Gary Hunt 1967

I am retired and living off fixed income. Computer is slowly dying. Use computer pretty much for LR5 and Elements exclusively and YouTube to view photography tutorials. I'm not a professional photographer, pretty good, and enjoy it as a hobby. Need recommendations on new computer. Hear about all the standard ones then I hear about Asus. Can I get by with 8 gig ram or should I really have more? Probably have 700-800 dollars to spend. Thanks for your help.

ggttc Loc: TN

Take a look here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Description=12gb%20laptop%20ram&Submit=ENE

Rongnongno Loc: FL

If it slowly dying it is not dead. What you PC needs is a good clean up, not a replacement.

If you are dead set to replace your ailing (not dead) PC, use the lapse to save and make a budget toward replacing it with something else.

Replacement is rarely THE solution. PCs age, not because they are ill or getting old but because so much crap is stored in them that they slow down to a crawl. Take that into account and remove the crap or have a pro do it. It will cost you far less than getting a new toy that will slow just as fast since you do not seem that well informed.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

having your computer evaluated by someone with technical knowledge is a good suggestion if you can find someone you would trust at a reasonable cost. A new machine isn't a bad idea since technology changes very quickly, depending on the age of the one you have. B&H also has a variety of computer choices at various price levels. If cost is critical, I would say that 8GB is ok but not desireable. Most machines can be upgraded fairly reasonable after purchase. Best of luck.

warrior Loc: Paso Robles CA

google search "Computers for seniors"

flathead27ford Loc: Colorado, North of Greeley

Hi, I would do as other posters have suggested in having it looked at. One thing I did to my old 2008 MacBook Pro was to install a SSD drive and increased the memory. It is a lot faster than it ever was and I spent 1/10th the cost from buying a new computer. Cheers and good luck. Oh, and I bought a case for my old drive and use it now as a back-up!

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

Go to the Best Buy Store website. I looked at it yesterday. Prices ranged from $150 to over $2000 on laptops. They have desktops too. Many to choose from, with details listed on each, as to storage, etc., Costco is a good place too, if you are a member. Computers today, both desktops and laptops are cheaper and better than yester-years models. If you need a lot of storage, I would go for a 1T hard drive. Another option you have is to upgrade your present computer with more storage. Keep it as a backup.
The upgrade of an old computer was suggested by a uhh member just days ago on this forum. Something I never considered doing.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Get it cleaned and checked first. Get Linux installed ....it works with minimum memory and resources and is free Its great on older computers. Elements works on linux (using WINE which you can check out online) LR doesn't but Darkroom is an alternative. It also gets you away from WIN10, Viruses and adobe's reader problems. Most software is downloadable for a donation rather than a exorbitant price and the choice of photographic software is very broad inc RAW. Total cost - about £40

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

What are the details of the computer you are currently using? CPU type/speed, DRAM (how much?), disk size, OS? The details will help us advise whether to tune up or upgrade.

Gary Hunt 1967

I know everyone says to update but I don't think I can based on processor etc. Anyway, here is what I have:

Intel(R) Core (TM)2 Duo CPU T7500@2.2Ghz
Windows 10
RAM 3 GIG (I'm fully aware LR5 recommends minimum of 8GIG but I don't think my system can be updated any higher than it is)
32Bit OS
232 GIG Hard drive

Appreciate any help you might be able to provide

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Given these specifications, I would suggest you upgrade to a new machine. While your existing computer will be fine for email, internet browsing or perhaps word processing, you are going to be seriously limited with any type of image processing. Given that you have a 32 bit OS, you are going to be limited to 4GB of addressable memory (assuming you can add another 1GB), and while that may be within minimum specs for running PS or LR (or similar aps), it's going to be quite slow. Combine that with the fairly small hard disk and a relatively slow processor, my feeling is that you should budget for a new machine if possible. You can purchase a very capable machine for $700-$800, and keep your older machine for less demanding tasks or donate it to a family member or charity. I will leave it to some of the many computer-literate members of this forum to recommend a suitable replacement, but personally, I would take a look at Dell and Lenovo for starters as they often have sales, especially with Father's Day close at hand. Good luck.

Cheers,
Chris

Gary Hunt 1967

Thanks Chris. I knew the machine was not capable of editing but did the best I could with what I had. You answered my original question with a suggestion on the type of computer to consider.

Thanks again

Gary

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

While an I7 CPU might be desirable, a fast I5 processor will be plenty adequate for editing. I would recommend 16GB of RAM. If you can afford it, consider an SSD for your OS and applications - perhaps 250GB, with a 1TB or larger SATA hard drive for storing you photos/images. You will need a 64-bit OS. A separate graphics accelerator board (as opposed to integrated graphics) with at least 2GB of video memory is desirable. Most new machines will have a DVD drive (perhaps with BluRay as a not-too-expensive option), USB-3 ports, and a 1Gb/sec (GigE) Ethernet port as well as an N wireless adapter. Those are the basic specifications, and hopefully you can use your existing monitor (assuming you purchase a desktop) to save $. You may instead choose a laptop, but if you do, you'll probably want to use an external monitor for imagery editing. Btw, I have built a number of AMD-based machines (as opposed to Intel CPU-based), and they have some very competitive processors, but I have not used AMD CPUs for imagery editing, so someone else will have to comment on whether the AMD architecture is equally suitable for these type of applications. I have not suggested a Mac (although they are great for this type of work), because you're familiar with Windows and you won't be able to buy a new Mac with this level of performance with your projected budget (but a used machine may be an option).

Gary Hunt 1967

Thank you for your input. I do appreciate it very much.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

You are most welcome. Others on the forum may have additional advice (or opinions)...