What is the current best laptop for image handling?

It cannot be an Apple product. Other than that, any OS and any software. Editing video will be extensively involved. Also CAD, though that is a separate use.

J

Why can't it be apple? Thanks to retina display, it probably will end up being an apple product.

Owen Glyndwr said:

Why can't it be apple? Thanks to retina display, it probably will end up being an apple product.

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Interface issues. This is one division of a large business.

J

For Hardware, I guess you want a high resolution display, so that you can view high resolution videos, and have multiple things on the screen when when viewing low resolution video. Similarly, you probably want a large screen, so that you can see detail better. You'd want low latency memory, but I think that's hard to find for laptops. You want a high RPM harddisk, with enough capacity to store your videos. (A SSD would be faster, but you might run out of space, or it would cost a lot). And you want a good CPU, because aside from the above factors, this will determine if your video editing application runs slow.

Owen Glyndwr said:

Why can't it be apple? Thanks to retina display, it probably will end up being an apple product.

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Lots of equivalent Windows laptops now. Only real advantage Apple has there is that they got to the party early, so most non-abandoned pieces of Mac OS software have been updated so they looks good on retina displays rather than being a blurry mess.

Windows software support for high-DPI displays is still a WIP, most notably Adobe's been dragging their heels.

onejayhawk said:

It cannot be an Apple product. Other than that, any OS and any software. Editing video will be extensively involved. Also CAD, though that is a separate use.

J

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16GB RAM, 512MB SSD, quad core. You've got plenty of options, it' really depends what you specifically want, how much portability and battery life matters to you, and what your budget is.

If neither portability nor price matter at all, something like the Lenovo W540 is probably your best option.
- 3GHz Quad-Core i7 with Turbo to 3.9GHz
- 32GB RAM
- 15.6" 1920x1080 or 15.5" 2880x1620, depending on if you want to maximize quality, or compatibility with existing applications
- Quadro K2100M
- Primary 512GB SSD
- Secondary 1TB HDD
- Thunderbolt 2 / USB 3.0

Personally, I'm not really big on maximizing laptop power, I'd rather get something portable and get a high-powered desktop, I'd choose something like the 17" Razer Blade Pro for mobile use.
- 2.4GHz Quad-Core i7 with Turbo to 3.4GHz
- 16GB RAM
- 17.3" 1920x1080
- Geforce GTX 860M
- 512GB SSD
- USB 3.0

The retina Macbook Pro is also very solid, you could just run Windows on it.

If you outline your needs/preferences more specifically I can probably make some more recommendations.