Photographers - advice on laptop and software upgrades please

[Trish]

I currently have a Dell laptop which is old and will likely need replacing early next year unless it packs up sooner! I use it for photo and video editing and mainly use Nikon and Canon cameras.

I do have a fairly new ASUS laptop but it has 8GB RAM and, as I often like to do more than basic editing, I think at least 16GB would work better. I back-up stuff onto an external hard drive and try not to keep too much on the laptop apart from what I am currently working on.

It would be helpful to know what other photography fans use in terms of laptop and software. I prefer to use a laptop to a desk top.

I have always liked Photoshop Elements and have several versions - does anyone have Photoshop Elements 2026? If so, are you happy with it?

Thank you

 

[Rich]

I have always liked Photoshop Elements and have several versions - does anyone have Photoshop Elements 2026? If so, are you happy with it?

Thank you

I use a PC, it's not a name brand it was built by a company out of Atlanta, Vision Computers. It's fairly new with an Intel i7 CPU, 32gb of Ram, and an NVIDIA T1000 graphics card with 8gb of memory. I use Photoshop Elements and just last week upgraded to 2026. When I first installed it I could not get it to work, I called Adobe support and after troubleshooting for about 30 minutes they determined that the graphics card needed to be updated. I was skeptical but I went ahead and upgraded the driver and that resolved the problem. Since 2026 is AI capable I guess it needed the latest driver.
The AI portion of PE 2026 seems to be a remote function, if I understand correctly you have to upload the picture you want altered, when it's done it downloads back to you're computer. You're allowed (I think) 20 AI alterations per month and if you need more you need to purchase them. They quoted me $9.99 for more (I don't recall how many - I won't use 20/month). Other than the AI piece it's the same as 2025.
I was hoping the "remove" function that came with 2025 would work better but it doesn't, it's the same and quite prone to failure due to surrounding background. I haven't used it enough to know if I'm happy with it, but then I'm really an amateur, my skills are limited.

 

[Trish]

Thank you @Rich that's very helpful. I wouldn't use AI so, might be better to see if I can get the 2025 version and remove it. Photoshop Elements is now a three year licence. I have Photoshop Elements 12 (or 13, not sure) but, I have read that it no longer works when uploaded to today's laptops. I might also look at alternatives. I had not thought about the AI element.