Recommend me a computer.

[Bluepete]

Could I pease ask for the collective knowledge of the .org to assist me.

I'm after a new computer for the family. Our current machine is not up to the task and can barely run Lightroom. The camera I use produces files that take the machine a aaaaaages to open.

I started looking at an iMac, mostly because they have the reputation of being good at image processing and being long lasting, but they are expensive. I do get a discount which takes the mid speed processor small screen 'mac (21.5-inch: 2.7GHz) to about £950.

I've done load of reading and I'm now aware that a windows system may be at least as good.

So, if I were to stick with a windows system, and had a budget of around £650, what would be a good company/machine to buy?

I need a really good screen (plus to iMac) for my photos, a fast processor to handle the large images and a reputable build quality, I'm not a tinkerer with computers so I don't want to be buildjng/fixing a machine.

Aethetics are not a concern.

Pete

[maviczap]

Its a pity that you don't want to build it yourself Pete, its not difficult and you can build it to your spec. Ive done a few myself.

id just go to someone like Ebuyer, Dabs or Aria and look at the high end desktop machines in your budget, and get a new monitor.

most machines should have HDMI output these day.

my current machine was based on a Dell case and motherboard, i chose the processor and other parts, including a blu ray drive. I got this from Aria.

i use it for basic video editing and burning dvd's and its not too bad given its age. Its a dual core processor.

Id ask Brettus or Ritchie for the specs on their machines, as the use the photo editing software you want to use.

i would have thought a modern desktop machine would be able to handle you needs.

see what Lightroom needs as a minimum to work RAM and procesor wise and aim above that.

[Bibio]

i'm running an AMD fx4390 4.2 x 4 core, 16gig ram, a cheep £80 graphics card and windows 7 pro 64 using 2 sata3 64gig SS drives configured in raid0 along with ermm a few sata3 4TB spinning drives as backup. from clicking a 2.6meg file to opening PSP8 and displaying the pic its around 2 secs. (using adobe will slow this right down and you will be looking at around 10-15 secs but once adobe is open the photos will flash up in a blink. booting up the machine from cold is around 20 secs.

in a way its not all about power its about housekeeping like turning off things in the startup and not installing every 'free pc enhancement' programs that take your fancy. the more you run at startup the slower the pc will be overall as each one of those programs eats into your available ram.

Mac's are over priced piles of dog poo.

[DJ123]

Originally Posted by Bluepete

Could I pease ask for the collective knowledge of the .org to assist me.

I'm after a new computer for the family. Our current machine is not up to the task and can barely run Lightroom. The camera I use produces files that take the machine a aaaaaages to open.

I started looking at an iMac, mostly because they have the reputation of being good at image processing and being long lasting, but they are expensive. I do get a discount which takes the mid speed processor small screen 'mac to about £950.

I've done load of reading and I'm now aware that a windows system may be at least as good.

So, if I were to stick with a windows system, and had a budget of around £650, what would be a good company/machine to buy?

I need a really good screen (plus to iMac) for my photos, a fast processor to handle the large images and a reputable build quality, I'm not a tinkerer with computers so I don't want to be buildjng/fixing a machine.

Aethetics are not a concern.

Pete

Lightroom recommends:
Any recent CPU, I'd go for an i5
8GB memory
1TB HDD
W7 or 8


The rest of it is up to you. You will struggle to find a Windows 7 Home PC as it is officially EOL, however W7 pro is still readily available (and you also get W8 too!)


Just a quick shop on Ebuyer and these spring to mind, PC + extra memory & a good monitor for £584.00
http://www.ebuyer.com/660216-lenovo-...top-10dr001euk
£350


http://www.ebuyer.com/393341-kingsto...td-xps730cs-4g
£27.00


http://www.ebuyer.com/616180-lg-25um...nitor-25um65-p
£195.00


http://www.ebuyer.com/287016-startec...-cable-displ2m
£12

[maviczap]

Adding a 128gb SSD was one of the later uprgades i made, boot up times are quicker and touch wood a very stable system

[DJ123]

Originally Posted by maviczap

Adding a 128gb SSD was one of the later uprgades i made, boot up times are quicker and touch wood a very stable system

The big down side to an SSD is that you lose all data if it corrupts or goes wrong. Even if a HDD goes down you can easily recover it. I'd always recommend running a mirror RAID set up with an SSD

[maviczap]

True, although only the operating system runs on mine, my data storage is on other drives, and ive another 2tb drive for my back up.

[Bibio]

just for you Pete i downloaded a demo of lightroom. from clicking a file (from an old usb pen drive) and lightroom opening its 3secs playing with the filters and stuff its instantaneous (real time) on this pc. i built this pc for around £750 but i bought a fancy case and water cooling.

the pic was 5.6meg in size

If SSD or HDD corruption is an issue why not look for cloud storage, I have many of my treasured pics in photobucket and onedrive.

I think for your requirements (family, photos) I'd recommend a Mac. I think in the long term it'd save you a lot of pain.