abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

I work with HP and Lenovo. The HP has been problematic while the Lenovo has been a delight. My next purchase will be Lenovo. My problem with Dell is similar to that with Apple. They do all they can to tie you into their parts. If I need to replace something, I am stuck with buying from Dell. However, with today's machines, if you buy it right in the first place, you probably will never have to replace anything.

As for a second SSD, probably not needed. I have way too much software including PS and LR loaded on my 250 G SSD and still have room left. I understand that unlike conventional HDD's, the amount of software loaded on the SSD should not affect performance. Keep all your data on the HDD, not the SSD. The latter is amazingly fast.

Thanks for posting the Lenovo information. I am looking into a new machine and will consider that first. Looks like the prices of cheap but powerful machines are history. I think prices may be rising.

Did you check Adobe to see if LR and PS accept that video card?

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Regarding your second point about 32 and 64 bit architecture, Windows has supported both for the last few operating systems including 10. Not an issue.

You do not need a separate graphics card for Adobe products. The issue is whether you can use the hardware acceleration. Check Adobe but I suspect that most current on-board cards will work. No matter what, any video card will work. The issue is with the hardware acceleration.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

[quote=allanj]

When you see the price of 32, you might have second thoughts. Once you get over the hump, extra RAM does not always give you better performance. Likewise with a 512 SSD. Overkill.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Expansion slots are no longer very useful. At one time, you could not have enough but thanks to USB and on-board functions, you rarely need the slots unless you have an unusual card such as a TV tuner. Likewise about the case size. I agree that big used to be the way to go. With today's on-board functions, a smaller case will do.

NCMtnMan Loc: N. Fork New River, Ashe Co., NC

Buy more computer than you think you need since you will be keeping it for several years. Kind of like buying clothes for growing kids, the software will continue to grow. Go with a minimum 500GB SSD drive. 32GB of memory, an above board video adapter like the nVidia. Windows 10 Pro not Home. It doesn't have as much useless stuff and is a bit more robust. By all means get the Pro service agreement. It's just good insurance against problems. You get US based support and they come on-site next day if a repair is needed. Check the connections on your monitors. The new systems have different video ports than you probably have on your existing system and you may need adapter cables to still use them. I have dealt with Dell for my clients for over 25 years and have found them to have superb quality and stand behind their products. The extended on-site policy just helps both them and you in case of problems.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

I see no need for external drives if you have room inside. Makes no sense whatsoever. I have run RAID 1 on servers. In theory, this is attractive on free-standing machines but here is the important thing about backing up. What matters most to me is that the back up be off-site and be in real-time. If you lose your computer from theft, fire, weather, or failure, you can always get back your data back from the cloud. The software is another issue. Despite the inconvenience, you can always reload it. Probably a good way to get rid of unwanted programs and get up-to-date software.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

Make sure it's a 64 bit Win10, else you can only use 4GB of RAM.

Dik

PurpleHaze204 Loc: North Potomac, MD

I recently purchased the Dell XPS 8930 and truly enjoy the system. I've had Dell systems for a long time (almost 20 years) and have found them to be very reliable. I keep most about 7-8 years before replacing. I rely on LR, and don't yet use PS. I have the i7-8700K processor, 32GB RAM, 512 SSD + 1TB HDD, NVIDIA 1080 w/8GB vRAM. I did purchase the Premium Support, more as an insurance policy than anything else. I'm fairly computer literate and handle most of my own issues, but I have had to rely on Dell support in the past and to me it was worth it. Just my 2 cents. Good luck with whichever system you decide on.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

Look into 'Gaming' laptops or desktops. They generally have the 'snorts aka speed' for graphics programs.

Dik

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Are you a Costco member? If so, buy it there and they double the 1 year warranty to 2 years. I have a Dell and it's probably about 2 years old now and has a processor that is 2 generations older than the one you are thinking of purchasing and it's doing fine with Photoshop and Lightroom. In fact, it does fairly well with video too. Make sure you get one with a 4GB video card in it too.

Intel Core i7-8700 = eighth generation of the i7 indicated by the 8700. Mine is a 6700. Most i7 processors are 3.6GH to 4.0GH processor speed. 16GB RAM is the Random Access Memory in which your computer uses to process the data and the hard drive is where data can be stored more permanently or in some cases temporarily. If you can afford it, get one with 512 (or somewhere around 500GB) SSD. The SSD stands for solid state drive which is like memory in your camera. No moving parts therefore about 10 times faster for the computer to store and retrieve information generated by your computer. Use this drive for your Windows operating system, and all your Adobe software and other applications that you need to run fastest. The hard drive you are considering that is 2TB is 7200RPM. This is considered a good once compared to one that only spin 5400RPM which is considerably slower to access.

All in all, you are on the right track. Get a Dell and you'll be happy. I have a Dell XPS and the Inspiron laptop with an 8th gen i7 and they both work great.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

The computer you're looking at should do a fine job. When you buy direct from Dell you can customize it easily. Dell builds most computers to order.

If you will ever need a CD/DVD burner, get it now.

If you take suggestions to have more than 16GB of RAM, the cheapest way is to get it factory-installed with the purchase.

Get Windows 10 Professional, not Home.

If you need Microsoft Office (currently 365 subscription or 2016 outright purchase), get it with the computer. I recommend the 365 Home Ultimate subscription.

The best support plan they offer is a good idea. Peace of mind and all that. Especially if it provides on-site service.

The whole idea of an SSD and a hard drive together is to have ONLY the OS and applications installed on the SSD. All user data, which means ALL of your files, go on the hard drive.
This is why 256GB SSD is plenty. You'll be surprised at how little space Windows and apps take up.

You do not need to backup the SSD routinely if you do this. It is easy enough to do a fresh install of OS and apps (assuming you have legal access to all your apps).

Only need to regularly backup the data drive, to an external hard drive, flash drives, whatever.

You can use Windows to create a Recovery Disk, and a System Image of the SSD, which you can then save in your backup drive, avoiding having to manually do a complete reinstall of the SSD should you need to.
Make the System Image as soon as you clean off the crap that Dell preinstalls and have installed whatever apps you want, before it gets exposed to dastardly things from the Internet (viruses, malware, junk software that gets inadvertently installed,etc.). Make a new System Image after major changes to apps, andWindows version Updates.

bobchapman Loc: I currently reside in Texas

I replace my desktop and 22" monitor with an ASUS 2 in 1 ( a laptop that can change to a tablet). Maxed out the memory, SSD, HD, and added wireless mouse and keyboard. Also added a BenQ monitor, BenQ2711. For me, works as well as a desktop and is portable.

Angel Star Photography Loc: Tacoma, WA

Allan,

You have received a lot of good advise from others and I wish you the best in your pursuit and purchase. I will not iterate the advice previously given but do wish to augment it a bit with regards to backups and backup strategies.

I recommend that you use something like Acronis to handle your backups. Since it looks like you will be going with an SSD for your primary drive and spindles for your data, you can establish two backup policies for your computer---one for the primary and one for the data. The default for Acronis when you create the first policy is to perform an entire system backup but you can create your own. I won't get into the details of the backups at this point and may write something later on UHH. Have your backups stored on an external drive that is specifically dedicated to backups or NAS. I have mine on a NAS on a weekly basis. I am considering using something like Back Blaze to copy my backups to the cloud periodically; thus, providing an "enterprise-class" backup.

One of the great features of Aconis is that you can mount an Acronis backup file as a virtual disk using Windows file explorer and copy individual files as you need. I have found this very helpful in moving to new systems where I didn't want to restore the entire image of the old system but wanted to retain certain documents.

Another step I have taken is to use GoodSync to synchronize my pertinent files to my NAS. This synchronization is set to execute on file change, system restart, or the appearance of the two folders on the network. You could do this with an external drive, too. It all depends on your use cases. Regardless, if need to copy a lot of files over to an external drive or a new system using something like GoodSync is more effective and safer than using Windows file explorer especially if a lot of those files are large files. The reason is that if you lose a connection, network or USB, you will need to either compare what has already been moved or delete the move and start over potentially facing the problem again. With GoodSync or some of its competitors, the copy or move begins where it was interrupted. It validates all the files that were copied and proceeds. I believe Victoria Bampton even recommends using similar software for copying and moving.

My use case a little different in that I have my documents, photos, and Lightroom catalogs synced between my NAS and my Lenovo X1 Yoga with its external drives. This is my mobile platform. I will be syncing a Lenovo P72 in the future between the two. Thus, I have the mobility I need but, too, I have additional backups.

Just some thoughts for consideration...

C. R. Smith (Charles)
Angel Star Photography
www.angelstarphotography.com

TheShoe Loc: Lacey, WA

I have been running 64bit for years. My current machine is a 2015 model Dell XPS-8900. Forget the advice about a sound card. Audioengine has a USB connected DAC, their D1, that is great and transportable from one machine to another; one generation to another. I would not skimp on memory - get 32GB minimum, multiple cores - as fast and as many as you can afford. Do not skimp on the video card. If you are not already using one, you should probably get a quality monitor - there are many out there that will not break the bank. I have been using a refurb Dell P2715Q that was under $1000 when new went for $2000.

I have had no problems beyond the first month. Dell techs diagnosed what they thought was a hardware problem, even though I told them up-front that it was a Windows 7 issue. They tried replacing the motherboard. The problem persisted so they replaced the HDD. When the problem was not fixed, they swapped the machine with the first machine coming out of Quality Control that met or exceeded the specs of my machine. The new machine had Windows 10, so the problem was fixed. It also had better graphics and a larger HDD than the original machine. There have been no problems with either the h/w or s/w since.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

Great advice. Dell's proprietary parts makes then most undesirable.
For those of us who had been messing with this stuff for a long time, 30+yrs for me, we know that you cannot build a desktop cheaper than you can buy one anymore if you want quality components.
Now if you just like to do this, that's fine but after you have built a few hundred the euphoria tends to dissipate.
Many users do not know, understand PC architecture, or have any comprehension of the tree. This is by no means meant to be derogatory. It is just that no one teaches it unless you attend some classes.
The reason I recommend the second drive is because of Windows propensity, by default, to dump everything into the 'C' drive.
All this stuff will eventually choke the OS to the point where the machine bogs down to a standstill and the user has no idea why or what to do.
It is easy to redirect the install location and it gives the OS plenty of breathing room.
It also makes recovery much easier.

There is much great knowledgeable experienced advice on this site. One must just be able to ferret it out from the strictly opinionated.
If you have something that works for you and you are happy with it, great, but this hardware evoles faster than you can process last nights dinner.

Always remember Murphy's first law. It deals with, 'The Innate cussedness of Inanimate Objects.'