Desktop - Vostro?

Alastair

Alastair

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It's been a while since I last bought a PC, and even longer since I bought a desktop.. but the laptop just isn't up to editting large files anymore, either the laptops's getting slower or the files are getting bigger. Since I've gone into medium format this year I suspect it's the files getting bigger.

My requirements:
  • Lightroom/PS Elements image editting, 10-16MP raw image files and scanned medium format film files (these are the big files I struggle with)
  • HD and SD video editting, this is something I want to move in to using a HX9V that records at a maximum 1920x1080(50i) AVCHD.
I am not a serious game player, and when I do play an FPS (e.g. Stalker) I have no problem dropping image quality sliders to gain frame rate.

I'm a repeat customer with Dell, I've never had a problem that wasn't fixed straightaway (the only problem I ever had was the Vostro 1500 graphics card/mother board problem). I'm comfortable basic upgrades such as replacing memory, adding hard-drives, replacing graphics cards - I usually buy a base memory option and upgrade memory rather than pay Dell's memory prices.

What's caught my eye is the Vostro Desktop 460MT, specs as follows:
  1. Intel® Core™ i5-2500 Processor (6M Cache, 3.30 GHz)
  2. 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz
  3. 500GB (7200RPM)
  4. AMD Radeon™ HD 6450 1GB DDR3 graphics
  5. English Genuine Windows® 7 Professional (64 BIT)
  6. £459 +Delivery +VAT (I'm VAT registered, this will be a business purchase)

I'm going cross-eyed looking at processor/memory details online, and I just need someone to confirm that the spec is good enough for my needs (I plan on upgrading almost instantly to 8Gb or 16Gb of RAM). Or I need someone to point out that I've missed something vital, I'm a fool, or that the price is ridiculous. Many thanks for reading.
 
If your considering hd video processing then in my opinion see if you can stretch to an i7-2600 if possible. Re-encoding an uncompressed ~30gb hd stream (bluray rip) to ~8gb x264 on mine lights up all threads and still takes a few hours.
 
neil_g said:
If your considering hd video processing then in my opinion see if you can stretch to an i7-2600 if possible. Re-encoding an uncompressed ~30gb hd stream (bluray rip) to ~8gb x264 on mine lights up all threads and still takes a few hours.
Click to expand...
:agree:

x264 - especially second pass - can keep all 8 threads going on an i7. You'll miss that from an i5...
 
Thanks for the reply Neil.

Not much more would get me the XPS 8300
  • Intel® Core™ i7-2600 Processor (3.40GHz, 8MB)
  • 6144MB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz [2x2048 + 2x1024] Memory
  • 1TB Serial ATA (7,200 rpm)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce GT 530 1GB DDR3 Graphics Card
  • £566 +VAT (free delivery on either system at the moment I now see)
Any alternatives? I have to admit to being blinkered towards Dell through past good experience.
 
The dell vostro computers are great computers, ours have been faultless. I agree with the above with regards to processor.
 
Thanks Andy and Dale. My Vostro laptop continues to be one of the most reliable PCs I've owned, so old it's getting shiny on the keypad but going strong. Unfortunately the Vostro range doesn't include the i7.
 
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