Deleated and moved it to the right place I think. Photo editing computers.

Back to the real topic:

parke1953 - big thing to remember that on laptops, a i7 xyz and a i7 xyz on a desktop are leagues apart. Mobil processors are much slower than their desktop counterparts. I've looked at laptops again (seems like I switch ever other upgrade) and from what I have seen the i7 3800 on up will be faster than the older desktops for sure. One i5 I looked at had the same benchmarks of my desktop that is going on 6 years old now.

The big thing I have noticed about win 8 machines that I have played with is that the new interface is not that bad and really is not all that different under the hood. It's not like moving from a PC to a Mac, for those who know what I'm talking about.

One thing I am focusing on, just like how glass before bodies, I'm putting $$ into a gigabit network and upgrading all that includes. Over the next 5 years that will be the real bottleneck if you want to use NAS drives. Thankfully a cousin is a networking guru for his day job. I have been using Nas drives and my D800 files are bogging it down just as much if not more than my 5 year old machine.

Food for thought.

That sounds like a pain in the you know where. Looked on line today and there are still plenty of Win7 machine around. Thanks for the info it was interesting reading.

I have found this info:
http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/pages/downgrade_rights.aspx#fbid=P4fd3bDfX8V
And this
http://m.computerworld.com/s/article/9230815/Microsoft_will_allow
_downgrades_from_Windows_8_to_Windows_7_Vista?mm_ref=http
%3A%2F%2Fuk.search.yahoo.com%2Fmobile%2Fs%
3Frewrite%3D72%26.tsrc%3Dapple%26first%3D1%26p
%3Ddowngrade%2Bwindows%2B8%2Bto%2Bwindows%2B7
%26pintl%3Den%26pcarrier%3D3%26pmcc%3D234%26pmnc%3D20

warprints- Where could I find that info. I looked at Microsoft. Nothing. I did find a upgrade offer to Win8. Would it be the venders doing this.

Re the question about finding a Win 7 machine. I don't know whether or not they followed through, but Microsoft was going to allow downgrading Win 8 Pro machines to Win 7 Pro(by allow, I mean you would not have to purchase a second license for Win 7 if you have a Win 8 License on the machine).

Thanks to all. Now to find one.

Just for system and programs is an option (and what I did), but if you have the budget, like you said they have come down in price.

I reckon that I could archive the vast majority of my images and associated catalogues on disk and just leave the good stuff and the newest stuff on SSD. I just have to find the best way to manage that on LR though.

spraynpray- The SSD is that just for faster boot up and to run LR and PS and then direct pic's and everything else to the other drive and external drives? Most SSD's are not very big (120 to about 750GB)and they cost more.

p.s. Just looked on line and SSD's have really come down in price.

Skinty, it's no wonder you are skint with that attitude!

@parke1953 - don't forget to get SSD instead of a hard disk.

sevencrossing said:
when I last looked, a high spec machine cost twice the price of a Dell

Dell gave me a substantial discount on one machine

Apple would give me 10% if I bought 10

and many( non photo editing ) Programs will not run on a Mac

if you have CS6 for a PC you have to buy a new version to run on a Mac

which in the UK will cost you another £600+

You're so right about all that, but it doesn't change the single emotion I feel every time I walk in to an apple store...........LUST!

@parke1953. Sounds like you have the right idea, though from what my buddies here on the forum have said, don't be too worried about the graphics card.....spend your money on an i7 with plenty of RAM first. Sounds like kanuck might be joining you :-)

Finally I fight perfectly into a new release for a product. My current beast is from October 2007 and needs to be replaced. Just trying to finish my last semester of grad school with it and will upgrade to a new processing monster with Windows 8 in late spring or early summer in 2013. My D800e files have not been kind to my Hp with 4GB of RAM and crappy graphics card. 20 minutes of adjustments per image with Lightroom 4.2 and CS5...

SkintBrit said:
From my investigation prior to buying my new PC last month, I found it would have cost nearly 50% more for an equivalent iMac.

when I last looked, a high spec machine cost twice the price of a Dell

Dell gave me a substantial discount on one machine

Apple would give me 10% if I bought 10

and many( non photo editing ) Programs will not run on a Mac

if you have CS6 for a PC you have to buy a new version to run on a Mac

which in the UK will cost you another £600+

Gitzo, How are you. My son has a mac pro desktop pc that we got for him when he was in school. He is done now and right now he isn't using it much so he will set it up for me to try out.

Well I'm not sure about the mac thing, it's kind of like my cameras Nikon, my truck Dodge Cummins, my computer a pc(does this make me a fanboy). The first pc at work back in the mid 80's was a IBM AT then the XT 286. I forget what the processor was. Then later Windows was on 10 or 12 floppies and so on. You learn a lot about them over the years. My pc's run 24/7/365 my laptop the same except when i go out of town then the laptop gets turned off and comes along for the ride. Never a problem to speak of (except the usual stuff like reboot every now and then). I am not a computer guru, but if something happens I can fix it.

Don't know how to work a mac but the kid will help me. I think I'll be more comfortable with a pc I'm sure. So that said I will probably will get a pc in the next few weeks or so. I think a pc would be more cost affective for me, plus I know them better. I use XP now so the only change would be win7.

My current pc works great with my D80 and CS3, but my D800 now, cant be seen on CS3 and ViewNX2 works ok for downloading and viewing, but move a slider and wait for something to happen. I just cant wait that long.

From what I read here on the forum is that the D800 requires more processor like i7 and as much ram as i can get and as much ram as I can get on the graphics card also CS5/6 and LR4. Is that right?

I have ordered LR4 and it should be her this week. Maybe. I have enough money for a computer. PS 5 or 6 I'll have to save for (ok no Starbucks for 2 months). I have plenty of storage, monitor and stuff like that. One more thing. Graphics card, any special kind,brand,model? Did I miss something?

p.s I think I'll pass on Win8.

Gitzo, you're absolutely right about the customer service you receive from apple, both in person and on the phone. I have NEVER received better with my iPhone and iPad, but, and it's a significant but, you have to admit that although their products are beautifully made (and they are), you do pay substantially through the nose for them. From my investigation prior to buying my new PC last month, I found it would have cost nearly 50% more for an equivalent iMac. Not everyone has that privilege, me included.

parke1953..........

Before you buy a new PC, do yourself a favor and visit an Apple Store and check out the new iMacs. The difference between owning a PC and a Mac is..........incredible. After you have used a Mac for a while, you'll wonder how you ever "got by" with a PC; (IMHO)

The big problem is, there are not "that many" Apple Stores; when I lived in Cincinnati, before moving to Indiana, I had an Apple Store about 3 miles from my house; now that I live in western Indiana, I have to drive about 65 miles to Indianapolis to get to one.

They can be a great resource if you own a Mac, (especially if it's less than 3 years old) I was have issues with the display on my "old" iMac (8 yrs old it turned out), and I drug the thing to the Apple Store, waited about 5 minutes for an "appointment" with a "genius"..........and he had the thing running again in less time than I had waited ! ( and it cost me nothing ) I don't know of anyone doing that for "old" PC's !

A word of warning though...........once you see the display on a new 27 inch iMac, you'll have a terribly difficult time settling for anything less !

I bought mine at the Apple Store; if I was doing it again, I would order the thing from Apple, (like I did with the last one) and have it the way I want it from the beginning.

The things come with 4 GB of RAM installed; I bought two 4GB modules of memory, (about $90 if I remember right) and they just "plug right in" to (or in) an access port on the bottom of the machine; (you don't have to open up the machine) as soon as I can "get around" to it, I'm going to remove the two 2GB modules that came with it, and replace them with two more 4GB modules, which will give me a full 16GB of memory. (Then I plan to get a few software things that need lots of RAM)

A few posts back, someone mentioned that there is "essentially no difference between PC and Macs"; I'm not a computer "guru", I'm not a "geek", and I'm definitely NOT an engineer..............but I just happen to be fortunate enough to have a son who IS all of those things. He has been developing weapons for the U.S.N. for about 24 years now, and is the main reason why I bought my first Mac, (a "mirrored door" power Mac, about 12 or 14 yrs ago. ( Having a son with a BS. a MS, and a PhD in EE makes it pretty handy to get the "straight scoop" about computer "stuff" !)

And storage capacity.........it's getting cheaper than potato chips ! My new machine has a 1TB hard drive, and I purchased a 2 TB external HD at Sam's club........(for less than a hundred bucks !) (now if only diesel fuel and gasoline would do that ! )

SkintBrit & Pierre3. Thanks got my skates on and will check them out.

Sorry, Costco is the cheapest I have found for most people in the US. For Mac's i use CDW

This a great discussion, I have it almost daily. I am the head geek for public company with 100’s of PC’s, Mac and tablets.

My personal network at home has, 3 laptops, 2 desktops, 2 kindles and 2 iPad and every phone that my kids bring home. I also have two ThinkPad’s for work that never shut off in my home office. (I am a geek). After over 20 years of developing software and building networks, here is my great wisdom.

Never, Never, Never use the new release of any operating system. Wait 3 months for the first set of patches I don’t care if it Windows, Mac, Unix. What drives the need for a new system is games and graphics. Most productivity software like Word, Excel, Outlook are storage hungry not processor hogs and not dependent on the a new OS.

Now as graphics users (Photoshop, Aperture) we need processor(s) and ram, oh and lots of video ram the more the better. The real question is will the editing software your using work with the new OS? Are you running 64 or 32 bit? The “cloud” is great but even with a fast internet connection how many photos do you want to be uploading. Do you want USB 2 or 3 or thunderbolt for extra storage. The operating systems is cheap, they give them away. Get them to throw in Creative Suite. Upgrading your software to not only work, but work well is true cost.

Upgrading the OS has lot of ramifications, I have friends that are running networks with 1000’s of users on Windows XP.

parke1953 - I have found for most people in the US Costco has the best prices.

TriShooter said:
If you do not have, or plan to use a touch screen, and already using a 64 bit Win OS it is pointless to update to Win8 right now.

Thanks for that, that was the conclusion I had come too also.

parke1953 said:
Am looking to get a new desktop computer in the next few weeks. I use xp now on my laptop cant even remember how old it is. The wife has a desktop but its slow. So i7 8/10 or 12 gig of ram. I would like to get win7 but most now most are coming with win8 or would it matter. I have a D800 so PP has not been much fun. Can afford about a $1000 maybe a little more. Any ideas

That's a tough one. I'm not in the US so can't point you in the direction of an actual machine/seller, but I would think that if you get your skates on, this might actually be a very good time to pick up someone's "old" inventory, with Win7 installed?

Am looking to get a new desktop computer in the next few weeks. I use xp now on my laptop cant even remember how old it is. The wife has a desktop but its slow. So i7 8/10 or 12 gig of ram. I would like to get win7 but most now most are coming with win8 or would it matter. I have a D800 so PP has not been much fun. Can afford about a $1000 maybe a little more. Any ideas

I have been running Windows 8 beta off and on for about 10 months in a VMWare Virtual Machine and agree it is an operating system designed for touch screen. I have not used it for editing because it breaks my eye focus when swapping between mouse, paint pad, and my finger. What happens is hard to describe, but I tend to start using all three ways of interfacing and not sure it is faster after having to refocus on the picture and the tool I want to use next for editing. Windows 8 is very stable and just as fast as Win7. If you do not have, or plan to use a touch screen, and already using a 64 bit Win OS it is pointless to update to Win8 right now.

Up until about 2 months ago I was running just XP but I aquired 2 new towers with windows 7... After seeing some previews of 8 I was completely unsold. It is too dummyproof. It takes twice the effort to do the same commands one could do in windows 7 and is obviously geared at tablet users...

I bought my machine with Vista about a year after it was released - Never had any issues whatsoever. And I do mean nothing. Thing keeps humming along and it only gets shut off maybe once every 2-3 months. Knock on wood I guess.

I don't think anything less than 8Gb of ram is smart for any OS that is editing photos. My guess is that the 3gen I(5/7) series processors would be a min as well.

I'm curious on what the footprint is on the HD. Vista on mine (which is bloated over 3 years since last format) is just under 400GB. Interesting to see if a 128GB SSd can handle it with the normal programs loaded.

TaoTeJared said:
My rule of thumb for Microsoft is take the bare stated min requirements, multiply it by 3 and that is the machine you should use with it.

Tao's law; I love it

MS say min 2Gb RAM - at least 6 seems right

MS say 1 GHz - Intel i7- Quad-Core Processor is over 3 GHz,

TaoTeJared said:
New MS OSs are generally a bit bumpy for the first 6 months, so that is another reason for me to skip it.

I upgraded to XP, from 98, within days and with no problems

I don't think they ever got Vista right and I skipped that completely

upgrade to, 8 at home, within weeks, but at the time, work had too many machines to upgrade

I am keen to have my phone, fondle pad, desktop and lap top, all on the same OS system so will probably go with 8 soon