New Computer Questions

[Stephen H]

Hey folks, we will likely get a new computer over the holidays. I realize there's not definitive answers, but I would like to your opinions on:
1) Best brand or source (PC, not apple) of computer
2) Particular features to look for
3) Size of hard drive, etc., for photography.

To give you an idea, right now, my computer-photography use is pretty limited. I don't own a good digital camera, don't own PhotoShop, and the scans I work with are usually fairly small files. But, Just using the crystal ball, I would expect that before our next computer wears out, I'll probably have something along the lines of a digital Rebel and more sophisticated software, and would like to have a system set up to conveniently handle things.

Thanks for your input!

[Cope]

I have two HP Pavilions, both less than 2 years old. I have been very happy with them. I bought one at Fry's and the second direct from HP online. My monitors are Planar PL1700 flat panel LCD.

[David Whatley]

Stay away from any Celron chip. I personally like AMD. Get 1 GB ram if you can. Hard drive 60GB+. I would get a smaller HD ig I could save enough and then get an exteranl USB drive. Makesure you get a DVD burner. 17 or 19" LCD

[Terrancelee]

Do you know anything about building one yourself? Buying one in a box, instead? 2 different roads there.

I build my own, so can't really steer you in a direction for out of the box, however I'd probably go Dell for desktop. I like Toshiba for laptops, though.

[Stephen H]

I would probably do well to avoid the build-it-yourself route for various reasons- I'm doing good to get things figured out when someone else puts it together.

[Casper]

I'm a builder too. Make friends with someone in Garland to help you out. You can save enough money for several six packs and get some extra ram or a good monitor.

What ever brand you buy, I would get 1.5 to 2 gb of ram. PS on XP runs well on that. I expect PS and Vista need more.

[BCPhoto]

I'm another build-it-yourselfer. Main things you want to look for: plenty of RAM to run things (1-2 gig), at least one but recommend two hard drives, graphics card isn't that important if you're just processing photos, but a fast main CPU is definitely important. I'll second the recommend above: if you kow someone who will build one for you (I know you sound intimidated) that would be the more affordable, more powerful, and best custom computer made to fit your needs that you will ever have.

[Hanky]

If you can hold out till January vista will be on your pc however if you buy now some mfg's
promise an upgrade. From what I have read a clean install is better and leave it to Microsoft to have 4 versions to confuse things. I do not think we will ever be free of lock ups, blue screens etc.

[Bartman01]

Originally Posted by Stephen H

1) Best brand or source (PC, not apple) of computer

WHY?

If I were in the market for a new PC today I would get:
Apple Mac Pro (http://www.apple.com/macpro/).
It will run both Windows and Mac OS, so if there is that one important tool that runs on the 'other' OS you are still covered.

Things to look for otherwise:
4GB of RAM. It is usually cheaper to get the minimum amount of RAM they offer then replace it with better stuff than you would have gotten from the vendor.

I would also agree with waiting till Vista is out and getting a machine with it pre-installed.

I am assuming that your data is your livelihood so for HD - 2 250 or 500GB drives in a RAID 1 array (best solution without additional hardware for RAID 5) if you can't afford to lose any data. Then get 1-2 external drives of the same size for backups and keep one off-site as much as possible (while still backing up your data regularly). That way if the machine gets stolen or zapped by lighting you still have your stuff.

Try to get the machine with a retail (instead of OEM) copy of the OS, re-format the drives, and install everything cleanly from scratch.

[CaptainTom]

I have no idea what Bart is talking about. I am an out of the box kind of guy.
I bought a Dell Inspiron desktop and have had zero problems with it.
I needed more RAM for PS, and it was easy to install. I wanted to run two monitors and that was easy to make happen.
If I knew how to build a computer from scratch, I would. I don't , so I think the guys and gals at Dell, HP, etc. can do a better job than I can.

At least 1GB RAM. Most new machines have dual processing. Lots of USB ports (4).
DVD and CD read write ( I would settle for DVD). Don't worry or pay a lot for a huge hard drive. You can buy very reasonable external HD's, and because you have several limits your exposure to losing data when one crashes.

I don't know what RAID is except when used as a bug and insect killer.!!

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

I would go with two 250 drives vs 1 500 or 2 500's vs 1 1,000 drive.
I am a get it in a box person too but knew a guy a while back who was custom build his own from day one but he loved to mess with his all the time and upgrade this and that. The box people were limited in doing custom work in many cases with units put together 5+ years ago but that has pretty much disappeared since many of the "box" systems are easier to upgrade and customize now.

RAID is a set up to where multiple physical drives are used and they allow HOT SWAP of drives (system can be running while a bad drive can be replaced) and it basically is set up in such a way that the data is written multiple times in the system so that if one of the drives goes the other drives have all the data-really first used on Mainframe/servers so that they would not have to be shut down for drive repairs. (Yeah this ain't that technical of an answer and I may be off just a bit but it is ballpark). If you can afford it and you buy a pretty fast processor I would get a system with at least 3 hard drives that allows "hot swap" even though you may never actually replace a drive while the system is running I will be doing that when I upgrade or buy an additional system in the next year or so.

If you plan to do video work at all that requires a higher end video card and some other stuff versus what a still digital system will need.

Also when looking at cameras don't forget the Nikons!!!!!

I also would consider Apple systems especially if you will be doing video or computer animation work (heck most of those big old Computer Animated Movies that you watch at the theatres are done with Apple based systems I do believe.)

[darktiger]

Dual Core (duo 2/conroe), 1GB ddr2, 120-250gb HD should be the minimum I think. I just got rid of my last single core system with my new dualcore setup. now all 8 computers are dual core....

[Bartman01]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

I have no idea what Bart is talking about. ...

I don't know what RAID is except when used as a bug and insect killer.!!

Sorry, should have been more specific. Most off the shelf systems today support RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 (some support 5 via software). I wouldn't recommend running RAID 5 that is software based, stick with 1 or shell out the bucks for RAID 5 hardware.

RAID 0 = striping = data is striped across both drives. So 2 * 250GB drive looks like one fast 500GB drive. Benefits = speed. Drawback = one drive goes you lose ALL your data.

RAID 1 = mirroring = data is written to both drives at the same time. So 2 * 250 GB drives = 1 250GB drive that is always backed up to a second. Benefits = one drive goes and you have a full, up to date system backup.

RAID 0+1 = need 4 drives. 2 drives are written to like one big drive, and the other two constantly back those up. So 4 * 250GB drives = 1 500GB drive with real-time backup.

RAID 5 = parity backup = data is written to all drives but one and that drive holds the parity info to rebuild any lost data. 4 * 250GB drives looks like 1 750GB drive. Any single drive fails, you replace it, and the data is reconstructed from the the other drives. Big drawback = expensive to do right.

If my livelihood depended on the data on a machine, I would run RAID 1, RAID 0+1, or hardware based RAID 5. In addition to that, all data (not programs, just data) would get backed up to alternating external drives. So if I figured I could live with losing a weeks worth of data, then once a week I would back up to the on-site external drive. Then take that and swap it with the off-site drive. That way I always have a good backup of my data if the building holding the main PC and on-site backup burned to the ground.

When considering the budget for a new system, it is always important add in two things:
1) A *GOOD* UPS.
2) Adequate data redundancy/backup. You have to determine what is best for you here from a realistic cost/benefit standpoint. Just consider how expensive it would be to lose everything on that drive. Losing your main system drive can (and has) put a business out of business.

On RAM, people are recommending 1 GB. RAM is relatively inexpensive (if you buy and install yourself - or get a friend to help). Get 4GB. May sound like a lot now, but 64bit OS/Software is on the near horizon and it can really use that extra memory. If you cant justify 4, at least get 2. Also make sure you get your memory in matched pairs (so if you decide to get 1GB, get it as 2 512 chips and not a single 1GB chip).

[Hanky]

[QUOTE=CaptainTomIf I knew how to build a computer from scratch, I would. I don't , so I think the guys and gals at Dell, HP, etc. can do a better job than I can.

Name brands are good however to be competitive they have to use cost effective methods
to make a profit.

[Terrancelee]

Personally, I'd hold off on Vista. Typical Msft offering .. it looks great, but just a big ole bloatware product until they release service pack 47. How comfortable are you with operating system workings? Research Linux distros, you might like that OS better. New ones run plenty of windows apps, plus plenty of open source apps are available.