New Computer Suggestions Please?

[LeeDevelopment]

Hi.... now I'd love an iMac, full stop, but can't afford one. I've tried several times to save but things called 'bills' and 'rent' gets in the way.

My desktop PC is on its last legs, it's a home-build and was only ever meant to be a stop-gap machine .....however this 'stop-gap' has lasted 9 years now, oops!

I'm looking for a machine that will let me play music videos through iTunes etc without slowing everything else down, i.e. my browser and MSN, Outlook etc. I'm not a gamer and neither is the other half, we're both big music fans though so looking for a full bore media machine with shit hot audio and graphics cards.

One of the reasons I want a Mac is because of the graphics packages, and they seem to be the media industry 'standard' machines. I have files upon files of negatives from when I studied photography and want desperately to get back into it with a new digital SLR. As it stands my desktop simply isn't powerful enough to do much at all, and it's pissing me off.

Can anyone offer suggestions on various machines for me to look at please?

Many thanks,


Lee.

 

[dyna-ti]

For your media graphics and that sounds what youre into and need it for.Then a mac is the only choice

This is from a M/soft fan

 

[SF Klein]

Don't overlook the Mac Mini. If you have a desktop (with monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.) then all you really need is the Mini and you can use your old monitor, keyboard, etc. with it which saves you some money. I have a 4 year old Core 2 Duo (1.86Ghz, 320Gb hard drive and 2 Gb of RAM) and I use it to manage all my music, videos, and photos. It's connected to my TV as a monitor with a wireless keyboard and mouse but usually I use the built in screen sharing to access it with my MacBook. Anyway, to me, it's more than enough computer and you get the benefits of the Mac OS in the cheapest available hardware. And according to Adobe, the current Mac Mini's are more than adequate for running PhotoShop (part of Creative Suite) and that's the #1 graphics package being used among professionals. I'm actually interviewing with Adobe next week.

 

[llamedos]

I know None Mac users who have got on fine sorting out graphics !!

I also know of a Mac user who dose not do anything graphical

Go figure !

 

[FluffyChicken]

For what you want the only 'power' you need is to manipulate picture quickly.

So since the new i3 and i5 are out, look at one of them with integrated to the chip graphics. The integrated graphics will push BluRay/HD resolution around and be perfectly fine at Photoshop work. If you needed later on you could easily add a new standalone graphics card.


Though in Intels wisdom to make things easier to understand in the range, it's now ever more complicated than ever, names overlapping, different motherboards needed for apparently the same series, dual cores and quad under the same name and you may or may not have on the chip graphics...

Though personally,
If you're building your own though, build around the Core i5 750, it's not integrated graphics, but a drop in budget graphics card should do you well if money is tight. It's Quad core and quick, more than perfect for what you want to do. The integrated i5 6xx series are dual core iirc but you'll benefit from the quad.

Sound, try the on board first then if that's no good move to something more along the audiophile side someone will happily take your £200 for a top end standard gaming card by Creative/Asus and I'm sure there are some more expensive pure Audio cards but you'd need to go read about them as I've not follow them since AWE32's and Audigy's, speakers, I assume you already have an external amp and speaker setup.
Motherboard just get one with to ports you need.
Memory 4GB of Crucial or similar stuff should do the job.
Harddrive, well pick a nice 1TB+
Motherboard, just check it has all the ports you need, which it will.

blah blah blah. Budget really dictates what you buy.

 

[pingu]

What sort of budget are you looking at? Do you just want the desktop computer or are you looking for other stuff included like a monitor and speakers. You can get some quite high spec hardware for about £400 as long as you shop aboout enough and don't get taken in by the people working in the shops. You need to make sure to check out the specs though.

If you want to be able to multitask with your pc you want to have a reasonable amount RAM. The hard drive size probably isn't that important as you can always by external memory and any important data wants to be stored externally anyway. If you are planning to carry out extensive work in graphics programs on large photos you'll want to make sure the processor is up to scratch too (really you'll want Intel or AMD as the budget ones like celeron tend not last very long and aren't worth the price difference). If you plan to do graphics work you'll almost certainly want a decent graphics card. Anyway hard to advise without knowing your budget.

Basically shop around, make sure to check all the specs as normally only the best ones are advertised and don't get ripped off by someone trying to sell you loads of extra integrated packages and security suites and insurance and whatever else.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Celeron is Intel
Also they last just as long since they are just the cut down versions of the higher chips with a different name.

 

[JeRkY]

If your only doing photo touch up work, I wouldnt worry too much about graphics cards. Even a relatively basic spec will allow you reasonable enough umph to be able to render 2D images at a reasonable rate.

Processor and memmory would be more important to concentrate on.

Mac mini is a neat all in one sollution.

PC's offer the modularity to add in a graphics card if you decide you want to render rapidly changing 3d images etc.

 

[drcarlos]

Dell inspiron 570 will give you a decent base with a Radeon HD built in but the ability to add in a second card for x-fire if you really need it. Sound wise chuck in a Creative x-fi add in card and for about £400 you should be set. Mac mini is really basic hardware but they do make a reasonable media centre with a couple of mods, like and upgraded CPU, Windows (sorry Media Centre is just more usable on a TV) and a decent USB soundcard (like the x-fi).

Carl.

 

[JohnH]

Mac mini is really basic hardware...

Ummm, I don't know about that. I'm on my second Mac Mini and it is easily capable of full-frame video editing on iMovie across two 20" monitors....

LeeDevelopment, if you just want a Mac that lets you watch music vids while you browse the net, a Mac Mini will be more than enough for you -- even a 1.66GHz Mini will manage that (that was my first Mini).