What PC?

[burnside]

All,

A very good friend of mine is thinking of buying a PC or having one built / building it himself. He wants it for photo editing as he is a photographer and has a budget of approximately £800.

Can any of the experts on here give me some hints and tips on what he should be looking at and where.

Best,

Ben

[Mr Pointy]

Does he definately want a Windows PC & not a Mac?

[burnside]

Yes, he's had a Mac and is not keen on it. He wants to try a PC.

[DONGinsler]

I would just type a PC search mentioning photo editing and see what others suggest

Biggest expense will be the CPU and video card. Don't want to buy something that will outdated in a year

Also have him join and post on a photography forum. They will know what he can get for his budget

DON

[MartynJC (UK)]

Yes, he's had a Mac and is not keen on it. He wants to try a PC.

Most strange - since jumping ship many years ago but still having to use PCs in a work situation, I much prefer a Mac - I believe photo editing is a strong point for Mac too. The new M1 will be over budget but they are phenomenal machines.

Hardware: If he really wants PC - then the SSD and RAM and then CPU/GPU specs will be important. Something from Dell, HP etc i.e. from a reputable brand. He needs to consider form-factor - does it need to be portable or just looking for desktop. Touch screen or not - then add cost of speciality trackpads / pencils for photo editing.

Also a decent screen (or two) is needed for photo editing and that is a whole topic in itself with minutia discussions (rather like Rolex discussion!). A good screen could blow his budget - but maybe a decent budget one could be had for less.

Software: Adobe software (the industry standard for photopgraphy) is subscription (like most software these days) - so that will be a recurring cost + cloud backup - MS Office 360 also.

Sorry I can't be specific on the hardware costs but there are whole forums dedicated to that.

[wileeeeeey]

Not what you want to hear but he has a good budget for the new M1 Mac Mini.

[burnside]

Thanks all.

Have passed that on and also suggested a MAC may be better!

Best,

Ben

[Phil Lee]

Depends on whether he wants a laptop or a desktop as well.

- - - Updated - - -

Depends on whether he wants a laptop or a desktop as well.

[sweeney]

Thanks all.

Have passed that on and also suggested a MAC may be better!

Best,

Ben

I built a PC last year after 30 years of Apple ownership as the current Mac range at the time didn't have a machine that fitted my requirements for a sensible budget. I now run the two side by side and using Adobe Creative Cloud apps on both is pretty seamless. I was expecting far more points of difference. You get used to the foibles of Windows 10 and in some ways it even has its advantages over Mac OS. A bit more problem solving needed at times though. Even with the introduction of the new M series chips I don't regret my decision.

[mrsammyp]

Would also recommend Mac Mini M1 all day long for those tasks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk