Lazy J Loc: Pacific Northwest

I am a former Windows computer owner who has had an iMac 27 for the past 10 years. It has gone kapoots, so looking to replace. I have been completely happy with the Mac, but my wife has never completely adjusted. So, have decided it is her turn to be happy with our computer so focusing on a Windows replacement. Strongly considering the following CPU tower. I think this will handle my photo processing needs, but would appreciate confirmation from any computer geeks, or anyone that may own this.

HP ENVY Desktop ($1149 Costco)

Features:

> 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11700F (8-core) Processor
> 32GB DDR4-2933MHz SDRAM
> 1TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
> 512GB PCIE NVME M.2 Solid State Drive
> No Optical Drive (Not sure if this is needed for photo processing?)
> NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super (6GB)
> Intel Wi-Fi 6 (2x2/160) Gig+ and Bluetooth 5.0
> 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN
> Wireless keyboard and mouse
> Microsoft Windows 11 Home (64-bit)

As I am far from a computer geek, I would appreciate any feedback regarding the adequacies, or inadequacies of this system as it petals to general use and photo editng only (not a gamer).
Also, any recommendations as to a 32ish inch 4k monitor would also be appreciated.

Any tips on retrieving my iMac data from my backup drive, and potential compatability issues in doing so would also be welcomed.

Thanks in advance!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

It's fine. Look at the total number, version and position of the USB ports. They should now all be USB 3.0. This is relevant because 1TB doesn't last very long and you'll likely connect USB-based external storage. The 3.0 standard is the highest-speed, assuming the external device supports 3.0. Also, you need 4+ ports that are on the front or top of the tower to make access easy.

Most any 'gamer' computer configuration is appropriate for digital editing too, meaning the version and memory size of the graphics card and RAM. What you have listed should position you for the next 8+ years with no issues, probably longer.

Just as your camera is only as good as the lenses, your computer editor also needs a quality high-def monitor. Buy that separately, looking at models in the $200 to $500 range. Shop for physical size and pixel resolution and color accuracy. Consider your work area and don't buy something too big (or small) for where the monitor will sit and how close / far you'll sit from the screen. Brands in this price range and your requested size: Dell UltraSharp, ASUS ProArt, BenQ PhotoVue, Eizo ColorEdge.

Robg

It looks pretty darn good to me! (I am much more computer geek than photo expert and use my computer mostly for cataloging with LrC than I do for photo editing. Lightroom has enough editing capability for my needs.)

Getting it from Costco probably prohibits you from customizing the configuration. However, if you can customize, I would recommend the following changes (note that none are essential):
1. Use only SSD disk drives, e.g., go to 2 TB SSD and eliminate the rotating drive. Can you configure this computer so that the SSD is the "boot" (startup) drive? That will give you much faster logins.
2. Increase the video card memory to 8 GB
3. Get Windows 10 (Windows 11 was just released, you might not want to be a tester!)

If you want to be able to read/write CD ROMs or DVDs you will need an optical drive, but cheap ones that work through USB are readily available.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Well, I've been working with computers for just about 50 years now, Geek for 40.
I no longer worry about (get caught up with) many details of what precisely is in the box. Over it I suppose.
I just need a large drive and a decent amount of memory. Everything else keeps improving with the next generation box. 30second boot as opposed to 60 to 90, eh.
This one would meet my needs, as probably would most out there. 32Gb of memory is great!
Hopefully the drive bay cage is large enough to add another HDD. ( I don't HAVE to have SSDs.) My latest desktop (9 years old) computer came with a 1Tb drive. A year or three ago I replaced that with a 2Tb drive, but there is room for another drive in the drive cage. Mine has a graphics "card", don't know (or care) whose, as it works. I'm not a gamer. Yea, it's a multi-processor also.

For this unit I would add an optical myself, providing the case would allow it. Get an external if not. (My current desktop has two, it came with one.) This one probably has a card reader built in?

I suppose it depends on what's important to you,
or what others think should be important to you because it's important to them.

But hey, that's just me.....

Lazy J Loc: Pacific Northwest

Thx! Good tip. For information purposes it includes:

Ports & Slots:
4x SuperSpeed USB Type-A
1x SuperSpeed USB Type-C
4x USB 2.0 Type-A
1x HDMI
1x RJ45
1x DVI-D
1x DisplayPort
1x 3-in-1 Media Card Reader
1x Headphone/Microphone Combination Jack

Front: Power, 4 USB, SD card slot, earphone jack.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Me too. Been doing this as a "geek" since 1982-83 and landed about the same place as LongShadow. My last PC was a $400 HP Envy
sans monitor. It's a 64-bit i5 with just 12 GB ram and a Terabyte HD and the cheapest Optical drive I've seen. It all works good, and the
HD is fine unless you are saving huge RAW files. Speed for editing is fine. Your specs should be terrific. I don't use the optical drive
much, but they are good to have if you buy stuff like Turbo tax that comes on CD media. I will say that typical to WIN junk, every
update seems to slow the system down a tad. Windows adds new stuff with the monthly "updates" and you don't wanna know what I think
about that..

Oh, when I replaced my monitor I, after much consternation, had decided on a rather expensive 28" model. Went out to buy it and it was on backorder, so I bought a rather cheap Acer 28" and I've been more than happy with both the size and quality. 28" is a really nice size imo. I should add that I have my old computer hooked up to this monitor also and the picture quality is noticeably better from the old PC which means the video card in the HP is not that good. I have the exact same picture slide show on both pc's so the only real diff is the video card. If you're really picky, go for a good video card if possible.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

My monitors are a 23" $117 Acer and a 24" $147 HP (older).
Yea, sometimes Windows updates screw up my computers talking to each other.....
We had to use my wife's laptop for the Turbo Tax this year. Win 7 no longer supported.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Assembly of home-built computers is easy not like a decade ago. I built mine based on last year's having gaming parts discounted based on not the newest fastest shinny. I note you mention Intel i7... checkout AMD it is the new king of the processors. Get a pure CPU, in that you have graphics and do not need it built in.

Regarding optical drive. So many of our programs are downloaded and it is wise to burn a disk and label and put in a DVD book for storage, drives do fail; also my photos from pre2000 were stored on disk. My case has 3 bays, DVD, a memory card reader, and a dual small drive hot boot bay for ease of drive backup.

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

If you can get them to upgrade the small nvme.m2 hard drive to at least 1 TB it would be almost perfect. If you also upgraded the 1tb hard drive to at least 2tb it would be better yet or possibly have them add an extra internal hard drive. If not it is great and will work well. You will most likely run into a lack of storage after a bit but as Cannon said an external hard drive is fast and easy and cheap to get.

wireloose

External optical drives are readily available and inexpensive. The configuration looks great, but as others have suggested a good monitor will really round it out- I too like the 28 inch

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

That is a good system and a good price. I recently purchased a refurbished desktop from Amazon for under $500 that has most of those same features plus a 1TB SSD. So for anyone on a budget that is another consideration.

wireloose

External optical drives are readily available and inexpensive. The configuration looks great, but as others have suggested a good monitor will really round it out- I too like the 28 inch

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

My advice: stick with the Mac.

odujim Loc: New Jersey

This computer will more than suit your needs and should be able to handle photo processing software with ease. Make sure you invest in a decent monitor, as others have mentioned. I looked it up on Costco.com to see where HP put the Windows OS and applications, but I couldn't find anything about that. Ideally, you would want the Windows 11 OS and all applications/software on the 512GB SSD and use the 1TB for storage (photos, documents, downloads, etc. . .) SSDs are considerably faster than typical HDDs.