Can you recommend an affordable computer for photography?

Fraser said:
When I was still using windows I would reformat my drives every 6 months just to get the computer running at a reasonable speed.
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Running both stock and custom-built PC's for over 15 years and I've never, ever had this kind of issue. Friends/clients that report such problems usually stuffed their main HDD up to 98% capacity or tried to run new tech or high-end software with low-spec machines and say it's "the computer's fault."

A properly-built and tuned system will run perfectly, regardless of OS. I built my latest Win7 box over 3 years ago and it's still running like the day I first booted it.
 
Addy101 said:
Apples are overpriced.
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Actually there is no way to tell if they are overpriced. They cost what they cost.

Apple is like Leica, if you want a digital RF, currently you buy Leica. If you want to run OS X and Apple software like Final Cut Pro, then you buy an Apple computer.

Sure other cameras take photos, and other computers run operating systems. Right now there are lots of cameras, and lots of computers, but there are no alternatives to Apple or Leica.
 
photomoof said:
If you want to run OS X and Apple software like Final Cut Pro, then you buy an Apple computer.
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Slight correction - you can technically run OSX on any computer (commonly called a Hackintosh). It's all the same under the hood, after Apple abandoned PPC chips.

It might not be simple (or legal?) but you can do it...
 
Corran said:
Slight correction - you can technically run OSX on any computer (commonly called a Hackintosh). It's all the same under the hood, after Apple abandoned PPC chips.

It might not be simple (or legal?) but you can do it...
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And you can probably take a Canon 6D and stuff it inside a Yashica Minister instead of buying a Leica digital camera, but let's be serious here. 🙂
 
On whether to buy Windows or Mac: If you are computer inclined/knowledgable, then buy Windows. The greater your computer illiteracy, the stronger the argument for Mac. Just my opinion.


An analogy is fsu camera gear vs Japanese/German camera gear. If you have camera repair skills, go ahead and buy fsu gear.
 
photomoof said:
but let's be serious here. 🙂
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I am! Many thousands of people have built and use Hackintosh computers, while the number of folks stuffing digital camera guts inside old rangefinders can be counted on one hand. Not that I recommend it - I can't understand why anyone would prefer such a terrible OS, but whatever floats your boat!
 
You know craigslsit can reveal some very good buys..
Apple-onians like to adopt new products and often shove off their former kit on CL.
The present release of the new iMac21 may send a bunch of nice gear to the marketplace.
It's not unusual to find good deals on Used Macs.
Applecare is transferable and if you find something priced right with 12-18 months of warranty left on it you could be set.


These iMacs do seem to have good components. (although that statement is sure to be blasted by others).
I gave my Dad my old 24" iMac after adopting a 27" in '2014. It's still cruising along.
So there is that. 🙂
 
Corran said:
I am! Many thousands of people have built and use Hackintosh computers, while the number of folks stuffing digital camera guts inside old rangefinders can be counted on one hand. Not that I recommend it - I can't understand why anyone would prefer such a terrible OS, but whatever floats your boat!
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Frankly OS7 through 9 was an amazingly interesting OS, but when Apple switched to BSD and then Intel it truly opened up the machines to a level I never expected, now that even windows runs native, on Macs.

Why you find UNIX terrible is beyond me, but I guess my history with SGI and even NeXT, long ago made me lose interest in anything else. Even when I bought Dells I ran them on Linux. I, like many, cut my teeth on DOS, but never really used Windows, once I began wanting graphics applications, I just liked Irix better.

But each to his own. Honestly I really know nothing about Windows, I have not seen it for over ten years.
 
I'm right there with you regarding DOS. I spent much of my youth tooling around in DOS and programming simple stuff in QBasic, but while I was a quick study in the tech field and was heavily encouraged to go that direction professionally, music and the arts were my passion and that's where I went.

I've honestly never heard anyone refer to an OS as "interesting" and I'm not really sure what you mean by that. The nuts & bolts of it I couldn't care less about, but the usability and transparency of an OS is what I'm about - and that's what I find annoying about OSX and better about Windows. Just like I can't stand the interface of Canon cameras while Nikon cameras give me what I need where I need it to shoot without issue.
 
Dave, there's a substantial set of clones of the Apple Cinema screen available in the US.

In The Netherlands, I was lucky to pick up a 27" Iiyama screen that is built from many Apple-used components, but was a whole lot cheaper than the 27" Apple screen.

Where the Apple screen went close to EUR 1400, I paid under EUR 400 for the similar Iiyama screen. The 27" Monoprice screen listed in this article will set you back USD 349, with free shipping from Amazon.

My screen is connected to a Mac Mini with 8GB RAM, and it gets the job done running Lightroom 4.x and Photoshop CS2, and OpenOffice.

Hope this helps!
 
Never had to use windows much, cannot really critique it.
Mac since 1990. Graphics work. Typography, then photoshop.
I tried linux, but I never really got into the Terminal thing, and the gimp is limited to 8bit.
Someone will say 8bit is good enough, and even be right enough. But 16 bit is better.
And the Mac OS is still a close cousin to linux: you can still play around in the terminal.

I use a 2011, 21,5 inch iMac, 16gb Ram. As long as I keep enough space on my primary disk, it works fine. If you shoot raw, and a lot, you might consider some serious storage. And backups.

cheers
 
mini Mac w. fusion drive, lowest amount of RAM from Apple and upgrade 2x8Gb yourself, watch on youtube how to do it, dead easy without tools. External disc drive, external HD's, just got 6TB WD Mybook USB3 for my better half who is ripping DVD's. My windows machine works ok but in case I'll need a new computer, it will be a mac for sure. Lenovo & windows, no thanks.
 
photomoof said:
Actually there is no way to tell if they are overpriced. They cost what they cost.

Apple is like Leica, if you want a digital RF, currently you buy Leica. If you want to run OS X and Apple software like Final Cut Pro, then you buy an Apple computer.

Sure other cameras take photos, and other computers run operating systems. Right now there are lots of cameras, and lots of computers, but there are no alternatives to Apple or Leica.
Click to expand...

What photomoof said. This is the correct answer. I switched to Apple years ago and have never looked back. I'm running an imac with snow Leopard, and a 13" Macbook, both with Aperture. If you go with Mac, you will never look back either.
 
First, look at the refurbished mac. They come with a one year "Apple Care - Like" coverage that you should never need past the first 180 days. Any time during that one year you can buy a three year Apple Care policy to extend the coverage.

Sadly you need to buy it with all the memory you can as there is no way to upgrade the RAM, it's soldered on. USB 3 is MUCH faster than 2.X and drives are pretty reasonably priced. Apple uses Hybrid drives to give you more storage that responds pretty fast these days, though pure SSD is faster (but a LOT more costly).

While Apple costs more if you have issues you can unplug your mini and bring it into the Apple store nearest you for help from a youngin. They have all the cool toys for diagnosing issues though their approaches are not doing absolutely everything to breath life into stuff (recent experience).

I run Windows and Mac at home because I work in Windows at work (teach Windows Net Admin for second job). Everyone else at home is on a Mac. Even if you know a lot about computers Mac's just let you focus on the task. My oldest prefers AutoCad on the Mac because it works the way he thinks compared to the Windows version.

If you can't find the configuration of Mac Mini you want on line (in the referb store) call them and see if they can find one that's close to what you want.

Microsoft is making it harder and harder for regular geeks to tweak windows the way we could say 10 years ago. Windows 10 is beautiful for some, but frankly it come with way too fancy a user interface for me. Perhaps I'm too old....

B2 (;->
 
photomoof said:
Is there finally a command line in Windows 10? 🙂
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It's hidden well but it's there. Way too many magical tools that are still command line driven to take it away. I'll take a look tomorrow night on one of my students computers (he's running it for the past two months). Much easier to find on a Mac and much more powerful.

I'm going to load it in a VM or on a separate boot from a USB3 drive. It doesn't offer me a lot of value to switch from 7.

B2 (;->
 
command line in windows terribly hard to find....

Hmmm. Open the Run command and type in "cmd", press enter.

Or, since Windows 7 type "cmd" in the search window.

Wow, that was hard!
 
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