Help with new PC!

[MikeTinsley]

My 6 year old PC is getting a bit tired! I am thinking of buying a new one, no need for gaming, just photo stuff with very large files, Lightroom, CS4 and the like. I am lost with what sort of processor etc, so I'd love some recommendations! I'm also thinking about a LaCie or similar monitor, so my total budget will be up to £1700 including the monitor.

Please help with some specs and or specific makes/models...

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Mablo]

These days any Intel Core Duo processor on the market is more than enough for photo editing stuff. Make sure that you spec 4GB of internal memory (DDR2) as Lightroom and PS are memory hogs.

 

[binky]

you might want a "gaming" PC, not so much for the gaming, but for photos/videos. These machines are great for graphics, although some can be overkill. A regular PC with a decent graphics card with big caches of memory will do nicely.

Oh, and lots of RAM....

 

[ruby.monkey]

If you're willing to try Apple, a 27" quad-core iMac would fall within your budget.

If not... well, anything with an Intel i7 processor and plenty of memory and storage space would fit the bill. A top-end graphics card would only be of benefit if you're doing a lot of 3D modelling or playing games that do; otherwise any current consumer card would be fine.

 

[thegman]

If you don't want a built-in screen like the iMac has, check Mac dealers for a refurbished Mac Pro, very fast and the prices are not as bad as you may think, and of course you can add a LaCie screen.

 

[teo]

avoid like plague glossy screens (like in imacs). I know that someone is going to reply "it's not true, bla bla bla" but the fact is that glossy sucks. Unless you want to check your hair while working at the computer...

And buy gobs of RAM, it's never too much.

 

[elshaneo]

Or maybe you can get the latest 27 inch iMacs 🙂

 

[jamiewakeham]

I used these guys: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

They allow you to specify the exact system, so you can spend less money on the graphics card (which, as has been mentioned, you can skimp on unless you also plan to play games on the machine) and spend it on the bits that really matter. What you want to look for are:

1) Lots of RAM
2) More RAM
3) Faster RAM (DDR3 1333MHz or more)
4) A decent processor, but no need to go over the top
5) More RAM

I went with 8GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM, Core i7 2.8GHz, on an Asus P6T motherboard (more room for expansion later), with a fast Velociraptor hard drive for the boot disc and a huge SATA data drive, and just the basic graphics card. The machine absolutely flies through everything I've thrown at it, and cost (without monitor) about £1K. It's also fairly upgradeable in the future - could get to a 3.3GHz processor running 24GB of 2000MHz RAM without having to actually change the PC itself, so I'm hoping I'm set for a decade or so.

HTH!
Jamie

 

[Richard G]

I am a Mac user and I know that you can do this very well with a PC. But I would only go that route if you really know about PCs. I run one PC, an HP laptop. I recently bought a Toshiba tablet for my 12 year old son for school. Both these computers are aweful. Your post suggests you don't know a great deal about computers, so definitely get a Mac.

 

[Sparrow]

avoid like plague glossy screens (like in imacs). I know that someone is going to reply "it's not true, bla bla bla" but the fact is that glossy sucks. Unless you want to check your hair while working at the computer...

And buy gobs of RAM, it's never too much.

That would be me, if one sites the screen where one can see their hair in a gloss screen replacing it with a matt screen will simply replace the reflection with flare. Sorry I’ve been running a design studio for years and they simply have to go in the correct place whatever the screens finish

 

[MikeTinsley]

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks for all the advice - very helpful! I did think about an iMac, then I investigated screen calibration (printing is important to me) and it seemed impossible to get the brightness down low enough to get photos looking like they would print...and Hahnemuhle Photo papers at A3+ aren't exactly cheap!

Hadn't thought about other macs though - I'll have a look, but the prospect of repurchasing mac versions of software also is a bit of a turn off...

Cheers,

Mike

 

[MikeTinsley]

Supplementary question!

Supplementary question!

Just occurred to me - how do I move CS4 and Lightroom from old to new PC? Naturally, I don't have any installation disks for them - is ther a way to uninstall, create an install cd and then reinstall on new pc?

 

[jarski]

perhaps this helps ?

Open any of the Creative Suite applications; Photoshop CS4 for example. In the menu bar go to Help > Deactivate and a dialog box will pop up. Choose if you want to erase your serial number from the computer, then click the Deactivate button in the lower right corner.

but installation disks are a must, I presume.

 

[peter_n]

If you bought it directly from the software maker via download then you will have a registration/license code. When you get the new PC just download it again and and re-register it and you'll be all set.

I'm on my 3rd rebuild on my own workstation and I'm very fond of Eudora, the email client. I have a printed registration from the company and just reinstall it, enter the registration code and I'm all set. I also copy out all the files that have the last date/time stamp on them, then copy them back on the reinstall and I have all my settings and email boxes all as they were before. 😀

 

[MikeTinsley]

Thanks again everybody - downloaded versions!

 

[BillBingham2]

...then I investigated screen calibration (printing is important to me) and it seemed impossible to get the brightness down low enough to get photos looking like they would print...

Perhaps on an iMac but I have to say that would surprise me A LOT if this was true with any Mac desktop with an external monitor. Reach out to Apple and confirm this. I bet that when upgrade versions you can swap platforms at no price increase.

It's a lot easier to run a mac than anything else. You might have to dig a bit for answers some time, but the number of times you have to reboot and stuff going sideways is A LOT less than with windows. I run OS X and Windows 7 on my Macbook and OS X wins hands down.

B2 (;->