2 relatively weak & slow computers...any suggestions?

[philmar]

I have Adobe Photoshop CS2 installed on a slow old system -
Pentium III Processor speed: 1000 MHz
RAM memory: 512 MB
Plenty of disk drive space (over 200 gB)

I also own a laptop that is 256 RAM and similar CPU speed.

Anything I can do with BOTH machines to improve my Photoshop work speed? I like to process RAW and TIFF files with resource hog CS2. this is slooow on my computer.

Can I set up a network or something that uses both computer's resources? Both have XP.

I don't know how to set up daisy chains or networks (am a non-techie) so any simple easy-to-follow suggestions on getting the most out of what I have would be greatly appreciated.

Please - NO suggestions that I upgrade. I don't have ANY cash for that right now. I just blew my wad on vacation costs, a 30D and 2 'L' lenses. The well is dry.

 

[cspringer]

I had a similar PC (1.2Ghz) and CS was a speed demon. CS2 was sooooo slow I deleted it from the HD knowing I would never use it on that machine. If you google Optimize Photoshop you will find suggestions from Adobe but I doubt if they will help you. I'm not sure what would happen if you delete Bridge but if possible that will free up system resources (Task Manager). You can double click the PS desktop to open a basic My Pictures type window.

I have Adobe Photoshop CS2 installed on a slow old system -
Pentium III Processor speed: 1000 MHz
RAM memory: 512 MB
Plenty of disk drive space (over 200 gB)

I also own a laptop that is 256 RAM and similar CPU speed.

Anything I can do with BOTH machines to improve my Photoshop work
speed? I like to process RAW and TIFF files with resource hog CS2.
this is slooow on my computer.

Can I set up a network or something that uses both computer's
resources? Both have XP.
I don't know how to set up daisy chains or networks (am a
non-techie) so any simple easy-to-follow suggestions on getting the
most out of what I have would be greatly appreciated.

Please - NO suggestions that I upgrade. I don't have ANY cash for
that right now. I just blew my wad on vacation costs, a 30D and 2
'L' lenses. The well is dry.

 

[jralbert]

can you be talked into forgoing a few lattes and springing for more ram for the desktop(cheaper project than upping your ram -forgive the expression- for the laptop)? Buy as much as the machine will take and you can afford.
--
joel albert
[email protected]

 

[superakuma]

on a Intel PIII motherboard, I don't think it can take much RAM. I think you are at your limited already, but I know it won't take more than 1GB. I wouldn't waste any money on trying to upgrade the computer because it is just simply too old in today's standard. If you really want to upgrade look at what kind of RAM you have, how many slots you have and how many slots did you use already.

Here is what you do if you really want upgrade the hardware.

Since it is an Intel PIII, I am sure that it use a 168-Pin PC100 or PC133 speed RAM. The highest compacity RAM for that size is a 512mb stick. So if you have a pair of 256mb =512MB. Since your motherboard can only hold 2 slots, you will have to buy a pair of 512mb RAM for that computer to get 1GB. That RAM will cost you about $60 EACH on newegg.com

I would NOT buy the RAM for your computer unless if you plan to squeeze another year or so on that computer that you have. A brand new $500 computer will be 50x more powerful than what you have right now.

 

[philmar]

It is NOT possible to upgrade my system. No funds at the moment. I will upgrade in 6 months. I will first pay off my 30D and 2 lenses before I spend any more.
Firthermore, my mobo will not support any more RAM nor a faster CPU.

I will NOT overclock as I don't want to risk frying anything.

I was hoping someone had some suggestion along the lines of making a network to combine the resources of my 2 computers.

 

[Eric Carlson]

I was hoping someone had some suggestion along the lines of making
a network to combine the resources of my 2 computers.

Not for photo editing. You can do that with some 3D rendering software: Have multiple computers work on the task, but there's no magic thing you can do with 2 old slow computers and photo editing.

Those computer are both really lacking the memory necessary for CS2. You could use a less memory intensive app, and the computer with 512.Meg RAM might just eek by for a little longer, but the 256.Meg computer is really asking too much from too little, especially since laptops often also have slower hard drives.

--

• Eric, http://www.InvisibleRobot.com/

 

[Jan_Shim]

With your hardware specs, you should consider running Paint Shop Pro 9.x

(warning-stay away from PSP X and XI) or Photoshop 7 not sure which runs faster. Silly trying to run CS2 that's clearly designed for newer machines. I have been running PSP 9.x for too long and have only recently switched to CS2 because I feel I'm not taking advantage of my P4 3GHz Dual Core 2GB RAM, 24" widescreen LCD 256Mb Geforce graphics.

--
Jan Shim
Web: http://www.shimworld.com
Blog: http://shimworld.wordpress.com

 

[PRW_Photo]

If you are already familiar with PhotoShop then I think switching to PhotoShop Elements would be a better choice than Paint Shop Pro. The command syntax is very similar and you can still use ACR to handle your RAW files.

Paul Wossidlo
Pittsburgh, PA

 

[Mswnow]

save the money from elements, spend the 100 on a big HDD and save all your images till you get a much faster computer. I went back and redid all my images from my old laptop cause it wasnt till afterwards that I realized what I was missing out on. Though now im having big problems with the speed of mine, I think my files are just to big for my 2100 dollar laptop. Anyone have any suggestions? (could it be that I only have 30 out of 120 GB free already?)