Understanding What I Need In A Computer

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Originally Posted by Colin Southern

It doesn't really. Any modern card is fine.

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I understand where Colin is coming from, and with the software you are planning to use, it is fine too. Any modern graphics card will do; BUT...

Adobe is moving more and more into the direction of using GPU acceleration using their Mercury Graphics Engine in their products Some of the functions in Photoshop CS6 definitely use this technology. Premiere Pro and After Effects heavily use this technology as well. If you are considering moving up to full-blown Photoshop at some point, you might want to check the Adobe website for recommended cards; if your card is not on the list, it may not work as well as the approved ones.

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Originally Posted by TheArcane

Looks like this one from Dell would be a good deal, and fall more in my price range.

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraShar...ut+IPS+Monitor

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I would agree with your research. While I am not necessarily a great fan of Dell products, I had the older generation 2709 monitor for exactly that reason.

GrumpyOliver has provided a lot of valid comment. For myself, since you are au fait with Windows, there is absolutely no need to buy a Mac. Get a Win desktop with a minimum of 8 gig ram, at least one Terrabyte hard drive and don't forget, most Macs have only 4 USB slots. Do you have printers, scanners, the need for a card reader etc? Most Windows machines will provide adequate ports...
But steer clear of Dell and HP. the amount of crap they load up is embarrasing! There are plenty of PC builders that will install just the OS without Norton et al.

That was another thing I was wondering, is what brand of PC to look at. I have experience with Dells from 15 years ago, and wasn't very happy at the time. My current computer is an HP seems fine, but is nothing amazing either. Probably my favorite computer I've had in the past decade was a Vaio.

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Originally Posted by TheArcane

That was another thing I was wondering, is what brand of PC to look at. I have experience with Dells from 15 years ago, and wasn't very happy at the time. My current computer is an HP seems fine, but is nothing amazing either. Probably my favorite computer I've had in the past decade was a Vaio.

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The last reviews I read gave ASUS and Lenovo very good ratings. Toshiba had excellent ratings too, but I believe they have exited the desktop business recently. Dell had the worst ratings and HP was just above Dell.

I have always built my own machines for the past 25 years. Last year I gave Apple a very hard look and came very close to buying one, but backed out when I started to see a few things that started ringing some alarm bells. Your other alternative might be to check with some of the smaller computer stores around. One of the local ones I deal with lets you pick the components you want and they then assemble and test for you.

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Originally Posted by GrumpyDiver

I would agree with your research. While I am not necessarily a great fan of Dell products, I had the older generation 2709 monitor for exactly that reason.

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Having calibrated my monitor I would make sure any monitor I bought had an RGB trim preset mode somewhere or the other. It looks to be essential.

John

I would steer clear of Dell and HP mostly because of all the junk software that arrives without an invitation. Not sure about the Sonys. Why not try the PC builders? Lenovo, Falcon, Velocity etc? The best experience is to build your own but for this you need to determine ALL your needs, research motherboards, power supplies etc. I've done it and it was most satisfying, indeed, my 1997 build is still going strong! But I have bought a replacement for daily use. The PC/Mac builders normally offer base systems that can be modified and will probably come out at a price that suits you and is better than a similarly priced Dell/HP or whatever.

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Originally Posted by TheArcane

I'm sure if I had experience shooting tethered, I would probably really like it. I don't have any experience doing so however, so I don't know what I'm missing ;).

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Usually dslr remote pro and a laptop and usb 2. That's about it really.

John

I have my system build by http://pugetsystems.com
They really use top parts and give you good advice when you tell them what you need.