Intel Ultra and ARC for Photoshop

I'm not an Apple fan. 

Windows only. Dell XPS-15 with 64GB RAM; 2 TB and 4TB internal NVME drives.

However...    the only things I would take on safari would be an iPad Mini plus a spare phone to hold the backups (Samsung S10 - my one has 512GB internal storage plus a 1TB microSD card). 

Or some other way of backing up.

The iPad Mini is suprisingly good for processing photos using Lightroom mobile. Fits in a pocket too. One less thing to worry about.

Thanks Huw,

I do want to have the option of processing in Photoshop using it though.

Stevenikon said

Thanks Huw,

I do want to have the option of processing in Photoshop using it though.

There is Photoshop for the iPad as well - although I haven't really explored it.
I do most of my processing in ACR, then Photoshop, so it wasn't a major change for me.

I tend to think, if it's for IG, PP, etc, then results from an iPad or phone are quite enough - then I go back to a real (Windows) PC and Photoshop for the best ones later.

My brother took an iPad Pro for six weeks crewing a sailing yacht in the South Pacific - but I don't really see the point of an iPad that big and heavy.
Mind you, he had a waterproof case for it, and it stayed in it until he was back on land (perfectly usable through the case).

Anything thin and light seems to struggle with heat as soon as you ask for much performance - my Dell XPS 15 is ridiculously powerful - then it gets too hot  :(

The Thinkpad X1 Nano might be worth a look.
Or the Dell XPS 13 - good screens on those.

 

Stevenikon said

Thanks Huw,

I do want to have the option of processing in Photoshop using it though.

This comes out April 15th and I'm buying one!  I've had previous experience with miniforum minipc products and found them fantastic.
This should let you use full Lightoom and Photoshop as its Windows11 pro (and not the crappy mobile versions) and its touch screen acts as laptop or tablet.

https://www.minisforum.com/page/v3/index.html?lang=en

Bullets said

 

Stevenikon said

Thanks Huw,

I do want to have the option of processing in Photoshop using it though.

This comes out April 15th and I'm buying one!  I've had previous experience with miniforum minipc products and found them fantastic.
This should let you use full Lightoom and Photoshop as its Windows11 pro (and not the crappy mobile versions) and its touch screen acts as laptop or tablet.

https://www.minisforum.com/page/v3/index.html?lang=en

Please come back to us and let us know how it works out.

Genuine request.

Huw said

Bullets said

 

Stevenikon said

Thanks Huw,

I do want to have the option of processing in Photoshop using it though.

This comes out April 15th and I'm buying one!  I've had previous experience with miniforum minipc products and found them fantastic.
This should let you use full Lightoom and Photoshop as its Windows11 pro (and not the crappy mobile versions) and its touch screen acts as laptop or tablet.

https://www.minisforum.com/page/v3/index.html?lang=en

Please come back to us and let us know how it works out.

Genuine request.

That does looking interesting Bullets. Thanks.

Huw said

Please come back to us and let us know how it works out.

Genuine request.

Will do!
I was surprised by their MiniPC's that were tiny and worked great for editing so if they can get the same performance in a flatter more tablet form then I'll be delighted.

~B

Stevenikon said

Hi Folks

I'm looking for a new lightweight (<1.5kg) and compact laptop (13 to 14") for use whilst traveling on safari etc. I probably won't do much processing on it but certainly will use it for daily image backup the two portable SSDs.

Does anyone have experience using laptop with the latest Intel Ultra 7 or 9 processors with integrated ARG GPU? For example: 14" ASUS UX3405 ZenBook 14 OLED, 2880x1800, Ultra 9 185H, 32GB LPDDR5X RAM, 1TB SSD, Intel ARC Graphics.

I've got the U9 Zenbook Duo; same spec as what you list; just with double OLED screens instead of one. it's totally fine (and even overkill) for Photoshop. Have edited two full shoots on it now, 47 MP 14-bit RAW files. Before the U9 Zenbook Duo, i was using a Lenovo X1 G11 , G10 and Dell's detachable variant of the 7390. 
So that's 13th gen, 12th gen, and 11th gen CPU's going back down from the ultra 9.

All these CPU's handle what you want to do easily. Don't get so hung up on the Zenbook. if you "won't do much processing" and just use it for "daily backups" having something with an ultra 9,32GB of ram etc. is total overkill. I'd rather suggest going for the absolute lightest of the light; which is the LG Gram series. Depending which one you get, they are around 1KG. Hell, even look into a detachable if you wanna minimize footprint; a Surface Pro 9 should be totally fine.

What I hate about the ZB Duo, is it's rather noisy, rather quick. Even for seemingly light tasks. But this is tunable if you either use Intel XTU or Asus's own software; there's a whisper mode in it that changes the fan curve significantly. I'd imagine the single screen variant would have the same noise levels.

Edited by Gwenny

Thanks all. Will use it for both photography and my business when site. I'm an electronics design consultant so need to run CAD and simulation software. Having something 'low performance' compared to my 2019 Dell M5530 is not an option. The Dell is Win10 and would a lot of messing to force 11 to work on an unsupprted Pentium. It's also relatively large and heavy compared to the latest 13- device 14 inch devices. Hence, I'm happy to pay for a decent new and sufficiently powerful device.

Does anyone know how (fast) well the Ultra 9 and ARC graphics handle Photoshop and Dxo PureRaw3? I could go for something with a discrete graphics card if course like the Prestige 14 AI Studio C1V. What I'm having difficulty finding real information on is how fast in use for Photoshop and DxoPrueRaw3, is ultra 9 with Integrate ARC compared to ulta7 or 9 with say GTX4060 graphics?

The problem with subjective Photoshop performance is that it's heavily dependent on what you're actually doing with it. You could see if there are any relevant PugetBench results, perhaps?

That is a good idea Gothic and was my first 'port of call'. Alas I couldn't find a suitable match to compare.

Gothic Image this is one of those usability issues that doesn’t get talked about enough. I’ve seen techie people lauding that Photoshop is 25% faster on some niche tasks, while conveniently ignoring that for a lot of mundane ones it is 300% slower than Affinity Photo.

The Ghost said

Gothic Image this is one of those usability issues that doesn’t get talked about enough. I’ve seen techie people lauding that Photoshop is 25% faster on some niche tasks, while conveniently ignoring that for a lot of mundane ones it is 300% slower than Affinity Photo.

Although the PugetBench results do at least give some sort of calibrated comparison, I've found them completely unrepresentative of my actual Photoshop use.

Stevenikon said

Thanks all. Will use it for both photography and my business when site. I'm an electronics design consultant so need to run CAD and simulation software. Having something 'low performance' compared to my 2019 Dell M5530 is not an option.

This is an important factor because it suggests that your choice is a bit less overkill than it may seem.

Photoshop and image/video editing, after all, can be meaningfully GPU-accelerated.

Most CAD tasks are profoundly single-thread-single-core, though; even FEM is very CPU-bound, though I imagine it can be multi-threaded. I suppose some analysis tasks can be GPU-accelerated, but if you need this machine for CAD tasks then a modest CPU with a powerful GPU is the wrong way round.

Edited by Unfocussed Mike

Unfocussed Mike said

Most CAD tasks are profoundly single-thread-single-core, though; even FEM is very CPU-bound, though I imagine it can be multi-threaded. I suppose some analysis tasks can be GPU-accelerated, but if you need this machine for CAD tasks then a modest CPU with a powerful GPU is the wrong way round.

(Final photorealistic renders excepted. There a GPU will help)