Which PC?

rameire

Hi,

I am looking to take photography on as a real hobby and I need a bit of advice.

I have the following gear at present:
EOS 300D with 18-55mm, 90-300mm and 50MM 2.5 macro,
along with an Ixus 100is.

The area that I need advice on is the PC/Mac debate for processing afterwards.

At the moment, I have 1 PC and 1 laptop, but I'm not sure if either one is good enough to run the likes of photoshop or other programes that I might need later on..

PC = Compaq Celeron processor 2.66GHz with 1 GB Ram & XP Home (no idea of graphics, but 4 years old)

Laptop = Toshiba Pentium Dual Core T2390 1.87GHz with 2GB Ram & Vista Home Prem 32 bit (again graphics is not known, but unit is only about 1 year old)

Any advice on whether the PC or the laptop would be suitable or should I purchase a new one? Or should I start out on a Mac?

Also, one other question, what software would you suggest???

Thanks!

Slidinginfinity

It all really depends on your budget.

But, Your laptop should be able to run PS with no problems.
Try running The Gimp on both your computers. It's free and should give you a general idea.

booyah1024

search for some pc/mac debates on here, you'll get some good info from them.

both pc and mac are well capable of being great machine for post processing and photo cataloguing tasks.

what's different is how they tackle the idea of work flow. both do it differently.

what system is best for you is only you can decide.

i have a pc and laptop running windows vista and xp and a macbook running OS X 10.5.

all my work is done on the macbook, but if for some strange reason my macbook stops working (touch wood it hasn't/won't) then i can get straight to work on the windows machines.

what i'm going to do next is to build a pc myself and install mac os x on it, it is against the EULA so process can't really be discussed here but using a desktop i prefer more than using a laptop.

vectra

rameire wrote: »

Laptop = Toshiba Pentium Dual Core T2390 1.87GHz with 2GB Ram & Vista Home Prem 32 bit (again graphics is not known, but unit is only about 1 year old)

Any advice on whether the laptop would be suitable
Also, one other question, what software would you suggest???
Thanks!

Laptop is very similar to my one and runs Photoshop no problem

docdolittle

Which version of Photoshop are you looking to run? CS4 differs in the way the other Photoshop do and rely more on the graphics card than it's predecessors especially with the new 3d functionality within it.

stcstc

if its a hobby, then generally time is not to most critical thing

so chances are both will run photoshop, but maybe slow. like i say though if its slow its not the en of the world, might be frustrating but save the money and by a nice new lens

MagicMarker

If you must get a new computer, it has to be a 24'' imac, that's the rule.

But anyway, Photoshop will run on both your computers, although the sound of the fan in them will get annoying very quickly.

It all depends on how serious a hobby photography will become along with how much you're willing to spend.

Nforce

Your laptop should be well up to the task. Ideally,I'd recommend having 4gb of decent memory when running vista....and it's a bonus that it's a relatively cheap upgrade too.
I personally do most of my pp on my desktop as laptop lcd's are not ideal due to the limited viewing angles.

Morrisseeee

I'd recommend bumping up the RAM, maybe to 2GB on the PC. If you get 4GB, unless you are using a 64 bit operating system, the full 4GB will not be utilized.
2GB is enough to run Vista 32 bit (reduce the arty farty effects tho) and a virtual OS with Photoshop running in the virtual OS !
No need to get a new laptop.
Other software: GIMP, its free (but a steeeep learning curve),
Lightroom €302, Elements €100, Picasa free, get Photoshop CS3 or 4 (free 30 day trial).

Ricky91t

I have a netbook with 2gb of ram and a pc with 3gb of ram,The pc has a 3.33ghz processor and makes a noticeable difference running apps

I'd go for the laptop maybe put in a 1gb(possibly 2gb) stick of ram so you've got 3gb open the bios and set the onboard graphics to the maximum should be perfect

rameire

well did it today.
was bored so went out and got my new computer.

Hewlett -packard
model p6061
processor intel core 2 quad q8200 @ 2.33GHz
memory 4gb
64 bit operating system
1Tb hard drive
ATI Radeon HD 4650 1Gb
vista home premium

MagicMarker

How much?

rameire

MagicMarker wrote: »

How much?

650 from hardly normal

kgpixels

That sounds like a supper deal you got on the PC. It will more than handle anything photography related that you can throw at it!

Duchovny

I have both mac and pc this topic can go in forever as you know the "fights" between them.

I would have to say that i prefer my mac to work in photography, my PC is more powerful in hardware then the mac but you wont notice a huge difference, but i would say if you are starting now the hobby you should use the laptop and if you have some spare bobs buy a lens :P

Both pc and mac can do the job well.

OP, I'd ditch vista and go with XP if you can.

Vista will grab a lot of resources that could be going into your editing software.
XP is stable and won't hog the RAM.

Of course, you could always dual boot Ubuntu and use GIMP, if you fancy a real challenge!

Nforce

Deleted User wrote: »

OP, I'd ditch vista and go with XP if you can.

Vista will grab a lot of resources that could be going into your editing software.
XP is stable and won't hog the RAM.

I've had zero issues with Vista Ultimate 64bit (once I'd disabled UAC) and now use it exclusively on my desktop pc's. I'd only use XP Pro SP3 on my notebooks,however.:)