The 5 Best Laptops for Photo Editing Under $1,000 Reviewed
Photoshop, Lightroom, and PaintShop Pro are just a handful of examples of the software used by modern photo editors. No matter whether you edit photos for work or simply enjoy touching them up for fun, anyone embarking on this task needs a machine that can stand up to the punishment these tools will put it through. To make this easier for you, this post will be exploring some of the best laptops for photo editing of 2021.
What Do You Need for Photo Editing?
Before diving into the machines you have available to you, though, it makes sense to explore what you should be looking for in a photo editing machine. As most people aren’t accustomed to the complex specs that come with modern laptops, we’ve sorted this into simpler categories to make it easier to figure out what you’re looking for.
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Processing Power: Processing power is one of the most crucial elements in the photo editing process. All of the laptops we’ve covered below have ample processing power for photo editing, with options like the Apple M1 and Intel i5 CPUs being excellent choices. Most modern CPUs can also handle the graphical workload of photo editing.
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RAM: RAM, or random access memory, feed data into the CPU so that it can process it quickly. Photo editing applications need to store loads of temporary actions and data, and they will use RAM to do this, making it worth having at least 8GB on hand.
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Storage: Alongside RAM, photo editing software also needs plenty of storage space to store the images you’re working on. Most machines come with more than enough storage nowadays, but this is still worth considering.
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The Screen: The screen you use for a job like photo editing is one of the most crucial tools you have available, making it very important that you have a good screen on the laptop you choose.
Best Laptops for Photo Editing Under $1,000
1. Apple MacBook Air
Apple has long been the manufacturer of choice for professional photo editors across the world. These machines come with brilliant screens, powerful processors, and all of the other features you’d want from a machine designed for photo editing. As one of their more stand-out features, these laptops have a massive touchpad that will make it easy to perform actions that force you to keep your finger on the mouse button. The build-quality, ease of use, and general connectivity are second to none on the MacBook Air 2021, but this doesn’t mean that it out-competes in every area.
While many content creators and photo editors love macOS, this system can be a little restrictive for those who use niche software. Windows has a wealth of software options available, but this can’t be said for Apple Macs, with some key options missing from the roster. This laptop has a 13.3-inch screen, a brand-new Apple M1 processor, and 256GB of storage to ensure that all of your photos can stay safely on your device. iCloud can be a good tool for photo editors, giving you the chance to automatically back-up your photos in the event that something happens to the machine.
- All-Day Battery Life – Go longer than ever with up to 18 hours of battery life.
- Powerful Performance – Take on everything from professional-quality editing to action-packed gaming with ease. The Apple M1 chip with an 8-core CPU delivers up to 3.5x faster performance than the previous generation while using way less power.
- Superfast Memory – 8GB of unified memory makes your entire system speedy and responsive. That way it can support tasks like memory-hogging multitab browsing and opening a huge graphic file quickly and easily.
- Stunning Display – With a 13.3 inch Retina display, images come alive with new levels of realism. Text is sharp and clear, and colors are more vibrant.
- Why Mac – Easy to learn. Easy to set up. Astoundingly powerful. Intuitive. Packed with apps to use right out of the box. Mac is designed to let you work, play, and create like never before.
2. HP Pavilion 15
HP is a well-known brand with plenty of feathers in its cap. Having made computers for all industries, HP knows that goes into a great machine, and the Pavilion 15 is no exception to this rule. As one of HP’s budget line of laptops, this laptop has been built to provide the very best performance for the price. Of course, though, considering that this machine occupies the same price point as the MacBook, it has to deal with some very heavy competition. As one of its stand-out features, this laptop has a full-sized keyboard with a Numpad, giving you the power to make your own key bindings and macros that will suit the software you use.
As far as performance goes, this laptop is packing the 11th Generation Intel Core i7 with 4 cores and 8 threads, along with 16GB of RAM. This makes this laptop capable of performing even the most demanding of tasks, with the only missing feature being a dedicated GPU. The laptop has a 15.6-inch IPS display with extremely thin bezels that will make your photos look stunning, along with advanced security features like fingerprint scanning and facial recognition. Few laptops are able to offer the same level of features at this price.
- INSTANT GRATIFICATION – Experience a laptop with premium performance, so you can spend less time getting more done; it’s like a small PC that’s compact enough to go where you go with a long-lasting battery to power you through your day
- EPIC ENTERTAINMENT – With audio by B&O, a larger screen-to-body ratio, and a 15.6-inch Full HD micro-edged screen to maximize your view, entertainment on your laptop feels like bringing the theater home (1)
- IMPRESSIVE GRAPHICS – The Intel Iris Xe Graphics gives you a new level of graphics performance with crisp, stunning visuals, plus the convenience of a thin and light laptop (2)
- UNSTOPPABLE PERFORMANCE – Get things done fast with the 11th Generation Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, which delivers instant responsiveness and best-in-class connectivity (3)
- MEMORY AND STORAGE – Enjoy up to 15x faster performance than a traditional hard drive with 512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD storage (4) and experience improved multitasking with higher bandwidth thanks to 16 GB of RAM
3. Dell Inspiron 17
Like many manufacturers, Dell has managed to make a good name for itself over the last couple of decades for providing high-quality machines. The Inspiron series is their budget line of machines for home use, but this doesn’t mean that they lack the features you expect from options with much higher price tags. The 2021 Dell Inspiron 17 looks slick, is built to last, and comes with a range of features that many photo editors will find invaluable. The 17-inch screen on this laptop is large enough for just about any task, with Dell using their extensive experience to create an affordable screen that offers excellent results.
Alongside the massive screen, this laptop is also home to a full-sized keyboard, giving it the same edge that comes with the HP above. The Intel Core i5 inside this machine isn’t as fast as an i7, but it will still offer excellent performance, and may even run cooler and quieter than something with a beefier chip. 16GB of RAM ensures that you will always be able to keep your editing software running fast, while a combination of a 512GB SSD and 1TB HDD will ensure that you never run out of space on this laptop.
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4. Lenovo IdeaPad 3
Lenovo’s IdeaPad range has gained a lot of popularity amongst professionals and home users alike, with these machines offering great performance alongside features that are excellent for work. The 2020 Lenovo IdeaPad 3 is a lightweight and portable device with a 15.6-inch HD screen that will be excellent for a wide range of tasks. The screen itself is a touchscreen, which may not be a significant feature for photo editors, but can provide a great quality of life improvement that will make it easier to handle other jobs.
While this laptop may not stand out in the style category, the technical features under the hood can’t be ignored. While cheaper than the Inspiron 17, this laptop has the same processor under the hood but has upped the RAM inside to 20GB. A 1TB PCIe SSD offers blazing-fast storage that will never run out, while an additional accessory bundle that includes everything you need to make full use of this machine is a massive added bonus. Of course, though, the touchscreen on this device will probably be the deciding factor for many.
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5. ASUS VivoBook
While Asus has been a big player in the computing space for many years, they have only been making laptops for a short time, and this means that no everyone will recognize their name. This shouldn’t reflect the quality of their products, though, as options like the Asus VivoBook have proven themselves time and time again in the hands of photo editors. This laptop has a 15.6-inch screen, a full-sized keyboard, and an incredibly high 88% screen-bezel ratio, making it ideal for those who want to make their photos look as good as possible.
As far as stand-out features go, this laptop doesn’t offer a huge amount that can’t be found on other machines. This is achieved at a lower price point, though, making this laptop a very appealing option to those who want to enjoy the performance on a budget. An AMD Ryzen 7 CPU powers this laptop, giving you access to RX Vega graphics, along with 20GB of RAM. This laptop features a similar 1TB PCIe SSD to the IdeaPad, but you can reconfigure this element of the machine to lower the overall price. This laptop comes with a free accessory pack to make the deal even better.
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Conclusion
As you can see, you are spoilt for choice when you are picking a laptop for less than $1000 that will be good for photo editing. This sort of workload can be handled on most machines, but it’s always worth having something with a little bit of oomph behind it to make sure that you don’t have to deal with lag or poor performance.
While it can be hard to test a laptop before you buy it, nowadays, there are loads of reviews and guides around the web that can help you to pick something like this. There are plenty of features for machines like this that are subjective, though it can be worth considering the opinions of those with a lot of experience, even if you think you know better. With the right information behind you, choosing the perfect laptop for your workload should be nice and easy.