# Computer?



## Goose85 (Sep 16, 2012)

So I am VERY new to photography, and I am wanting to do more editing or at least attempting to edit on my computer. But I just don't think its good enough. 

If I wanted to buy a new computer, what would you suggest? Also, what types of things to look for in a computer? (amount of RAM, processor)

Note:
- I don't care if its a laptop or desk top
- I don't want to spend too much
- I don't care if its Mac or PC, but I do prefer PC as its all I've owned AND find Mac's are a little too much money
- I don't need to best of the best, just something that will work. 

Any suggesttions would be much appreciated!

Thanks


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## gryffinwings (Sep 16, 2012)

The one thing you need to make sure you have is plenty of RAM. Can you tell us what you have right now? Adobe Photoshop can be very resourse intensive, so you need RAM, probably 8 GB is enough, as far as I know that's the standard, after that, just have a standard video card, you don't need anything crazy, just decent.

Again, let us know what you have, you may just need to upgrade your system.


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## JohnTrav (Sep 16, 2012)

You can always go to best buy and look at what they have on sale at the time. Below is a list of what you would want to see:
-4gigs of RAM or more
-2.4ghz dual core processor or better. 
-the bigger the hard drive the better. They fill up fast

PC would be your cheaper option. Mac your going to be paying a premium for it. My advise is to spend the extra money and get the better specs on the computer. It will last longer and be more reliable. 

Asus and Lenovo are my personal favorite two brands for PC's in terms of reliability and build quality. Others failed on me a lot. Again that's only my experience with other brand computers. Other people will have different opinions. 

Desktop will also be your cheaper solution to get better specs. Personally I think it's easier to do work on a desktop anyway. 

If you really want to suck it up and spend money I would also get a solid slate drive. They are expensive but very reliable. And they are fast. I will cut your lag time down tons. I plan on getting one for my computer once i get some money. 

Another thing to think about in the future is getting external hard drives to back up all your work.


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## Heitz (Sep 16, 2012)

Yea the problem is that image editing is very memory and processor intensive, so basically get the best specs you can afford.  People also seem not to focus enough of memory speed (well actually, the bus speed) which can affect performance regardless of amount of ram.


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## ChuckV (Sep 17, 2012)

I prefer building my own, but it's not for everyone.

I tend to concur with JohnTrav's advise. As far as CPUs go, I'd recommend looking for one of the newer Intel i3 or i5 CPUs.

I'd tend to recommend PCs over Macs. A lot of it is personal preference, but I find PCs easier to use, and you get a lot more for your money. They use the exact same parts, everything is just a little bit more expensive if there's a fruit logo on it ;-)


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## Derrel (Sep 17, 2012)

If you don't need the best, a cheap PC would be a good choice. Have you hit up some of the big retailers, like Best Buy or Fry's Electronics? In "my area" there are some high-tech pawnshops that specialize in electronics and computers...it's surprising what $300 to $500 will buy in terms of a used PC + monitor...


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## Animaniac888 (Sep 17, 2012)

I would suggest at the very least 4 gigabytes RAM and 2 gigahertz dual core processor. For photo editing you don't need a very good graphics card, so you can get one that's really basic and cheap and use whatever money you saved towards a better processor or more RAM. Of course, that's only if you want to use the computer solely for photo editing. Other uses may require higher specs.

Buy a PC as opposed to a Mac. You get greater freedom with a PC. I can't think of a single advantage a Mac gives you.


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## jdag (Sep 17, 2012)

Animaniac888 said:


> I can't think of a single advantage a Mac gives you.



Oh no you didn't!


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## JohnTrav (Sep 18, 2012)

Derrel said:
			
		

> If you don't need the best, a cheap PC would be a good choice. Have you hit up some of the big retailers, like Best Buy or Fry's Electronics? In "my area" there are some high-tech pawnshops that specialize in electronics and computers...it's surprising what $300 to $500 will buy in terms of a used PC + monitor...



This is true. Even craigslist you can find good used computers. Especially if you are around a college. Students sell their computers all the time with nothing wrong with them just because mommy and daddy buy them new stuff all the time for no reason. 

I bought my Lenovo laptop on Craigslist for 250 and spend 46$ on 8gigs of ram and installed it myself. So for under 300$ I have a 2.4ghz dual core processor with 8gigs of ram and a 64bit windows 7 operating system. 

So if you are good on computer and know what II are doing used is always a great option. You can get really good deals just looking around. Another tool I used that I think goes overlooked by a lot of people is Facebook marketplace. Just a thought.


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## Garbz (Sep 20, 2012)

I'd advise going against cheap for modern cameras. Let me just say waiting for Lightroom to render a 36mpxl RAW file is a real drag on my i5, so I suspect getting a nasty cheap box won't serve you so well on the current crop of 18megapixel cameras either. That's not to mention Panoramas. Or how about HDR previews.

My machine has 16GB of RAM which maxes out when I render panoramas or stack a 64bit image together. I remember not at all fondly processing a 120 megapixel image on my old Pentium 4. 

Don't under estimate just how much of a load modern image editing can place on a computer.


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## Goose85 (Dec 18, 2012)

So, yeah I know this is like a year later. 

But I am now actually desperate (well, will NEED) a new computer. So I have been looking at some and here's what I've found. 

ACER Aspire V3 Series 17.3" Laptop (Intel Core i7, 3632 QM (not sure what that even means), 1TB HDD, 8GB RAM, Windows 8) for $999

Dell Inspiron 17.3" Laptop (refurbished): (IntelCore i7, 3612 QM, 1TB HDD, 8GB RAM) for $699.99

And a few things in between those prices.

I will need a computer for the new year as my computer is essentially awful, and I will be heading back to school, so figured if I am getting a new computer, I may as well spend a bit more and have something decent for photography as well.


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## KmH (Dec 18, 2012)

Goose85 said:


> So, yeah I know this is like a year later.


It's only been 3 months, but it has been 3 months.

Laptop screens are usually TN displays which are not very desirable for image editing. Consequently, it is often recommended that image editing be done on an external IPS type display that is plugged into the laptop.
The issue with the TN display type is narrow color accurate viewing angles.

The portability of laptops is also an issue because that means the ambient light falling on the screen can also be highly variable which hinders display calibration.


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## texkam (Dec 18, 2012)

Photo editing is best done on a desktop system.


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## STIC (Dec 18, 2012)

...


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## Goose85 (Dec 24, 2012)

Well, I will have to say those three months SEEMED like a year!!

I will actually have to go with a laptop, as I do need it for my schooling (working full time + school/clinical = lots of travel), and I'm no expert photographer (and will never be one). So thanks for the advice! And while I will agree, photo editing is probably BEST on a desk top, I'm sure I will do just dandy on a laptop as well. 

But thanks, its great to know what types of specs I need. Plus I just received an external hard drive for Christmas, which should be great for photo storing.


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## gw2424 (Dec 24, 2012)

Im working off a 60 GB hard drive with Picasa! It sucks, but does the job.


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## Mully (Dec 24, 2012)

You can get a 3T hard drive for about $100 ..... It would take awhile to fill it.  I use one for my backup drive.


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## nycphotography (Dec 24, 2012)

If money is tight...  any i3 or better laptop w/ 2gb or 4gb of ram will do fine.  A bigger monitor may seem important, but... get an external monitor for like $200 at best buy, sams club, bjs wherever... and the smaller screen is more portable, and you have full size when at home.  A laptop w/ a monitor, usb keyboard, and a usb mouse IS a desktop... except you can unplug the stuff and take it with you.

If money is tight, you can use GIMP, but you'll have to surmount the learning curve. 

Luckily, I think lots of youtube videos are available these days to show you how to do different things with GIMP.


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## Garbz (Dec 27, 2012)

Laptops can still be excellent photo editing machines. You just need to add a decent desktop monitor. If you can fit it in the budget see if you can put $350 or so aside for it.


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## Goose85 (Dec 28, 2012)

Yup, 

I purchased a laptop, and got a great deal (IMO at least). So we shall see how it goes!


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## Ysarex (Dec 28, 2012)

Goose85 said:


> Yup,
> 
> I purchased a laptop, and got a great deal (IMO at least). So we shall see how it goes!



I lost my desk computer about two months ago and haven't replaced it. I may not replace it. The day after that loss I upgraded my laptop to 8 gigs RAM and it can handle the editing. Storage is on external drives which I didn't lose. So a laptop can work, but, *BUT*, *BIG BUT*, I would never try and edit a photo using the display on my laptop. Along with that 8 gigs of RAM to upgrade the laptop I also brought home an HDMI to DVI cable and attached the laptop to my desktop display and immediately ran a calibration for the display.

Laptop displays are not acceptable for photo editing.

Joe


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## Goose85 (Dec 31, 2012)

I've had no issue with it so far. Since I am not going crazy with editing and am no professional, I think its just perfect!


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