Photography laptop on a budget

[Denis_14]

Ok so basically my old laptop has finally kicked the bucket. I was using an old Sony Vaio which I bought for college 6 years ago. It was working on 3GB RAM and an old AMD Athlon II processor. This of course was perfect for general use in college.

Since then I've become a photography nut and have decided to upgrade with the death of the old dinosaur. My old fossil could handle Lightroom 2 and photoshop elements 5 fairly well but I know it won't be up to scratch if I update my software.

Basically what laptop would you recommend for a photography hobbyist on a budget? Any help greatly appreciated. Please cover the following topics in your answer:

Minimum RAM required

Intel vs AMD: What processor do I need?

Integrated vs Dedicated Graphics: Should I look for a laptop with a graphics card or will integrated graphics suffice?

 

[Gingerbread]

As far as memory goes I wouldn't drop below 8gb, for anything. Processor, definitely Intel, AMDs are just not up to par. As far as GPU goes, always prefer having a dedicated one, most laptops with higher specs have one anyways and those that don't aren't actually cheaper. What is your budget, which country are you buying from?

 

[Denis_14]

Sorry for the sticky keyboard. Typing on a cellphone. Didn't mean to vote down your answer.

I'm buying from Ireland and my budget is 7-800 euro. Also a good resolution screen is important

 

[Gingerbread]

No idea where you can buy from but from what I found:
http/www.harveynorman.ie/computing/laptops/asus-x555la-15.6-laptop-x555la-dm1672t.html
this would be a good choice, only problem is it ain't IPS, and IPS will be rather hard to come by for that price.

 

[Denis_14]

Hmm will it suffice? Are the integrated graphics enough?

Maybe save for this laptop?
http/shop.lenovo.com/ie/en/laptops/ideapad/500-series/500-15-inch/

Black model is 840 euro

 

[Gingerbread]

This is decent but I would say go for IPS, and thing is Lenovo don't really have affordable, worth it IPS screens. But if you are willing to skip the IPS screen, then this model is good.

 

[Denis_14]

Perfect thanks for your advice. If not will the Asus do the job? Would an hour with 6gb ram and an i5, 2gb amd graphics card be useless?

 

[Gingerbread]

No, not really. Amd graphics is not great but itcan do the job, I would personally prefer 8gb ram but 6 will do.

 

[Denis_14]

So go with the Asus? May not have dedicated graphics but at least it's Intel graphics?

 

[Gingerbread]

The AMD graphics is definitely better than the intel graphics. Most importantly it also has dedicated memory.