Camera Labs

Ok I'm looking to buy a new PC and would like some advice. I know most of you use Mac but I'm a PC using. Always have been and feel comfortable with a PC. Anyway I'm not computer smart at all. I'v been looking at this computer, I was wondering if you all thought this was a good deal and if it was what I needed for a small photo business?

My Components
PROCESSOR Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Professional edit
MONITOR 22 inch SP2208WFP Wide Flat Panel with Webcam and Mic edit
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 4DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 750GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 16x DVD+/-RW Drive edit
VIDEO CARD nVidia GeForce 8600GT-DDR3 256MB edit
SOUND Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio edit
KEYBOARD & MOUSE Logitech Cordless Laser Desktop MX 3200 Keyboard and Mouse edit
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER No Floppy Drive Included edit
MODEM 56K PCI Data Fax Modem edit
My Software & Accessories
PRINTER Dell Wireless AIO 968 - Integrated WiFi, Fax, 2.4” Display and Card Reader edit
SERVICE & SUPPORT 1 yr Ltd. Warranty- Advance Exchange edit
DELL 968 WIRELESS PRINTER Dell 968w All-In-One Wireless Printer edit
SPEAKERS No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system) edit
ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days edit
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft Works 9.0 edit
My Service
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor, 24x7 Phone Support edit
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Mouse Mouse included with Keyboard purchase
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Labels Windows XP™
PHOTO AND MUSIC SOFTWARE No Entertainment software pre-installed

Thanks
Karen

If it is a good deal depends on the price! The overall spec is solid assuming you're not into heavy gaming

One minor note, you have 4 GB of ram listed and XP as operating system. Due to the PC architecture, you will probably find you only have around 3GB of that ram accessible under XP. To get all 4 GB you really need a 64 bit operating system, which in practice means going Vista. The loss is slightly annoying but in most cases you probably wont notice the difference. Given the low price of ram, I wouldn't bother lowering the quantity.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

I know you said you are more comfortable with a PC and that's absolutely fine but have you ever tried out a mac? From a less confident users point of view they are much more user friendly than PC's.

The spec of the system you quoted was good, seems like a fast solid system and it will provide you with all your photographic needs (hardware wise).

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Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200

Well, it may be better to have a couple of 250 or 320 gb instead of a single one of 750, just in case.

The rest seems nice

Seems fine, just about perfect tbh.

I prefer building my own, just a preference, then i choose no junk getting installed =D downside is if you mess up, well lol, its your own fault!

As for Hard Drives - yeah dont get a 750Gb :/

Applications like photoshop etc. like to have other drives to write temp stuff too, so it doesnt slow the app read/writing data to the same drive.

I'd suggest 1 x 250Gb drive for OS, your music w/e and another 2 x 250Gb drives for photos. Put the other 250s in Raid 1, which will mean what it writes to one, it writes to the other, so if a hard drive goes down, you still in the game =D

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

Personally I'd say go for the Core 2 duo E8500 instead.

Other than the graphics card, which is a bit naff, thats a decent spec.

If the guy is used to using a PC and not a Mac, then the poster should get the pc. I've used a regular pc for as long as I can remember and don't wish I had a mac. They are overpriced for what you get anyway.

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I've upped my Iso, now up yours.
Nikon D700, Nikon D80, Micro Nikkor 105 f2.8 AI-S,Nikon 85mm 1.8D, Nikon 50mm 1.8D, Nikon 35mm F2D, Nikon 16-35 f4 VR, Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 AF-S, Nikon 70-200VRII, Nikon 70-300mm VR, 300mm f2.8 AI IF ED, SB-800, SB-900. Noiseware pro,NIK Dfine, Nik Colour Effex, Nik Sharpener Pro

Ouch! This could turn nasty!

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Nikon D700 | 20mm f2.8 | 28mm f2.8 | 50mm f1.8 | 70-300 f4-5.6 | SB800 | flickr | serial photography

Hi Karen,

I'm not sure what kind of monitor that is, but for photo editting you would probably want a 8-bit display and not the 6-bit displays that are are norm. The 8-bit displays can display 16+ million colours vs the 260+k of the 6-bit panels. This means no banding effects when viewing your photos, important for editting.

If you do editting with Photoshop, it is worthwhile to get a quad-core vs a dual-core processor as PS can benefit from the two extra cores. *Not sure about other programs though.

Edit*
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I don't think there is any need to start a Mac vs PC debate seeing as the thread starter clearly indicated that a choice between them was not necessary.

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Graham
Flickr

Looking at Karen's list, it looks like the spec is for a Dell so you don't get an endless list of what you can specify as to what you can put in it or attach to it.

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Roy
EOS 350D, 40D + BG-E2N, EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM, EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 430 EX Speedlite




My Fotopic

Not really. It's just an opinion.

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I've upped my Iso, now up yours.
Nikon D700, Nikon D80, Micro Nikkor 105 f2.8 AI-S,Nikon 85mm 1.8D, Nikon 50mm 1.8D, Nikon 35mm F2D, Nikon 16-35 f4 VR, Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 AF-S, Nikon 70-200VRII, Nikon 70-300mm VR, 300mm f2.8 AI IF ED, SB-800, SB-900. Noiseware pro,NIK Dfine, Nik Colour Effex, Nik Sharpener Pro

Naff in what way? 3D performance maybe, but hard core gaming wasn't a stated usage for the PC. So pretty much anything would do the job there.

_________________
Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

RAID is the way

I dont think that the graphics card is bad, its about average.
It may perform not quite perfect in hardoce games, but in PS and in not so demanding games its a good decision.

If u want more for the buck a 9 series its better, for about 50usd more

And... i dont have anything against DELL, but i sugest you that you build your own PC, at least youll save about 15%, in my case i save about 20% when i build my pc.

Only thing I'd change would be to try and get more monitor-acreage instead of the webcam & mic.

A 22 inch has the asme height as a 19 inch, but is merely wider. For photography, I'd strive to get as large a monitor as I could afford.

Good luck with the new rig!

Cheers

hence why the card is naff. You might as well use a second hand ebay bought cheaper card since ANYthing will do.

_________________
I've upped my Iso, now up yours.
Nikon D700, Nikon D80, Micro Nikkor 105 f2.8 AI-S,Nikon 85mm 1.8D, Nikon 50mm 1.8D, Nikon 35mm F2D, Nikon 16-35 f4 VR, Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 AF-S, Nikon 70-200VRII, Nikon 70-300mm VR, 300mm f2.8 AI IF ED, SB-800, SB-900. Noiseware pro,NIK Dfine, Nik Colour Effex, Nik Sharpener Pro

Just guessing but I would imagine the specs of the system he posted in the original post are one of the pre made systems which includes everything in one package.. Makes customising a bit more difficult.

Chances are if a person is asking such a question like that he is not a complete tech head like some of us here and I think for his usage the system he specified would be more than adequate for his needs.

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Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
Gear: Sony a700! || CZ 16-80mm! || Sony 75-300 || bag: Crumpler PB xxxl / Lowepro slingshot 200