I was getting frustrated with my old laptop taking so long processing JPG filters... then trying to edit RAW files...
Had to upgrade.

Went to my local computer bloke. smh.

So I tell him my laptop is too slow... can he build me a faster desktop from old bits.
He specialises in building gaming PCs.
I knew that was no guarantee that he would know anything about graphic/video editing... but gave him a shot at it.

After building me a box with an SSD for the boot system and a 1TB HDD for internal storage.
A wireless card (at my request) to communicate with all my wireless cams.
And a graphics card with an HDMI plug.

I get home and find (after installing everything and transferring all my data from the old computer) that the system takes 9 secs to calculate the white balance of a RAW image... where as my laptop was taking little more than a second at most.

I called the computer bloke... he asks that I put the file on the SSD and see if there is an improvement.
Why yes... it now only takes 6 seconds.
He says "well, we're getting there"
I start to loose it. Just a bit... but noticeable.
I let him know that the laptop was too slow and this new system he built can't even match that.
He says bring it in and he'll upgrade the CPU for no charge... but if i want more RAM... it'll cost me. It did.

Specs.
Desktop.

Win10 (free upgrade from Win7)
An i7 3.4Ghz Intel
16gb of 1600Mhz RAM
120GB SSD as C drive (OS installed)
1TB HDD as internal file storage.
300mbs wireless card
NVIDIA GeForce GT 220
-GPU 625 MHz
-1GB DDR2

Since the upgrade to i7 and more/faster RAM... now processing RAW in 3 secs. Now only 3x slower than my Laptop.
Computer bloke says... well... you haven't wasted your money... you only need a new graphics card, new motherboard and new CPU and you'll have a good system.
I realised how many ways of expressing my point of view with my foot I was considering and left the shop.

My laptop is some years old, but wasn't the slowest horse in the race back in it's day.

hp pavilion g6 - AMD a8 4500m
4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
AMD Radeon HD 7640G/7670M Dual GPU (2 GB DDR3 dedicated)
500 GB 5400 rpm SATA
Windows 8 64 bits


So now I'm trimming down Win10 and trying to get the most out of the purchase... as I have my eye on a new graphics card.

I have a GOPRO and want to be able to edit RAW video as well as RAW photo's... I can also record 4k from my smart phone... so want to be able to edit that at some stage.

So the card I'm now looking at is the nvidia quadro.
They range in price from $260 - $8000... and up.

So if I can make the desktop useful until I can save up for a $500 card... but might have to settle for the entry level card... that might be enough for most things except 4k... not sure. Still a lot of reading to do. Only started checking it out yesterday.

Well.. that's where I'm at... and hoping that I can tweak it enough for the time being.

It's been suggested that I donate my new (second hand) desktop to family for web surfing... probably all it's good for LOL... but we'll see if it's a dead horse first... and even then I'll probably flog it some.