Computer advice!

siany

siany

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Name
Sian
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi,
I'm looking for a good Desktop PC....my laptop doesn't cut it anymore and I'm fed up with the image looking different depending on where I open the screen and the system getting into a sweat when editing.

Can anyone give me some good advice before I part with my cash....

I've been looking at quad core, 8GB RAM.....thats as far as I have got.

I'm not so bothered about the hard drive capacity as I can add this later but I'd like good graphics, fast processing and NO MORE CRASHING!!! ;)

Thanks in advance
Sian
 
neil_g said:
budget? need everything (computer, screen, keyboard, mouse etc)?
Click to expand...

Hi, New screen too, got everything else....I don't have a set budget yet. I'm looking to see what I need first then decide what I'm willing to spend. :D
 
Win 7 64bit
Either i7-2600 or i5-2500 based processor
8G RAM
Cheap graphics card if all you're doing is photoediting and not playing games.
IPS panel - Dell do some very good ones from £180 refurbished off the 'bay to £800+ if you want a large 27" monitor.

Self build or off the shelf? For an i5-2500 based machine you're probably looking at 500-600 without monitor, add another £100ish for i7 processor.
 
At the risk of starting an argument - what about an imac. Reliable, have less crashes in a year than I used to get in a week on an old PC. They do cost more but are wonderful to use and answers your brief.
 
arad85 said:
Win 7 64bit
Either i7-2600 or i5-2500 based processor
8G RAM
Cheap graphics card if all you're doing is photoediting and not playing games.
IPS panel - Dell do some very good ones from £180 refurbished off the 'bay to £800+ if you want a large 27" monitor.

Self build or off the shelf? For an i5-2500 based machine you're probably looking at 500-600 without monitor, add another £100ish for i7 processor.
Click to expand...

pretty much that.

cambsno said:
At the risk of starting an argument - what about an imac. Reliable, have less crashes in a year than I used to get in a week on an old PC. They do cost more but are wonderful to use and answers your brief.
Click to expand...

my windows 7 boxes havent crashed in.. errr.. cant remember how long.

plus depends if you can get on with those rediculously glossy screens ;)
 
cambsno said:
At the risk of starting an argument - what about an imac. Reliable, have less crashes in a year than I used to get in a week on an old PC. They do cost more but are wonderful to use and answers your brief.
Click to expand...

neil_g said:
my windows 7 boxes havent crashed in.. errr.. cant remember how long.

plus depends if you can get on with those rediculously glossy screens ;)
Click to expand...

Jeebus, you just can't help yourselves, can you? :shake:

Ignore Simon and Neil's willy waving Sian. BOTH Apple or Windows based computers would serve your purposes.

It's always worth going to a store and actually using the machines themselves so that you can see how the operating systems work as they do do things slightly differently. Some prefer one to the other, some have no preference either way, but the only person that can really answer that for you is, well, you!

Any machine with 8GB of RAM will be able to handle processing of images in its stride, and if you are planning on expanding the physical memory later then hard drive space isn't overly important either.

Go and have a play with some machines and see what feels right for you and looks right for the place it will go aesthetically.

It may also be worth budgeting for a good screen calibration device at this point too so that you can be sure of your images when you process them :thumbs:
 
Simmotino said:
Jeebus, you just can't help yourselves, can you? :shake:

Ignore Simon and Neil's willy waving Sian. BOTH Apple or Windows based computers would serve your purposes.
Click to expand...

whos willy waving? ive said many many times in here both platforms do the same thing with the same reliability (and thats backed up by nearly 6 years supporting them in the same production environment). and see the winky smiley on the comment about the screens...

;)
 
Good advice re: calibration device. Well worth it IMHO.

As to Macs vs PCs, quite frankly, I've got bored of the endless debate. This is all I'm going to say on the matter ;)

  • They both have their strengths and weaknesses.
  • They are as reliable as each other as long as the PC is running Win 7.
  • They both crash from time to time.
  • They both slow down over time if you just install stuff willy-nilly.
  • They are both PCs under the skin and use exactly the same components - just the OS and resultant UI is different.
  • They both run the same end-user software (assuming something available on both like Lightroom).
  • Any i5-2500/i7-2600 (or second gen i5/i7 as Apple tend to describe them) based system - whether running Windows or OSX - will eat 50D RAW images for breakfast.
  • Anyone who tries to tell you one is better than the other for image editing is at best misguided.
 
Thank you all for your responses.

Simmotino.... willy waving.....made me chuckle! :lol:

i5 and i7.....is there any reason to by one over the other for what I need!?
 
Thank you for that...I'll take a look. It's always good to hear others personal experiences of suppliers.

Who do I give my hard earned cash to in exchange for an all singing and all dancing beast of a machine! :thinking:


boliston said:
I've brought several PCs from DNUK over the years which have served me well and have the quad core desk cube at the moment with HP 21.5" IPS screen.
I'll probably get one of the other deskstar desktops quite soon as I normally upgrade every 2-3 years or so.
https://secure.dnuk.com/store/desktops.php
Click to expand...
 
siany said:
i5 and i7.....is there any reason to by one over the other for what I need!?
Click to expand...
Both have 4 cores but the i7 has something called hyperthreading which turns the 4 cores into effectively 8 cores. Programs that can do things in parallel (e.g. most filters in photoshop, rendering stuff in lightroom or recoding video) will be up to 2x faster on the i7. I say up to, as it depends on how much you use the parallelism. Most filters in Lightroom take 1-2 seconds to run, so on an i5 it might be closer to 2 seconds, on the i7 the same thing might be closer to one. If you're doing that once every 20 or 30 seconds, you will only really notice a slight loss of snappiness on the i5 vs i7. If you're doing something like recoding HD video where you can use all cores 100% for a long period of time, it will be significantly quicker on the i7. Things like ripping CDs are inherently single threaded so will run proportional to the clock speed (they are pretty close, so the i7 will be a smidge quicker).

Summary: if you are an occasional editor who only processes images a little, the i5 will be "as quick" as the i7. If you want the extra little bit of performance, do a lot of complex image editing or plan to do stuff like video encoding, the i7 is probably the better bet.
 
Thanks for that arad85....a fantastically comprehensive answer.

It looks like the i7 is the one for me. Over a period of time, in the not too distant future, I will be placing more demands on my computer with editing so the i7 sounds like it will keep me going for a while.
Your a star..thank you :thumbs:

arad85 said:
Both have 4 cores but the i7 has something called hyperthreading which turns the 4 cores into effectively 8 cores. Programs that can do things in parallel (e.g. most filters in photoshop, rendering stuff in lightroom or recoding video) will be up to 2x faster on the i7. I say up to, as it depends on how much you use the parallelism. Most filters in Lightroom take 1-2 seconds to run, so on an i5 it might be closer to 2 seconds, on the i7 the same thing might be closer to one. If you're doing that once every 20 or 30 seconds, you will only really notice a slight loss of snappiness on the i5 vs i7. If you're doing something like recoding HD video where you can use all cores 100% for a long period of time, it will be significantly quicker on the i7. Things like ripping CDs are inherently single threaded so will run proportional to the clock speed (they are pretty close, so the i7 will be a smidge quicker).

Summary: if you are an occasional editor who only processes images a little, the i5 will be "as quick" as the i7. If you want the extra little bit of performance, do a lot of complex image editing or plan to do stuff like video encoding, the i7 is probably the better bet.
Click to expand...
 
There are lots of i5/i7 variants. The second gen all have the i7-2xxx or i5-2xxx - i.e. a suffix of 4 digits with the first digit being a 2. All 3 digit suffixes are first gen core ix devices. Whilst they are powerful, the second gen are a step up performance wise and a step down pricewise.
 
siany said:
Who do I give my hard earned cash to in exchange for an all singing and all dancing beast of a machine! :thinking:
Click to expand...

Hope it's not against any forum rules to post links to PC suppliers... Ebuyer and Scan are both fairly competitive on pricing, have good range of stock with configurable PC specs, and Scan offer 9 months interest free credit on items over £300.

;)
 
I used to build my own PCs. Last December I decided that I needed a new machine, but I didn't have the time to research and build it myself. I purchased a 3XS system through Scan.
Basically, you choose the base system you want, then you are presented with a selection of choices, amount of RAM, amount of hard disk etc. All of the hard-work is basically taken out of the configuration, they check that you haven't chosen any pieces that won't work together, (and I am sure if you ask nicely, they would also suggest alternative improvements as it goes through the order stage).
I purchased at a busy time of the year, so delivery wasn't quite as quick as it could have been, but an order now shouldn't be such an issue I think.
They assemble the machine, and it will have a warranty (at least a year, you can choose 3).

The price of the system was pretty much what I could have purchased the components for. I am relatively pleased with my system. (I have a thunderfly inside the Dell monitor now, hardly Scan's fault, but Dell don't warrant insect infestation!)

I am considering an upgrade in the system, one of the nice things about Scan, so long as you don't break anything, then the system is still considered under warranty. Purchasing from other companies like Dell or HP, they will try and not warrant any machines which have been modified.
 
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