I need help

[Joel Bookhammer]

I need help, I need an operating system for editing photos. What are some good computer systems that I could look into, that are good for editing large amounts of photos.


Thanks


Joel


p.s. my budget is $1500 US dollars

[alexniedra]

Hey Joel


With a budget of $1500, I would get the best. I think a Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.0 combo would be best for you.


Photoshop will deal with advanced editing - Masking, compositing, Panoramas, HDR, etc., while Lightroom will help you organize all of the photos and make adjustments like colour temperature, exposure, contrast, saturation, to name a few.


My description of both pieces of software really just scratch the surface - There is a lot more to discover:


http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/family/?promoid=BPDEK


I wish you best of luck in finding your software. []

[samoksner]

You can get a good computer (dual core CPU with a big hard drive and a few gigs of memory and Vista or XP) for about 500-600 bucks. Get Adobe Photoshop CS3 or CS4 and you're set. You can use bridge to go through your images and learn / use photoshop to process them.

[Joel Bookhammer]

Sorry left out a part, Im planning on using either CS3 or CS4. What "dual core" systems are out there and what does "dual core" mean? Sry my photography knowledge if fare greater then my computer knowledge'


Thanks


Joel

[Dallasphotog]

As far as processors go, I upgraded to the Intel Core 2 Quad running Windows Vista 64 recently. With 6 gig of ram I no longer even know CS4 has a status bar. I open 30 or 40 pictures at a time and create collages than run 700M in PSD format with absolutely no issues. I got my machine through Costco as the model DX4710 for what seemed like a steal of a deal.

[IAMB]

I hate to be the voice of dissent, but if I were you I'd use the money to get a Mac for the computer and then Aperture II for photo editing and Photomatix in the event that you feel like doing HDR stuff. If you feel you really need the Adobe stuff you can always spend the bucks on the Creative Suite later on. however, I find that the Aperture/Photmatix combo does everything I need and the added peace-of-mind that comes with using a Mac is very much worth the extra money up front.





Then again, if you really want to go for the hard-core route, it is possible to make Adobe programs play nicely with Linux, but you're in for some late nights and lots of swearing if you go that route.

[Joel Bookhammer]

It sounds like a good option....but sounds a tad out of my price range , I may be wrong if I am great, if not please everyone keep suggestions within $1500-$2000 (us).


Thanks


Joel

[Joel Bookhammer]

Oh forgot the "good option" is for Dallas, but the mac holds good favor as well.


thanks


joel

[40Doodle]

Joel,


I'm running Windows XP on an Intel Dual Core system that I built myself (I've never bought a pre-built packaged system, but that's another story). Dual Core means 2 Processors and Intel also manufactures 4 Processor chips. Anyway, my rig is an Intel Dual Core (2.66Ghz), 4GB memory, ~2TB of disk, and I'm running Photoshop CS4 with no problems whatsoever. I do some video editing too. If I were building (or buying) a new rig today, I'd go with Intel's newest processor the I7 Quad Core, 4-6GB of Memory, lots of Disk space, etc. I say that because I'm the kind of person that likes to wring out as much use of a system as possible before having to buy something new.


The Intel Dual Core processor systems will get the job done because I'm using one and I stress it pretty well (lots of multitasking and applications that eat PC's for fun). But if buying today, I'd certainly take advantage of Intel's latest Quad Core Processors and you will find that many PC's are already configured with them anyway. Also don't skimp on Disk space, especially with Disk pricing being so low these days. I don't know your needs for space, but I'd say avoid the default 500GB that comes standard on many packages these days. I'd also suggest that you have 2 individual disks (one for your applications, files, etc and a second one that is used for backups). There is nothing worse than losing data because you lose the main hard drive and had no plans for backups of your data.


It appears that you are looking for someone to suggest a given packaged PC and in reality if you follow the suggestions folks have given you about what that PC should contain, it's really only a matter of going to HP, Dell, Apple, whatever and picking a package that contains those suggested components/configs. $1500 is plenty to get a nice system, so you should be able to find something pretty easily. Just avoid the low cost $500 budget price PC's because they will have minimal configurations and will not be suited for your needs. If you go to HP's site for instance, you can pick a starting package and then add/upgrade the components of your choosing.


Happy shopping!


Rick

[Tim]

The low end imac will do just about anything you need to, except edit HD videos smoothly. You also get a nice size screen with it, which is great for photos. They run about 1100 i think.