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Computer for post processing
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Nov 3, 2018 18:51:13   #
mtngoat
 
A computer build (CPU plus RAM plus Disk) can be pretty inexpensive, easily under $1000 ... the cost comes in peripherals. I use an Intel I5 cpu with 32 GB of ram and that is overkill. You should have either one removable hard disk for backup and/or a NAS - I have both - or use a cloud account for backup. The disk backup will cost about $200-600 total depending on disk size. I use a 4 TB drive removable drive and a NAS loaded with two 4 TB drives. I am rather paranoid about losing stuff. The clincher now is in the graphics card and monitor. Adobe supports 30-bit color if you have a monitor and graphics card that will support it. 4K monitor prices have dropped substantially and you can get 'gamer' graphics cards with 4GB of memory pretty cheap (<$200) that will drive them ... BUT there are an increasing number of 4K monitors that will do 30-bit color (the majority of monitors are only 24-bit color) as they are built to the new HDMI 2.0b, HDR, and DisplayPort 1.4 standards BUT then you need a graphics card capable of driving it - not much choice there, either a AMD Pro card of an Nvidia P-series card ($170 to well over $2000). If you go the 30-bit color route then your graphics card and monitor can easily cost more than the base computer.

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Nov 3, 2018 18:51:21   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
scubadoc wrote:
Budget considerations always seem to trump ease of use and reliability when it comes to bulk purchases for public enterprises. What most CIOs don’t take into consideration is the cost of IT support following initial purchase. Maybe it is “job security” but by and large Apple devices are cheaper to maintain following the initial purchase cost.


I hear that arguement regularly from Apple affecianados, but I would like to see it proven by something other than an anecdotal experience. Given the higher cost of Apple, that they use the same CPUs, memory and HDs /SSDs and other components as PCs, that they are substantially harder to work on (taken an IPad or an IMac apart recently?) and that their service is often equal to the price of the product, I’d like to see some documented proof. The majority of CIOs, who typically buy 4 times as many PCs as Macs, and have reams of support cost data available, don’t seem to agree.

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Nov 3, 2018 18:54:32   #
scubadoc Loc: Sarasota, FL
 
Anecdotal to be sure, but most of the enterprise CIOs that I know who work for a large University Medical Center, with satellite hospitals and outpatient centers across a fairly large mid-Atlantic state use Apple products for their personal devices. They also are reluctant to upgrade the enterprise PCs to Windows 10. Just sayin.

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Nov 3, 2018 19:09:22   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
scubadoc wrote:
Anecdotal to be sure, but most of the enterprise CIOs that I know who work for a large University Medical Center, with satellite hospitals and outpatient centers across a fairly large mid-Atlantic state use Apple products for their personal devices. They also are reluctant to upgrade the enterprise PCs to Windows 10. Just sayin.


I would be the first to say that a particular segment of the industry (graphic artists, video production, creative advertising) tend to use Macs, but after almost 60 years in computing and the last 4O of that in sales and meeting many hundreds of CIOs across every industry from genetics to defense contractors (and every major hospital and research university) in the east, I can tell you that without a doubt, the majority of them and their organizations are running PCs. You also won’t find any Mac servers in data centers except for the occasional video production house - they’re all running Linux on Dells or iBMs or HP or... servers unles they’re running an enterprise version of Windows. To my knowledge, there has actually been one (just one) Mac HPC computer cluster built ( at VA Tech), and though they tried to put a good face on it, it was retired after a couple of years and never did any useful work. Macs are a niche market, and (this is my opinion only) as long as they are the antithesis of the movement to open computing (which killed off Sun, DG, DEC and every other proprietary UNIX manufacturer you can think up), they will remain so.

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Nov 3, 2018 19:48:06   #
cascoly Loc: seattle
 
TriX wrote:
Before you buy that entire story, you might want to read the detailed post on another recent Apple/PC thread …...Bill, this is one of those cases where we’ll have to agree to disagree. I think Apple makes fine platforms and some (but not all) of their aps are good. Their support is prompt and English-speaking, even if they can’t solve the problem, and for a computer neophyte, they are probably a good choice, in the same way and for the same reason they are frustrating for a sophisticated user. But while the styling and packaging is nice, they are overpriced for equivalent performance, typically behind the power curve of technology by a generation, a nightmare to work on and often difficult or impossible to upgrade. To each his own...
Before you buy that entire story, you might want t... (show quote)


i laugh every time i see apple touting it's 'excellent ' after market support - for a product that's supposed to be intuitive -- several friends have a standing appt with apple tech to learn how to do basic things that are easily done w PCs (with more extgensive online videos, etc for help)

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Nov 3, 2018 19:58:37   #
cascoly Loc: seattle
 
mtngoat wrote:
A computer build (CPU plus RAM plus Disk) can be pretty inexpensive, easily under $1000 ... the cost comes in peripherals. I use an Intel I5 cpu with 32 GB of ram and that is overkill. You should have either one removable hard disk for backup and/or a NAS - I have both - or use a cloud account for backup. The disk backup will cost about $200-600 total depending on disk size. I use a 4 TB drive removable drive and a NAS loaded with two 4 TB drives. I am rather paranoid about losing stuff. The clincher now is in the graphics card and monitor. Adobe supports 30-bit color if you have a monitor and graphics card that will support it. 4K monitor prices have dropped substantially and you can get 'gamer' graphics cards with 4GB of memory pretty cheap (<$200) that will drive them ... BUT there are an increasing number of 4K monitors that will do 30-bit color (the majority of monitors are only 24-bit color) as they are built to the new HDMI 2.0b, HDR, and DisplayPort 1.4 standards BUT then you need a graphics card capable of driving it - not much choice there, either a AMD Pro card of an Nvidia P-series card ($170 to well over $2000). If you go the 30-bit color route then your graphics card and monitor can easily cost more than the base computer.
A computer build (CPU plus RAM plus Disk) can be p... (show quote)


still way too high for what the OP ASKED FOR!!!!! - they should be able to meet their need for $500 or less

i just bought a 5TB ex HD at costco for $100,including backup software; no need for 4K monitors if you're looking to display on other computers or print - most users wont notice diff bet 24 & 30 bit color

upgrading is irrelevant for most users - by the time you outgrow a current purchase it will be cheaper to buy a new system (except of course for apple, the only major company that increases its prices over time!)

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Nov 3, 2018 20:05:14   #
scubadoc Loc: Sarasota, FL
 
Wow, never knew there were so many Apple disparagers on this forum. It’s almost as much fun as Nikon vs Canon.

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Nov 3, 2018 22:45:39   #
cjmax1000
 
You may want to check out laptops at Costco. They have HP/Dell laptops with Core I5 or I7 CPU, 8 to 32 GB memory, 15.6 to 17.3” screen, 2 to 4GB Radeon/NVIDIA graphics for $600 to $1500. Look for SSD internal drive. If it doesn’t have one, you could have a computer shop swap it out. My HP ENVY that I purchased from Costco had space for 2 drives in it so you could have an SSD with OS and apps on it and a 2nd larger hard drive for photos.

https://www.costco.com/laptops.html?keyword=HP+Laptops&autosugg=true&refine=ads_fbrand_ntk_cs%253A%2522HP%2522|&dept=All

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Nov 3, 2018 23:16:29   #
loren sanders Loc: Wisconsin
 
scubadoc wrote:
Wow, never knew there were so many Apple disparagers on this forum. It’s almost as much fun as Nikon vs Canon.


Ooh, I should look those up! LOL! :-)

We could always skip the tech to tech arguments and state the plain truth about Apple's market etc: Were it not for music management, they would have gone completely under YEARS ago! Buying up and hoarding digital rights to music saved their asses entirely, and outside of that huge financial generating area, it is absolutely true to say that they are essentially a "niche".

For those who love them, and who enjoy being "herded" by the manufacturers they support - have at it!

Personally, Apple lost any of my dollars for good when they began the "Hi, I'm a PC" commercial campaign years ago. I spent many years in sales, and ANY company who tries to sell me their product by disparaging their competitors products closes the door on possible sales to me. If you can't convince me that you make the best <insert product> for my money on your products own merits, you have nothing at all I have any interest in.

I don't vote for anyone because they are a lesser evil, and I don't buy anything because it sucks less.

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Nov 3, 2018 23:32:52   #
InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA
 
I have had great luck with Dell Outlet, not for my home purchases but for work. They also sell consumer level laptops and desktops.

Dollar for dollar, a desktop workstation is going to give you better performance than a laptop. Most photographers will not use a laptop display to do photo editing anyway, so even if you do buy a laptop, you'll probably hook up an external monitor. Of course a desktop means you're always in the same place when you're editing but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Working in a room where the light sources are consistent will yield more consistent editing results.

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Nov 3, 2018 23:51:51   #
InfiniteISO Loc: The Carolinas, USA
 
scubadoc wrote:
Anecdotal to be sure, but most of the enterprise CIOs that I know who work for a large University Medical Center, with satellite hospitals and outpatient centers across a fairly large mid-Atlantic state use Apple products for their personal devices. They also are reluctant to upgrade the enterprise PCs to Windows 10. Just sayin.


Two things to note there.

Upper level management read reports, they typically don't write them, and they usually don't crunch their own numbers. If they can get their email they're happy. If they can get their email on a plane, they're really happy.

Windows 10 does suck in a huge way and our roll-out has been painful, but mostly because no one that's used to configuring their own PC likes it. It's like coming home from vacation to find your mother-in-law has re-arranged your entire house. Mom, why are the peas in the linen closet? Since when do we keep spare toilet paper in the refrigerator? The bones of Windows 7 are still there somewhere, but you have to dig them up. That said, there have been 100 YouTube videos to help me with everything I couldn't immediately find or figure out. Also, the younger cubical dwellers are taking to it like a duck to water.

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Nov 4, 2018 02:15:44   #
AlexAAA
 
I take my card out of camera and plug in the computer directly every time. I never plugin my camera in to computer. ----- I use sd card adapter and card reader.

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Nov 4, 2018 03:01:00   #
DannyKaye Loc: Sheffield now but soon moving to Blanzay
 
A few years ago I was short of cash and my pc died. I found a last years model in the January sales, Toshiba, i5, 8gb ram 1Tb hard disk for about £300. It wasn’t ideal, especially after I got a d810, but it worked. I suggest you do something like that.

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Nov 4, 2018 07:26:40   #
sct198 Loc: West of Nathrop, Co
 
I was in the same boat as the OP, and here's what I did. Built my own from used components. Gamer's have GAS too. Dell motherboard I-7 3.4 gig 8 core, 32 gig corsar vengance ddr3 ram, amd 480 8 gig graphics card, 750 watt power supply, 2 1 tb hard drives(1 for back-up) win7 pro. All this for about $400 and a little bit of time to assemble. Works great.

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Nov 4, 2018 11:04:46   #
Bob Locher Loc: Southwest Oregon
 
It CAN be done on a budget. I recently bought a refurbished Dell OptiPlex with I7 processor and 16 gigs of RAM and a brand new Terabyte hard drive, with Windows 10 Professional, on eBay, for $249.00 delivered with a 60 day return privilege. I needed to add a keyboard, a mouse, a card reader and a wi-fi adapter. I already had the keyboard and mouse. The card reader cost me $10 and the wi-fi adapter cost $15. And of course a monitor. A very good monitor for photo work should be available for under $200. A capable video card is about $60. Add Affinity for a post processing program and you have a very powerful setup for under $600. And for this you get a system that should work just fine for years to come.

This was NOT a risky venture, thanks to the 60 day return privilege on the computer. The resulting system is a powerful one. The only trade off against a system costing much, much more is that it runs a bit slower than the latest technology. And by the way, my experience is that over the long run tower computers are far more reliable than lap tops, and much easier to open to clean out the dust.

It CAN be done...

Cheers

Bob Locher

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