Computer for D60

Hello all,
I'm ready to buy the D60, but not quite sure what I need for state of the art pics as far as computer specs are and the best printer to print out the pics. I guess what I'm saying is, I'm looking to upgrade my system to accomodate the introduction of the D60. Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

I'm sure you'll get all kinds of advice about the fastest and latest systems available, but really, it's a matter of how patient / in a hurry you are. At a minimum you need to be able to run photoshop type program, and maybe a browser downloader. As always, more/faster is usually better, but not always required. A good, sharp monitor, sufficent hard drive space to store your images, some way of backing up your files are all you need. I can run ps7, breeze browser, and acdsee on a 266mhz p2 laptop with 256mhz ram and 20gb of hd space. It's slow, but works. In contrast, my main workstation is a 2ghz p4 system 768mb ram 160gb ata 133 ide raid with (2) 17" trinitron monitors. waiting on the price of the dvd burners to come down a little bit more. As far as printers go, the epson photo series has gotten really good reviews. I have an 870 which does a pretty good job, although for $6 a piece I can get a local photo shop to print me 8x10 color laser prints.
I know I'm kind of biased towards intel and away from Macintosh, probably because I build my own systems, don't like apple's proprietary policy, haven't seen a mac that has the price / performance ratio comparable to my pc, and am getting tired of listening to my wife **** about the mac she has to work with at work. Seriously, Get a system you can afford, and can be upgraded in the future. The monitor is the most important part of the system. Don't mail order one of these unless you've seen one in a store before ordering. They're like speakers, everyone sees a little differently, and test results and advertising can't convey an actual image.

With the D60 you're going to get better quality images and much BIGGER images. Assuming a reasonably up-to-date processor is running, to edit photos like this the things that will matter most in a PC are the RAM, video card, and monitor.

If you're using Photoshop, there are some defaults that should be changed to speed things up, but have 512MB of RAM if your going to open up multiple images and have other apps running in the background. I had a P2 266 desktop before moving to a P4 2GHz. Like the other post says, its a matter of how long you want to wait. For me, it was a startling difference that I found worth the investment six months ago, and P4 systems have really come down in price since.

If you're thinking about a desktop, you'll need to ensure the maximum resolution you want to run is supported by both the monitor and video card at a refresh rate in at least the 72Hz range, preferrably higher. Any lower, and you get flicker. The faster the refresh rate, the more "solid" the picture looks.

This isn't an issue for notebooks or flat panel displays, but they have native resolutions. Set them to other than native resolution and they don't look so good. Make sure you're prepared to use 1024x768 resolution for the life of the monitor or laptop if you decide to go with a flat panel. There are some flat panels and now laptops with higher native resolutions, but at a correspondingly higher price.

Yes, a Pentium 4 1.8 gHz system is nice -- but it's overkill for probably 99% of the people who buy them.

Too many people mistakenly follow the "buzz" and get the fastest processor they can afford, and then skimp in other areas.

You'll have better performence if you knock the processor selection down a notch and double the memory. I guarantee it.

If you're buying a new computer -- almost any of the processors currently in production will be great for photo work.

Spend the money on memory, hard disk space, and if you have some left play with your monitor/graphics card selections.

Again -- memory!! disk space!! -- the more you have of those, the happier you'll be for your money.


Jasper!

Darrell,
Thanks so much for your input. Your experience regarding this subject and info is appreciated.
Mike

Dazimmerann,
Thanks for the info. I appreciate the help.
Kind of new at purchasing cameras at this level.
Thanks again,
Mike

Jadams,
Thanks a bunch for the info. OK, I think I've got it: Spend bucks on-------- MEMORY, HARD DRIVE SPACE, GRAPHICS. Your help is appreciated.
Mike

Hi Mike-

I just reread my reply. I didn't mean to sound that pushy.... jeez. Sorry about that.

I forgot to mention about printers...

The Canon S900 is a very nice printer. It's around $350-380. It prints borderless prints up to 8.5" x 11". It has 6 cartridges, and one of the smallest ink drops on the market for that price point.

I tried this printer, and I liked it. The prints were great. It's VERY VERY fast.

But you have to ask yourself what you'll be printing and how much you'll be printing. I calculated it out and it's either exactly the same or cheaper to print with one of the online services such as ofoto.com. The packs of 4"x6" borderless paper run about $9 for 20 sheets -- and then you have to pay for the ink, too.

When I asked myself this, I decided it wasn't worth it. Most things I print are either going to be larger than 8.5" x 11" or are going to be some sort of package that would be hard for me to print/cut up myself and aren't needed ASAP -- I can wait a day or two to get the prints mailed. Plus, printing your own photos is a full time job in itself. You need to calibrate your printer, keep track of ink, etc. . I find it easier to worry about the photos and let someone else worry about printing them. Then if they print badly, I can complain to someone. If I printed them myself, I can't complain.

I would suggest not buying the printer right away if you're just getting the camera/lenses. Use the camera and use ofoto,shutterfly,etc. to order prints. Then, if you aren't happy with that option, investigate the printer further -- you'll only be out the cost of the prints (about $0.30/$0.40 each) and you'll have a better feel for how good having the printer is in your situation.

My computer setup consists of a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop 700 MHz PIII with 512MB RAM, a 30GB hard drive, and a 32MB Rage Mobility graphics card (CD-RW etc., too). I have the 14" screen that runs 1400X1050 native. When I'm at my desk it sits on a coolpad with an external mouse, graphics tablet, and keyboard attached and a second monitor running with expanded desktop. The second monitor is an 18" calibrated flat panel and I generally use that to guage colors and things. It's a better monitor as far as the photo people are concerned than the built-in LCD (though I don't think that the built-in LCD is half bad).

(hehe, I also have it hooked up to my stereo and that second monitor is great for watching movies.. but don't tell my accountant I do that -- business use only, business use only, business use only.. I keep forgetting)

The PIII 700 MHz with 512MB RAM works great for me. I'm almost always running at least Outlook (memory hog!), two IE windows, and WinAmp while converting files and working in Photoshop. I haven't had any problems.

Just my experience, your mileage my vary. Good luck!

Jasper

I would like to disagree with the notion that this is not the job for a laptop. Here's my line of thought on the subject.

First being an outdoor photographer that routinely goes with other photographers to areas to shoot you can very easily shoot a ton pf pictures in a day.

Most of the digital group average 300 to 400 shots on a good day with the film guys and gals averaging 10+ rolls of film. If you shot raw format thats is equal to 3-- 1GB CF or microdive's (average 135 pictures per 1 GB drive) .

For sure your desktop machine hasn't come along with you for the ride to download them to. That amount of storage will cost you at least $1,000 US to purchase. Now lets visit a notebook solution.

For about $1,100 US you can purchase a Toshiba Satalite with 1.2 Ghz, 256 RAM 30 GB hard drive and a CD-BURNER. (Only using Toshiba as an example, I don't work for them but do own one. 1.6 GHz. Other manufactures have similar machines with P IV 1.6 to 1.8 machines in the 1,500 US range with burners)

Now you have the horespower, the storage, and a way to archive your valuable shots while on site.

As far as the monitor goes, almost all laptops are capable of 1280 or some even 1600 resolution when connected to a normal desktop monitor. So having to live with 1024 resolution is not an issue, especially with the reasonable price of 17 and even 19 inch monitors. When I am out shotting, my laptop is no farther than my SUV.

It's also great to slip your cf card into the laptop while on a break to see whay the pics really look like.

Just MHO
Denny

I agree with mrchips. If I did not play games and make music with my PC, I would get a good laptop with a capable display adapter as the only PC. But for D60 RAW conversion you'll need the fastest CPU and most RAM you can get (note that mobile processors are always slower that equivalent desktop processors)

Only real problem with laptops is that they are quite fixed-feature machines, so make sure it has all the ports you need when you buy it. At least 2 USB ports and firewire is essential in near future.

There are also external USB CD burners (e.g. Plextor) which work with older laptops, too.

My strategy...

Dell 2ghz tower $700
add 512k $60 (from Best Buy)
add extra 80 gig hd $90 (from newegg.com)
19" display $400

purchase refurb 366mhz laptop like IBM Thinkpad 600 for about $500 to use as a remote image bank.

Total cost about $1700

Unless you are keen on playing games which need a high performance video card, I would buy whatever computer you can get for around $1000, buy a decent 19 inch monitor and call it a done deal. If you buy from a mom and pop store that builds to suit, you will probably wind up with a better video card and hard drive than you will get from a major retailer.

Look for 7200 rpm Hard Drive, 512 MB of memory ( some video cards don't like more than 512MB of system memory ) I like the Microsoft optical wheel mice and have been happy with my $100 intuos tablet for fooling around with photoshop.

I agree with whoever said an old laptop was good as a digital wallet and for review. I would alter the suggestion by recomemnding the least coslty laptop that has a CD burner.

I would not use a laptop as a desktop replacement because of the speed of the hard drive and the fact that I prefer to edit photos on a tube monitor. If you are going for a desktop replacement, consider and external monitor/keyboard/mouse​. There are docking ports that make this easy on some laptops.


Paul

I don't think I agree with the "only PC" bit.

For a long time, I had a laptop as my only PC, and I thought it was a good setup. Some months ago I bit the bullet and bought a nice desktop system at a swap meet (so it worked out cheap, and I got to pick and choose what I wanted).

It is an Athlon XP1600+ (1.4 GHz), 768 MB RAM, 2 hard drives (40GB and 80GB), 20x speed CD burner and a 16x DVD drive. Coupled with a nice monitor, it was so much better for editing photos (and doing anything else for that matter) than my laptop, that I upgraded my laptop now! (I now have a Pentium 4 1.6 GHz with 256MB RAM, 30 GB hard drive, internal 8x speed CD burner). I am about to upgrade my laptop RAM to 512MB, and then I'll be happy!

BUT, I still prefer to use my desktop for any critical photo work. The laptop is good enough to check your photos out in the field, but I find the display is not quite good enough to do serious editing work.

Sure, you could have a good, fast laptop, with an external monitor and stuff, but then desktop systems are really cheap now, and much more easily upgraded than laptops. I purchased this last laptop with the knowledge that it will be good enough for my D30 photos, and possibly quite a bit slower, but still good enough for my next digital camera (I'm hoping that the 1D replacement will be the one! ). So the laptop will "do" in a pinch and in the field, but I can easily upgrade the desktop in the future, so working in Photoshop will be fast and enjoyable.

Plus, plugging the external monitor into a laptop is a pain...

Depends on your laptop, I just "plug" my 19" in and turn on the laptop with the cover shut, Presto the outside monitor goes to 1280 resolution

I did preset the machine to go to this resolution when it finds an external monitor.