Hi

My Toshiba laptop is 3.5 years old now but it has performed like a trooper ! I upgraded it a year ago with an SSD which made a huge difference. I am running Photoshop CC now and I find that it runs low on memory very quickly. Running a 32 bit system doesn't help that problem. I have considered upgrading to 64 bit and installing 8GB of RAM but the lappy is getting on a bit so I might be better off getting a new machine with an i7 quadcore processor with 12-16GB of RAM (rather than investing on an older i5 laptop upgrade which may die in a year).As I am living in my own home again, the portability of a laptop is not that important anymore so I am also considering a desktop. I can keep the older lappy for Netflix, travelling etc...as it still works well.

I don't need a touchscreen or a Blu-ray player and I have a decent monitor. I have had a look at the Dell XPS 8700 which can be had for under 1K with 12 GB RAM, a 2TB 7200rpm disk drive a 2GB graphics card and the latest I7 chipset..
Any recommendations on a good value, reliable desktop or laptop with photo editing in mind for around 1K?

In terms of bang for buck, the desktop is the man alright.
Of course, they are getting harder to buy these days as everyone wants a tablet etc.
Silly question I suppose, but do you need Photoshop CC?
If you could use and live with an older version of PS, it might save you a few quid.

Thanks Michael

I do a fair bit of "ordinary" phototgraphy (i.e non-astro) so I do use photoshop quite a bit as well as lightroom. I signed up for a one year plan at $9.99 for PS and Lightroom. That works out at 6 Euro a month for the latest up to date versions. I am also allowed two copies (and they can be 32 or 64bit, Mac or Windows mix and match which is handy). Not a bad deal.

Hi John,
I have to agree with Michael, if portability is not an issue then a desktop is more versatile and has more muscle. You can put in multiple hard drives, mirrored or raid system, you're video card as opposed to what comes with the laptop, basically everything is upgradable.

Thanks Michael / Dave

Any recommendations on a desktop and spec. I am looking at around 1000 Euro.

Cheapest PC from Dell with a SSD is 1250 for the XPS 1820
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processor
Windows 8.1
8GB Memory
256GB Solid State Drive
Integrated Intel® HD Graphics 4400

I had a look at komplett.ie but nothing jumping out at me there.
The problem is that most PCs are still not sold with a SSD.
If you want to get the SSD from the start, that seriously reduces your choices and thereby increasing the price.

Worth looking out for HP PCs too.

Thanks Michael

I will probably add an SSD myself. It would be cheaper to get a Samsung SSD, clone it and use the high capacity drive that came with the PC for data storage using the SSD for the OS and programs. That could be done later. I would only need 120 GB at most (100 euro). The Dell XPS 8700 comes with 12GB RAM and a 2TB disk drive for 938 Euro
I have had a few HP machines in the past, two laptops and a desktop-not very reliable. I wouldn't touch an HP laptop-desktops may be better though. Toshiba, ASUS, Samsung or Sony for laptops.
Anyone experience with the Dell XPS?

John,

If money was not *really* an issue, I'd recommend building a PC. It's what I have done, with my current workhorse still 10 years old and performing as reliably and almost as hard as the new 64bit systems out there. It does help to know a little about what you're doing too, but done right, you won't be spending money as early into the future as you might when buying a complete desktop PC 'off the shelf'.

Also, in terms of software, Adobe Photoshop CS2 is free, I am told. But I have a legal copy of it that can be installed on another machine anyway. It's fast and has all the tricks you need for astrophotography processing. I even run it on my laptop with no problems too (granted, that is a 64 bit machine, but CS2 still needs a lot of resources). If you need a copy, let me know.

Seanie.

John

Feel your pain on the HP laptop. utter rubbish! Fan running at 100% all of the time.
Stay away from AMD chipsets as most of the new cameras like ZWO and QHY require a firmware update to be used with them. this update will slow the camera right down.

For my money, and Im about to buy one my self, you want at least an i5 Core processor and 8g of ram.
Windows 8 is extremely annoying but runs 64bit, which poops all over a 32bit system no matter what chip or ram you have. A good graphics card is a must, don't get one that's on the board. they are too slow. You wont get change from 450 quid for a set up like that.

As for Photoshop, I got that CC package you talk about. 12 euros I pay for Lightroom % CC 2014 and Bridge, its an amazing piece of kit. I have links to some free Lightroom actions and brushes for astronomy if you want them, drop me an email.

Thanks Seanie / Dave

Good advice and thanks for the software offer.

Well I pressed the button and ordered a desktop from Dell. I looked into building my own PC but I would have been hard pressed to buy all the components for the cost of a fully packaged Dell with warranty. It seemed to have very good reviews and better value that a comparable laptop

Quadcore I7
16 GB of RAM
2TB 7200rpm hard drive with 32GB SSD cache
2GB dedicated graphics card

I had looked at getting one with an SSD drive but I can add that myself for less cash and I only need 128GB for the operating system. I can upgrade the RAM to 32GB if needed (unlikely)
Hopefully Photoshop CC will run without issues now !

Sounds good.

Windows 8 I presume?

michaeloconnell wrote:

Sounds good.

Windows 8 I presume?

Windows 8.1 is standard I have been using it for over a year now. Its very stable and fast.

Looking good John, does it come with a serial, you can always add one later if you wanted to drive your scope...

Dave_Lillis wrote:

Looking good John, does it come with a serial, you can always add one later if you wanted to drive your scope...

Serial port.....forgotten what those things are. WiFi !!!

ah yea, you can get one of those wifi adapter to run the scope

What a difference 16GB of ram and a 64 bit system makes to running Photoshop CC. I can finally use all the features without ram errors. Here is a quick reprocessed shot of Orion.

www.flickr.com/photos/7703127@N07/15223097557/