PC Suggestions

[Lacrossedad]

So, I have finally got to the point that I am going to look for a new PC for my photography. I use Photoshop/Lightroom and have a separate drive for pic storage. What is everyone using for a PC these days? I know Apple is good for this purpose, but any other ideas?

 

[Designer]

So, I have finally got to the point that I am going to look for a new PC for my photography. I use Photoshop/Lightroom and have a separate drive for pic storage. What is everyone using for a PC these days? I know Apple is good for this purpose, but any other ideas?

Something of a mix on here. Some use Windows, some use Mac IOS. Works on both platforms, as you have already discovered.

With a PC, you should go for a good monitor, and don't stop at a laptop, unless that's all you are interested in.

With Mac, the displays are pretty good, and no monitor choice is available, unless you want a second display.

Here is a link to the minimum requirements:

Lightroom Classic system requirements

 

[weepete]

I'm hopefully going to upgrade mine this year. Looking at an Ryzen 3600, Asus Tuf X570 or a Strix X570 and some 3600mhz RAM. Probably going to stick an Nvidia 2060 Super in it. Need to get myself a proper high res IPS panel to go with it at somepoint. I think that should see me with decent specs and do for a gaming build as well in the price/performance sweet spot.

Now AMD have gone 7nm and the IPC have caught up with Intel and I don't see a compelling reason to go with the latter especially with the extra cores on the AMD platform.

Here are some interesting benchmarks: Lightroom Classic CPU Roundup: AMD Ryzen 3rd Gen, AMD Threadripper 2, Intel 9th Gen, Intel X-series

 

[TWX]

Well, I recommend against what I'm using right now, a Dell XPS 13. Mine's an older model ('9360') from 2017/2018, screen resolution is 3200x1800. The first problem is that there's no external large screen with this native resolution. Second problem, the machine doesn't internally vent well, and mine overheated resulting in a battery that puffed-up and requried replacement. Third, the resolution is almost too high for a 13" screen, for those applications that don't scale properly and only work at native resolution they're simply too small on-screen.

The modern Dell XPS 13 units are now 3840x2160 if memory serves, which makes their screens even higher resolution, with even smaller pixels, probably too small. At least that's an off-the-shelf resolution for external monitors though, so docking the computer is easier. But they went from SD to Micro SD for the reader, so this complicates reading camera memory if one is still using full-sized SD cards.

It's going to be a couple years before my next laptop, but basically I want a screen that's 16:10 aspect, not 16:9, the extra height is useful, and I probably won't want a screen smaller than 15". I'll also pay much closer attention to ventilation and the ability to run 24/7/365, as I never shut off my computer.

Now, the i7 7560U and 16GB RAM is nice, it generally doesn't want for processing power or ever hit the swapfile.

 

[snowbear]

I currently use a 15" Dell Inspiron 7000 series laptop running Windows 10. A few years ago I had a MacBook Pro but the video card and keyboard went south. I really liked OS-X but the hardware is overpriced for my budget (though I do have an older iPhone).

Lightroom and Photoshop run just fine on this machine, and I am able to run other apps that I use at work (ArcGIS Geographic Information Systems platform, MS Office). I plan to pick up a larger monitor, but the laptop screen does very well at holding the color calibration.

 

[RVT1K]

I built my own desktop using parts from TigerDirect. Nothing very special, just mid-level AMD processor and Windows 7 Professional that I pirated from work. I don't recall what graphics card I bought but it was also a mid-level item. I have a 27" BenQ monitor and am very happy with it. I am just using an older version of Elements but it all works very well for me.

 

[TWX]

I suppose without knowing how Lacrossedad intends to use this PC, it'll be difficult to offer particularly good suggestions. We can suggest the best lighweight travel laptop for tethered shooting or the best workstation-grade deskop for high end graphics and video editing, but the point is to casually sit on the computer on the sofa to edit photos, neither of those suggestions would be terribly useful.

Even my caution against the XPS 13 might be wrong if the point is to tethered-shoot, since the two best features of that computer are size and weight.

 

[Dao]

It's all comes down to budget.
I bought a $300 HP laptop a month or 2 ago with 10th gen i5 and memory upgraded to 16GB, HD upgraded to 512GB M2 NVME. Hook it up with an external monitor and USB storage and is all good. I primary use LR and speed is fine. No complaint there.

In fact, my old setup with a 2nd gen i5 was also fine with LR. So I think any newer decent computer with a price tag of $500+ out there should be good for PS/LR. My HP i5 was a special deal at Costco late last year that it was advertised as i3 laptop but most of early inventory were equipped with a i5 instead.

Apple or PC, it does not matter. It is more or less a personal choice. Just in general, you may need to spend a little more for the Apple products. Of course, it is nothing wrong with that as long as you are happy with it. For me, if money is not a factor, I will go with Microsoft Surface Studio 2.

 

[Solarflare]

Apple hardware is pretty much unbeatable for this purpose.

AND its high quality in all areas. These things keep running.

Frankly, it appears expensive compared to Windows PCs, but its really not.

By the way, you can also install Windows and/or Linux on such a computer, and still benefit from having the great hardware.

 

[TWX]

Apple hardware is pretty much unbeatable for this purpose.

AND its high quality in all areas. These things keep running.

Frankly, it appears expensive compared to Windows PCs, but its really not.

By the way, you can also install Windows and/or Linux on such a computer, and still benefit from having the great hardware.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with your assessment on Apple hardware based on my experience with a circa-2011 Apple Macbook Pro that apparently suffers cold solder joints in the attachment of its 3D accelerator chip. I had this manifest in a broken computer when it was only around four years old. they've also had numerous problems with keyboards and touchpads over the years and have tried to blame those faults on the end users rather than on their own designs.

Furthermore Apple has gone hyperactive in rendering even its old hardware and peripherals obsolete in that it deprecates-out interfaces and support for protocols at a much more rapid rate than other manufacturers, even when those interfaces that it championed and promoted for widespread use have become industry standards. Things like IEEE-1394, aka Firewire, which they removed from their computers basically right as industry started supporting it for commercial video purposes.

When it comes to working with the camera, the camera manufacturers do not chase the latest trends. New Canon cameras only just got USB-C about a year and a half ago, and Apple hasn't had an SD slot in their computers since 2016 [citation], citing that one must use (ie, carry around) an external adapter to handle SD cards.

So no, I wouldn't recommend Apple for this purpose, they have this habit of yanking the floor out from underneath the user, and their hardware is not quite as durable as people think it is.

 

[Warhorse]

I went with a gaming laptop, and am very happy with it so far, check out the specs.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8QFYFD/ref=dp_cerb_2?th=1

 

[TWX]

I went with a gaming laptop, and am very happy with it so far, check out the specs.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X8QFYFD/ref=dp_cerb_2?th=1

Is this computer basically a home computer, or do you take it with you when you travel?

I ask in-part because professionally for my IT job I'm using a decade-old Alienware M17X-R2 that I've babied-along, 1920x1200 resolution screen, dual video cards with SLI (one now removed, its fan died and since I don't use 3D acceleration removing one didn't really affect performance), upgraded to 16GB RAM. It's a wonderful desktop-replacement computer but it weighs twelve pounds and basically the battery is only good for migrating from receptacle to receptacle. It's too big to be used on a lap as well. A more modern version of this computer would probably make for a nice graphics editing machine, but only if it's essentially used as a desktop replacement, and if that's so, one of those all-in-one PCs where the computer is built into the housing behind the LCD panel might actually make more sense these days if the display itself is any good.

 

[Warhorse]

I am snow birding in our motorhome this winter. Since getting this computer we are staying in a RV Resort in Florida till the middle of March, when we will mosey back home to Michigan. So I guess you can say it is a home computer, I will use it at home too. But it will always be taken along on our shorter travels as well.

 

[TWX]

I am snow birding in our motorhome this winter. Since getting this computer we are staying in a RV Resort in Florida till the middle of March, when we will mosey back home to Michigan. So I guess you can say it is a home computer, I will use it at home too. But it will always be taken along on our shorter travels as well.

I guess I meant, do you drag it out with you and physically carry it around, or does it basically stay in what amounts to being an office setting?

 

[Warhorse]

It stays inside.