Can you offer me a sanity check on the laptop I am considering (specs below) or offer a better alternative?

My current laptop is a Dell Precision M4600 and the screen is fluttering. It also LAGS when utilizing my art tablet (Intuos PRO 3).

Software/Demands:
Photoshop, Premiere, and After Effects. I also use Lightwave.

I currently own Adobe CS5 and will very likely switch to Adobe Creative Cloud in the next 12 months.
Hardware Lag: I use a Wacom Untuos PRO 3 tablet to digitally paint 300dpi 3000 x 5000 pixel images in Photoshop, so I would like to continue to do this YET without the lag problems I'm currently facing on my Dell Precision M4600.

Budget: $500 is greatly desired, but if a little more money means a lot more computer, I would be willing to do so.

I have a Samsung SSD so I do not need the laptop to come with one.

Candidate Laptop I found:

Lenovo W530
Intel Core i7-CPU 3740QM (Quad Core) Base FREQUENCY @2.70 GHz; Turbo Frequency @3.70 GHz
16GB DDR3 RAM
NVIDIA Quadro K1000M 2GB (GDDR5) Dedicated Video RAM
15.6 Inch | LED | FHD | Full HD Display - 1920 X 1080 Resolution ULTRA High Resolution with Vivid Colors | Anti-glare Finish
1TB HDD
Win 10 64bit

Anyways, I think that about does it. What say ye? Am I on the right track? Do I need to consider another laptop or will a $100-$200 budget increase, make a huge difference in performance?

Thank you. -MikeHi

I find it difficult to understand replacing the Dell you already have. If cosmetically it is in good condition it maybe better to repair than replace.

The Lenovo for the spec is a very good price. And if you installed the Samsung ssd would be a great laptop.

A couple of questions. If you do want to stick with the present laptop.

Did you upgrade to Windows 10, if so the original laptop will need quite a lot of work to get working well.

If your model has the 256gb SSD how much free space do you have. Also I would download hddtune pro trial and run it to test the drive. It COULD be failing by now. Seems you can put the Samsung SSD into the Dell 4600.



Hi,

I do have the Samsung in the Dell M4600.

It has 55GB free out of 231GB.

I did install Win10 over a year ago when they were giving the free upgrade.

Hi Mikey

Looking again at the original post with the flickering display there is this post https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln104563/precision-m4600-lcd-screen-flickering?lang=en

Seems to apply when the display brightness is below 50 %



55 Gb is an ok amount of free space.

If you can, backup the Samsung SSD . Copy the 1 tb Lenovo drive to the Samsung. And use the Samsung in the Lenovo.
Keep the 1 TB to put back in if you need to use the warranty.

I suggest getting a copy of Easues Todo backup from here https://www.easeus.com/backup-software/tb-home.html
To do the backups and transfers