I am just curious what type of computer everyone uses to edit pictures?
I have done a TON of research on computers and know what I "should" look for.
I researched the whole laptop vs desktop question....
I have also researched the whole mac vs. PC question....
I am just looking to see what people actually have and if they like it.
I have a Mac desktop (24" iMac), laptop (MacBookPro), and an iPad. I do most of my editing on the desktop because of the large screen. I love Macs because they are user friendly and have fewer viral issues.Macs come with iPhoto which allows me to do basic editing (cropping, straightening, color adjustment, etc.). Macs tend to be a little more pricey at the get-go, but you'll have very few problems with it later on.
I have a HP laptop, it works great for me! It has Intel duo-core inside.
It has a 15 inch screen, I would like it to be bigger, but this was what I could afford...
The colours are good and editing-programs run smooth.
I have a Dell E4310, dual boot win64, Suse Linux x64. I also have a quad core desktop running Suse Linux x64, which hosts among other things my personal photo site: http://photos.consultxg2.com
All my post processing is done using DigiKam running on Linux, on either of the machines.
Always been a PC user, still got 5 of them at work, but have just switched to an iMac at home for photo processing. Expensive, but definitely worth it!
I have a Mac running on Snow Leopard OS. I previously had a HP Laptop and a Dell XPS. The Dell was great. The laptop was alright, just not good for photography. The photos appeared to be fine, and looked great after they were processed, but when I would look at them on my mac (desktop) I couldnt believe the difference. It was like night and day. I love my Mac it works great for my projects!
I have an old pc :( its a Dell dimension , its rubbish BUT it handles my editing software just fine and its ok for surfing the net i guess ..... my sons each have netbooks that i use too and my fella has a laptop i se also but main pc is mine
I have a Macbook Pro and I am totally obsessed with it. I was a PC user my whole life, and switching to Mac was the absolute best choice ever. It has never had a virus, or any type of issue whatsoever, whereas my PC was having issues every 5 minutes it seemed. As far as the laptop versus desktop debate, I would choose laptop every time. They are so much more functional for the most obvious reason...portability! you can take it anywhere and everywhere....love my laptop. So, all this is to say, Mac, all day everyday :) And laptop's kick desktops sorry butts :P LOL!! Good luck choosing!
i bought a used Acer laptop (2yrs old already upon purchase) because i can't decide what specs to have on a new pc. it runs a bit slow and one of the hinges already broke off because of the brittleness (probably from the heat). then i decided i needed one with a bigger engine so i bought a newer HP laptop. the HP conked out in no time from a burnt video card. so now, i'm back to my old trusty Acer with Photoshop CS2. looking at a macbook pro upgrade within the year. :D
I rock an E6600 Core2Duo, but that's probably more detail than you need. Windows XP running on desktop PC hardware which was, four years ago, pretty top end. Still holds up well today, Lightroom's perfectly responsive unless I'm doing tonnes of spot fixes or paintbrush stuff, and then a little patience sees me through.
Have a laptop too, runs Vista (sadly), and was pretty top end about two years ago. Wouldn't want to try using Lightroom on it, really. Has enough RAM, but lacks the processing power.
Need to look into a decent external storage solution.
As far as desktop versus craptop, the main headline is power versus portability. I'd only go laptop if I *had*, for some pressing reason, to be able to see large photos on a large screen whilst on location. Otherwise, if it's just stuck in the house, it has no real advantages.
Mac versus PC can be harder to call, not least because of the Mac fanboys, and anti-Mac fanboys (not to be confused with PC fanboys, which don't exist). People of a certain level of experience will tell you that Macs are more suited to "media production" but that's not been true for years. Macs and PCs even share the same hardware now, and have done for ages. It's purely down to which OS's interface you get along with, which will probably be down to whichever you were first exposed to. All else being equal, Windows is more flexible and open and easier to "locate" software for, whilst Macs tend to run into less problems with malware and viruses and such, offering a simplified streamlined approach.
I've been working with Macs since 1992. Agree with @eyebrows that there is less and less difference b/t Mac and Windows platforms; much like the canon vs. nikon debate. Having said that, I've been working with Macbook Pros since they came out, on my third one. I have a large screen at home along with an external keyboard, that allows me to be portable. I sometimes wish for a Mac Tower, but then I see a new piece of glass and end up drooling over that ;-). I do like the reliability of the platform, and the simplicity of the software, and lack of viruses (so far).
I have a MacBook laptop and love it. I use iMac for basic editing and it's all I need really. Never have any problem with viruses or other issues. Have always been a Mac user at home; have used PCs but can't wait to get back to the Mac when I do.
I have a 15 inch MacBook pro laptop 2.8 ghz intel core 2 duo, with 4 gb ram. It is a year old and still runs great, and I haven't had one single problem with it ever. I use Adobe photoshop for editing, and can have 6 or 7 other programs open at the same time and it doesn't bat an eye. I love the os, I'm a mac fangirl for sure. We have all macs in our house, several ipods, 2 iphones, an ipad and my husband has a G5 for his desktop and we have some old G4's still kicking around for servers. I work with PC's at work and windows 7 doesn't seem to be to bad. It seems pretty solid, way better than vista if you go the pc route. If you are getting a new machine get the most ram and fastest processor you can afford, and also consider external backup. My 2 cents!
@eyebrows - Thank you for noting that the hardware is the same on both now. I grow tired of the debate over PC vs MAC (unless of course you have a financial interest in either, :-P )
I have both PC and MAC. Both are fine, and each have advantages.
If you are considering MAC and have any computer knowledge (hardware and software), you should consider building yourself a Hackintosh*. As @eyebrow said, the hardware is the same so its possible. Google it and you should find tons of research. Not too hard. Unless of course I am not supposed to say that here. In which case I was just kidding.
I have a dell inspiron 600m. Ancient I know, but still works. I also know that it's going to die really soon as I have the monitor hinge taped to my laptop. Hahaha! It's starting to get really slow (to the point of annoyance) but still works. I heard that a bigger RAM will be best for photo editing. I asked in another discussion about where to save files.......an external hard drive or copying to cds were advised.
I'll watch this thread as I'm shopping for a new pc too. :)
i have 2 dell m6400's mainly using ubuntu 10.10 and have a win 7 partition for photoshop. also an hp tc4400 tablet with ubuntu on it. i need to get rid of one of the m6400's but haven't yet. i also have a dell desktop that i use mainly for tinkering with and a poweredge 2400 server i am converting into a media server.
I have a Mac Pro tower running at my editing desk with two Acer 21" widescreen HD monitors.
I also have a Macbook Pro for mobile editing with a smaller, 15" widescreen monitor so I can still run dual monitors if I want.
An iPad is next on my list, but purely for fun. I think I could use it for displaying my portfolio to potential clients, but it has very, very limited photo-editing abilities at the moment.
I have a Mac Book Pro and an iMac with a 27" monitor (that one was a Christmas present to ourselves). I love them both!!! Because of how much I edit photos and do media type stuff, I will never ever go away from Mac! I have a PC at work and each day I find a new reason to hate it. It is so sloooooow.
I have a quad core i7 dell laptop with 6 gigs of ram and a dual core older PC with 6 gigs of ram. They both process images very fast so I do editing on them interchangeably. But the desktop is where the bulk of the work is done simply because of the 24" monitor and 2 TB of storage built into it.
I have two dell desktops that are nice but in box since I am moving! :p My laptop is a Toshiba- i7, 640/4 , nvidia geforce, 16' HD LED, windows 7... I love it. I do like editing on a desktop better for the giant screen otherwise I prefer the laptop because Im on the go so much and really is just as much of a beast like my desktops. Some of the options I choose because I like to game as well. Thinking about switching the desktops to alienware sometime soon!
A Desktop that was built by the company I used to work for called Desktop Computers, its nearly 8 years old but still works although a bit slow and a Compaq CQ60 Laptop
Ehrmm. Well,it has a Tv-thingy where you see the intern-net,and rodent with a long tail that I need to squeeze,and that thingy with the buttons,a lot of buttons!
...oh,and a black box where you put in the small vinyl records! ...
-AMD Phenom 8650 Triple-Core Processor-2.30 Ghz
-DDR2-3 GB
-Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS graphyc card
-64 bit OS-Windows 7
-a really old Dell screen (made in `99!)
-blah blah blah blah
@bobg never underestimate the power of the penguin! if i could get photoshop to work on fully on ubuntu i don't think i would ever need to use winblows.
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I host my files on a Acer Home Server with a back-up on drop box.
and I use a newer laptop for video editing and some photo stuff on the run.
I use PC, because well all that works for me and costs less than one MAC desktop...
It has a 15 inch screen, I would like it to be bigger, but this was what I could afford...
The colours are good and editing-programs run smooth.
If I could afford it though, I'd get a Mac
All my post processing is done using DigiKam running on Linux, on either of the machines.
Have a laptop too, runs Vista (sadly), and was pretty top end about two years ago. Wouldn't want to try using Lightroom on it, really. Has enough RAM, but lacks the processing power.
Need to look into a decent external storage solution.
As far as desktop versus craptop, the main headline is power versus portability. I'd only go laptop if I *had*, for some pressing reason, to be able to see large photos on a large screen whilst on location. Otherwise, if it's just stuck in the house, it has no real advantages.
Mac versus PC can be harder to call, not least because of the Mac fanboys, and anti-Mac fanboys (not to be confused with PC fanboys, which don't exist). People of a certain level of experience will tell you that Macs are more suited to "media production" but that's not been true for years. Macs and PCs even share the same hardware now, and have done for ages. It's purely down to which OS's interface you get along with, which will probably be down to whichever you were first exposed to. All else being equal, Windows is more flexible and open and easier to "locate" software for, whilst Macs tend to run into less problems with malware and viruses and such, offering a simplified streamlined approach.
Roughly.
So Laptop only, running Win XP, does everything I need, word processing, shop accounts, surfing the Internet Oh and a bit of photo editing too ;-)
Games? Isn't that what consoles are for?
I have both PC and MAC. Both are fine, and each have advantages.
If you are considering MAC and have any computer knowledge (hardware and software), you should consider building yourself a Hackintosh*. As @eyebrow said, the hardware is the same so its possible. Google it and you should find tons of research. Not too hard. Unless of course I am not supposed to say that here. In which case I was just kidding.
*Disclaimer: My mac was purchased.
I'll watch this thread as I'm shopping for a new pc too. :)
I also have a Macbook Pro for mobile editing with a smaller, 15" widescreen monitor so I can still run dual monitors if I want.
An iPad is next on my list, but purely for fun. I think I could use it for displaying my portfolio to potential clients, but it has very, very limited photo-editing abilities at the moment.
...oh,and a black box where you put in the small vinyl records! ...
-AMD Phenom 8650 Triple-Core Processor-2.30 Ghz
-DDR2-3 GB
-Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS graphyc card
-64 bit OS-Windows 7
-a really old Dell screen (made in `99!)
-blah blah blah blah
The linux verys works better than the windows one.