For traveling photographers, equipment weight is a constant challenge. It’s not uncommon to accumulate 30 to 40 pounds of photography gear for a trip, and the size and weight of a laptop can make a big difference. However, sacrificing processing power to save weight is not an option for me. Recently, I was able to test the 25th-anniversary Dell Precision Mobile Workstation 5470, and I believe I may have found the solution to my problem. With this powerful and compact mobile workstation, I am able to process complex photos without compromising on performance or portability.
For my needs as a traveling photographer, the Dell Precision Mobile Workstation 5470 ticks all the boxes. Its weight of 3.3 pounds and thickness of 0.7 inches are both acceptable for me. The workstation’s processor speed (12th Gen Intel® Core i9-12900H, vPro®), memory capacity of 32GB, and SSD storage of 4TB are ideal for my needs. I was particularly impressed with the NVIDIA® RTX A1000, 4 GB GDDR6 graphics processor, which kept up with all the demands I placed on it. While I was initially concerned about the native display resolution (QHD+, 2560 x 1600), it was more than adequate, and the system can easily power multiple 4K monitors. I was impressed with the color rendition as well. The four Thunderbolt 4 ports offer a range of connectivity options, though I do wish the card reader were a standard SD format instead of micro SD. Nevertheless, I can connect my camera directly to one of the four Thunderbolt ports to download my images. While some users may miss USB Type-A ports, I just use an adapter or a hub. Finally, I do wish that the power adapter were more compact. Despite these minor issues, the Dell Precision Mobile Workstation 5470 meets many of my needs and has proven to be an excellent travel companion.
To put the Dell mobile workstation through its paces I decided to take it with me on my annual spring photography trip to Big Bend National Park. The 5470 had no issue stitching together large, multi-row panoramas, focus-stacking wildflower images, and processing HDR sunrise landscape photos. Below are some of the photographs that were captured during the trip. Click on one of the images to expand the gallery. If you are interested in seeing my entire Big Bend National Park portfolio, you can click here to access it.
If you are in the market for a mobile workstation to process your photos I encourage you to look into the Dell Precision Mobile Workstation lineup. I have certainly been very happy with how this workstation has performed.
T. Kahler Photography
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