Photo editing monitors are usually calibrated to display colors as accurately as possible. They’re customized for video, photo, and graphic work.  Often they feature 4K, 5K, and 8K resolutions.

That said, this guide will provide you with a list of six monitors perfect for photo editing. We hope once you’re done reading it, you’ll be able to select a monitor that meets all your photography needs.

Without further delay, let’s dive in!

Things To Look For In The Best Monitor For Photo Editing

There are a few important attributes that will make a computer monitor good for photo editing. As you might guess, at the very top of the list is the accuracy of color and tone. But, also, there are some more subtle technical details we need to go over, too.

Monitor Color Accuracy

First and foremost, we are photographers, so the absolute most important thing is color accuracy. We are highly concerned with color reproduction as well as brightness. What that means is, are the colors you see on your computer display the same colors you captured, but also, are they accurate to what you will get when you print out a photo?

Also, what about the shadows/highlights? If you can see good detail in the highlights and shadows on your computer monitor, but when you go to make a print they are just white and/or black, that is a problem, and vice versa.

Thus, we are looking for a few things: An IPS display, (In-Plane Switching), as well as a wide color gamut that covers 100% of sRGB, and preferably 100% of Adobe RGB if possible. Also, one critical factor for seeing shadows correctly is the viewing angle; 178 degrees (both vertically and horizontally) is essential.

Display Resolution

Having good resolution is almost as important as color accuracy, but not quite. Thankfully, most of the good photo editing monitors these days offer 4K resolution, which is more than enough for both photographers and videographers.

Another thing to keep in mind is that pixel density can vary from one display to another, too. This can affect how “sharp” your images look on your computer display, and/or how close your eyes have to be to the display in order to actually see a  100% image zoom. Honestly, extremely dense pixels can tend to hurt your eyes and make you squint if you edit photos for long periods of time, so we are happy to say that any pixel density (pixels per inch)  is fine for photo editing; you don’t need a “Retina” type display.

Physical Display Size

The best monitors for photo editing don’t necessarily need to be as enormous as your TV screen, however, it is a good goal to have a 27-inch or up to a 32-inch computer display for photo editing.

Again, keep in mind that color accuracy and display resolution are more important than this spec. In other words, if we were on a budget, we would absolutely choose a slightly smaller display if it offered us better specs in the other regards.

With that being said, let’s dive into our recommendations!

1.   Dell UltraSharp U2723QE 27” 4K IPS Monitor

($559 | B&H | Amazon)

The Dell Ultrasharp U2723 is an incredibly well-priced 27-inch 4K UHD IPS monitor that will offer you a great balance of performance and value. The monitor’s 4K (3840x2160p) resolution and 27” screen size offer photographers lots of on-screen real estate, while its 1000:1 contrast ratio keeps images crisp and beautiful.

Color accuracy on the U2723 is impressive, as well, with 100% sRGB, 100% Rec 709, and 98% DCI-P3. (For the price, this level of color fidelity was impossible just a few years ago!)

It’s also the ideal monitor for photographers who make use of daisy chaining, (using two monitors at once) because it has a dedicated 4K output via its USB type C and “Display Stream Compression”.

The monitor also comes with four downstream UB 3.2 ports that you can use to charge other peripheral USB devices or connect them to your PC. Last but not least, the Dell U2723 even allows 90W USB-C (Power Delivery) type power, for your laptop or similar device.

Aside from connectivity, setting up the monitor based on your physical studio or office needs is seamless, since the stand accommodates all the key ergonomic adjustments, including swivel, height, and tilt, with full 90-degree rotation possible.

Pros

• Good value
• Excellent quality
• Plenty of connections
• Very adjustable base

Cons

• Not truly calibrated “out of the box” (though almost good enough)
• Lacks speakers, relatively slow compared to gaming displays

2. BenQ PD2700U DesignVue Designer 27″ 4K 16:9 IPS Monitor

($499 | Adorama | B&H | Amazon)

The BenQ PD2700U is another one of the best monitors for photo editing in the market today. Especially when value is concerned, the price-to-performance ratio is almost impossible to beat.

Its impressively sized (for the price) 27” 4K IPS panel boasts a full complement of specs and features: 100% sRGB, 100% Rec. 709, and 10-Bit color support. 1300:1 contrast ratio, 350 cd/m² brightness, and a 178°/178° viewing angle.

Additionally, BenQ’s Eye Care Technology is included, and additional features to make your experience healthy for your eyes. Photographers who do a lot of long hours of photo editing, take note!

HDR video editing is also supported, with HDR10 (ST2084) compatibility.

Pros

• Solid and sleek stand/base
• Excellent image quality
• Calibration-friendly
• Impressive value

Cons

• No images adjustments in HDR mode
• Definitely requires calibration before full accuracy for photo editing is achieved

3. Eizo ColorEdge CS2740 4K 26.9” Wide Gamut IPS Monitor

($1,792 | B&H | Amazon)

The Eizo ColorEdge CS2740-4k is among the most powerful 4K monitors today. Photographers and video editors/producers alike will love this monitor because of its impressive visual specs, as well as the CGI and VFX settings.

Simply put, the Eizo matches or beats virtually all other monitors’ specs: 1000:1 contrast ratio, 178°/178° viewing angles, and 350 cd/m²  brightness. Additionally, Eizo displays are known for incredible uniformity of brightness and color. This makes it a must-have for editing subtle gradients.

This monitor features built-in automated calibration adjustment capabilities and an (optional) dedicated calibration sensor. This option helps the Eizo ColorEdge monitor deliver professional results efficiently, saving the user time and money.

The monitor has a ton of advanced, useful features that ensure higher color accuracy, and workflow efficiency for both photographers and video editors.

Pros

• Offers impressive image quality for the discerning eye, especially subtle gradations and evenness
• Fully professional specs for response time etc.
• Supports a wide color range
• Supports automatic calibration with routine updates

Cons

• Lacks HDMI 2.0 port
• Expensive compared to value options

4. ASUS ProArt Display PA279CV 27″ 4K HDR Monitor

($449 | B&H | Amazon)

The ASUS Pro Art Display is a versatile, affordable 27-inch monitor that has been upgraded to 4K resolution compared to its predecessor. It is designed for creative professionals with a small budget. It’s well-built and comes with a sleek design that can fit any creative’s studio or office setting.

The ergonomic design offers physical buttons for adjustments, which we appreciate these days, and a sturdy, adjustable base.

This screen covers 100% sRGB, and has a dedicated sRGB mode that’s pretty accurate right out of the box. It also offers 100% coverage for Rec. 709, which is the same gamut as Adobe RGB.

Pros

• 4K resolution, 100% sRGB, and Rec 709
• Impressive refresh rate of 5ms, 350 nits peak brightness
• 178 x 178° viewing angles, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 60Hz refresh rate

Cons

• Has trouble displaying dark colors
• Mediocre black uniformity

[Related Reading: Guide to Color Management for Photographers – Part One | Finding the Right Monitor]

5. AOC AG324UX 31.5″ 4K UHD 144 Hz Gaming Monitor

($799 | B&H | Amazon)

For those photographers and videographers who might also be interested in gaming, or editing high-FPS video, the speed and responsiveness of a monitor is just as important as color accuracy. For this specialty, one of the best monitors is the AOC AG324UX.

Besides the impressive size (31.5”) its most prominent features are the 1ms response time, 144 Hz refresh rate, and dual 8W speakers. These make it a perfect choice for photographers who are also gamers.

Although exact color accuracy and tone evenness across the panel may not match the most high-end dedicated photo editing monitors, the AOC does boast impressive specs on paper: 125% sRGB, 100% DCI-P3, 107% Adobe RGB, and 109% NTSC color accuracy. Also, with 400 nits, HDR content can be viewed as the monitor is VESA DisplayHDR certified.

Pros

• Excellent out-of-box color accuracy
• Extremely fast response time & refresh rate
• Impressive color reproduction

Cons

• Color gamut/accuracy may not be as advertised
• Calibration may therefore be slightly more difficult
• Evenness of color and brightness is average.

6. LG 34WK95U-W UltraWide 5K 34” Nano IPS LED Monitor

($1,296 | B&H | Amazon)

The final product in our list of the best monitors for photographers is for photographers who need a little more resolution than 4K. The LG 34WK95U-W UltraWide 5K 34” Nano IPS LED Monitor is a 5K display for those who may be editing 4K video and want some room around the edges for an editing panel, for example. This 34-inch IPS screen features a huge 5120×2160 resolution, which means that vertically it is still 4K, but horizontally it offers an extra 1280 pixels beyond 4K.

NOTE: this is NOT a curved monitor; like most 5K displays, and we prefer this for photo and video editing.

The monitor comes with a Nano IPS panel from LG, so it delivers excellent image quality with a 1200:1 contrast ratio, 600 nits of brightness, and excellent color specs. (It offers 10-Bit

The LG 34WK95U-W also offers users comprehensive connectivity, including DisplayPort, USB Type-C, Thunderbolt 3, and HDMI.  Although it contains several amazing features, it doesn’t come cheap.

Pros

• Contains a great Nano IPS panel
• Numerous features
• Excellent 5K resolution

Cons

• Expensive for those who don’t need 5K

[Related Reading: Why Calibrating Your Screen Is Important & How To Do It]

Conclusion

Overall, whether you are on a tight budget, or you need the absolute best, today’s best monitors for photo editing are better and more affordable than ever before. With multiple 4K displays under $500, and more under $1,000, it is clear that even serious photographers shouldn’t have to spend more unless their needs are highly specialized.

What do you think? Do you have any experience with another monitor that meets your needs and has great value? Please leave a comment below!

To edit photos, a laptop must have a fast processor (CPU) and graphics (GPU) to handle visually intensive software. It should also be equipped with considerable RAM for seamless processing without any hiccups, and ample storage space for all of your raw photos.

Furthermore, having a display that brings out the best in your images, with sharp colors, highlights and shadows, is essential if you are not going to be attaching an external display to your laptop for color-correct work. Other features such as the number of ports you need will depend on your workflow, while battery life depends on your budget.

Now, without further ado, we will take a look at the best laptop for photo editing!

Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

The Apple MacBook Pro is a great choice if you want speed and power. This new(er) version of the laptop has an improved Magic Keyboard that uses scissor switches for comfort and quick typing speeds.

This laptop boasts a Retina display with 3072 x 1920 resolution that provides crisp and sharp image viewing for photographers. The True Tone technology automatically adjusts the screen color under ambient lighting, if you often work in various different lighing conditions and want a good approximation of “correct color” in all conditions, although of course, we do recommend a fixed, constant calibration using an external calibration device.

Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core i7/ i9
• RAM: 16/32/64 GB
• Storage: 512 GB/1 TB/2TB/4TB/8TB
• Display: 16-inch IPS LCD (3072 x 1920)
• GPU: Radeon Pro 5300M/5500M

Pros:

• Rated as one of the best laptops because of its performance and efficiency
• Immersive display with slim bezels
• Magic keyboard with a touch bar (ideal for Photoshop)

Cons:

• Display is not 4K
• Priced higher than most (Windows) competitors

Dell XPS 15

The Dell XPS 15 is an all-rounder and is considered one of the best Windows laptop for photo editing due to its use of the unparalleled 4k OLED display which makes color reproduction and brightness levels unmatched by other laptops in general.

The Dell XPS 15 is an exceptional laptop with a striking design and powerful features. One of the most useful would be its selection of ports, which includes Thunderbolt 4, USB C, HDMI and USB A; for photographers, it even has an SD slot which is a feature that has unfortunately become rare on certain competitors.

Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core i5/i7/i9
• GPU: Intel UHD 630/ GeForce GTX 1650
• RAM: 8GB/16GB/32GB
• Storage: 256 GB/512 GB/1 TB
• Display: 15.6-inch (1080P or 4K)

Pros:

• Among the top-rated Windows laptops for speed and performance
• Rich and sharp display from 4K OLED display
• Slim, heavy-duty chassis
• Webcam placement is optimal

Cons:

• Battery life is mediocre

HP Spectre X360 15

HP’s Spectre X360 15 laptop is perfect for photographers who desire a more hands-on approach to image post-processing without having to use two different devices. It has many great features, but its main selling point is the 4K AMOLED multi-touch display that produces 483 nits of brightness and 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. (98% Adobe RGB) The Corning Gorilla Glass adds extra protection from scratches, too.

The premium look of the HP Spectre X360 15 comes from its sleek and elegant chassis and no-holds-barred heavy-duty build quality.

Specifications:

• Processor: 11^th gen Intel Core i7
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 256GB/512GB/1TB
• Display: 15.6 inch, 4K AMOLED display (touchscreen)

Pros:

• Pen input for easy and convenient graphic editing
• Stunning design and impressive build quality
• Quick and easy tablet conversion
• Comfortable typing experience on the keyboard

Cons:

• Heavy and bulky when used as tablet
• Limited port slot
• Thick display bezels

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo

There are instances where one screen is not enough to make the magic happen. However, carrying two laptops on the go is not a practical solution and this is where Asus comes into play. They introduced the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo for photographers who like to multitask or keep their primary canvas free from clutter.

The highlight of this laptop is its touch-sensitive secondary screen (located above the keyboard) that Asus calls “ScreenPad Plus.” This unique secondary display can be split into two or three columns, allowing you to access different applications within each partition.

Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core i9
• GPU: GeForce RTX 2060
• RAM: 32 GB
• Storage: 1 TB
• Display: 15.6 inch, 4K Display

Pros:

• Sharp dual 4K displays
• Useful ScreenPad Plus
• Powerful device

Cons:

• Mediocre battery life
• Heavy and chunky build

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga

For photographers who rely heavily on keyboard use for shortcuts and photo editing functions, having a device with a responsive and comfortable keyboard is a must. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga is an excellent choice for photographers looking for one of the best laptops for photo editing not only because of its speed and performance but for its built-in accessories too.

This device features a 4K display that provides 488 nits of brightness and a 100% RGB color gamut.

Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core i7
• GPU: Intel UHD
• RAM: 16 GB
• Storage: 256 GB/512 GB
• Display 14-inch, 4K

Pros:

• Slim yet durable aluminum chassis
• Amazing keyboard
• Long battery life
• Crisp and bright display

Cons:

• Mediocre audio quality

Conclusion

We hope that our list of the top five best laptops for photo editing narrows down your choices and eventually leads you to the most suitable device for your workflow! If you have comments or would like to share what laptop you are using for photo editing, write it down in the comments below.

Or, if you would like us to write an article about the difficult choice of, laptop VS desktop for photo editing, let us know!

Now, entering the fray is the newest member of the family: the Lenovo Yoga 9i. This remarkable laptop made a strong debut in late 2020, showcasing the immense capabilities of Intel Evo while boasting an impeccable blend of style and functionality. Though it may come with a slightly higher price tag, the investment is undeniably justified given the exceptional quality it delivers.

Packed with impressive power, the Lenovo Yoga 9i, powered by the 11th-generation Intel Evo-certified processors, effortlessly handles any task you throw at it, while its outstanding battery life keeps you going long after competitors have given up. This laptop represents the epitome of efficiency and performance.

A New Addition to the Family

The Lenovo Yoga 9i came in strong at the tail end of 2020 as one of the best laptops recently launched, giving us an early look at what Intel Evo is capable of while keeping things stylish and functional. Though it’s a bit on the pricey side – especially with higher-end specs – it’s hard to argue that the extra expense is pretty justified given the price.

A surprisingly powerful laptop, the 11th-generation, Intel Evo-certified Lenovo Yoga 9i is plenty capable of handling just about anything you can throw at it and has a phenomenal battery life to keep you going long after its competitors throw in the towel.

Intel Evo Designs Verified

The Lenovo Yoga 9i’s allure goes beyond its sleek Shadow Black facade. While the elegant paint job alone is enough reason to consider it, Lenovo delves deeper into the realm of luxurious laptop design, resulting in a truly captivating device.

Upon opening the lid, you’ll be greeted by a frosted glass-coated palm rest and trackpad, which, although unconventional, provides a delightfully cool sensation similar to aluminum. The leather-covered lid adds a touch of opulence, and Lenovo even includes care instructions for the leather, ensuring its longevity. The rest of the interior materials exude solidity and balance, featuring a harmonious combination of metallic elements.

A noteworthy addition is the all-new Glass Sense touchpad, offering an enhanced user experience with its expanded surface area and haptic feedback. Moreover, the 360-degree rotating system allows you to effortlessly switch between laptop, tent, and tablet modes, adapting to your every need.

Aesthetics

The Yoga 9i’s Shadow Black façade isn’t limited to its dark, elegant paint job, although that would be reason enough to consider it over the other existing alternative, the Mica variant with a metallic look-like. Instead, Lenovo dives much deeper than it ever has into the world of luxurious laptop design, and it pays off.

The lid of the laptop is covered in leather, making it feel way more premium than if it were just aluminum. In the box, Lenovo includes care instructions for the leather if you’d like to get as much life out of it as possible. The dark animal skin comes from “responsible sources”.

When you open the lid of the Yoga 9i, the luxuries continue with a frosted glass-coated palm rest and trackpad. If you’re not used to it, the glass on your wrists can feel a little strange, but it still gives you that cold sensation you look for from aluminum. It’s a lot silkier, but relatively comfortable, nonetheless. The rest of the interior materials are metallic, and the aluminum feels solid and offers a pleasant visual balance.

The all-new Glass Sense touchpad brings a whole new experience with 50% more active surface area and haptic feedback. The 360-degree rotating system allows you to use this device in laptop mode, tent mode, or tablet mode.

Performance

The Yoga 9i makes for not just a great productivity laptop with the flexibility of a 2-in-1. It’s also a candidate for creative professionals who need fast photo and video editing.

Running the show is an 11th generation Intel Core i7-1185G7 quad-core processor with integrated Iris Xe graphics and 16GB of soldered LPDDR4x 4,266MHz RAM. In Geekbench 5, the Yoga 9i scores 1,285 in single-core mode and 5,551 in multi-core mode.

If you are wondering what the difference is between the Core i7-1185G7 and Core i7-1165G7, the answer is that the former has a base frequency of 3.0GHz to the latter’s 2.8GHz and a Turbo-Boost frequency of 4.8GHz rather than 4.7GHz.

Display

The Yoga 9i’s 4K UHD IPS touchscreen display is one of its best features. Its diagonal is 14″ (35.56 cm), and the resolution – 3840 х 2160. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 315 PPI, their pitch – 0.08 x 0.08 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 28 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels). Its viewing angles are excellent under different light conditions.

The maximum measured brightness is pretty high – 477 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 460 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 17%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6900K – slightly colder than the 6500K optimum for sRGB.

This display covers 99% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976, and 89% of the DCI-P3 gamut, which ensures punchy, vibrant colors.

Local video playback is automatically scaled up to the highest resolution so that you get an ultra-clear entertainment experience.

The 16:9 screen ratio is more suitable for split-screen apps and also to get the most out of this laptop to be used as a tablet as well. Also, this proportion is more comfortable for media consumption. From streaming movies to creating audiovisual content.

Therefore, if you are a visual content creator, this display will facilitate your workflow for video or photography editing.

Webcam

The 720p webcam does have a privacy shutter and shoots pretty decent videos with appealing rendered colors. Unfortunately, this webcam is not an IR webcam, so it doesn’t support Windows Hello for unlocking — an annoyance for personal security and privacy.

Trackpad

When you click on the trackpad, it doesn’t physically move, instead of emulating a click with a pressure-sensitive haptic motor. It’s similar to what Apple does on the MacBook, but it’s not as good.

False clicks are common, and it is difficult to get consistency when selecting the text, for instance. Single clicks are pretty accurate most of the time and so are two-fingered clicks, but you’ll undoubtedly feel more random vibrations than you may expect.

In a nutshell, the trackpad is still a bit early in its development and hopefully, Lenovo could improve the experience through future updates.

Fingerprint Scanner

Lenovo placed the fingerprint scanner below the glass which makes it difficult to find. The only thing they did to highlight the placement of the sensor and the trackpad was adding a couple of glossy borders. You can barely feel these borders, let alone see them.

If you want any chance of knowing where the fingerprint sensor is, you have to keep its accompanying sticker.

However, this is just a small learning curve as it is also true that the more you use the laptop, the more you will get familiarized with the placement of the trackpad and the fingerprint scanner until your fingers find them instinctively.

It’s like getting a new camera. In the beginning, you will have to see where the bottoms are placed every time you click on them and then muscle memory will make the action way faster.

Also, it is worth mentioning that Windows 10 Hello support is provided by the fingerprint reader quickly and accurately.

TrueStrike Keyboard

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 has what Lenovo is calling a TrueStrike Keyboard, something that we first saw on its Legion gaming laptops. The keys are meant to be more comfortable, quieter, and frankly, better. It was developed by Lenovo’s team in Japan. The key travel is quite comfortable and suitable for typing for extended periods.

Each key has a larger aperture in the baseplate, giving it more of an area for shock absorption. It’s faster and more responsive, while still maintaining comfort and accuracy. The 9i also has backlighting for the keyboard which offers two brightness settings.

Ports and Connectivity

There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left side, and they’re paired with a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 2) port. As the notebook charges by USB Type-C, naturally, both ports would work for charging. The only other port here, by the way, is the Audio jack. With that said, the right side only houses the Power button, while the backside is home to the dedicated stylus. Users will miss the lack of a card reader.

Wireless connectivity is handled by Intel’s increasingly common AX201 card, which supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.

Stylus-Pen

The bundled Lenovo Active Pen is garaged in a slot at the rear just behind the power button. The slot is unobtrusive and secure so if you don’t use it, you can just forget about it. The stylus supports 4,096 pressure levels. A 15-minute charge will keep it powered for 90 minutes.

This is another great advantage for visual content creators who could choose to do edits as a laptop or having a more detailed control using the device as a tablet through a drawing experience. It’s fair to say that the Elastometer nib replicates accurately the feeling of writing on paper.

Sound

The lid opens and rotates with ease, pivoting around the laptop’s soundbar, which keeps the speakers free from obstruction and firing outward whether you’re using it like a laptop or a tablet. This highlight was made possible thanks to Dolby Atmos technology.

The rotating soundbar (two stereo speakers) built into the hinge is superior to conventional solutions in combination with the two subwoofers, especially given the small form factor, and is welcome to be imitated. The basses are a bit lowered, but they are still clearly noticeable for laptop speakers, and the speakers also get quite loud. The combined audio jack is available for connecting external devices.

Heating

Heat is managed pretty well on the Yoga 9i, with venting at the sides and behind the keyboard to help bleed off the hot air from its two internal fans and heat pipe. The fans mean that it doesn’t run completely silent, but even under strain, it’s not particularly loud.

Thanks to Intelligent Cooling, a feature co-engineered with Intel, the Yoga 9i 2 in 1 laptop regulates performance to bring you astounding battery life.

Energy Consumption

The Yoga 9i isn’t very energy-efficient in Maximum Performance mode. It consumes a maximum of 11 watts in idle usage without the keyboard backlight, and about 1 watt is added for each lighting level. Competitors use about 7 watts in contrast. However, consumption is also reduced considerably in the Intelligent performance mode.

Battery

The Yoga 9i’s 60 Wh battery allows almost 10 hours of video playback. Surfing the web over WLAN is possible for between less than 6 hours (100% brightness) and almost 9 hours (150 nits) depending on the brightness of the 4K panel. However, battery life can still be optimized with other Vantage performance modes (e.g., Intelligent mode, Battery Saving mode).

In-house Software

Most of what you’ll need is packed all into the Lenovo Vantage app, which is where you can find the latest BIOS and driver updates, information about the Yoga 9i, and the system settings and warranty information. There is also another app called Active Pen, which allows you to customize the button controls.

Specifications

• CPU Intel Core i7-1185G7
• GPU Intel Iris Xe
• Display 14.0” UHD (3840×2160), IPS, 500nits, VESA HDR 400
• Body 12.57×8.53×0.6-0.64in (319.5×216.7×15.3-16.5mm), 3.17lbs (1.44kg)
• Ports
  • (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
  • (2) Thunderbolt 4
  • (1) 3.5mm audio
• RAM 16GB LPDDR4x, 4266MHz
• Storage 512GB PCIe NVMe
• Connectivity Intel Wi-Fi 6 802.11 AX 2 x 2 + Bluetooth 5.0
• Audio
  • Rotating Sound Bar with Dolby Atmos Speaker System certification
  • 2W x 4 (2x woofer, 2x tweeter)
• 6-row, multimedia Fn keys, LED backlight
• Buttonless glass surface multi-touch touchpad supports Precision Touchpad
• Battery 60 Wh, Rapid Charge Express
• Price – Starting at $1025

Pros & Cons

For:

• Top-end Core i7 processor
• Powerful performance
• Excellent display and audio
• Great battery life

Against:

• No Windows Hello facial recognition
• Automatic brightness adjustment is not supported
• Touchpad’s haptic action is odd
• The touchpad and fingerprint scanner are too obscured

Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga 9i, (Starting at $1025), looks great and offers smooth movement and impressive build quality. The screen is a good-quality 4K panel way off the color accuracy standards in sRGB.

The Yoga has top-notch speakers, solid battery life, and an intuitive keyboard. It’s flexible and rugged enough to use in various modes and the body materials are premium.

Lenovo worked some magic with the thermals to squeeze out every ounce of performance, and it shows. The 2-in-1 is well-built, visually appealing, and conducts efficiently.

The biggest downfall is that the haptic touchpad is poor. It won’t be surprising that by the end of the day, users won’t get used to this trackpad and use a Bluetooth mouse instead.

The Yoga 9i in Shadow Black is worth a look if it’s in your price range. It’s a delightful machine, one that’ll pave the way for more experimental machines from Lenovo in the future. This is a great alternative to be considered by visual content creators to facilitate their workflow.

Check Pricing and Availability of Lenovo Products Here

Adorama | B&H | Amazon

PortraitPro 21 just came out recently and, you guessed it–AI is present in their newly developed retouching algorithms. This could mean that PortraitPro’s retouching tools have, in fact, gotten a whole lot better. However, you can’t just say “now with AI!” and have everyone assume it is a valuable improvement. So, is it? Yes, indeed it is, to make a long story short. It is a BIG improvement, in quite a few ways, and very much worth investing in. In this review, we’ll tell you what’s new, how it works, and what we like and don’t like about PortraitPro 21!

PortraitPro 21 Review | Specifications

There are three versions of PortraitPro 21: Standard, Studio, and Studio Max.

• PortraitPro Standard ($54.95)
  Standalone software for amateur photographers working with JPG or 24-bit TIFF files.
• PortraitPro Studio ($84.95)
  For amateur or professional photographers who work directly with RAW files or want the higher quality of 48-bit color files, supports conversion between different color spaces, and provides JPEG/TIFF embedded color profile support. Offers Batch dialog.
• PortraitPro Studio Max ($169.95)
  For professional photographers or those working with lots of images. Full Batch mode to speed workflow greatly.

For more information about what is included in each edition, click here. Below, we’ll dive into each of the main features that are making “version 21” much better than its predecessors.

PortraitPro 21 Review | What’s New?

Lighting Brushes

The existing “Lighting” tool in PortraitPro was already one of the biggest reasons we loved it–you can take a portrait with totally flat, boring light, and add a subtle touch of directionality to the light, and it looks truly amazing.

The new Lighting Brush in PortraitPro 21 takes this impressive feature to the next level, allowing you to modify or create totally new lighting effects for your entire image. This can be perfect for adding that faint warm glow or flare look, with just the right intensity and position.

Simply put, in seconds you can create subtle or dramatic effects that would take a long time to set up using lights on-location.

New Clone Tool

The blemish removal tool in the previous version of PortraitPro was, honestly, not versatile and capable enough for us to use it here at the studio on every single image. Often, we would have to go into Photoshop for more serious retouching challenges.

The new Clone Tool is a significant improvement, getting the subtle texture of skin “just right” much more often. We still go into Photoshop here and there, of course, but the PortraitPro Clone Tool is a significant improvement! Most portrait photographers who are doing basic blemish removal should be able to get virtually all of their work done in PortraitPro 21!

Sky Replacement Feature

Not to be outdone by other software and AI technologies that have debuted in the last year-or-so, PortraitPro’s latest iteration also offers a Sky Replacement tool.  Using technology from the company’s other software, Landscape Pro, and simply put, it works pretty well. Not only does it do a good job of selecting a background versus a subject, it also automatically alters the tone/mood on the subject itself, allowing the background to more seamlessly blend and appear realistic.

History Panel

Any user of Photoshop (or Lightroom) will appreciate having a full-featured history panel that allows you to quickly revert back to any step in your process. This is a pretty straightforward feature with obvious benefits; what else can we say except, it works and is very useful!

Noise Reduction & Sharpening

Personally, I like to perform these two adjustments either at the beginning of the editing process, (raw noise reduction is amazing!) …or, at the very end of the editing process, (that’s when sharpening should be done!)

Having said that, both tools are quite impressive in their quality and overall functionality. If you would like to apply any noise reduction or sharpening at some point during the retouching process, for whatever reason, you can get what you need from PortraitPro 21.

Color Styles

Something that has become increasingly popular lately, likely due to the “filters” that are becoming very ubiquitous on social media platforms for image sharing, is a set of variations in stylized processing for tone and color.

PortraitPro adds Color Styles to version 21, offering film emulation or just “faded”, or “crushed” types of looks, along with color toning. If you’re trying to produce a carefully curated “vibe” on a social media page, for yourself or for another business as part of their brand, then even a faint, subtle Color Style could work wonders in creating a cohesive look over time.

Hair Highlights

Another way to add a subtle bit of high-end polish to a quick soft/flat lit portrait is to create highlights in hair. Usually, this would require meticulous, careful burning & dodging, or advanced, complex masking techniques. PortraitPro 21 has a Hair Highlights tool, and once again, it simply works.

PortraitPro 21 Review | Pros & Cons

We’ve outlined the new features above, but what does this translate to in real-world photography editing? Here are our top advantages and disadvantages, in bullet form:

Pros

• Ease-Of-Use
  The software isn’t just powerful and advanced, it’s also simple and easy to use, which is what really makes your life easier and your workflow quicker.
• Significantly improved Retouching (Cloning) Brush
  One area where the older versions of PortraitPro fell short was the clone stamp tool. It just didn’t have enough “intelligence” as far as textures and making skin look realistic. The new tool is night-and-day better!  Most photographers will NEVER  need to usePhotoshop now.
• Unique, Powerful Portrait Adjustments
  While simple things like “airbrushing” or retouching or burning & dodging can also be done in Lightroom or Photoshop relatively easily, PortraitPro’s ability to do complex things like re-light an entire face with incredible realism are infinitely easier than in any other common workflow software. Heck, you can even move a catchlight around in an eye iris!
• Repeatable access to the same tool or final “look”
  One of the main advantages of PortraitPro is that you can not just achieve professional results easily, but you can also repeat those edits on an entire batch of images. No more worrying about if you accidentally missed something in one image out of ten, or just didn’t make the subject look good in one or two images!

Cons

• One extra step (TIF or JPG file) beyond Lightroom
  This means that if you are going from Lightroom to PortraitPro, while it is a relatively seamless transition, (with the Studio and Studio Max versions) …you are still creating an additional file, whether TIF or JPG.
• Easy to go “too far”
  One of the risks of having such a powerful tool, especially one that is so highly automated and intuitive, is that it works well enough that you can really go overboard without even realizing it. For us, by default, we’re usually “dialing it back” to keep most effects more subtle, and then also officially turning some tools off completely when we don’t want to use them. Of course, this is what creating your own new preset is for!

As you can tell, the “Cons” here, although they might be a minor hassle, are just a part of the advanced workflow process. In other words, these are just things to watch out for when you are using the software; they are not necessarily reasons not to get the software!

PortraitPro 21 Review | Conclusion

[NOTE: Always discuss retouching with your portraiture clients beforehand! As a general rule, never make them look so different that they notice you retouched something without their asking you. Want more tips on getting the most out of PortraitPro? Check out THIS tutorial here.]

Whether you do large batches of retouching on a regular basis for professional work, or you just do portraiture casually but don’t want to have to master a dozen advanced techniques, PortraitPro offers the most comprehensive retouching technology. Its combination of streamlined automation, and subtle adjustments, means you can get perfect results virtually every time without having to go all the way to more complex tools in Photoshop.

You can purchase the Standard version for about $55, the Studio version for about %85, and the Studio Max version for about $170. If you do a ton of editing portraits, you should definitely get PortraitPro.

• PortraitPro Standard ($54.95)
  Standalone software for amateur photographers working with JPG or 24-bit TIFF files.
• PortraitPro Studio ($84.95)
  For amateur or professional photographers who work directly with RAW files or want the higher quality of 48-bit color files, supports conversion between different color spaces, and provides JPEG/TIFF embedded color profile support. Offers Batch dialog.
• PortraitPro Studio Max ($169.95)
  For professional photographers or those working with lots of images. Full Batch mode to speed workflow greatly.

PortraitPro 21 has special offers available on their website, plus, SLR-lounge readers get an EXTRA 15% DISCOUNT on any new edition or upgrade – simply use coupon code MR3014 in the “Apply the Coupon” box at the checkout. Download your free trial today!

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calibrated

If there’s one thing you can be sure of, when you post an image online, it’s going to be viewed on countless different devices, meaning that no two people will be seeing it the same. Generally speaking, most screens are set too bright along with whatever the default color profile the particular brand of monitor happens to use. For some, the differences will be minor, but for the majority, the color shifts will be significant! As a monitor or device gets older, the colors change, the contrast shifts, the black and white levels skew. No matter what you do, over time these screens and devices will slowly burn out and be less accurate. 

Calibrated

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In order to help ensure your images are at least color accurate and standardized is to calibrate your screen, (especially if you’ve already used an accurate color chart/calibration tool like the Datacolor SpyderCheckr 24), to ensure you’ve got the best color representation and brightness level on screen as possible. 

What Is Monitor Calibration?

As we discussed in my previous post, color calibration is critical to ensuring your images always look accurate and consistent across all your devices. Yes, it starts with your on-set / in-camera shooting, but it’s still absolutely important and critical to calibrate your monitors as well! 

To calibrate your screens, you’ll need a small “hockey puck” sized device, (my Canadian is showing), that you hang on your screen and it measures the colors being displayed.

Technically speaking this is called a spectrophotometer, measuring the light color of your screen. There are plenty available on the market for you to choose from, and a LOT of top tier monitors come pre-packaged with them, but one of the best on the market is the SpyderX from Datacolor. They all have their pros and cons, but one thing I’ll scream from the mountaintops (and you can read my initial review of this device here), is that it is the fastest and most accurate calibration tool I’ve ever used! In fact, it actually saved my old laptop screen from the garbage heap.

Calibrated

Uncalibrated

I’ve gone through several brands of calibration tools and the SpyderX was the only one able to take my nearly 10-year-old laptop screen which was failing and very blown out, and actually create a profile, that while still not perfect (it was broken, only so much you could do), it got it to a point where I could actually edit without using an external monitor! It truly was a lifesaver and it took under 2 minutes to do! Something no other calibration tool was ever able to match, (and hasn’t since either!).

Why Is Calibration Important?

The best way to explain why calibration is important is to edit an image completely including color-grading and then print that image using the default settings. I can almost guarantee if you edit on an uncalibrated screen and make the image look great to you on that screen…it’ll differ wildly when you print it and compare the two. This example also applies when looking at the same image on different devices. The colors will vary from device to device, which is why it’s incredibly important to at least have your image and screen calibrated and synced properly.

There’s nothing worse than spending hours working on an image just to find out that the colors are completely off when you get them back from the printers. For instance, this is an old wedding photo I did, while not terrible, but when I initially worked on this, it was with my laptop that was uncalibrated, and a screen that was (at the time unknown to me) dying. So as you can tell, the greens are WILDLY oversaturated. When I first sent these off to be printed…yeah….it was a shocker haha.

Calibrating is important even if you don’t ever plan on printing, as mentioned above, even viewing on different devices will cause shifts in color and clarity. A good indication that your monitor needs to be calibrated is when your images end up having a slight color cast or seem washed out / flat when viewed on anything other than your monitor  (IE Instagram and your phone)

Calibrated

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Calibrated

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Calibrated

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How Do You Calibrate Your Monitor?

Using the Datacolor SpyderX Elite or SpyderX Pro is pretty straightforward as they will walk you through the entire process. Once you open the app, select Calibrate My Display and click next, the app will then provide you a checklist of things to be sure of before moving forward, then you want to select your monitor type, (for instance, my MacBook Pro screen is a “Wide LED”), and then click next to move into the workflow selection.

Here you’ll choose if you want a step by step assistant, simply choosing a profile to match from another monitor, or using the “expert console” to give you total control. Then we dive into the fun stuff. The next step is to select the calibration depth for your screen. Given that the process is so fast, I tend to do a full calibration each month to ensure that my monitor is getting the best color presentation possible.

Then just place the SpyderX calibration tool in the place shown by the app and click next. Once the calibration is complete, you’ll be prompted to name and save the profile created and then the fun stuff happens.

On the next screen, you’ll be given an array of images ranging from landscapes to color swatches to portraits showing you your nice new (accurate), calibrated color profile for the monitor! And the best thing here is you can now click a button to “switch” and show the previous uncalibrated view! This screen is kind of epic as you can often see a drastic shift in color, contrast, and sharpness! After you move past this the application will show you the % of sRGB, NTSC, P3, and AdobeRGB covered by your monitor and the calibration.

And that’s it! It’ll definitely take you longer to read these steps than it will to actually calibrate your screen with the SpyderX tools. You’re now running with a calibrated screen that’ll give you accurate color representation in applications like Lightroom, Capture One Pro, and any browser you use! 

Conclusion

As a visual creative, we spend hours and hours a day staring at our screens. From the Back of the camera, to our smartphones, to our laptops/monitors/computers and tv displays….we’re always in front of one. So ensuring that all of these devices are calibrated and synced is critical, and yet is very often overlooked. Especially since no two brands or devices display colors the exact same way.

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Failing to calibrate your camera, monitor, and print devices, especially when in a professional setting, can lead to some disastrous results for both you and your potential clients. It leaves you working “blindfolded” with next to no actual control over your finished product.

Having a calibrated screen is absolutely critical to your photo and video work. Getting your images “right” is one of the most important and first steps you should take with your work, so ensuring that your devices are consistent is critical to this process. You wouldn’t send your raw files to your client as the finished product? Because they aren’t finished. The same rules apply to your monitors. You should always edit on a properly calibrated screen to ensure you get consistent and quality results.

Datacolor has launched its SpyderX Photo Kit, at a special 50th-Anniversary price of $199* (retail price: $399) – a $200 savings!

The Datacolor SpyderX Photo Kit has everything you need in one convenient and cost-effective package to ensure precise color, depth, and detail for all your photos from capture through post-production. The SpyderX Photo Kit includes:

• SpyderX Elite – Datacolor’s fastest and most accurate calibrator to color calibrate displays. SpyderX Elite aligns seamlessly with monitor upgrades for screen types, resolutions and gamuts, and is 64-bit ready.
• Spyder Checkr 24 – Color correct your camera, lens, and system combinations for more consistent, accurate color within post-production workflow in Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, and Hasselblad Phocus.
• Spyder Cube – Set your exposure and white balance in RAW conversion, for accurate detail across shadow and highlight areas.

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Uncalibrated

Check Pricing & Availability of the Datacolor SpyderX Photo Kit Here;

Datacolor 

Find the Datacolor SpyderX Elite Here;

Datacolor

I built my first PC in high school, it was a  Windows XP (or Windows 2000?) machine. My father took me to the local electronics superstore and we picked out the motherboard, etc. I loved the sense of pride when it first turned on, I loved making upgrades, it was fun, at first.

After the tragic “bricking” (electronic death) of that PC, due to viruses or malware or something, (curse you, Napster/LimeWire/Kazaa!) …I got into photography and bought my first Mac.  I “went legit” and paid for authentic copies of Adobe Photoshop 6, 7, Creative Suite, and beyond…. (And, yes, I paid for music on iTunes!)

Fast-forward a couple of decades, and I’ve gone back and forth between Mac and PC a few times. As a post-production manager/specialist and private workflow consultant, I have to stay up-to-date on both operating systems for my work.

Shop the Best Computers For Photography Editing: (Adorama) (B&H) (Amazon)

I’d estimate that my time has been split 70/30 or 80/20 between Mac/PC. Whenever I use a PC more routinely than a Mac, though, I have the exact same experience…

With each new version of Windows, my initial reaction is “oh, this isn’t so bad!” After all, I just need a few photo and video editing programs, and they’re virtually identical on both operating systems. As someone who reviews cameras for a living, re-wiring my brain quickly to jive with a few different keyboard shortcuts and Finder VS Explorer comes very easy.

Then, like clockwork, Windows begins to sabotage our relationship. Things get way too complicated, and in a totally new way each time. Each time, I quickly remember why I love my Apple machines. They just work. They’re simple, they run smoothly day in and day out, they’re just idiot-proof. I realize that makes me the idiot, and I’m OK with it; I spent all my energy mastering camera interfaces and customizations, apparently, and I have no patience left for confusing computer problems.

[RELATED READING: The Best Lightroom Keyboard Shortcuts | Quick Reference Guide]

Today’s story is just one example of why, personally, as a simple-minded creative person I will probably never truly enjoy the Windows user experience like I do the Apple “sphere”. It’s probably not even a good example, there’s probably a really easy explanation for this problem, but after hours of searching the internet and asking all my PC wizard friends, I still couldn’t fix things, so here it is…

DISCLAIMER: We all have our different computer-related experience & track record. Some people have had numerous Macs crash or die on them. I’ve heard the reports of how overall quality control has declined in recent years. All I am doing today is telling my story. You’re welcome to tell your own story in a comment!

Windows PC Display Calibration Profile

Like any responsible photographer should, I attempt to calibrate my latest new PC display. It’s a 4K HDR laptop display, so the slightly older calibration device was barely up to the task. The default calibration options were very wrong for such an exotic display, and I had to re-calibrate multiple times with a lot of trial-and-error, before getting it right. To be fair, I’m not faulting Windows for this complication at all; it was an older model X-Rite device, and my Apple displays were never 4K HDR with 100% RGB! Moving on…

Even when accurately calibrated, however, Adobe applications still displayed images quite differently from Windows Explorer and other applications. (Kudos to Google Chrome for coming the closest to matching Adobe, though!)

I was confused.  I hadn’t encountered this problem on a Mac in 10-15 years. And, the difference was significant enough that if I edited my images “to taste” in Adobe, they didn’t just look slightly different everywhere else, they looked horribly over-cooked.

So, I decided to dive down the rabbit hole, and see if there was a deeper level at which I needed to change a color space/display setting, or designate the new calibration profile, in order for Windows to stop over-cooking colors and contrast so much.

Also, by the way, the calibration profile keeps un-setting itself, every time the computer sleeps, even though X-Rite says it has applied it at the system-wide level. So I have to re-apply the display calibration profile every single time I wake the computer. Another reason to dive deeper and check the system-level settings. Which brings us to the present. Let’s try and figure this out together…

First, unlike on a Mac where display settings are all handled in one place through the OS preferences, on this particular Windows PC each hardware manufacturer has its own little add-on programs besides Windows’ own settings. So, I check those first – Acer has one, Intel has one, NVIDIA has one, and of course there’s one more GeForce…thing. None of them seem to have any control over the actual display profile. (Despite one of them actually having a seemingly useless option deceptively named, “Select profile”…)

So, I’m four applications (each with numerous settings) into my hunt, and I haven’t even found anywhere to force my computer to use the same display profile. Only Adobe applications seem to automatically use the X-Rite-generated display profile.

So, into Windows Display settings we go. Let’s count how many layers there are…

This is the 2nd level of the 1st settings window, where the “Color profile” setting keeps undoing itself despite double-checking in the calibration software that the profile should be saved at a system-wide/admin level. So, we’d better go down to the bottom of this window and click “Advanced display settings”…

Layer 3 – Nothing useful here; we need to click “Display adapter properties for Display 1” and go even deeper…

A whole new (2nd) window pops up. This isn’t very useful either, but I do see a tab called “Color Management”, and that sounds a little more promising!

…Sadly, the “Color Management” tab just shows a “Color Management…” button. I guess I better click it! (Depending on how you count, we are 2 windows or 5 layers deep at this point.)

Now we’re getting somewhere! 3 windows (6 layers) into the bowels of Windows settings, I finally find somewhere to set a default display device profile. Except, it’s already set to the CUSTOM profile, even though I’m definitely having the color/contrast discrepancy problems I described. What’s going on? Well, there is another “Advanced” tab in this window; let’s see where that leads…

Is this the culprit? I finally found a “Device profile” setting that I can change from the factory profile to the custom profile! (Layer 7)

…Unfortunately, changing this setting didn’t seem to help. In the lower corner of the window, however, we see a button for “Change system defaults…”

We get an identical window, except this is named “Color Management – System Defaults”. Unfortunately, the CUSTOM profile is still set as the default. Maybe there’s another  “Advanced” tab? Yes, there is. At this point, (4 windows, 8 layers) I feel like I’m in a horror house of mirrors…

Finally, when I can go no further, (layer 9!) I found a “Device profile” option that was set to sRGB, even though this is an AdobeRGB display. Let’s try setting this last option to the CUSTOM profile, and see what happens.

…Surprise, surprise: colors and contrast are, in fact, a little bit closer in Adobe applications and other Windows programs. Still, they’re off by a tiny little bit. It’s a margin of error that I’m willing to accept, though, so let’s call it “good enough”, and get on with our lives!

[Related Reading: Datacolor Launches SpyderX Tool Kits for Digital Photographers for Ultimate Color Calibration]

The real question is, surely after going deeper than Indiana Jones into the bowels of my computer for just one final setting, the computer should remember this display profile at the main level, even if I let it go to sleep, or do a full restart?

…Of course not. There’s that factory calibration again! Apparently, I’ll have to re-enable my calibration profile every single time I sit down at my computer. (Unless some Windows genius comments below and tells me what I’m doing wrong!)

Conclusion: Why, Windows, WHY?

Honestly, to be totally fair, I bet the real problem is ME. I’m sure there’s a totally simple solution to this problem, and if I’m lucky you’ll be polite with your comments even though I deserve to be ashamed of my failure. I probably made some rookie mistake.

But, I did try very hard to find a solution. I spent hours reading everything I could find on Windows display calibration and profile settings. I could only conclude that having colors match in all apps may just not be possible, period, when using an HDR-capable 100% AdobeRGB display. Maybe I’m wrong, and I missed a setting in one of those other proprietary apps.

Either way, my point is this: With all the Apple computers I ever owned, at least it was never NINE LAYERS of complicated. (Not to mention the additional apps for managing individual pieces of hardware, as is Windows’ custom…) I don’t care how computer-savvy you are, nine layers of settings is about 6-7 layers too many.

With a Mac, setting up a calibration, or getting it to “stick”, was never a problem. Whenever I got a new Mac, or did a hard drive upgrade and full OS refresh, it was always effortless: install the software, perform the calibration, and tell the program to make the new profile universal. Done!

I might have missed something obvious, but I still can’t get past the fact that there are nine layers, or four different windows of settings, plus those aftermarket programs related to the display and graphics card. That’s ridiculous. Why, Windows, Why? Is this really necessary?

Why Artists Like (Or Dislike) Mac: The Simplicity

I just need a computer that works. I need a computer that only has one or two levels of complexity. As a photographer, I spend hours setting up the custom controls and quick menus on all of my cameras, because I need EVERYTHING to be right at my fingertips.

Why do I feel so strongly about this when it comes to post-production, though? because I’d rather be back outdoors taking more pictures, not “managing” my computer!

I know plenty of photographers that have no problems managing their PCs. They’re also very inspiring, creative artists! I guess everybody is a little different.

I understand that PCs, on average, are an incredible value. And, make no mistake, all the PCs I’ve ever used have been awesome computers overall, including this latest one. They’re powerful, fast machines that really let me blast through a batch of high-megapixel photos, even stitching 300-megapixel raw panoramas with ease! So, if you need the best value, a PC is a great choice, even if you might experience a little bit more frustration.

My point is, if you appreciate simplicity, or if you absolutely require it in order to maintain your sanity, that’s OK! We may pride ourselves in being camera masters, or Photoshop masters, but it’s OK to make certain technology-related decisions that help keep our blood pressure down. For me, that means I’ll likely forever reside in the Mac OS camp. I don’t care about brand name status symbols, or sexy outward appeal, I just want a computer that works as smoothly as possible, for as many years as possible. How about you?

Initially I was kinda frustrated about the timing, but then got excited to mess with this beast, side by side with my new MacBook pro to see how they stood up to one another pound for pound….and well…lets just say I was kind of blown away. So before I get into those comparisons, let’s dive into the details of one of Acer’s new Creator series of devices.

What Is It?

The Acer 15.6″ ConceptD 7 Laptop is a sleek and stylish system designed for professional and enthusiast creators who deal with color-critical content. It has a 15.6″ display, driven by NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics, features a 3840 x 2160 4K resolution and is Pantone-validated to ensure accurate colors with 100% coverage of the Adobe RGB spectrum, as well as a Delta E value of less than 2. It’s also got a Matte screen that I LOVE, considering my previous MacBook Pro was the last generation of the “Anti-Glare” screen.

Complementing its RTX 2060 graphics, it’s outfitted with a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-9750H six-core processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD. Other integrated features include an HDMI port, a Thunderbolt 3 port, USB Type-A ports, a webcam, a microphone, speakers, and audio in/out jacks. And, it comes loaded with the Windows 10 Home OS. Having come from 10+ years of not touching a PC, one thing I immediately enjoyed was how easy it was to navigate the Windows 10 interface! Kind of like riding a bike haha.

This laptop was initially released back in April/May of 2019 and part of Acer’s “creator” line which is basically a content-creator version of their high-quality gaming laptops. While it’s the same weight, design, and size as the gaming counterpart, it’s got a lot of differences that makes it appealing to creators like us in the photography industry. As mentioned above in some of the key features, the first thing to take note of is the incredible 16×9 format 4k matte display that can handle many harsher lighting conditions than a standard “glossy” screen. It’s rated at SRGB 100%, Adobe RGB 100%, P3 90%, NITS 325 (not as bright as the macbook pro but still VERY usable in the California sun), Delta E <2, and it has a pretty standard 720p webcam for those of us who need to be involved in conference calls and web meetings. (Or you just feel like taking a selfie while writing/editing away at your local coffee shop).

Additionally, for the audiophiles out there, the sound is pretty awesome as well, BUT, the speakers are on the bottom of the laptop, which means depending on where you’re working and its surface, the sound can be pretty tin-can-like compared to some other Laptop designs. One thing that was already mentioned as well in the key featured, and after multiple tests, holds true, is the “volume” of the system fans. Despite pushing some heavy rendering loads for 4k video and photo exports, the Acer ConceptD 7 held true at a maximum of 45dbs! Now the trade off here, is apparently when compared to the “gaming” versions of this laptop, it’s throttled or had its power is turned down to have a quieter experience.

Naturally, I had to install and try out a game or two to see what I may be missing as a console gamer, and what I found is you can get pretty great frame rates with 30-120fps depending on the game and load, but after doing some digging online, I found the rates I was getting won’t be as good as the gaming unit. So, to keep things open and save everyone some time, if you’re looking to primarily game on this computer, you may want to just go ahead and look at the official gaming versions and call it a day. But if you’re a photographer/videographer, well let’s just keep reading!

Who Is It For?

As mentioned above and intermittently throughout this review, the Acer ConceptD 7 laptop is made for creatives who need something powerful, fast, travel-ready, and significantly cheaper than the competition for comparable specs.

As far as the working creative on the road, the only thing missing from this device is a built-in SD card reader. While that doesn’t seem like much of a big deal since pretty much everyone with an SD card probably owns a card reader and has it somewhere in their bags, it’s still a super nice, convenient thing to have had included given the other plethora of inputs and options on the computer.

Quality

The unit we tested comes with 16 Gigs of ram which is upgradeable, and it has 3 fans for cooling (much like the Triton 500 gaming version. The battery size is only 80 watts, but we were able to get over 6 hours of life out of it with lightroom/photoshop running non stop. So that’s pretty impressive.

Now since I bought the 2018 Model MacBook Pro, it came with the “infamous” butterfly keyboard design, and if i’m honest, I LOATHE it. I’ve started carrying an external keyboard with me everywhere now. With that in mind, on the Acer, thankfully the keyboard is mechanical and it felt great to use. Especially when compared to the Butterfly keys on the Mac. The keys felt great, had a great response reaction, and as a writer, the sound was just satisfying!

The touchpad, on the other hand, is smaller than I’ve been used too over the years, but it’s “glass” and very responsive so even that was actually very nice to use. Maybe not as perfect as a Macbook Pro touchpad, but still very good.

The weight of the whole laptop is impressively low, (one of the lighter ways to get a 4K display!) and is easily packed away in any backpack or shoulder bag. The material (other than being white, which I felt might be easily “dirtied”) was very sturdy and durable. Some of it is aluminum, but it’s not “milled” like Macbook Pros are, so there’s just slightly more luxurious of a feel with a “MBP”.

Basically, having only Macbook Pro’s as a reference for the last decade, this laptop feels like it’s pretty top-notch!

Setup & Install

Out of the box, much like a new MacBook, the Acer ConceptD 7 took little time to be up and running. The “Wizard” was very easy to get through for the initial setup and configuration of the laptop with very easy to follow prompts, and in just a few minutes I was able to dive in and start playing. What actually ate up most of the “initial” setup time…well…were the updates!

This the age-old complaint of Mac Vs PC that’s kept me from even considering the move back to PC for ages now. “Windows Updates” memes and flak has been all over the mac vs pc debate for ages. Personally,  I never really believed it was that bad, but it was still enough to make me hesitant. Honestly though, after doing the initial setup of this PC and getting all of my apps and plugins installed, the Acer Windows Update cycle wasn’t that bad!? Maybe I was lucky and the default install was pretty up to date, but the initial setup only took a few hours….basically the same as my MacBook, and after that I wasn’t bothered by the system telling me to update every time I rebooted the machine. That being said though, every time i did decide to check the “Updates” there did seem to always be at least up driver update or something available to install. Thankfully most of the time they were minor and didn’t require any restarts.

Now since there were ports everywhere on this guy, getting it setup and configured to do some photo and video editing was really easy. It has the following built in;

• Ethernet
• 3x USB-3
• HDMI
• 2 audio ports
• USB-C
• Thunderbolt/Display port

Basically, everything you’d need to get rolling in a modern setup for external keyboards, mice, tablets, loupedeck consoles and external monitors.

[Related Reading: The Five Best Laptops of 2019 to Look Out For According to the IFA!]

Using The Acer ConceptD 7 – A Mac User’s Point of View

It’s only fair of me to admit, that a LOT of the slowness or clunkiness I experienced in this review, was simply my own unfamiliarity with the Windows OS and how to navigate things. The first day I basically just did the full install of the OS and related windows updates, along with installing all of the photo and video applications I used on my day to day life including the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, Capture One Pro, Luminar 4, JpegMINI, and some other plugins & drivers. Once this was all done, and all the related updates were done (this didn’t take long), I started immediately doing some side by side timed tests of imports, exports, timelapse renders, and basic editing workflow tests to see how it felt and compared to 10 years as a Mac only user.

The big test, was 30 gigs worth of RAW files from a Nikon D800 Timelapse session that I imported into a new catalogue, edited, and exported using LRTimelapse to create a 4k timelapse video. In the side by side comparison with my 2018 MacBook Pro, these machines were within seconds of each other from start to finish. So close in fact that when you factor in my “user error” in starting and stopping the timers, there was no clear winner in any test I ran!

The one clear difference I noticed was the quality of the display. The colors, the depth, the response time was absolutely beautiful (even pre-calibration with my SpyderX Elite). With both screens calibrated, the Acer ConceptD 7 just looked so much better than the MacBook Pro. I’m not quite sure how to explain it, but if you get the chance to get side by side with these devices i’d highly recommend it to compare for yourself. I bet you’ll feel the same as me! What took me a bit to catch onto was the ConceptD Palette utility. This tool sits in the taskbar and lets you quickly swap between Adobe RGB and a more contrasty “native” color profile, along with several other “presets” that can make quickly moving from photo editing to movie watching, to gaming a breeze!

The one thing that I noticed while using various apps and even internet browsing, is the 4k display does some UHD Upscaling things that can mess with your windows, headers/footers, and layouts in some apps like Lightroom. With UHD Upscaling on, some of the dividers and windows in Lightroom overlapped each other making it, well, it was still functional, but it was just annoying to use if that makes sense? A minor visual nit-pick, for content creators with visual OCD, can be annoying.

Indeed, in an industry where we demand visual perfection, these little design glitches can be frustrating. Honestly though, my guess is this was more of an Adobe code thing than specifically being the Laptops problem as after some discussions about UHD upscaling, I’ve been told this is pretty common on PC devices. So, really, after a month of day-to-day usage, the little design “flaws” were the only thing I found that “won” in the Mac when compared to the PC! This device ran so incredibly smooth with everything I threw at it, the only headache at all (if you can call it that) was just re-learning the Windows keyboard shortcuts and structure.

Price Point

Here’s where things get kind of amazing. The Acer Concept D7 laptop, with all it’s incredible hardware and features, is only $2,299.99! I know that may sound like a lot, but when you compare it to the price of an equivalently specced out MacBook Pro, you’ll likely be paying nearly twice that price.  So, here’s the deal: The ConceptD 7 is an incredible machine, and is nearly just 50% of the cost of a 2018 MacBook Pro with similar hardware!

So, if your only trade off is Mac versus PC, than the decision should be pretty easy! Or, if you’re on any sort of budget but are open to all options, then if you can barely afford this Acer you will definitely not be shopping for new Macbook Pros, but 2-3 year old ones instead.

Technical Specifications of the Acer Concept D7

• CPU 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-9750H 6-Core
• Maximum Boost Speed 4.5 GHz
• L3 Cache 12 MB
• Memory Type DDR4
• Total Installed Memory 16 GB DDR4
• Memory Configuration 16 GB
• Buffered Memory No
• ECC Memory No
• Graphics Type Dedicated
• GPU NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6 GB GDDR6 VRAM
• Total Installed Capacity 1 TB
• Solid State Storage 1 x 1 TB M.2 NVMe PCIe
• Ethernet 1 x RJ45 (Gigabit)
• Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac); Dual-Band (2.4 & 5 GHz)
• MU-MIMO Support Yes
• Bluetooth 5.0
• Dimensions 14.1 x 0.7 x 10″ / 358.14 x 17.78 x 254 mm
• Weight 4.63 lb / 2.1 kg
• Price – $2,299.99

Display

• Panel Type IPS
• Size 15.6″
• Aspect Ratio 16:9
• Resolution 3840 x 2160 4K
• Touchscreen No
• Color Gamut 100% Adobe RGB
• Adaptive Sync Technology None

Input / Output

• Ports 3 x USB Type-A (USB 3.1 / USB 3.2 Gen 1)
• USB Type-C Ports 1 x Thunderbolt 3 (Supports DisplayPort)
• Display 1 x HDMI 2.0
• Audio 1 x 1/8″ / 3.5 mm Microphone Input
• 1 x 1/8″ / 3.5 mm Headphone Output
• Built-In Speakers 2
• Built-In Microphones Yes
• Media Card Slots None

What I Liked / What I Didn’t Like

The laptop was very well designed, the aluminum casing felt strong and durable, however the white design made me feel that it’d get scuffed up and dirty pretty quickly if I were to take this guy out into the field with me in my daily work, on-location photo shoots. etc.

The display was absolutely amazing, probably the highlight of the experience, and editing images and video on it was an absolute pleasure. If i’m honest, normally I really don’t enjoy editing images on any laptops native screen and prefer to wait until i’m at home or in the office where I can connect an external (calibrated) monitor, but the colors and quality of the screen on this thing were just too good to ignore.

Additionally, typing on it was great! (I still find it strange that I’ve become that person who now comments on the quality of the keyboard….but here we are!) The weight and sound of the keys were good, and the Acer has a soft orange backlight to the keys that you can enable/disable at will to make typing in different lighting conditions easier.

The Trackpad was very responsive and felt incredible to the touch, and obviously, when you’ve connected a mouse, tablet, or any other peripheral, the response time was pretty much perfect.

While USB memory card readers are pretty commonplace these days, it was still disappointing that the ConceptD 7 didn’t come with at least an SD card reader built in. I feel like that was a missed opportunity that hopefully in next generations will be addressed.

The model we tested was the 16gig RAM version with the Max-Q version of Nvidia’s 6GB GeForce RTX 2060 but you can get an upgraded version with 32GB of RAM and the 8GB GeForce TRX 2080 video card, both versions have a 1TB PCI Express/NVMe Solid-state drive which didn’t stutter when put under some heavy photo stress tests!

Pros

• 4k Display is gorgeous
• Incredible performance under pressure
• Sleek/slim design that travels very well
• Nice keyboard that felt great to use
• Lots of input options to connected devices to
• Price!

Cons

• Missing SD card slot
• Windows Updates every other day
• Not a touch screen. Maybe this was just a wishlist thing for me, but it seems that nearly every Windows-based competing option (that targets creatives) has a touch screen version, so I was a little let down that this one didn’t.
• No fingerprint reader/face recognition for security and easy unlocking.
• White case felt like it would look old/dirty fast

Conclusion / Final Thoughts

While i’m very much a rookie again with the Windows 10 OS, as someone who used to love building PCs many years ago, I’m not a “hater” nor a “fanboy” of either OS, I’d say.

I think the Acer ConceptD 7 laptop is a powerful laptop, designed with the discerning, demanding content creator in mind. It’s got a lot of muscle behind its CPU and RAM, the components are upgradable, it’s got a gorgeous 4k display, and an incredible graphics card for all your video and 3d rendering needs. Basically, this thing is a beast and at the price of only $2,299.99 you can not go wrong!

Granted, my testing on this device was focused 99% on photo and video editing, and I never even got to tap into the design, graphics, and 3d capabilities of the laptop, so anyone else out there who’ve tested or used this laptop I’d love to hear your feedback and see how that impacts this review.

Honestly, though, the Acer was pretty incredible. I couldn’t find any real complaints other than the UHD upscaling glitch that could happen in certain applications, and my unfamiliarity in general with the (new) PC world. The ConceptD 7 laptop was a breeze to use once I got past my personal Windows hurdle, and it worked every bit as well as the new MacBook Pro that I had just ordered and compared it too. Considering the Acer D 7 is currently lower priced than the similarly specced out 15″ or 16″ MacBook pro, it’s impossible to not recommend as an option for your next mobile workstation. Especially considering that you could potentially be saving yourself the cost of an external 4K display, depending on your mobility needs and other personal standards!

Pricing & Availability of the Acer ConceptD 7 Laptop

The Acer Concept D7 (as spec’d for this review) is priced at $2,299.99, (a similar MacBook Pro was listed at $4,499 at the time of this review) and is available on B&H.

To save the suspense, I’ll say here that it is. It’s not the pinnacle of performance and it has its quirks, but damn if it isn’t ideal for the vast majority of working photographers. It’s combination of attention to detail, individual inspection, overall performance and price point make it extremely difficult to beat.

BenQ SW271 Product Highlights

• 27″ In-Plane Switching (IPS) Monitor
• USB Type-C / HDMI / DP Inputs
• USB-C does 4K at 60Hz, and does both data and calibration
• 3840 x 2160 Resolution
• 1000:1 Contrast Ratio
• 350 cd/m² Brightness
• 178°/178° Viewing Angles
• 5 ms Response Time (GtG)
• 1.07 Billion Colors
• 99% Adobe RGB Color Coverage 93% DCI-P3
• Built-In USB Hub – 2 USB 3 ports
• HotKey Puck for selection and mode toggle
• Monitor Shade – suitable for Landscape & Portrait orientations
• High speed SD Card reader

Unboxing & Connecting

The BenQ SW271 will arrive at your door and sit there like a bear – occupying the entire width. It’s an enormous box, but you’ll see the monitor and components are well placed. There’s also a lot inside as BenQ has graciously decided to include essentially everything you’ll need to get started no matter your current set-up. There’s a bevy of cables to suit, the hood comes in its own box so you can keep that nicely together, and connection from that point on is easy – once you get the stand together which for some reason is a bit tricky at first. But the stand is great, and the flexibility of movement allows for the most comfortable viewing positions, helping neck strain and so on.

Connection is quite immediate too since they supply almost every cable you could want, and if you’re using USB-C it’s all the easier. The SW271 can do data transfer of images and video as well as handle hardware calibration through a USB-C cable, but if you’re using any other option you’ll have to use a third cable. USB-C also allows for the use of the SD card reader and USB 3 slots.

At this point you should also be aware of how powerful your computer hardware is because your graphics card could limit the refresh rate to 30Hz if it’s old, instead of the 60Hz that you want. if you are running a Mac from the past 2 or 3 years you should probably be fine. You can check this though beforehand, and if you are set up you can go into Settings and see what you’re actually getting.

Calibration

The first thing you see when unboxing the BenQ SW271 is a unit-specific calibration report and that should be the first indicator that you’re getting a quality product. It’s not so much about what it says, but that there is one in the first place.

While the factory calibration report will give you a snapshot of the basic performance of your unit relating to gama, color gamut and E measurement (nothing about uniformity), the important thing about including this report is that it means BenQ is individually testing each unit before they ship, which means the unit it much less likely to have a defect when it arrives in your hands, and usually that’s a sign of a company willing to stand behind product performance.

Now, that all said, you should still calibrate your monitor once you’re set up, and a beautiful thing about the SW271 is that it it is 10-bit and has hardware calibration, which means you’ll be getting incredibly accurate, industry-standard level calibration profiles when you calibrate.

All that’s required is downloading of the BenQ Palette Master Elements software (free), and then using a calibration device like a DataColor Spyder5 or the like. The process is fast and relatively painless, and my recommendation is to use the hood when you’re calibrating if you’re going to use it afterward. And there is a little sliding slot in the hood that is supposed to be for you slide your calibration device through, but it’s not big enough for a Datacolor Spyder, so it requires threading the cable up through it first.

Performance

The BenQ SW271 is a top performer, period. From the ergonomics of the band and stand, the ease of use and flexibility offered by the hotkey puck which allows users to switch modes and color spaces and more, to the actual screen performance it’s very very good – but not perfect. That, however, is being a stickler.

Uniformity typically relates to uniformity of brightness and of colour. Uniformity of an LCD screen is something many people are aware of but colour not so much. A non-uniform monitor will tend to show a little magenta on the left and more green on the right, and the levels vary. Clearly then, the more uniform the better.

Uniformity of a monitor is also one of those things that separates the men from the boys, so to speak, and the SW271 is not uniformity corrected. However, for a unit that is not corrected it is incredibly good. As far as uniformity of light goes my unit is pretty much flawless, with no obvious hot spots, an evenly lit center, and no bad light leaks on the edges. The blacks are also extremely good, showing truly deep and crisp in all but the darkest of rooms.

There is, however, a little bit of magenta / green split that is discernable. Now, I should preface that statement by saying I have exceptionally good eyesight a very keen eye, and even then the tonal bias isn’t much. It’s not something that would prevent me from doing my work on the monitor or recommending you do too.

And this is a 4K unit, and that’s a joy in 2018 because pretty much all software play nicely with 4K scaling. So you can size your screen as you want and all text and icons and so on are razor sharp. You can also make your desktop extremely clean if you so desire.

And of course, for a photographer in 2018 having a 4K monitor is not just a joy, but getting to be a necessity if you’re shooting really high-resolution cameras. Looking at files right now from an A7Riii, Hasselblad X1D, and Phase One Trichromatic it’s just brilliant to be able to pull up and image and quickly zoom in to ensure my details are perfectly sharp and have confidence that the monitor is showing me enough detail.

Problems

To be fair, there isn’t much wrong with this monitor, and certainly, I can’t think of a better one for the price. But, there are things it could do better. As mentioned before, there is the slightest of uniformity issues, and those of you coming from truly high-end monitors may notice it, and for how I like to work that could theoretically be problematic, though thus far it hasn’t really been. When editing in Photoshop, for instance, I’ll usually Arrange-uP my image Vertically in two, meaning I have two windows with the same working file up so one if the whole image and one is zoomed into the area I’m working on. This allows me to see changes as they occur instead of zooming in and out all the time (see this post to see what I mean and how to do it). But a lack of uniformity may mean that the colors of one side of the screen vary from the other, and the implications of that are rather obvious.

Again, however, I stress this monitor does really really well here, but it’s worth mentioning for those used to perfection.

Then there’s the hotkey puck which I wish was bluetooth because cable management is the bain of my existence. Also, the hole in the back of the stand for sables to be threaded through means it doesn’t provide the neatest of looks as you’ll always have a minimum of 3 cables through it if the hotkey puck is plugged in.

Conclusion

It’s hard to imagine that the BenQ SW271 is not going to change the offerings from other brands because it’s just offering so much at such a competitive price point. To have this level of uniformity of light, of colour, 4K, 10-bit, 99% aRGB, USB 3 hub, SD reader, hood, and all the rest for $1,099 is remarkable.

[RELATED: The Problem With Your Workflow You May Not Know You Have | Calibration]

What it does, beyond all else, is allow many more people to not have to choose between colour accuracy and pixel density. It used to be rule of thumb that photographers should choose colour accuracy over resolution any day of the week if a choice had to be made, but now you can have that accuracy and resolution for a great price, and in a year where your applications will play nicely with it all. I’m fairly confident BenQ will release a uniformity managed version of this, and then other manufacturers are going to release competitors to this because it’s so compelling.

You can get it here.