5DMII owners: What lap/desktop do you use to process files?

My jurassic Dell 1521 can't handle these large 21MP raw files anymore. So I will be purchasing a new desk or laptop soon. I'm not updated with all the different specs out there. Can anyone recommend a computer that can handle these files efficiently? My budget at the moment is less than $1100.00.

Thanks.

The RAW files from the 7d are about the same size.... I'm running a Asus G73J Laptop with a Pentium i7 Processor, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 1GB ATI Radeon 5870, and 7200 RPM 500GB HDD.... I added an additional 500GB HDD, and I use it for all of my processing. This thing is a power-house... and at Best Buy, you can pick one up with 6GB of Ram and a single 500GB HDD for about $1100

I think you may have a hard time buying a laptop that will handle 5DmkII files, at an affordable price that is.

I do all my editing on my desktop. Go to a reputable computer shop where you live and have them price out something with Intel i7 processor, 8gb of RAM (or more, it's really not that expensive) that is the main thing for crunching the raw files. Video card you do not need anything too fancy (such as a gamer would need) even a $50 card would be fine. For photography more processor cores is generally better then less cores and faster CPU speed, the i7 should take care of that. Windows 7 runs really great as well, 64-bit if possible.

I build my own PCs. This is my current primary system:

Case: Corsair 800D
CPU: Intel Core i7 930 Bloomfield @ 3.8GHz
HSF: Corsair H50
MOBO: Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
RAM: Corsair 12GB (6 x 2GB) DDR3 @ 1488MHz
Videocard: ASUS EAH4870X2
PSU: Corsair HX850W
HD: 2xRaptor 150gb Raid 0, 2x Seagate 320gb Raid0, 2xWD Green 1.5TB, 1xWD Green 1TB
Monitor: Westinghouse LVM-37W3SE@1920x1080 (soon to be replaced with a 24" S-IPS monitor).

My secondary system is an i7 930 also at 3.8Ghz, but with 8GB of RAM, and a less powerful Nvidia Graphics card, most everything else but the HDs are the same.

Both systems are running Folding@Home on all 8 cores with idle priority at all times though, so that slows me down a tad sometimes. However the overall systems are easily fast enough to deal with that when running PS on 5dMII RAW images.

http://www.cyberpowerp​c.com/

I'm using an older Core 2 Quad, Q6600 with 8GB of ram and 4TB of storage (4 drives, 4 copies) just for photos.

Its about what I would consider minimum spec for the 5D2 raw files. It generally runs pretty well, but has the occasional delay and wait while it does a screen draw or process a preview.

Moppie wrote in post #10452504
I'm using an older Core 2 Quad, Q6600 with 8GB of ram and 4TB of storage (4 drives, 4 copies) just for photos.

Its about what I would consider minimum spec for the 5D2 raw files. It generally runs pretty well, but has the occasional delay and wait while it does a screen draw or process a preview.

I believe that is the same as what I am running. It chews up and spits out 40D RAW files easily, I would not hesitate to (and intent to) use it for 5DmkII files. I might increase the RAM for the heck of it, since my board can take 16GB. I built it last year and the CPU was only $200, I spend about $600 for the bare-bones and case which was a HUGE improvement over my AMD64 3000+ single core computer. When I build a new computer every couple of years I buy the stuff that is several months old to save some money, the "i" processors were just coming out and cost $$$ compared to the "core duo" processors.

Mine chews up 30D files while playing Modern Warefare, or Farcry 2.
But it starts dropping frames if I try playing games while it's working on 5D2 files.
Even generating previews in LR causes frames to start dropping.

I keep a little windows 7 performance widget open on a second monitor, and regularly use all 4 cores at 90-100% while using 5-6GB of ram

modest rig

Housed in Lian-Li A70F
Board: EVGA X58 SLI
CPU: Intel i7 920 at 4.0ghz cooled by Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme
12GB DDR3 OCZ Ram
Video: EVGA Geforce GTX 480
Sound: Auzentech X-Fi Prelude
Storage: Intel 80GB SSD for OS, 2 WD 640GB Blue for Documents/Extra Programs/Games and 2TB WD Green for storage.
Optical Drives: Pioneer BDR-205 Blu-ray writer and Sammy 24x DVD Burner

And of course Dell IPS Monitor

I use a msi cx420 i 5 laptop so far so good... but i'm not into much PS.. just the regular stuff...

MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz 4GB

I have a 2.53 C2D MBP and a desktop I built with an i7 920, 6GB RAM, and a 1.8GB GPU. The MBP is slow when processing batches in light room. I have a large batch of files I have to process that I'll play with and let you know how that compares. I'm running OS X on both for my photo editing programs.

I'm using a late 2008 model 15" MBP with 2.8ghz C2D, 4gb memory and Aperture can chug a bit when doing brushes or processing the edits of many files. Ideally I'd like to move it to 6gb of memory and an SSD as the OS drive to make it a little snappier.

smcclelland wrote in post #10460585
I'm using a late 2008 model 15" MBP with 2.8ghz C2D, 4gb memory and Aperture can chug a bit when doing brushes or processing the edits of many files. Ideally I'd like to move it to 6gb of memory and an SSD as the OS drive to make it a little snappier.

I was watching my performance monitor while editing photos yesterday.
The brushes and other edits all hit the CPU quite heavily using LR.
While more ram and an SSD will be nice, I don't think it will improve performance.
Quite simply the 5D2 really does show how dated the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad chips and the architecture they run on is.

I'm looking at either replacing my current CPU (Q6600) with a high spec Core 2 Quad (Q9550 or Q9505), or simply wait until next year and move up to an i7.

Moppie wrote in post #10465031
I was watching my performance monitor while editing photos yesterday.
The brushes and other edits all hit the CPU quite heavily using LR.
While more ram and an SSD will be nice, I don't think it will improve performance.
Quite simply the 5D2 really does show how dated the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad chips and the architecture they run on is.

I'm looking at either replacing my current CPU (Q6600) with a high spec Core 2 Quad (Q9550 or Q9505), or simply wait until next year and move up to an i7.

Yeah the brushes just slaughter the C2D processors but the previews are a big killer for me as well which I have read an SSD helps nicely with. I have an i7 Asus G73 that I do all my game dev on but I would hate to lose aperture even though the 8gb of ram and i7 would be so much better for 5D2 processing.