New PC advice, what would I need?
 

Dear all

Just as I was contemplating purchasing my first DSLR I've come to the conclusion that my nackered old PC wouldn't be able to cope with larger format file sizes, just tried to upload and edit 15 images taken with a 12m pixal bridge camera I borrowed last week (not even a DSLR) and my PC has repeatedly crashed everytime I tried to crop or use the different effects on picasa.

My problem being, at present I can't afford a new PC and a new camera so just wondering what everyone else is using as regards to power and memory etc to store and edit pictures on and what sort of budget I should be thinking of?

I don't want to store thousands of pictures, just a few dozen of the best ones and edit them as and when....with simple post editing software maybe progressing to PS later on.

Thanks

Matt

Matt, something in the £350-£400 bracket for a base unit only (i.e. no monitor included) should do you fine. If you go to dell.co.uk and enter code D004503 in the search box, you'll get details on a 2.93GHz core2duo machine with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. This should be perfectly adequate for £380 including shipping. If you Google "dell discount codes" you can usually find a coupon code that'll give you 5 or 10% off.

Beware the 4Gb of memory. Sounds good but unless you are using 64 bit Windows (I am assuming you are using Windows as most people do) then it will not recognise memory above 3Gb. If you are using Lightroom then 3G is just not enough to do some operations.

I have recently bought a Acer 5536 laptop for £379 -very happy with it.

Go for the Dell recommended by yelvertoft, it will knock the socks off your current setup. Don't get a laptop in the same price bracket as you'll be disappointed and don't worry about the "only 3Gb" stuff, it makes no difference, trust me (19 years experience working in various IT related disciplines and broadcast media / video editing) ;)

Carl

I would certainly go along with a Dell recommendation but if you want to save a bit more try Dell Outlet. From their FAQs

"Dell Outlet is the place to go to find great savings on some of the latest refurbished Dell Technology, already built and ready to ship. This is product which has been returned to Dell for a variety of reasons including cancellations and specifications changes. All products have been tested and repackaged to Dell Outlet standards. Dell Outlet also offers standard limited warranty coverage and the same excellent Dell service and support on our refurbished Products as we do on our new systems."

I recently bought a laptop for my son through this site and saved 30% on new price for what is to all intent and purpose a new machine. There is a very large range of constantly changing stock - its just a case of picking the one you fancy and in my case it arrived within a few days. Just note that you need to add VAT (15% before 1 Jan 17.5% after) and delivery(£21.08) to the price shown on the stock lists. An Inspiron 545 starts from about £250 incl VAT and delivery.


http://outlet.euro.dell.com/topics/g...b=INSPDT&s=dfh

FastStone has basic but quite good processing tools. The Gimp is equivalent to PS Elements. Both can be downloaded for free - no strings, I've used both for a couple of years now.

The system I quoted came with the 64 bit vesion of W7 Home Premium. It will use the full 4GB installed, and more if you fit it.

I've bought stuff from the outlet site too, at a very good price. You have to be careful though, some stuff is no cheaper than "new" build machines. Another situation is when a particular model is on a special promotion with big discount on the "new" site, making it more than the same machine from the outlet site - as the outlet site prices are not linked to track such promotions.

Have a good look at the outlet site, there's some fantastic bargains to be had, but don't assume that because it's outlet, it's cheaper.

Hi Matt

You don't say what computer you are using at the moment, can you give us the spec for your PC, it may be possible to upgrade it to a higher spec without breaking the bank. You may be able to upgrade your processor, more memory is possible, don't worry about XP 3gb limit, if you can install 4gb go with it, XP will use it even if it says it doesn't recognise it and Photoshop will love it. Graphics cards more than suitable for working with image files are available from about £25 with up 500mb of memory. Let us know the spec of your PC and how much you are willing to spend on it and it may be possible to come up with a solution.

Picasa is not really a very good graphics program for rendering quality images from a large RAW files, it's probably OK with JPEGS but I wouldn't use it for anything serious. Photoshop Elements 7 can be picked up for about £25 if you shop around, Paint Shop Pro 11 is also another good Graphics program which can be had at a very good price. Both programs are previous releases so don't demand the top price of the latest release, they are both more than capable of producing first class images from anything you can throw at them.

nirofo.

Hi there, you can pick up a Power Mac G5 dual core for under £200 on eb*y - it is more than powerful enough and should do all you want.