Best Computer for Photography?

[Dwig]

...
But I was thinking maybe it would make more sense to get a quad core processor with lots of RAM. Then later on I could upgrade my graphics card / storage...

Don't blow your budget on the basic machine. DO NOT delay purchasing more and better hard drives. Make a fast second hard drive part of your basic purchase, preferably a Firewire. In general, RAM and drive performance as both as important as processor speed. Anyway, good fast HDs are relatively inexpensive.

All this is particularily critical if you are using Photoshop and demand decent performance. You want PS's scratch disk to be separate piece of hardware from the drive your OS uses.

On the Mac/Windows front, I'm rather neutral when it comes to photographic software. Neither is better than the other; some people just prefer one "style" over the other.

As to the "reinstall Windows every 6 months" issue, you only need to do that if you don't know how to use Windows. One big issue with Windows is "bloteware" and the biggest offender that you are likely to encounter is Windows Update. Learn how to clean out the substantial collection of downloaded update packages that aren't needed after they've been run and much of the problem goes away. That, a good malware protection suite, and avoidance of Internet Explorer (I recommend Opera instead, but Firefox is also good stuff) will cure most ills.

On the Windows side, I would vote to avoid Vista for performance reasons. Its a resource hog. If you buy a Windows machine it will probably come with Vista, just be sure it comes with the "downgrade to XP" option. Word has it that when Windows 7 is released, it will offer a downgrade to XP also (interestingly, not a downgrade to Vista).

 

[wagaboo]

Actually its an upgrade to 7 on new pc's that still have vista until ALL new pc's have 7 , Im a beta tester.
PS:: I agree on Opera its not bloatware what so ever, FF is good but imo its bootup time is slower than opera and IE.

 

[Vautrin]

So I actually went ahead and bought a quad core, 4gb ram, 2 hard drives computer. BUT it came with vista. Any suggestions on speeding it up? I've never seen a computer take 2GB of memory just when i boot up...

 

[Jaszek]

install XP . Make sure you find all the drivers before hand. If you cant find them i say go for the 7 beta, if you can still download it. If you want I can provide you with a key (don't worry mods, I got them from micosoft during the free beta test B4 for people that wont make it, I wont charge for them....or will I? <dramatic chimpmunk> no illegal activity here ). Vista drivers work on 7 (or did, I got rid of it couple months back)

 

[DeadPixel]

Most important - good monitor.
With slow pc you still can work...
but with bad monitor you are like half blind

.... as about operating system - my choice would be Windows XP.
Windows Vista uses more resources and can affect on a work speed.

 

[usayit]

So I actually went ahead and bought a quad core, 4gb ram, 2 hard drives computer. BUT it came with vista. Any suggestions on speeding it up? I've never seen a computer take 2GB of memory just when i boot up...

You can disable a lot of the eye-candy stuff in vista to free up resourcs.... google it for details. It worked wonders on my wifes windows box... but in the end... Vista is hog. I'd dump it for XP.

 

[Mindy]

So I actually went ahead and bought a quad core, 4gb ram, 2 hard drives computer. BUT it came with vista. Any suggestions on speeding it up? I've never seen a computer take 2GB of memory just when i boot up...

Be sure to increase your virtual memory (aka page file or swap file). If you have 4GB RAM I would set your minimum to 4.5 to 5G and the maximum to three times that. It's best to place the swap file on a dedicated partition or drive. It is most desireable to have it at the beginning of your second hard drive (first partition). Be sure you have plenty of room for growth for when you add memory.

If you will be running 3rd party anti-spyware and a firewall, you might want to disable the firewall and windows defender.

With the quad core you have a 64 bit processor. You can get Vista 64 and increase your RAM past the 4GB barrier. With a 32 bit processor and/or vista 32, you are limited to 4GB RAM. But I would ensure that your photo editing software is supported under that OS.

install XP . Make sure you find all the drivers before hand. If you cant find them i say go for the 7 beta, if you can still download it. If you want I can provide you with a key (don't worry mods, I got them from micosoft during the free beta test B4 for people that wont make it, I wont charge for them....or will I? <dramatic chimpmunk> no illegal activity here ). Vista drivers work on 7 (or did, I got rid of it couple months back)

Windows 7 beta is expiring on July 1. The RC is available now for Technet and MSDN subscribers, and beginning May 5 for the general public.

 

[flea77]

First let me tell you about me:

I am not the guy down the street who built a couple machines for himself and his parents, upgraded some hard drives in friends computers, and then proclaimed himself a guru.

I am the guy who has been doing this for about 26 years, starting out at work with Fortran and Cobal, at home with a TRS-80 Model 1 and a tape drive. I am part owner of the largest VAR within fifty miles or so, we maintain some county stuff, two complete school districts, many multi-million dollar corps, and thousands of smaller customers. Been through DOS, Windows, OS/2, BeOS, Linux, MacOS, BSD, and many others. Was president for years of the local user's group, the OS/2 SIG leader, and the MacOS SIG leader.

That being said, with what you have said, I would say you need a Windows PC, 4GB memory minimum, two hard drives (one boot, one data). I would suggest Asus motherboards (for the moment not the i7, a C3D Q9550 is excellent for the price, or a E8600 for a dual core), a GOOD power supply is essential (note I said good, not large, a good 300 will beat the snot out of a poor 500).

As for Vista, I ran the betas on a seperate machine but this is my main machine and has been running Vista Ultimate since the retail version was out for about two months, no reformats, no reinstalls, no real problems (OK, I have this old printer which refuses to print more than one copy of anything, bummer, that is also a driver issue NOT a Vista issue). I have since converted my other two home machines and two office machines to Vista and never looked back.

For the 64bit vs 32bit question, if all your software will run on 64bit then without question do that. I have a couple customers buying new 32bit installs because they absolutely have to have a certain piece of software which will only run under a 32bit OS, all the rest are now getting 64bit installs.

For dual core vs quad core, once again check your apps. If they do not support more than two cores then you will be better served with the E8600 with its higher clock speed. If they support more than two, then the Q9550 is a better choice. Remember you can always upgrade later with no hassles.

For your hard drive, I like Velociraptors. They are very fast, very quiet, pretty cool (temps), and come with a five year warranty. The extra speed these things offer is a really nice feature when you have tons of images trying to load. Of course you can start off with something slower now, and then jump to something faster later. SSDs are pretty out there, very expensive and not that much faster than the Velociraptors right now, they will however get much faster and cheaper in the next few years.

Any other questions ,feel free to PM me.

Allan

 

[flea77]

Just try xp then vista on the same pc and you'll see the difference.

Now reformat that same exact PC and install Windows 98, you want to talk about SCREAMING! Or take a Mac that came with OSX 10.5 and install OS 7.1, WOW! The time I save on Vista far outweighs any performance loss.

Allan

 

[Mindy]

First let me tell you about me:

I am not the guy down the street who built a couple machines for himself and his parents, upgraded some hard drives in friends computers, and then proclaimed himself a guru.Allan

...

Allan, are you insinuating that you know anything about others here, specifically me? Because you don't. I didn't hear anyone except yourself who proclaimed themselves a guru. Personally I don't feel that I need to give a resume here to be of value.

I am the guy who has been doing this for about 26 years, starting out at work with Fortran and Cobal, at home with a TRS-80 Model 1 and a tape drive. I am part owner of the largest VAR within fifty miles or so, we maintain some county stuff, two complete school districts, many multi-million dollar corps, and thousands of smaller customers. Been through DOS, Windows, OS/2, BeOS, Linux, MacOS, BSD, and many others. Was president for years of the local user's group, the OS/2 SIG leader, and the MacOS SIG leader.

 

[flea77]

Allan, are you insinuating that you know anything about others here, specifically me? Because you don't. I didn't hear anyone except yourself who proclaimed themselves a guru. Personally I don't feel that I need to give a resume here to be of value.

If I was asking for information on a particular topic I would like to know if the person who is giving me advice actually knows what they are talking about or not, I would assume the OP might like to know that as well. I made no references to anyone at all, good or bad, take it as you like. I also never said I was a "guru", I showed that I happen to have a ton of experience in this particular area.

Allan

 

[Flash Harry]

So I actually went ahead and bought a quad core, 4gb ram, 2 hard drives computer. BUT it came with vista. Any suggestions on speeding it up? I've never seen a computer take 2GB of memory just when i boot up...

try black viper.com for service registry tweaks for vista, there's so much crap running in the background its just eating ram, I have laptops running vista and hate how it works but after tweaking I can put up with it, I would have overwritten it with XP but it could be problematic with the newer hardware and drivers. I use XP pro on the desktop/ editing PC which is also tweaked and fast even after 3 years, never crashed or let me down in any way. H

 

[DeadPixel]

try black viper.com for service registry tweaks for vista, there's so much crap running in the background its just eating ram, I have laptops running vista and hate how it works but after tweaking I can put up with it, I would have overwritten it with XP but it could be problematic with the newer hardware and drivers. I use XP pro on the desktop/ editing PC which is also tweaked and fast even after 3 years, never crashed or let me down in any way. H

Thanks for suggestion Flash Hary about black viper, me too use vista on a laptop, it has 4 gb ram, but photoshop work too slow, and stock sometmes for short while (expecially when use clone stamp, or healing brush etc. when need a lot of actions in a short time). I always liked xp, just this time got the laptop with vista installed. Thought i might try, but seems that much worst than i expected (regarding working speed, of course)

 

[Flash Harry]

Also try allocating more ram to Photoshop in the program itself, put plugins n scratch disc on another drive if you have two, use black viper super tweaks for vista to take the load off but back up everything first, windows has too much running that isn't needed, we need a tool that works our way not bloody bill gates way. H

 

[DeadPixel]

we need a tool that works our way not bloody bill gates way. H

:mrgreen: