Recommendations for Computers for Photography (Page 5): Look into what would be considered a "gamer" machine. Can't go wrong with the specs on one of those for photo editing with heavy...

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Look into what would be considered a "gamer" machine. Can't go wrong with the specs on one of those for photo editing with heavy graphics-based software. Lots of RAM, processor speed, top end graphics card. Also a good bet is a 250 gig solid state drive plus a high speed 1-2 terabyte hard drive. The SSD for your operating system and program files and the HSD for the output data, in this case your photos and edits.

Robert63 Loc: Taunton MA

I have 5 PC'S running in my house all networked with no issues. I think you will find all your mac stuff is running pc internal parts they used to make all there own cpu's and motherboards and video cards but the pc market is so big with lots of competition that they could not keep up so they now use nvidia Intel and so on they might make there own display not sure so on mac you are paying for the operating system. Please don't shoot the messenger.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

markngolf wrote:

This topic has been covered many times over. Here are a "bunch" of posts:
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/search-topic-list?q=recommendations+for+computer+for+photography&sectnum=0&username=
Mark

You beat me to it!

carl hervol Loc: jacksonville florida

If it getting hot take the cover off it may have a lot of dust in it if you have a air compressor take it out side and give it a good blow job If you keep your computor on the floor it will suck in the dust ,

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

carl hervol wrote:

...take it out side and give it a good blow job...

Always works for me

DGWhite Loc: Wallace, NC

Portable doesn't work for me, so I use a desktop with two Dell 27" monitors with a Windows 10 OS. My rig was made for me by Zidax Computers a super custom shop that has lifetime guarantee on parts. The system sports a 32 ddr at a higher mhz then most mass merchandisers offer. Finally my mother board is a MSI with a single MSI GeForce graphics video card. If you call Xidax they will walk you through the build and recommend based on your needs. I believe I spotted a photo rig on their web site...so they are paying attention to us photographers that need some strong computing power. My rig is a couple years old and screams. This rig not just saved me dollars but tons of time in post production.

art pear Loc: North Dakota

timkramer wrote:

I shoot in RAW+JPEG mode so thanks for the tip on the D800 raw files. I have a D700 so am assuming lag time would be similar?

I would think so. RAM it up and you will be good with whatever you get. If you get a 4 or 5k monitor just make sure your graphics card can support it.

ElGrillo29090

Physical cleaning might help if you perceive a recent slowdown; also the use of software to clean up dead files, defrag, and clean/lean registry file up will enhance performance. I have to do this to my 3yr old laptop once a week, my faster desktop not so often. Older technology would be slow with RAW files. If you are comfortable with Windows and your photo software, the cheapest route is a new DESKTOP PC, also upgradeable in stages as your needs grow. Take a 25-30% price hit for comparable laptop PCs. Another 20-25% cost increase for a Mac. Although the need for faster and faster computers is becoming irrelevant except for specialized work like medicine and 3D modeling, a gaming desktop PC with a good video card is all you need to diminish the lag time. If you are a professional, an upgrade to the Mac might be worth it - try to work with one in a showroom or as a rental to see if you like it better.

timkramer Loc: PA

Leaning towards doing the following:

1. Replace my current 4GB memory with 16GB (2 x 8GB) for about $130
2. Swap out my 500GB HDD with a 128GB or 256GB SSD. Why am I going down? I have a Toshiba 750GB external drive that is small and portable so I could just pop that in to act as my primary storage for pictures and such. I think I can get a 256GB SSD for around 100 bucks.

With the money I save on going this route I might buy a new monitor as well. The big question would be if this route is a decent option or should I just sink the money into a new laptop/desktop?

therwol Loc: USA

timkramer wrote:

Leaning towards doing the following: br br 1. Rep... (show quote)

I put this SSD in my 7 year old Cybernet All-In-One

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1378549-REG/crucial_ct500mx500ssd1_mx500_500gb_2_5_ssd.html

The original hard drive was a 3.5 inch desktop model. This adapter worked perfectly. The SSD you buy may not come with any sort of adapter.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1214436-REG/icy_dock_mb482sp_3b_ezconvert_air_lite_converter.html?sts=pi

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

timkramer wrote:

Leaning towards doing the following: br br 1. Rep... (show quote)

Two comments. Make sure you are running a 64bit OS (apologies if that has been mentioned) or your OS won’t be able to access the extra memory. And consider a larger SSD. You can buy a decent 500GB Samsung for less than $150, and with the way that Windows and other aps are growing in size, you can use all you can get.

therwol Loc: USA

TriX wrote:

Two comments. Make sure you are running a 64bit OS (apologies if that has been mentioned) or your OS won’t be able to access the extra memory. And consider a larger SSD. You can buy a decent 500GB Samsung for less than $150, and with the way that Windows and other aps are growing in size, you can use all you can get.

I did mention the 64 bit OS issue, but there may actually be an easy solution if it's 32 bit. Get the media for the same OS in 64 bit and reinstall Windows using the original product key. I've installed 32 and 64 bit on the same computer in a dual boot configuration with the same product key.

I'm not getting enough information to guess why his computer is running so slowly. It may be the Windows has become bloated in 5 years, and you know what I mean. Reinstalling it may really help. I do it on average every 2 years on all of my computers. The down side is having to reinstall everything else, drivers and software. (I do a clean install. I wiped out any factory restore partitions a long time ago. They don't seem to work after a clean install anyway, so I just get rid of them.)

My post before yours has a link to a Crucial 500 gig SSD for $135 bucks. Samsung makes some of the premium SSDs, but they aren't the cheap ones.

timkramer Loc: PA

therwol wrote:

br I'm not getting enough information to guess wh... (show quote)

Ugh....A reinstall could be painful, although I see what you are saying that it could clean a lot of things up for me. I've got everything I need either on my portable drive or up on the cloud so I could do a full wipe and start from scratch to see if that helps. I think I would still go with the SSD option as well as adding the max memory of 16GB. It's a cheap option so why not, right?

I did see the Samsung EVO is less than the Samsung PRO version on Amazon, but the Crucial is still slightly cheaper by about 15 bucks

therwol Loc: USA

timkramer wrote:

Ugh....A reinstall could be painful, although I se... (show quote)

But if you put a clean SSD in the thing, you still have your old hard drive to fall back on if the reinstall doesn't go well. (Assuming a clean install.) If you're reinstalling from a restore image on your hard drive, you should make an image of your computer as it is now. Get the free Macrium Reflect. The image will be there if you have to go back.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

therwol wrote:

But if you put a clean SSD in the thing, you still have your old hard drive to fall back on if the reinstall doesn't go well. (Assuming a clean install.) If you're reinstalling from a restore image on your hard drive, you should make an image of your computer as it is now. Get the free Macrium Reflect. The image will be there if you have to go back.

Agree about the clean install and keeping the HD as a backup copy until sure it’s functional. Amazing how much faster it will be once you dump the clutter. Be sure to keep a copy of the download folder. Unless you’ve deleted the contents, it will have the install files for most of your aps which can make life easier unless there are newer versions. Before you begin, download all the latest drivers you’ll need - video, Ethernet, sound card, etc. When you install, get the Ethernet up first so you’ll have network access, then video and go from there. Personally, I’d pay the extra $15 for the Samsung SSD. I run Intels and they’re pricey, but all 8 on my several systems have now been running for about 5 years without a hiccup (yet).