I need a new computer

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Hi!
I need a new computer and would like recommendations.
I will only purchase a mac (with all due respect - please don't try to convince me to buy a PC - I'm SET on a mac).

I have a canon digital rebel xsi and photoshop elements 6 (although would like to eventually upgrade to photoshop CS3). I own my own family portrait and head shot photography business. Any additional accessories that I may need?

Please give me your thoughts and THANK YOU!
Reyna

Reyna Zack Photography
Reyna Zack Photography, California
 
Are you looking for a laptop or a desktop?

Mac is obviously much more limited in terms of variations of computers, all of their information is on their website.

For an all around computer I'd recommend a laptop, and one of their new low-end macbook pro models. I don't think you need much power for photography, photoshop, browsing the internet, etc.

Keep in mind Apple is overpriced, if money is an issue for you.

Also Adobe Photoshop CS4 is the newest, if you didn't know.
 
As stated above a Macbook 13" will be plenty powerfull enough.

I would get a scanner with film option, a quality printer, probably at least A3 capable. I would also get an external disk ( of at least 300mb ) for using with Time Machine.

Also an external monitor would be very usefull, a ram upgrade, and a decent mouse.
 
I would have to disagree with a few here, always go desktop unless you HAVE to have portability. At least with a desktop upgrading the hard drive, optical drive, LCD, memory, video card, CPU is generally possible and fairly easy. Although you can upgrade some things in a laptop, it is a pain.

Allan
 
What's your budget? A $1000 MacBook would be usable, but a $10,000 Mac Pro would be more fun to use.

I've got a Core Duo MacBook Pro from 2006 with 1.5GB RAM, a 200GB 7200RPM hard drive, and a 300MB external on 10.4 and it runs Lightroom 2 (which I use for 99% of my processing) pretty well. My 20MB+ D200 RAW files sometimes slow it up a little bit, but I'm usually running all sorts of other things at the same time.

If portability is not an issue, a 24" iMac for $1500 would be a very solid machine. I did all of my upgrades aftermarket, but I don't think a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo machine with 4GB RAM and a 640GB hard drive would need much, and I for one would really prefer a 24" display to the tiny by comparison 15" on my MacBook Pro, which cost more.
 
You need to give us a budget to work with.

Other than that, to complement your new Mac you should really, really consider a Cintiq.
Either:
Cintiq 12WX Product Overview
or
Cintiq 21UX Product Overview

This allows you to draw on the screen making touch ups in Photoshop much, much easier. As a business purchase, it pays for itself in a very short amount of time because you can finish your work much faster. It is NOT a seperate computer, just a screen with the pen capability.

As for the computer itself, once you've factored in the cost of a Cintiq... all I gotta say is you're really not going to find too many options with Macs. They're overpriced, period. You should not be scared of viruses on Windows machines, if you run your machine properly you will not run into any problems (yes, running *free* antivirus software) and you will save a ton of money.

But, since you're dead-set on a Mac (sigh...), your options depend on your budget. For any kind of photo work you need a dedicated graphics card, which means (since iMacs with dedicated graphics start at $1800 or so) you might as well get a MacBook Pro starting at $2,000, or you can get a base Mac Pro for $2500. You could theoretically get by with less but again, it's going to slow you down and for working professionals time is money.

Or, you could build a very nice PC for $1,000 that will be just as fast. If you're worried about viruses, you can run Linux. There is really no reason to get a Mac when they're overpriced as they are.
 
I would have to disagree with a few here, always go desktop unless you HAVE to have portability. At least with a desktop upgrading the hard drive, optical drive, LCD, memory, video card, CPU is generally possible and fairly easy. Although you can upgrade some things in a laptop, it is a pain.

Allan
I'm running a PC I bought in 2005 for $500. It needs a hard drive (~$100), LCD (~$130), memory (~$50-100), video card (~$100), CPU/MB (~$200) and powersupply(~$150) upgrade. I've listed ~$7-800 upgrading, I may as well buy a new $500 PC.

Heck with upgrading. By the time anything needs upgraded, it's just time for a new one. It's incredibly difficult to buy anything for an upgrade anyways as one that would need upgraded is just plain too old to find anything. It would cost more than a new computer anyways.
 
Specifically for what? Do you need something that's good on the go, the get a MacBook, need something small consider getting the MacBook Air, they aren't anywhere near as underpowered as some make it out to be.

But really if you want a photo editing machine don't even consider the laptops. Not when apple desktops come with such an orgasmic screen. I would say have a look at the new 24" iMac. Editing photos on that would be a world ahead of a stupid laptop.
 
I agree, an entire desktop computer becomes outdated very quickly, and it makes more sense to me to replace the whole thing every 4+ years.

That is if you're actually doing something where performance matters, like gaming, video rendering etc.

I don't see any point in buying a mac desktop though. You can build one for less then half the price, with the same hardware capability. You can even install OS X on it.

At least with a Mac laptop you get a unique design and generally superior build quality. Of course it is still roughly two times the price of the hardware.

In short, Mac laptops are pretty, and I don't see a point in buying a Mac desktop.
 
I would have to disagree with a few here, always go desktop unless you HAVE to have portability. At least with a desktop upgrading the hard drive, optical drive, LCD, memory, video card, CPU is generally possible and fairly easy. Although you can upgrade some things in a laptop, it is a pain.

Allan
Normally I would agree with this, but Apple's product lineup is different from most PC companies. Your desktop options from Apple are the iMac, the Mac Mini, and the Mac Pro. The iMac and Mac Mini are no more upgradable than a laptop, and the Mac Pro is horrendously overpriced (at least for the OP).

Replacing memory and harddrives on Apple laptops is actually pretty easy, you can add an external monitor very easily, and optical drive and CPU are not things the average user is going to even consider swapping. And as long as the OP isn't playing a ton of video games, GPU isn't an issue either.
 
I'm running a PC I bought in 2005 for $500. It needs a hard drive (~$100), LCD (~$130), memory (~$50-100), video card (~$100), CPU/MB (~$200) and powersupply(~$150) upgrade. I've listed ~$7-800 upgrading, I may as well buy a new $500 PC.

Heck with upgrading. By the time anything needs upgraded, it's just time for a new one. It's incredibly difficult to buy anything for an upgrade anyways as one that would need upgraded is just plain too old to find anything. It would cost more than a new computer anyways.

My first question here would be.....what the heck are you doing with a $500 computer?!?!?!? Second question is where have you been getting your prices? I could chop that upgrade fee almost in half without resorting to el-cheapo components. I suppose that is why my computers last more than a couple of years, I buy higher end components.

Allan
 
Normally I would agree with this, but Apple's product lineup is different from most PC companies. Your desktop options from Apple are the iMac, the Mac Mini, and the Mac Pro. The iMac and Mac Mini are no more upgradable than a laptop, and the Mac Pro is horrendously overpriced (at least for the OP).

Replacing memory and harddrives on Apple laptops is actually pretty easy, you can add an external monitor very easily, and optical drive and CPU are not things the average user is going to even consider swapping. And as long as the OP isn't playing a ton of video games, GPU isn't an issue either.

I have to admit I have never had the pleasure of working on a Mac Mini, but have logged many hours of repairs on the others. Really I was talking about a true desktop mac, not an all-in-one, but OK. They make upgrade CPUs for iMacs, but none that I have seen for notebooks.

Replacing harddrives in Apple laptops easy? Next time I have a iBook G4 come in I will give you a call :)

Allan
 
They're overpriced, period. You should not be scared of viruses on Windows machines, if you run your machine properly you will not run into any problems (yes, running *free* antivirus software) and you will save a ton of money.

There is a big counter to this. Well several actually, but the biggest is lifespan. Even new, many PC's, ESPECIALLY those cheaper than a comparable Mac, struggle with Vista. They certainly don't run it well at the budget end. Mac's on the other hand will run Mac OSX very very smoothly. This is highlighted by the following fact.

The minimum specs for Mac OSX (Leopard - i.e. the newest) and Vista are similar at 800Mhz CPU (Vista)/867Mhz (Leopard) and 512mb ram.

Now there is no way at all the Vista will run anything remotely like useably on an 800Mhz CPU (let alone on half a gig of ram). On the other hand my 800Mhz Mac Pro ( that is 7 years old and cost me £35) on 512 ran Leopard ok. It was sluggish with Photoshop and Quark but Abode's minimum specs are 1gig ram so wasn't a leopard issue and it was at least useable.. JUST.

I put 1.5gig ram in the Pro and she's now totally useable with Quark XPress and CS4. Works just fine, with the only caveat being PDF exports from Quark are a little sluggish.

In other words, a Mac might cost more in the short term.. but in terms of value for money they are actually not bad at all. It is fair to expect a MUCH longer life out of a Mac than a PC so the outlay over time on the PC easilly matches or outweighs the Mac.
 
My first question here would be.....what the heck are you doing with a $500 computer?!?!?!? Second question is where have you been getting your prices? I could chop that upgrade fee almost in half without resorting to el-cheapo components. I suppose that is why my computers last more than a couple of years, I buy higher end components.

Allan


Just wondering how you can chop the upgrade fee in half that mrogers mentioned without knowing what part he was refering to. i.e. Size and type of the harddisk, Size of the monitor, CPU/MB or display card type.

Would you mind sharing your secret? Do you have a special channel that you can get part really cheap?

And what's wrong with a $500 machine? I have machines that cost less than that ... and seems running fine. Well, I do not play games .. maybe that explains it.
 

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