jradose wrote:
First of all, understand, I am quite "technology challenged," I need baby steps to understand computers. I am needing a new computer. I have an old HP laptop that is running extremely slow, it couldn't catch a cold! I have tried defragging the hard drive, cleaning the cache, etc. My present computer has just 4 gigs (I think that is the right term!). What do I need in a new computer, ram wise? I don't do much on the computer, basic surfing, play very few games, do face book, and process photography pictures using photoshop cc and lightroom classic. Now, I am not interested in keeping up with the Joneses, I want just what I need to do what I want on a computer, as I have stated. Also, do ypu recommend HP, Dell, etc.? I do not want to go Mac. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
First of all, understand, I am quite "technol... (
show quote)
Other responses suggesting more RAM are correct. Both Lightroom and Photoshop might run slowly with only 4GB... but really should have 8GB minimum and, depending upon the operating system, will likely run much better with 12 or 16GB. Most newer computers offer this and use faster acting RAM, too. If at all possible, get a computer that has room to expand, because it will likely become necessary to do so sometime in the future.
It also helps to have a fast, powerful processor such as a quad core, which all but the cheapest newer computers will include just as a matter of course. Intel, AMD... I've used both and really don't have a preference.
An upgrade that's often available is an SSD or "solid state drive". That adds quite a bit of cost, but an SSD as your boot drive will definitely help with rapid startup and overall system performance. The boot drive is the one that contains your operating system and software such as Lightroom and Photoshop. And SSD is much like RAM, except come in much larger sizes such as 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB. The bigger they are, the more they cost, but they can greatly increase computer performance.
However, DO NOT use an SSD to store your images. If you get an SSD boot drive, plan to install or have installed a second, standard hard drive for your images and any other data you need to archive. SSDs simply aren't reliable enough to store irreplaceable files and data. They ARE great for things that can pretty easily be reinstalled, if need be, such as an operating system or a program like Lightroom or Photoshop. (The recommendation to not trust your images to an SSD are not from me... but from a friend of mine who is a managing engineer at one of the biggest SSD manufacturers, who knows I'm a photographer and has recommended I not use them for image storage. SSD are better now, but still not as reliable as traditional HD, especially the "enterprise" class drives I use.)
Another thing that can help Photoshop run a whole lot better is a "scratch disk". This is a separate drive (a smaller SSD would be great, but may be overkill) that Photoshop uses while you are working on images, to temporarily store versions of the image, it's history and more. I might overdo it a bit, but set aside 100GB exclusively for Photoshop to use. This "drive" doesn't need to actually be a separate one... I just use a partition on a much larger drive (the rest of which I use for image storage).
Yet another thing that can help a lot is a graphics card. This has a separate processor and it's own RAM, just for the graphics and takes a load off the computer's built in graphics and processor. There are many different graphics cards available (sometimes called "accelerators"). Some gamers looking for extremely high performance even install two of them to run parallel, but not all computer motherboards support this arrangement. Dual graphics cards aren't needed for image processing, but you should look for one with about 2GB of it's own RAM and a reasonably fast processor. If you order a computer, the manufacturer may have be able to recommend one.
Something that's often overlooked is a backup. At a minimum, I would recommend a backup for your photos. It doesn't need to be fancy... a simple external drive will work fine. Modern computers with USB3 connectivity and an external drive that can use that type of connection is plenty fast. It may come with or your computer operating system may have built in backup capabilities, which can be set up to run each night while you sleep and keep backups up to date. Some people like to back up everything, just in case. And some like to use two external drives, which they swap out every week or so, to be able to store one off-site for another level of security. How far you want to take it is up to you. I'd at least recommend you get one to back up your images.... but there may be other important and irreplaceable stuff on your computer you will want to protect by backing it up, too.
I use an internal 3TB drive for my photos (and the partition dedicated to Photoshop as a scratch disk), and mirror that with a 3TB external drive as backup, saving copies of all the original files there. I'm still using a slower USB2 connection, since that's the fastest type my particular, older computer supports. USB3 which any newer computer will offer is MUCH faster. I also use five Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices for longer term storage and safe backup of images. But I take around 50,000 images a year and have been shooting digital since 2004, so I have a lot of images to store.... More than most people!
If you are serious about your photos and especially if you do much printing (either at home or sent out), consider getting a bit larger and more graphics oriented type of monitor. Also think about getting a monitor calibration device to use regularly... since most monitors are too bright by default and not all that precise how they render color. This causes you to mis-adjust your images in LR and Photoshop. If you do much printing, a calibration device will actually pay for itself in savings of paper and ink, or the cost of having to reprint images if you send them out for printing.
I DO NOT recommend a laptop for image editing and optimization. For one, they are difficult to maintain calibrated, as described above. Moving a portable computer around and using it in different ambient lighting conditions, you basically need to re-calibrate it each and every time you relocate it! Laptops also have smaller screens that are a lot less useful for image editing. A friend of mine had a 20" laptop, but it was big and heavy! Plus, laptops usually don't support additional internal hard drives, future expansion of RAM, and may not be able to add a graphics card. I use a rather heavy 17" laptop myself (also pretty large and hefty), maxed out with 8GB of RAM and unable to fit a graphics card, but with a second 1TB hard drive for image storage (which makes for rapid battery drain). I DO NOT try to finish images on it. In fact, I don't even have Photoshop installed... just Lightroom to be able to quickly review and sort images. After a remote on-location job where I've used the laptop, I connect it to my network and transfer the images to my desktop, where they are backed up and further finished using its larger, calibrated monitor, etc.
I won't get into what brand to buy. There are a lot of different possibilities, each with their pluses and minuses. There may be some advantages to a build-to-order such as Dell offers. I happen to use an HP now and have had no problem adding RAM, additional and bigger drives, and a graphics card to it. It's pretty much maxed out now, though... so I'll be updating in the not-too-distant future. I may build a custom machine... or just buy one off the shelf and customize it as needed. I've done both in the past.
I've also used both Macs and PCs over the years. I only use Windows PCs now, because they are less expensive and easier to customize and upgrade myself, if and when it's needed. But someone who doesn't mind the price and prefers to leave any and all work on the machine to someone else may prefer a Mac.
Hope this helps.