Buying a New Computer: Which is the Right For Me?

CPU speeds are affected by a lot more than just the clock speed rating. Here are a few critical ones:

1) Turbo Boost
The typical clock speed of your processor (which is an i7-4500U specifically, by the way) is 1.8 GHz, but Turbo Boost is a function that Intel has started adding to their processors which allows go into overdrive at 3 GHz for short bursts of intensive work. Why did Intel do this and how is it possible without making the CPU explode? While designing the chip, they placed limits on so that it wouldn't suck up power when it wasn't needed, yet would still be fast enough when duty called. Also keeps your laptop from heating up too much too (which is big problem since laptops don't have that much surface area to dissipate heat).

2) A CPU's Efficiency Per Cycle.
GHz is a rating of how many cycles of work you can go through every second, but better processors can also get more work done per cycle. It's like carrying 1 plates into the dishwasher at a time versus carrying 2 at a time. It takes about the same amount of time to move back and forth between the sink and the dishwasher, but you'll get done twice as fast by carrying 2 at a time. So as you can see, GHz is not everything as it might lead you to believe. Your processor is likely very efficient in this respect.

3) Number of Cores
Almost all CPUs today are divided into cores, basically like having multiple CPUs in one. It generally allows for things to run faster since you can be working on multiple tasks at once. Hyper-threading enhances this, but I won't go into that. Your CPU effectively has 4 cores.

4) Software Requirements are Conservative
It's not really a CPU trait, but it's important. All of what I said above will make sense. Software companies have to take into account when designing software that not everyone can afford to upgrade their computers often or might still be running really old hardware, so they make sure that those people can still use their software at least somewhat decently. For Photoshop, I'm looking at Adobe's system requirements right now, and the 2 GHz requirement you're stating is actually for a Pentium 4. That processor is almost a decade old, is single core, has a much less efficient architecture compared to the i7 in that laptop today, and consumes much more power. With this laptop, you can run Photoshop, watch a movie, and have 40 browser tabs open all at the same time (or at least that's what I do).

Bottom line, the laptop you chose will eat Photoshop for breakfast without breaking a sweat, especially with that much RAM and storage for your pictures. It's also great for a little gaming, movie rendering, etc.