Computers and Programs

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by richard olson on August 20, 2009 at 10:06am

hello Liz. i use an HP compaq d530c, loaded with XP Pro. service pack 3. it's a biss. computer with 4gig of ram,
now it's an older comp. but i use some older programes and it will do every thing i want it to. and faster than my
dell inspiron 6000! i use Nikon capture 4.4, paint shop pro, and photoshop CS3. my point is that you don't have
do the latest thing to keep up with the other guy. it's all about the work flow, and what you want from a computer.
now i say this but don't get the wrong idea, the new ones are every thing they say they are. and more! i just don't
need all the rest of that to PP. good shots. if i had to up grade all my programes i could buy a Nikon D2x! for that
cash.and i'm not impressed with Vista at all. now a lot of photographers use a MAC but i don't know much about
those so i'll leve that alone. to date i'v spent a total of $61.00 on this system, got it from ebay and it does what i
need it to do. i keep it cleaned up with two external hard drives. and reg. maintonance, defrag and all that. the more
you like a system the more you will use it. so if you like what you have now i'd stay with that brand and add some
ext. drives and keep it cleaned up. as for printing i use Mpix.com, they have never let me down. hope this helps.

Rick

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Osterloh on August 20, 2009 at 10:14am

Thanks. it does. I went back to school to learn all this digital stuff and post processing crap, but we are using Macs there and they are nice, but I just got CS4 for windows before I started school and really don't want to have to buy it again for a mac. I have a laptop now and it shuts down everytime I open CS4 and a second program no matter what the second program is, so I can't even cruise the web while working because it shuts down. I saw a good deal on a Dell at walmart for $798 I was thinking about getting. It has 8GB of ram and 640GB of harddrive. I worked with lightroom at school and was thinking of getting it. Also people say coral painter is good for artistic effects like watercolor, but have no idea how to use it. I love ebay. I get stuff from there almost every week. LOL!

Permalink Reply by Fred on August 20, 2009 at 12:28pm

I went the Apple route about two years ago and never regretted it. It is far more stable than Micro$.
I think Adobe will allow the transition to Apple, check their web site

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Osterloh on August 20, 2009 at 2:12pm

cool good to know. I would hate to have to rebuy it if I went to it. I have bee learning all the apple things at school.

Permalink Reply by John Saunders on August 21, 2009 at 3:00am

I switched to an Apple Mac Book Pro 15.4" laptop a couple of months ago and am really pleased I did. No more crashes and I save all my photos onto an external hard drive. I use Lightroom 2.4 for basic editing and CS4 for advanced processing. Recommended!

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Osterloh on August 21, 2009 at 5:54am

Thanks. This is what I have been trying to figure out. If I want to get the Apple iMac, then I will have to wait until tax time, so i was trying to figure out whether to wait or to just go ahead and get the Dell.

Permalink Reply by Michelle on August 21, 2009 at 6:52pm

I just had to replace mine this year and my husband called tiger direct and custom built mine to fit everything I need. BUT-I don't use that for anything other than photography and if anyone so much as comes near it in my office I murder them on the spot. I just knew I wanted it to be fast, have tons of ram, an awesome video card and monitor. And I did NOT want windows VIsta. He's better with the technicals. so he had it built for me and it has been a marriage made in heaven. I am running cs3, lightroom and portriat professional on it and I can run all 3 at once if I really want to.
Now when I replace my laptop for at weddings and events I will probably go with a mac for safety and bog down issues. It does get on line and I do other things on it. I feel much safer with a mac for that stuff!

Permalink Reply by Ed on February 9, 2010 at 9:14pm

I'll second that rave for Tiger Direct. I have had several machines built by them and they all far exceeded expectation and ended up costing less than I had imagined. We have been using HP Pavillion Noteboks for portable processing. Went this route because Mac didn't support 64-bit processing until late in the game. Because of other applications, absence of 64 bit was a show stopper for macs. I don't know where they are with that today, but expect that they have caught up. I won't start following this again until I get ready for the next big hardware revision.

For work horse workstations, think desktops.

Permalink Reply by Joyce Elizabeth Sammons on February 9, 2010 at 4:25pm

I agree with not liking Vista. I may be old fashioned but i love xp pro. And I get my pcs on EBay. Square Trade offers warranties so if anything fails in a year they cover the price. I'd love to have better equipment but the economy too bad.

Permalink Reply by Jason G on February 5, 2011 at 11:26am

Regarding photobooks, I love Adorama. You can make books on light cardstock without a gutter. I haven't used Blurb yet, snapfish is for the people who want themes and clip art.

Permalink Reply by Brian Haferkamp on February 6, 2011 at 8:11pm

It seems like you can make it with whatever computer system you feel comfortable with. If you look in this thread, no one uses the same system or software setup. Your ultimate system needs lots of RAM (4+ GB) and try to keep the hard drive as free of clutter as possible (OS and essential programs). Keep archived photos on an external drive or server. A desktop gives you greater ability to upgrade your system to your needs, but laptops offer portability. You can get both in a high-end laptop but it's more cost effective (and you get more) from a desktop setup -- assuming you have the room and lifestyle for that.

 

I use Lightroom 3 for processing and it's a very good all-in-one solution. You miss out on some of the artistic effects in the full-blown version of Photoshop, but it is a product derived from Photoshop so it's got everything you might need as a photog. Plus, it has a catalog system built into it. I don't have to import with one program and then process in another. That's one of the beauties of Lightroom. Plus, it's becoming the industry standard. Mix that with all of the free presets floating around the Net through a really active user community, and you get a lot for about half the cost of Photoshop. 

 

For making books? I've used Blurb in the past (a couple of years ago) and I'm pretty sure they've gotten better since then. There are many more choices to make now and I would guess the book building software has improved. For lack of trying anything else, I say  go with them. Lulu also does publishing on demand, so you might check that out (lulu.com). If you're sending out images for print, I would try to find a local digital lab or at least look to the nearest metro area (a Google search would do). There are also nationally famous print labs with reasonable prices. Don't limit yourself to things you see in the mass media. Ask photographers where they get their prints done. 

 

Good luck with your computer purchase. There are good deals to be had as long as you remember what's important for photography.

Permalink Reply by Ethiriel Photography on April 12, 2011 at 2:46am

I use a basic laptop which is now quite aging, it works for all the 'high end' intensive editing I do working in CS5 and a bunch of other programs. I agree with everyone who has said its not so much the computer you use, but more the importance of backing up to external drives and keeping your system clean and as empty of clutter as possible.

Thats worth bearing in mind whichever new machine you buy :)