A place to discuss the tools you use - printers, scanners, software etc...
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I'm curious. When you are considering a new computer, do you have one made to your specifications by someone who specializes in this field -- or, do you buy a something like a Dell or HP that is already manufactured?

In using PSE and/or CS3 or Lightroom, etc., are there any special requirements to consider?

TIA
The more ram the better :)
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Nolan
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I have never purchased a new computer "off the rack".

If you are looking at new, it is most likely going to be Vista, unless you are going to the Mac side of things.

I always look at buying the most RAM - 4GB for Vista, best processor I can afford, a higher end graphics card - 256-513MB RAM and I have become hooked on WideScreen monitor - great for editing and looking at Tutorials on the side.

Fow a WIndows XP system, I would get a 100GB drive for Operating System and get a 500GB extra internal for My Documents. As soon as I got it I would do a right click on My Documents and tell it to move it top the 500GB Drive. Get a 500GB external and then back up from 500 to 500 to keep data up to date.

I would an OS backup to the 500GB drive just in case using somewthing like Acronis True Image.

Lety me see, A DVD burner, card reader, probably a 400+watt power supply.

Or, look for one off the rack and see how easy it is to add on to get to something like this.
John
I also have mine custom made and max it out on Ram. In fact, I am thinking about getting a new one soon. So this thread will be of great interest to me.
John - Nolan: This is the information I was looking for. I already have a 500GB external. I really like XP, but I'm sure they will try & talk me into Vista. I know XP may not be available for much longer.

John, interesting comment regarding the 2 internal drives. I would never have thought of that. Also, the 400 watt power supply. Great suggestions.

I'm probably 1 mo. away from ordering, but I wanted to get some ideas before I make the final decision.

Susi -- I'll be interested to hear what you decide. I didn't think it would be this confusing. :?
carol, most computer dealers (dell etc) now offer both vista and xp. I will keep my xp as long as I can. I also have 2 internal hard drives and 2 external hard drives. One I use as a scratch disk for elements and CS3. I think they are 300 gigabytes each. Have 3 gb of ram and at the time the best graphics card I could get. My motherboard is old and would like to upgrade to the newer one and get larger internal hard drives. Sometimes I max out the scratch disk to the point where I can't save what I am working using the save to web command. I don't understand why that happens because the whole 300 hard drive is just for scratch.
Suzi - I am leaning more and more to having one designed. I currently have a Dell and it has been a workhorse, but I want to work with someone local who I can "communicate" with. I don't like spending an hour on the phone when I have an issue with someone in another country that I can hardly understand. I really appreciate the feedback that I have gotten thus far. :)
Carol,

My take on the power supply looks like it may be a bit outdated. A couple of thew Dells I just looked at run around 750W power supply. :doh:

Better to have it available. I have gotten into upgrading a couple of my older systems and found the power supply was just too close to the edge.
John
John,

I definitely want plenty of power supply. Thanks for mentioning that. I've made notes of the suggestions so far. :thanks:
I've been building my own PC's for the last several years and firmly believe its the way to go for someone willing to learn a little about how they go together. They are easier to put together than you may think and it doesn't take a college degree to do, either. It may be a little more expensive if you're building the entire thing, at least the first time around, but once you have everything you can then just upgrade one piece at a time later on. And you control the quality of what goes in, not Dell or HP, or whomever. The "off the shelf" PCs can be real cheap for a reason.

My philosophy has always been to get the most you can afford at the time, but leave some room for growth later on if you need it. Swapping out a smaller HD for a larger is not that difficult, and with the prices of HD's being as cheap as they are ( and getting cheaper ) is an easy upgrade. And the advice for an external backup is excellent. Losing all your stuff because you had no back up plan is painful. Also, if buying new, go with a SATA drive system. They are cheaper and faster than the older IDE drives are.

Max out your memory. You can never have too much. The max XP can really use is 3G. Vista can go higher, but you will reach a point of diminishing returns. 4G with Vista should be enough.

If I were building one from scratch today, with a new motherboard, I would also seriously consider a quad core processor. Not so much for speed, but for the ability to multi-task. The more you can spread out the workload, the better. And as far as processor brand is concerned, between AMD and Intel, you can't go wrong with either one. Unless you're a real techie and into processor specs, Intel is currently winning the processor wars. But, they are also a bit more expensive. I've been using AMD for years and have never had any problems. And if you read the motherboard specs, you can get one that leaves room for processor upgrades also. The MB I currently have originally started out as a single core processor board, but later, with a BIOS upgrade, it became a dual core board capable of running the fastest dual core AMD 939 processor available.

Get the biggest power supply you can afford. I currently have a 700 watt in my machine and its never given me a bit of trouble.

If all you're doing is working on pictures and cruising the internet, email, and the like, you won't need the fanciest video card out there. Unless you like to play some of the newer games, otherwise a good middle of the road card should be fine. I am also quite partial to wide screen monitors now, too.

Your biggest expense with building your own PC though; initially, will be your software. Especially your OS. But, once you have it, its yours and you can move it to another machine when you upgrade. I have a retail upgrade version of XP if you're interested. I upgraded to XP Pro about a year ago and this other disk is just gathering dust now.

And now, after all that, if you decide to go the Dell or HP route, all the above still applies. Decide what you want in the machine to start with, and then start your shopping. However, if you want one with XP, you will need to hurry. Last I heard MS was going to stop the sales of machines with XP pre-installed this summer. In June, I think.
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