Comments on: Computer for Photography: Fall 2009 Recommendations

By: davem

davem — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:49:48 +0000

Dear Carol, I don't have a Data Robotics Drobo 4-Bay USB 2.0/FireWire 800 SATA Storage Array yet but am definitely interested in adding one into my backup system. You will find links to the Drobo from Amazon in our post on recommended external hard drives and here is a review of the system from Terry White over at Adobe. -- David

By: Carol Rettinger

Carol Rettinger — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:39:45 +0000

Do you have an opinion on the Drobo system for back up? I have a Dell and use XP. Also use LR 2.6 and CS4.

By: davem

davem — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:26:04 +0000

Dear Dotty,

Lightroom and Photoshop share some capabilities. Both can be used for image enhancement– you can remove dust spots or change the color (white balance) of an image in either program. But Photoshop is not an image management program. Photoshop is the world’s best image enhancer but it is not an efficient tool for searching or sorting through a large volume of digital images. For more info on the strengths of each program please check out this Introduction to Lightroom tutorial.

–
David

By: Dotty

Dotty — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:10:15 +0000

What about Photoshop CS4 ? Is this an older program than Lightroom? Do they do the same things? I see that Lightroom 3 is available as a public beta test until April 30th 2010. Maybe I could try that? Thank you!

By: David Marx

David Marx — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:48:44 +0000

Dear Dotpixels,

I would put Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 on your new machine. Aperture is a nice program but it has failed to capture a significant portion of the digital asset management market.

–
David

By: Dotpixels

Dotpixels — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:37:32 +0000

Thanks for all of the information. So, if I buy the iMac, Which photography editing program would be the best to have installed on the computer? Aperture 2 is offered as an add on.

By: hili

hili — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:55:29 +0000

i finally bought my computer yesterday . i got an i5 , a board with both esata and firewire connection, 8 GB DDR3 ram, and 1T external HD . thanks again for puting up this article and for all the helpful information .

By: Scott Rouse

Scott Rouse — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:10:56 +0000

Hill,

Yes, “Video Card” and “Graphics Card” should be referring to the same thing.

-Scott

By: hili

hili — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:58:58 +0000

hi david,

thank you for the answers. i`m still a bit confused , maybe we are using different terms in israel . are `video card` and `graphic card` the same thing ?

By: David Marx

David Marx — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:30:23 +0000

Dear Hill,

For serious digital photographers like you 8GB of Ram will be a great help. In the long run, the more RAM that you have the better.

Buying a system with 4 slots (DIMMs technically) is a good choice since it leaves plenty of room for you to add more ram in when the price is reasonable or when you have a need for the additional power. Video encoding is a prime example of a place where the “additional processing power” really pays off.

So far though I have been talking about the computer’s internal ram. Video Ram is different. Decent video cards have their own Ram chips. Back in the spring I recommended 256MB of Video Ram minimum, but I didn’t worry about listing it this time because even the lowest end MacBook now meets this standard.

Hope this helps. Happy Thanksgiving,

David

By: hili

hili — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:55:23 +0000

i have a few questions –

when you write `room for lots of ram` , can 8Gb be considered enough ? will a board with 4 slots for ram suffice ?
and also in your spring recomedation you also had `256MB of Video RAM ` – is that an attribute of the graphic card , or does that reffer to a seperate designated video card ? will i need a seperate video card if i want to edit video shot with the 5D2 ?

By: David Marx

David Marx — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:04:12 +0000

Interesting article comparing the new iMac to the Mac Pro.

Why Go Pro?

–
David

By: David

David — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:51:57 +0000

If you are shopping for a Mac Pro, I strongly suggest reading Lloyd Chambers new Step-by-Step Buyers Guide. This article might save you some money and it will definitely help you get the most out of your new machine. -- David

By: oldcootneil

oldcootneil — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:12:02 +0000

My above post had the URL deleted.

Please check out Cerise Computers

oldcootneil

By: oldcootneil

oldcootneil — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:09:50 +0000

For a PC built from the ground-up for Photoshop & LR give a read. They are workstations with ‘Enterprise’ components made to your specifications.

I have one on order, hopefully to be shipped soon.

oldcootneil

By: David Marx

David Marx — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:20:14 +0000

Deb-
Check three things.
1. Are you in the US customer store?
2. Are you in the small business store? Beware of the “home / home office” section!
3. Did you try clicking on the 64-bit OS button on the far left dropdown menu?

Hope this helps.

David

By: davem

davem — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:18:54 +0000

Dear Deb,

I was able to find the Precision workstations with 64-bit Windows 7 this evening. Here’s another hyperlink that might help.

Dell Precision Workstations

Couple of things to check:
1. Are in the US customer’s online store?
2. Are you shopping in the small business section (avoid the home user area?)
3. Did you try selecting the 64-bit OS option from the panel on the far left-hand side of the screen?

Please let us know if you are still having troubles.

David

By: davem

davem — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:14:48 +0000

Dear Deb,

I didn’t have any trouble finding Precision Desktops with Windows 7 64 bit this evening. Couple of things to check though:
1. Are you shopping in the online store for US customers?
2. Are you shopping in the small business (not the home) store?
3. In the search help box on the left hand side of their website, did you click the 64-bit OS option?

Here’s another hyperlink that might help.

Dell Precision Workstations

Please write back if you are still having trouble finding them.
David

By: Deb

Deb — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:29:26 +0000

David – doesn’t look like Dell’s site has Windows 7 64 bit edition as an option for the Precision desktop, just Vista 64 bit or Win 7 32 bit . . . Do you know what’s up with this?

By: David Marx

David Marx — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:50:48 +0000

Dear Bob, Thanks for the info on the Lenovo ThinkPad. For those who are interested here is a review of this monster laptop and a link to this product from B&H Photo.

By: David Marx

David Marx — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:42:30 +0000

Dear David,

You are right. The Dell options for laptops in the UK are different. Nonetheless I would still look a machine with a 64-bit OS, room for lots of ram, and fast external drive connections. I wonder why the models differ from country to country.

–David

By: David Currie

David Currie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:09:54 +0000

FYI: At least in the UK, I can’t configure the two Dell systems you propose. For the M4400, the larget 7200rpm disk I can get is the 250GB with the 320GB only available at 5400rpm. For the T3500, the memory options from Dell jump from 4GB to 12GB as the 6GB is only available in 1333MHz and hence not usable with this processor.

By: Bob McAnally

Bob McAnally — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:50:13 +0000

There is one laptop that you did not discuss but is was designed specifically for photographers and graphic artists.

The ThinkPad W700ds:

Up to 8GB RAM, Quad core chip, Vista 64, two solid state hard drives (128GB each), 17in screen with second 10 in screen pull out for tool pallets, built-in screen calibration, and a small Wacom table built in to wrist rest.