Ovhnfinity

:thumbup:

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

disk drive storage has gotten pretty cheap.. You can get an external multi TB storage device for just over $100... The internal drives might be just a bit more expensive but will likely be faster...

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

The OP is looking for a refurbished laptop since he can't afford a new one. I doubt his budget includes $100 for a external drive.

usken65

A pawnshop has a lot of laptops that would serve you well.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

2TB = 2 Terabytes = 2,000 Gigabytes = 2,000,000 Megabytes = 2x2^40 Bytes

Not as many photos as you might think considering some larger Photoshop projects saved as PSD or TIF files can easily be over 100MB.

Currently external hard drives (HDD) come in sizes like 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, and a few 4TB. There are a few 500GB and 750GB ones still out there. One or more 2TB HDDs can be had for a very reasonable price. For archiving or backing up all your photos you should have at least two drives with the same files them.

A 1TB is probably fine for a LapTop HDD. If you can find a used PC as you propose see if you can also find a 1TB HDD with an additional Solid State (SS) drive for your O/S and possibly major programs, Ps, Lr, etc. The system will run much faster that way.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

There is the IDEAL, and then there is the REAL. You do not need an i7 processor to do photo editing.

Quick basics: RAM - the memory where the programs actually perform their operations on your data/photos/etc. Photo editing works better with 8GB RAM or more, especially if you play with big RAW files or even bigger TIFF files.

Hard drive: Where all of the data (including your photos) and programs are stored. You always need to make back-ups of your important photos - on an external drive, on archive-quality DVD's, or in "the cloud" - online storage options. "Hard drives" come either as an HDD which is the classic electromechanical storage with the spinning disc, or SSD, or solid-state drive, which is electronic memory like in a thumb drive. SSD is more expensive, but is less responsive to movement (dropping the laptop) and MAY last longer. It is MUCH faster to move data and programs back and forth with the RAM. Total RAM size may be less relevant with an SSD, since the computer rapidly moves program and data between the RAM and SSD ("virtual memory" on the SSD).

I just ordered this not-too-expensive laptop:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9181674&CatId=4935

It has an i5 processor. It has Windows 7, which is much better than Windows 8 for people who want to actually DO something with their computer (in my opinion). It has an SSD drive large enough for programs and a fair amount of data. I will store most of my photos on my desktop with backup through my home network. This doesn't have a lot of RAM - being an SSD it may not need more, but I have plenty in the laptop that I am replacing, so I will upgrade this to 8GB.

Of course - the newer laptops are thinner and lighter in weight - one way they get this way is by sacrificing the DVD drive. You can get an external DVD RW drive that plugs in to the USB port for $20. Many programs can be downloaded from the internet, so you may not need that.

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

SB,
It makes no difference what type of storage device you use with respect to the RAM in your system. All programs are loaded from the media (DVD, FLASH, HDD or SSD) storage device into the RAM before it is executed. Your CPU/APU doesn't ever have direct communication with the HDD or SSD storage device, so, even though an SSD may be significantly faster then an HDD due to the elimination of head seek times, both media need to transfer the executable file into the RAM for it to be run. Therefore, keep your RAM amount as high as possible and programs will execute at their fastest possible speed.
People get confused when swap files are brought into the picture. These swap files are temp storage locations on the HDD or SSD that are used when there is insufficient room in RAM or a specific file is held while another is processed and the two files are then merged or processed concurrently.

HughB Loc: Minneapolis MN

Finally, quite a bit into the discussion, a Hog suggested looking for a refurbished or used Apple! I switched to an Apple MacBook Pro 15" laptop about 5 years ago specifically because of my photography. Most graphic artists or others in a similar trade use Apple products because of the Screen Resolution and also as important the ease of use. My 15" is more than adequate although I did add more memory about 2 years ago. I have about 23,000 photos on the hard drive but I have recently exported the originals to a 2TB Seagate external drive. They are also backed up again to two other ext. drives, one being kept outside the house. I always shoot in Raw so the files are quite large: but only 250 GB's of the 2TB drive are used so far.
As to software, I used to use Photoshop but have downgraded to Photoshop Elements 12 which is enough for me now. I rely mostly on the Apple Aperture software which has been excellent. However Apple is now selling this program any longer but replacing it and iPhoto with a new 'Photos' program early in 2015.
In closing, try to see an apple screen side by side to that of a PC. Apple does cost more but in my opinion the extra expense up front paid off almost immediately in the photo results.