Best computer for downloading, working with photos

Am looking for a new computer for my photographs. I would imagine an Apple would be best because of the retina display. Would like to keep the price around $1000. Any info that night help me? Want to keep it as simple as possible. Thanks.

An i7 based desktop PC with 16 GB of RAM, a 500 GB SSD and a 2+ TB hard drive would handle anything you could throw at it. Throw in a $100 nVidia video card IF your processing software uses GPU.

bettyn wrote in post #18135895
Am looking for a new computer for my photographs. I would imagine an Apple would be best because of the retina display. Would like to keep the price around $1000. Any info that night help me? Want to keep it as simple as possible. Thanks.

Retina is a marketing term from Apple, there is nothing special about them. You can get standalone displays as good as and better than what Apple has to offer.

Do you currently have a computer? Do you prefer Windows over Mac OS X? Do you need a new display to go with the new computer? Is this for professional use or just personal use? Do you currently have photo editing software that you prefer to use?

Have a nice Samsung monitor I use with my current laptop. Use Photoshop CS5 or Elements 13 to do editing. I also have Lightroom but find it difficult to use. Photography is just a hobby with me. I generally photograph birds. Just getting tired of the issues I've had with PCs. I think Windows 10 sucks. The latest update I received made a mess of my current computer and I'll have to go through a complicated procedure to get the machine to work with my wireless router. Computer is a HP Pavilion with 8GB RAM and 1TB hard drive.

unlike photography equipment the more expensive computer isn't always the better
https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=NDmOHU6lmRw

mike_d wrote in post #18135905
An i7 based desktop PC with 16 GB of RAM, a 500 GB SSD and a 2+ TB hard drive would handle anything you could throw at it. Throw in a $100 nVidia video card IF your processing software uses GPU.

Along those lines, Dell has a refurbished machine as follows:

Processor: Intel Core 6th Generation i7-6700 Processor (Quad Core, up to 4.0 GHz, 8M Cache, 65W)
Windows 10 Pro
2 TB 3.5-inch SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
16GB (2x8GB) 2133MHz DDR4 Non-ECC
16X DVD + RW Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 4GB GDDR3
Black

It is shown at $1029 less a 35% off code that would bring it down to about $669. That gives you room for the monitor (if you need one) and the SSD should you chose to add or upgrade.

The link is http://outlet.us.dell.​com …202&c=us&cs=22&​l=en&s=dfh and the coupon is only good until 9/27.

I recently went with a new Dell XPS 8900 with i7 6700, 16 GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 2TB HDD Multi card reader including CF as well as SD cards plus the other usual USB 3/2 Bluetooth etc. I went with a 2GB Nvidia GTX 960 GPU since I needed the Dual DP1.2 output it provides to run the Dell UP2715K 5K monitor at 60 Hz refresh. It was at £899 including our 20% VAT so £749 without tax, which should fit just fit your budget if you want to keep your monitor for the time being. It could then let you save for a UHD monitor if you chose to go that way. The system runs LR/PS fine but I haven't tried Premier on it yet. The OS and programs are on the SSD, along with the LR catalogue, all of the images themselves are on the HDD. It runs so much faster than my old system, although that was just running LR4.4, there can be a barely perceptible delay between switching from Loupe or Grid view to Develop, but then it is having to push 14.7 megapixels around on the screen. I can have all of the toolbars/menus showing, and the film strip, and still my old 300D images show at 1:1 view, remove the taskbar and my 20D images will do 1:1!

Alan

Newegg is selling the samsung 850 evo 500gb for 157 bucks right now
if you want a better gpu get one yourself instead of asking Dell to install one for you that would probably save you a hundred bucks or so

You have to decide what OS you want first, you can get any of the components you want in either Apple or Windows. For me, that's a no-brainer, windows sucks! Then just shop for a computer that fits your budget.

I bought a used 2013 MacBook Pro, i5, 8gbs Ram and 256gb flash memory and only paid $750 for it, oh and it has a retina display, and there is a difference! Sure, you can buy a monitor with an display that's looks just as good, but a laptop display is another story.

ShotByTom wrote in post #18138609
For me, that's a no-brainer, windows sucks!

Politicians get equal time, so let me say that iOS sucks! I happen to like Windows and it will do anything an Apple will do and just as well.

What really sucks about using OSX (rather than iOS, which is the phone/tablet operating system) is the fact that you cannot add additional internal storage to any of their systems. Even the server version of the hardware comes in a non expandable form factor. I eventually went with my current Dell system because I had got so fed up using laptop based computers in the desktop replacement role, and needing to have three or four external drives in cases taking up room on my desk, not to mention all the data cables, power cables, and power bricks creating a spaghetti farm . The Dell system I went with is just as well made as any Apple product, and allows me to easily expand storage internally as necessary. My Dell 5K monitor even has the same LCD panel as the new 27" 5K iMac, so my display quality is identical. Oh and it turns out that Win 10 is so much better at dealing with ultra HD resolutions than OSX, with multiple magnification options, not just doubling up to 2560×1440 size on the desktop. If you are just going buy a preinstalled system from a decent vendor, for running the Adobe suite for creative work, along with a suite of office applications to cover your word processing/spreadsheet type needs, Oh and a web browser then there is as far as I can see very little to separate either the MS or Apple operating systems. Over the years I have used almost all of the Windows desktop, rather than server, versions from MS DOS 5/Windows 3.1 for Workgroups through to Windows 10, as well as Solaris and Digital Alpha versions of Unix and various flavours of *inx, about the only OS family I have not used widely has be Apple, but even then I have been using OSX on a 27" 2560×1440 iMac roughly every couple of weeks for the last year or so. So I feel that I have a reasonably varied experience with computers. As a user there is as far as I can see no significant difference between using current versions of OSX and Windows. If you are using Adobe products, and pick a browser that is not OS specific, in my case Chrome, it is generally very hard to know which OS you are actually using most of the time. So far the only time that I have had Win 10 go down on me since I have had my new hardware was when my daughter flipped the main circuit breaker in the house, instead of just the breaker for the circuit with the faulty device. I'm pretty certain that I would have got the same result from an iMac in the same situation.

Alan