what type of pc do you use

thebaz

out of curiosity, what type of pc do you use for processing your images, and are you happy with what you have.
I'm thinking of upgrading my Dell inspiron xp laptop, need windows for work , so will probably get another dell, i find it ok overall , and adequate for post processing images.

5uspect

I use a 4 year old Dell Dimension 4550 for pretty much everything not just processing. Its got a 2.66 GHz P4, 1 Gig of RAM, about 400GB of harddisk space and a 6600gt graphics card. I've found CS3 to be much more efficient than CS2 so thats giving it extra life, tho I can wait the few seconds that editing big images takes.

I've heard that CS3 is optimised to take advantage of dual core processors, has anyone found a big performance increase with it?

joolsveer

I use a home made PC - I put it together but wouldn't try the same with a laptop. The last PC I had I cobbled together too and my daughter is now using it. Both PCs have AMD processors and I am happy with the way they perform. I have an old Dell which I use for Ubuntu and it goes well as well.

Fenster

A really awesome one.

Rojo

A really not-so-awesome one...


It's so sloooooww....

Ruu_Old

Home made jobbie as well, AMD 64 3800+ 2.4GHZ and 1GB RAM with Windows XP. A grand total of around 600GB (2 external and 1 internal). It works brilliantly for me and never gives me much trouble. I have Photoshop 6 which works fine and don't see much of a reason to upgrade.

magicbastarder

dell dimension 8400, 160GB HD, 2GB RAM.

pete4130

A near 4 year old Dell Dimension 8300 that came with 512MB RAM that I increased to 768MB, it's 2.4Ghz Pentium 4 and does the job ok for me.

311

Can't get the hand of vignetting with it for some reason :rolleyes:

Stephen

I use a machine I built myself last year. Intel core 2 duo (E6600), 2gb ram, fancy graphics card for games, lots of disk and Windows Vista home premium. Currently only using free stuff (paint.net and GIMP 2.x) for processing photos.

Zillah

Monitor monitor monitor.

Everything else is secondary.

Fionn

two monitors if you can manage!!!
i had to give up my second one to allow space for my printer - i'd like a 30" wide screen monitor to make up for some of the real estate i've lost.
then RAM i suppose (i've a Gig) but sometimes it's not enough and a good graphics card (ATI Radeon 9800)
after that storage (2 x internal HD) (1 x external) (1 x DVD Burner)

it works pretty ok most times!

rahenyguy

custom built pc,intel core duo 2.67 ghz (overclocked to 2.88 ghz> his radeon 512mb graphics card,two dvd burners,5 varying size hard drives etc,took a huge chunk out of my wallet but am really happy with the results from this pc,going from my previous dell jobby

Zillah

rahenyguy wrote:

custom built pc,intel core duo 2.67 ghz (overclocked to 2.88 ghz> his radeon 512mb graphics card,two dvd burners,5 varying size hard drives etc,took a huge chunk out of my wallet but am really happy with the results from this pc,going from my previous dell jobby

Do you even do photography...?




:rolleyes:

mathias

If you can calibrate your monitor , then the PC does not matter , I use the spyder color vision suite , the pantone huey is just as good, other than these the spec of te PC is largely irrelevant on today,s systems

thebaz

by the sound of what you lot are using i need an upgrade , i've 250 MB Ram, 2.2 Ghz Celeron processor , and 30 GB Hard disk , with less than 10 gigs free.

5uspect

Ah get more RAM, PS loves it, and maybe a second hard drive. You should be fine.

thebaz

The price of laptops is dropping , can get something reasonable from Dell for 600 euros, with dual processor and 80GB , and 1 GB ram . It uses Vista, anyone using vista ? , and does ps work ok on it, i use ps cs .
Cheers.
p.s. need a laptop , rather than desktop -- and can't go Apple due to work

311

Is it not possible to Dual boot an apple iBook with windows ,then you could use the apple for photos and the dual boot for work ?

Roen

A Dell 8400, a few hundred gigs of HDD space and a couple of gigs of RAM, I also have a Power book. Two monitors. CRT for work and TFT for sitting there.

5uspect

_Brian_ wrote:

Is it not possible to Dual boot an apple iBook with windows ,then you could use the apple for photos and the dual boot for work ?

Very true, there are two options for that, Apple have their boot camp where you have to reboot and there is another whose name escapes me where you can flick from OSX to XP like ALT tabbing but with some limited functionality.

Fajitas!

My main workhorse is a HP Pavillion 9000 laptop.

17" screen,
2 x 1.6/ghz processors,
2 Gigs RAM,
160 Gig harddrive.

Roen

5uspect wrote:

Very true, there are two options for that, Apple have their boot camp where you have to reboot and there is another whose name escapes me where you can flick from OSX to XP like ALT tabbing but with some limited functionality.

It's called Parallels I think.

Zillah

Seriously, baz, all the ram and processing in the world won't help you if you're using a laptop screen. The monitor is by far the most important thing to be concerned about, get a good CRT above all else.

mloc

Parts on the way, should be here tuesday for a new pc... Core 2 Duo E6600, 4gb RAM, 320gb hd for progs etc, 640gb RAID 0 HD for scratch etc, dell 2407WFP 24" tft... should be fun.

thebaz

Zillah wrote:

Seriously, baz, all the ram and processing in the world won't help you if you're using a laptop screen. The monitor is by far the most important thing to be concerned about, get a good CRT above all else.

Thought you were going to say all the ram and processing won't help make me a better photographer

I have had desktops at home, and i find they take up so much space, the lap top makes things so much more portable, and lets face it big monitors are a bit of an eye sore, regardless of flat screen / mac , i suppose if i had a big house it wouldn't be an issue.
I actually find my 15" laptop monitor ok for viewing photgraphs, the lack of memory means PS is real slow, i have access to larger monitors in work, and don't see much difference.

Zillah

thebaz wrote:

I actually find my 15" laptop monitor ok for viewing photgraphs, the lack of memory means PS is real slow, i have access to larger monitors in work, and don't see much difference.

Its "ok"? Reuters specifically warn their photographers to not use laptops for any sort of image editing because you cannot trust that what you're seeing is what you're gonna get. And its not about the size of the monitor, its the display quality.

Stephen

I don't think its really that big a deal if you're not making a living from your photos, Zillah.

311

I don't think it's sustainable to produce crt monsters anymore.
We will have to stick out the dull progress for a while ,just like the old 1MP digital cameras:rolleyes:

440Hz

PC as in Pretty Crap??

Stephen

My sister has a Mac. I just can't get comfortable with it.

/strokes pc

311

440Hz wrote:

PC as in Pretty Crap??

No it's Periodically Crashes ,silly :rolleyes:

Fionn

throw some of the family out!! that'll make more space!! lol

seriously... like you gotta have a computer right?

right?

dont ya?

Zillah

Stephen wrote:

I don't think its really that big a deal if you're not making a living from your photos, Zillah.

Well considering its a thread about what makes the best photographers machine then theres every reason to point it out.

And lots of people do make a living from their photos...

mloc

IMHO Zillah is sort of right. A properly calibrated monitor is an essential link to accurate colour in the final product. Some monitors (TFT, CRT or otherwise) cannot be accurately calibrated and therefore are unsuitable and no matter how fast or responsive your machine is, your end product will always be "wrong".

rahenyguy

i do photography,just a small bit got myself a canon 350dkit lens and 70 - 300m sigma,find it hard trying to get into taking pics with the hours i work

Quackles

Zillah wrote:

Its "ok"? Reuters specifically warn their photographers to not use laptops for any sort of image editing because you cannot trust that what you're seeing is what you're gonna get. And its not about the size of the monitor, its the display quality.

that explains why my pictures are crap, then

I use my crappy philips iqon, tesco finest laptop. We have a dual 19" monitored beast with core 2 duo E6600, 4gb ram, nvidia geforce 7950gt with seagate barracuda 7200.1 rpm 16mb cache, 580gb in total (not including external hard drives), wacom intuos3 A4.. and yet I use my iqon. Did I mention it has a whole 512mb of RAM? Mmmmm... and a 40gb hard drive.. It's more portable than the PC - the case alone of that beast weighed 19.5kg before any innards were added. I formatted the laptop over the weekend, maybe that'll help.. I doubt it, though..

melekalikimaka

pc, na i just bring the pictures to the chemist, print them off and then pick what i like





but really
2 ghz processor
512 ram
128mb geforce 4800ti

sooo slowwww

Zillah

Laptops definately have their uses for photographers. If you're in the field and need to clear space on your camera, or if you really want/need to see an image in higher quality than the preview on the camera can show, or if you need to send the images back to an editor (if you're a photojournalist), then a laptop is invaluable.

Its just not good for performing image adjustments.

And my PC has a Pentium 3.2Mhz, 3 gig ram, 19" CRT, Radeon X850XT, two hard drives of about 380G between them.

thebaz

Fionn wrote:

throw some of the family out!! that'll make more space!! lol

seriously... like you gotta have a computer right?

right?

dont ya?

The cost of space in Dublin is so expensive , thats what makes a laptop so perfect for me.

Have decent Dell monitors in work , which i can use , when undercover !
To be honest the screen on my Dell laptop must be pretty reasonable, as there isn't much difference between quality with those in work. But i take zillahs point, and luckily i have use of another monitor.

Owen

Well, my machine doubles as a recording studio, and a gaming/study machine, but for photography work, it's ideal too. Apart from all the external recording and flight sim gear hooked up to it, it also has :

Dell 30 inch monitor with card reader built in
2 Gigs of RAM (Wanted 4, but very few apps use over 2)
Dual Core 2.13 Ghz Intel Core
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
Microsoft Habu Mouse and CF3000 Webcam
1.5 Tb Hard Drive space
Logitech Z5400 5.1 THX Speakers
HP all in one printer/scanner yoke
Wacom Tablet

Software wise, I use the GIMP.

GristlyEnd

Home built PC here.

Asus motherboard
Sapphire video card
2.5GB ram
300GB internal & 250GB external drives
DVD burner
Wacom tablet
Spyder2 for monitor calibration
Acer 19" widescreen monitor

Has served me well for the past couple of years and see no reason to upgrade except for maybe the monitor.

dan99989

This doubles as my windows gaming rig...

Mac Pro
2x 2.66Ghz Dual-Core Intel Xeon (Quad Core)
2GB RAM
1x 320GB HD, 1x 250GB HD
ATi X1900 XT 512MB
2x Dell 20" widescreens
Aperture 1.5

The only thing i'll be changing is a 30" to replace the two 20's, and 2 more gigs o ram. Aperture's a hog when it comes to RAM

Hugh_C

iMac 17" 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.

Sweet.

Dara Robinson

Another home made jobbie - AMD 64 3800+ 2.4GHZ, 4 gig of ram, 258mb Gfx card, about a terrabite and a half of space.

rymus

used to be a dell something or other... most recently use a 17" macbook pro

Calina

a HP Pavilion ze4500 series which was reformatted and had Windows reinstalled yesterday.

now Photoshop is a lot faster.

rymus

hmmm fresh install.... enjoy it while it lasts

Calina

Oh I am. Monday night it was taking 15 minutes to file down images. Now it takes less than 3 seconds.

thebaz

Zillah wrote:

Its "ok"? Reuters specifically warn their photographers to not use laptops for any sort of image editing because you cannot trust that what you're seeing is what you're gonna get. And its not about the size of the monitor, its the display quality.

Actually Zillah, you are dead right about the monitor, i checked some of my photos on a good monitor in work, and they show many problems not visable on my home laptop -- will hold off getting an upgrade to my laptop , as you are right a decent monitor, is critical for photgraphy.

sineadw

Desktop started life as a DELL inspiron 4400 but I've added so many bits I can't remember. 1gig ram (I think?), 3.8gig processor, 17inch monitor (which is about to go ). I'm feeling the pinch of its age with the 350 shots. At the very least I'm gonna have to upgrade the ram and put in a USB 2 card. And clear the mountains of crap on it.

I have a toshiba Sattelite Pro which has better specks for a laptop but I can't stand working on it for images. CRT is DEFINITELY the way to go!