the laptop has one RAM slot because the other SODIMM is soldered onto the motherboard. The MacBook looks an interesting option but AFAIK Apple seems to solder everything onto the logic board.
 
JohnStewart said:
I'm looking to buy a new laptop which will almost exclusively be used for Adobe Lightroom, which works best with lots of cores (when importing and exporting images and generating 1:1 previews), and a fast single core clock speed when editing.

I've read through most of the threads in this forum and I see there's a lot of love for the Legion 5 Pro, but availability seems to be an issue, and some reliability issues with poor support. I tried the Lenovo site to check the configuration options, but it's not even listed any more so assume they have sold out of their next allocation of stock.

Another option that came to my attention was an Asus Strix G15 (G513QM-HF120T), which is currently available for £1099.

It comes with the 5900HX processor instead of the 5800H, but both are 8 cores and a marginal difference in clock speed.

The display is 1080p, but 300Hz and 100% Adobe RGB. Not as bright as the Lenovo though, but it will never be used outside.

It has a 3060 instead of the 3070, but as it's not going to be used for gaming this isn't a concern.

Same 16Gb of RAM, but no option to upgrade at the time of buying - would need to buy 32Gb or 64Gb if I wanted to upgrade.

512 SSD instead of 1TB, but I'd likely upgrade this anyway.


Has anyone got/used one of these Asusu Strix G15 models and got any feedback on the screen, keyboard, battery life, reliability etc based on real life use.

Any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated
Click to expand...

The 5 Pro with a QHD screen is a better option... The 3060 model is still in stock since you don't want a 3070...
 
Despite it looking lovely and having great reviews, I couldn't justify the extra cost for the smaller Zepherus which is limited for expansion. It does have a nicer screen, but in reality it's only going to be needed for a quick selection of images and a quick edit whilst away from home. For the amount of annual use, I couldn't justify the 75% more the the macbook pro. It came down to either the 5 pro or the Asus G15, and having just been paid and being impatient, I opted for the Asus which should arrive on Friday or Saturday :D
 
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