Computer Upgrade Help

[Pinkfox84]

Hey everyone...

Just wondering if you guys can help me....
I am in the market to upgrade from Laptop (toshiba Satellite Pro) to a Desktop.

I am looking to spend about $1500 ish.....

I would like to stick to a PC as i just got Photoshop and lightroom for PC......

What recommendations/advise do you all have...

Thanks so very much in advance

Pinkfox

[woofie]

for $1500 you can get a pretty good computer these days.

I would recommend though shopping around. Before you go any any shop have a look online and get rough prices so you don't pay to much. Also probably worth going to the locally owned computer shop for a computer instead of just going to Dick Smith or Harvey Normans or some place like that (Don't get me wrong sometimes have OK deals)

[deef]

Have a look at the sites for these companies....

* removed - please read site rules 3-7 : admin *

[ameerat42]

Mandy. What are your main needs? What computer knowledge do you have, eg: processor types, operating systems.
I see you've got a Canon 550D. What sort of photo processing are you looking to do? Anything to help us from guessing and recommending wildly.
Am.

[flame70]

i would try umart go with your budget and they'll make it for you.

[arthurking83]

Yep! look for a local PC shop that does builds for you.
If you feel confident with intricate jig saw puzzles, it's actually quite simple to build your own PC.

I've found that MSY have good prices, and reasonable rates for building the PC to any spec you want.

For $1500, I'd go for either a Intel i5 or AMD3+ x8 core system for decent value for money.

[Pinkfox84]

Hey there I now have a 1100D but am up grading soon to either 5d mkIII or 7D yet to be decided...
I am not a HUGE computer guru but i know kinda the basics lol... i wish i knew more...
I need it to be able to withstand being used ALOT. As well as my editing (with Lightroom, Photoshop etc) we will be running hubbies small business from there... Not too much will be stored for that on there as it goes straight to external hard-drive in case of crash.
I am also studying so i used it ALOT during the day! lol

Hope this helps a little

[tassam380]

With that price range you can get a hell of a lot. With that money you could get an i5 2500 or even an i7 2600. Also a nVidia GTX5xx Graphics Card. It is probably worthwhile getting a 64 bit Operating System too so that you can make use of more than 4GB of RAM.

[arthurking83]

OK.. now we know exactly how techy you are .. we can get a better feel for what and how you want to go about it.

I'll use MSY as a store for a quick guide for pricing, but this is not an endorsement of MSY themselves. I use them only for purchasing parts I need because they are cheap and extremely close to where I live and work .. sometimes they have woeful customer service levels!

If you google MSY, you may come across their site, on some of their site pages they have links to various levels of PC kits.

You may want to look at the Intel/AMD Pro3 link.
(note this may change, as they are currently experiencing issues with their site)

You may also find interest in their Gamer Pack3 link too.

Gamer pack include irrelevant speakers and gear like that .. useless for your needs, but may end up as a feature you may well enjoy in the future!

Pro Pack only states SATA hard drives .. but what you will really want is 7200RPM WD black SATA drives! Very fast hard drives which will make your PC run fast!
(hence the comment on the Gamer Pack, as these pack seem to specify one of those WD black drives!! )

You can get the any of the $1500 gamer packs and this will not only run faster than fast, but will probably suffice for a long time to come too!

The standard 16G of RAM provided may be sufficient for your usage, and I think any more than that may be money wasted(at this point)
2Tb hard drive is plenty .. you commented that you already have an external drive for extra storage, so you seem to be covered there.
I would recommend that you upgrade from Win 7 Home Premium to Win 7 Professional($40), there are extra admin features and networking configurability worth having.
May not be immediately beneficial if you don't tinker with stuff .. but I think at some point, you'll be onto the phone asking .. "how do I do this..." and the person on the other end of the line will say .. go here, go there, click on this .. etc, and you may not have access to those features in Win Home Premium, where they're available in Win 7 Pro!

Really makes no difference whether you get an Intel i5 or AMD x8 .. don't over spend on a CPU that you will get no real benefit from!
Insane gamers spend hundreds of dollars on a CPU to eke out the extra performance on tasks of little value, and save themselves 5 seconds of processing time.

5 seconds saved on a batch process here, is probably lost in 10 seconds of extra Office processing for your husband there!
I prefer AMD CPU's simply due to their lower prices.

For YOUR own future requirements ... where MSY falls down in customer needs is in higher end gear ... from what I know of their range of products, they have no monitors to cater to a fussy photographer/graphic person .. all their monitors are of the cheaper end stuff(ie. non IPS type monitors to cater to us togs).


hope this helps.

[J.davis]

I have just upgraded to an Intel i5 and couldn't be happier.
Could use more ram but other than that I am happy.
Cost was around $800.00 from a local computer tech.
OS Windows 7 pro 64bit.
To top it off I outlay'd a bit for a Dell 24" IPS Screen.

[Pinkfox84]

Thank you so much i will contact some local computer guys and see what they come up with and let you know
thanks again xox

[ameerat42]

DON'T discount what AK said about a decent monitor. Since you are going to be serious about photography (you want to make sure that what the camera sees is what you get) then make sure you get an IPS (In Plane Switching) monitor.

However, AK is wrong about (some) gamers spending 1000s (woops!) of dollars on CPUs: they spend 1000s. I've seen it a 2ple of times.