New Computer

Kim

Kim

Messages
759
Name
Kim
Edit My Images
Yes
Since moving back to my dear mums I have had to make do with my dear little "cheap" laptop for doing all my photography work (and all other computer work).
But the poor little thing is start to give up under the constant use it gets.

So I am looking to get a new computer, but I was wondering...............
When it comes to a computer for photographic viewing and processing what makes a good one?
I really know nothing when it comes to these things, so what should I be looking for?
 
2-3 gb of ram is good, and a decent hard drive(if not a couple). processor wise, a decent midrange should cope fine. make sure the graphics card has some built in memory (more the better)and that would be about it.

havent looked around recently at processor speeds, but check pc world, see what seems to be the average speed and work to that as the minimum.

are oyu looking at custom built or shop bought?
 
To be honest unless you are doing very intensive photoshop or video editing work 1gb + files, then you wont need much to run these programs efficiently,

Number 1 thing you will need is enough memory (RAM) 2gb of fast RAM will do the Job perfectly

Secondly, your hardrive needs to be fast, many people overlook this, but a slow hardrive will bottleneck the system, a good 60GB 10,000rpm WD Raptor will be brilliant (only run programs of this), plus a secondary drive to keep all your photo's on

Thirdly a fast proccessor, the Intel Q6600 is one of the best on the market at the minute, stay away from AMD systems

Last but not least, a decent graphics proccesor, you do not need to go all out on the a decent mid range card will do perfectly

Cheers
PC Boffin Graham
 
I run photoshop CS3, illustrator and usually radio 5 live at the same time fine on an old pentium 4 3.2. As said, RAM seems to be one of the most important factors, I have 3GB and although you may have to wait an extra 2 seconds for a filter to be applied it is completely stable and never crashed using these programs.

I would imagine even the slowest/cheapest dual core processors would blow this out of the water though but if you haven't got a decent calibrated monitor then all the processing power is pointless in my opinion. That's where I'd spend most of the cash.
 
Mojo Jojo said:
i'd still sell my soul for a big sexy brand new imac :(

any takers?
Click to expand...

as per forum rules, price must be stated and delivery costs:LOL:
what condition is it in, how many clicks, any pics???:p:p
 
Mojo Jojo said:
i'd still sell my soul for a big sexy brand new imac :(

any takers?
Click to expand...

LOL Imac's are not what they used to be, they used to be alot better at handling photoshop than the common pc but nowadays, i dont know i would say a top range pc against a top range mac, well i think the pc would win
 
A fast processor, at least 1gb memory, and good graphics card and a good monitor that lets you tweak its settings.

As a rule of thumb, go for the best and highest spec you can buy. You get what you pay for.
I got a 3 year old self built PC and I just upgraded my OS to Vista Ultimate and it runs smoothly. No issues whatsoever.
Processor = AMD Athlon 64bit 3000+
Memory = 1gb (forgot the specs)
Graphics = ATI Radeon PCI express with 256Mb memory
HD = Maxtor 200Gb

I spent over £500 3 years ago and still running like new today.
 
Are you looking at a desktop or laptop?

I agree with the earlier post, make sure you get a good monitor and calibrate it.

Oh and Macs are load better than PCs :popcorn:
 
Shutterman said:
:agree::plus1:
Ready steady GO...............
Click to expand...

lol, i will just let this thread slip, countless arguements to which is better
pc is faster, mac is more user friendly, thats all i will say cant start this again:LOL:
 
I saw a link on here where some one was looking at 3 monitor PC system and the build quality looked great I had a look on their site and all the other machines looked good value to...

If only I could remember it site...
 
3 monitors is overkill! I only use two because one is the tiny one on my laptop.

If you want a desktop my suggestions would be:

iMac
MacMini with a decent monitor
Something from Dell
 
Craikeybaby said:
3 monitors is overkill! I only use two because one is the tiny one on my laptop.

If you want a desktop my suggestions would be:

iMac
MacMini with a decent monitor
Something from Dell
Click to expand...

I was not saying get 3 monitors... I remember the site because the thread was about 3 monitor system and noted that build looked good and they did various other machines.

Like the link for the one I posted...

Shutterman
 
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