Good computer for photo editing?

[laadyd]

Hi all,

I'm new here and hoping I've posted in the right forum. I'm in the market for a new desktop to do photo editing. Bottom line up front:
Here are my questions:
1. Anyone currently using HP touchsmart or any touchscreen all-in-on PC for photography stuff? How do you like it?
2. What mid-priced PCs do you think are really great for photo editing? I'm all for saving money. If I can get it for $600 instead of $1200, I'm in!

More Info-
I received CS4 as a gift, but my PC is too slow (even with upgraded memory) to handle it. I am not a professional photographer, this is just a hobby. So I don't need something top of the line, but I'd like to be in the mid range and have something that will last a while.

I've been looking at the HP Touchsmart 600t or 600xt as an option. I would like to spend less than $1300. Some of the specs I think would be good are:6GB RAM minimum, 1TB hard drive, minimum 23" monitor HD, Intel Core i5-430M, 2.3GHz speed or higher, and 512MB of graphics card.

Thank you for reading.

 

[kekaru]

I tried using a touch screen computer for photo editing at work and In my personal opinion your better off with a mouse, if you are desperate to not use a mouse get a graphics tablet that's what I use for my photo editing.

As for computer I have a sony Veio vgn-fw31e 19" laptop which I got for £700 (about $1000) which does the job very well. As for if you want a desk computer macs are very good for photo editing but can be a bit pricey.

I wont list of an array of computers for you do buy but I will say just look for any computer with over 2GB of ram and with more than a duel core possessor, you can get one with specs like that for mid prices though you may have to look a bit.

 

[prodigy2k7]

Build a desktop. Fun, Save money, good quality products.

 

[ChristianGrattan]

Have you used a graphics tablet before? They are great for retouching, but they take some getting used to. It might be a good way for you to go with whatever system you go for.

Have you put monitor calibration into your calculations for this? That is an important piece of hardware that gets overlooked. Also the monitor itself.

I wouldn't get a laptop. I take mine on shoots just for proofing and it throws me off.

 

[Josh66]

1. Anyone currently using HP touchsmart or any touchscreen all-in-on PC for photography stuff? How do you like it?

I am using an Asus all-in-one with 24" touchscreen, and love it. (Asus ET2400I)

Now, I don't actually touch the touchscreen much (fingerprints...), but the monitor is huge compared to what I was using before. The touchscreen is cool and everything, but that wasn't a deciding factor at all.

It has a 1TB HDD, 3.2GHz i3, it came with 4GB of RAM - but I replaced that and it has 8GB now.

The specs for the video card it has aren't great, but I haven't had any issues with it.

 

[Jaemie]

Build a desktop. Fun, Save money, good quality products.

^^ This, plus a huge ass monitor.

 

[Jaemie]

How are we supposed to vote without knowing the specs for each system listed in the poll? Surely you do not expect us to google these computers - hehe.

 

[photo_joe]

I just bought a Samsung laptop with 1tb hard drive, 8 gb ram, and the i7 intel chip and that thing works awesome and it was around $1k. I would recommend at least the i5 chip in a laptop or desktop.


Sent from my iPhone.

 

[Patriot]

I would go for the intel i7 extreme processor. it's very good for mutitasking for photoediting.

 

[Josh66]

How important is multitasking while you're editing photos though? When I'm editing, that's typically the only thing I have time to do...

 

[Trever1t]

none of the above

 

[manaheim]

I know where this will go... anyone wanna place bets on how many posts till it gets there?

 

[Patriot]

Mutitasking means that the processor can do more at once without compromising speed and proformance when using programs. This means you can create, editing and encode while running background programs such as anti virus, manage files, play music, and anything else that uses cpu power. It has 6 cores with 12 threads thats prefect for media editing.

 

[mjhoward]

Build a desktop. Fun, Save money, good quality products.

^^ This, plus a huge ass monitor.

Quality over quantity, young grasshopper.

 

[Jaemie]

Build a desktop. Fun, Save money, good quality products.

^^ This, plus a huge ass monitor.

Quality over quantity, young grasshopper.

omg... I was called "young"! Thanks!