New PC help for photoediting please

[JKK]

I am looking at getting a new computer can you all give me some ideas what I need to look for when buying. I have lightroom 3 and am looking into adding anouther photoshop softwear in the near future.
What do you all use and what do you recomind in the computer line.


Thanks,
Jason

[jdepould]

Mac or PC? Laptop or desktop? You can switch your Lightroom license from one to the other, but if you prefer one, then we can give you better recommendations.

I have a 15" MacBook Pro, i7 with 8GB of RAM and a 30" Apple display.

Very generally, if you need to decide between spending money on a better processor or more RAM, the RAM is going to be a more noticeable improvement. Lightroom can be resource-intensive at times--especially if you have a large catalog of images--so get the most RAM you can afford.

[BigFuzzy]

Three things I really notice making a difference on my new pc are 1. best processor you can afford, 2. lots of RAM (I have 12) 3. SSD drive both for your boot up and where you have lightroom.

[AnonymousKiwi1]

Check out this thread

On the second page there's a detailed post by Tzetsin - I copied the whole thing and took it to my IT guy to set me up. In fact, my new machine is due to arrive today.

[JKK]

Originally Posted by jdepould

Mac or PC? Laptop or desktop? You can switch your Lightroom license from one to the other, but if you prefer one, then we can give you better recommendations.

I have a 15" MacBook Pro, i7 with 8GB of RAM and a 30" Apple display.

Very generally, if you need to decide between spending money on a better processor or more RAM, the RAM is going to be a more noticeable improvement. Lightroom can be resource-intensive at times--especially if you have a large catalog of images--so get the most RAM you can afford.

for my wallet it will have to be a PC... Mac is just to high for me right know.

[private]

whatever you do - get an external harddrive

[Tzetsin]

Originally Posted by AnonymousKiwi1

Check out this thread

On the second page there's a detailed post by Tzetsin - I copied the whole thing and took it to my IT guy to set me up. In fact, my new machine is due to arrive today.

Congrats! what did you end up getting?

[AnonymousKiwi1]

Originally Posted by Tzetsin

Congrats! what did you end up getting?

An HP Probook 6550b, with an extra 4GB ram. In two months time, once I've saved up a little more cash I'll get a 24" monitor to go with it. (I won't know myself, I've been squinting at a tiny screen for so long). I've also decided to shout myself Lightroom3.

My old machine has almost completely died. It is, as we speak, at the workshop where they can hopefully rescue my email contacts and web bookmarks to transfere to the new machine.

My excitment is barely contained!
Thanks so much for posting the extensive info that you did. It was a great help.

[JKK]

would you recomind dell or hp? for what I have read hp power suplies are undersized. I am not a pro photographer so I will not be doing near the editing as most on the forum here... but as always i want to be the best I can. So I dont want to make a mistake on a pc the will not handle the stuff I want it to do.

photoediting
multitasking
and basic everyday use

[Tzetsin]

Originally Posted by JKK

would you recomind dell or hp? for what I have read hp power suplies are undersized. I am not a pro photographer so I will not be doing near the editing as most on the forum here... but as always i want to be the best I can. So I dont want to make a mistake on a pc the will not handle the stuff I want it to do.

photoediting
multitasking
and basic everyday use

I recommend going to the local pc shop and spending a little on a good pc.

there is nothing wrong with HPs power supplies. power supply failure is EXTREMELY common across all makes and models. Most especially after lightning storms ;D

When you buy an HP your getting a "cheaper" computer, however, HP supplements their sales by installing trial software into their computers. The trial software will degrade the performance of your computer a fair amount, and removing it will also degrade the performance. HP hardware is typically no worse than other makes.

Dell costs alot more than HP. They dont "typically" add in the crapware though. The construction of a dell is better than an HP, but the hardware performance is pretty much the same when your compairing apples to apples (even if the hp apples are cheeper than the dell apples.)

Computers have an amazing price range, so the "best you can get" really depends on how much you want to spend, and if you want to go with a laptop or desktop.