computer help

[nickoly]

I have heard stories about that but had forgotten. I don't think this problem extends to W7 but that needs to be checked. I was actually thinking you probably wouldn't actually have anything newer than XP! And, on reflection, I agree, re-using Vista is not a good idea. I don't actually have any trouble with it, I just find it so tedious to use.

At least your brother-in-law is realistic to enough to be aware that your needs are different, and you may find that building your own through him is a good way to save money.

On further reflection, you may even find that, on proper examination, your problems are software, not hardware. He may be able to help on that once you explain better what you mean by "about to self implode".

Hardware problems are usually sudden, fatal, and arrive without warning.

Software problems usually accumulate and are often fixable at no cost.

If your real problem is incompatibility between Vista and CS3, a new box is simply a vehicle for a new o/s, which may well be fine if it was installed on your old one.

In short, if nothing is actually broken, you may find that a copy of XP off eBay for $25 is all you really need.

I have Vista and that has been a big problem- according to the computer people I have talked to that vista and cs3 were both new and noone knew how they would work together.

 

[nickoly]

I have been building my own for about thirty years. I still wouldn't recommend it to someone who, not only knows nothing about it, but also has a commercial imperitive - and is under the threat of impending doom.

 

[cbranstrom2002]

I'd like to hear your reasoning on no mac- seems every photography forum labels the mac THE computer for photographers. I can't seem to get a reason, just "I love it".

 

[Mentor_1]

I build all my own PC's and it is economical. I reuse the case and drives, add new motherboard, processor and ram. Once a year I replace my drives by cloning them to new ones and always use the old for backup drives in case of fire theft crash whatever. It's also a good idea to make sure the power supply is big enough and in good shape. They are cheap so change it out before it blows and takes more parts with it. Go with at least 500 watts. While you are at it get windows 7 as it works very well. Quad core for sure
--
May the light be with you
Stop global whining
Stupid should hurt

 

[pcassel]

I'd like to hear your reasoning on no mac- seems every photography forum labels the mac THE computer for photographers. I can't seem to get a reason, just "I love it".

The reasoning is now archaic. At one point, during the early times of graphics, Macs had many characteristics from display to the processor type which worked better for imaging. There are a few lingering aspects of Macs today which make them slightly better than PC's for imaging, but the major advantages are long over.

Frex, a Mac can display and work with HD video natively today while PC's need to purchase an add on program. Also the Mac monitors tend to be rather higher end than the typical PC monitor. Yet you can buy monitors for PC's which are as good as the Mac plus it's a lot easier and cheaper to install a graphics adapter which perfectly suits you in the PC.

Lastly and to me mostly, you can spec your CPU with the PC and not the Mac. Frex, you can't get an i7 today in an iMac but you can in a PC easily and without brutal costs.
--

-----
-paul

 

[cbranstrom2002]

On further reflection, you may even find that, on proper examination, your problems are software, not hardware. He may be able to help on that once you explain better what you mean by "about to self implode".

This is the problem, I have had multiple computer people tell me what steps to take to clean off memory, to check for software problems, to update drivers, etc. Nothing has helped, and noone can tell me why it is happening. And like I mentioned before, the ".NET" error is supposively a problem with a malfunctioning operating system. I didn't used to see this error and now it pops up. Again, I don't pretend to know much about computers, I can make sense of most things when explained well. What I was told is once a problem like this starts it's only a matter of time until it totally shuts down my computer. And whether he was correct or not, I had 3 blue screens yesterday and the error message today stating my computer could not start.

Are there any problems with CS3 and XP?

 

[pcassel]

You can fix a .net error so you are being lied to. Yet if you are due for an upgrade anyway, you may as well go for it. Be suspicious of the guy who said .net errors are utterly fatal.
--

-----
-paul

 

[mrsfixit]

A few people suggested that I consider the company CyberpowerPC, and I'm glad they did. It took a couple of weeks to get my custom-configured PC built, but the result is beyond my expectations in terms of performance, and the components are better than I could have got from one of the "big three" - Gateway (a company I'll never deal with again), Dell, or HP. As I set up and configured the PC I had a couple of minor snags, and the cyberpower tech support was just excellent. Plus, there's a really good online user group for cyberpower PCs.

Highly recommended.

Bill Hansen - happy customer.

I am very glad to hear that Bill.

I have been considering a system from them for quite some time to replace my ancient AMD Athlon system.

I am going on vacation soon, but after I get back I think I will order a machine from them.

Can you tell me the specs on your system?

Candice in PA

 

[nickoly]

On further reflection, you may even find that, on proper examination, your problems are software, not hardware. He may be able to help on that once you explain better what you mean by "about to self implode".

This is the problem, I have had multiple computer people tell me what steps to take to clean off memory, to check for software problems, to update drivers, etc. Nothing has helped, and noone can tell me why it is happening. And like I mentioned before, the ".NET" error is supposively a problem with a malfunctioning operating system. I didn't used to see this error and now it pops up. Again, I don't pretend to know much about computers, I can make sense of most things when explained well. What I was told is once a problem like this starts it's only a matter of time until it totally shuts down my computer. And whether he was correct or not, I had 3 blue screens yesterday and the error message today stating my computer could not start.

Are there any problems with CS3 and XP?

I have never heard of any problems with XP. XP is a mature system and was probably what CS3 was developed on, which minimises the risk.

It seems pretty clear that your problem is indeed software and a new box is indeed simply a vehicle for a new O/S.

I can't comment on the .NET problems, I don't understand this and I had to upgrade W2000 in order to run a programme which demanded netfx, or something.

Clearly Vista isn't doing you any good and I would be inclined to do a clean install of XP, particulalrly if you have a copy to hand. You should have backed up everything by now (!). Installing XP isn't hard and most of it goes on while you watch Jim Lehrer.

I submit it would be advisable to take this opportunity to partition the drive so that the o/s is on the C: drive of 20Gb and eveything else installed on D:. This is a personal preference, but it sure helps at times like this.

I don't think it is a good idea to upgrade to W7 on your existing box. I would be disinclined to go with W7 anyway. If you want to go that way, get a new box, but make sure CS3 is kosher with it first.

 

[mamallama]

Thanks so much- when you are talking about building one (remember, I am totally at a loss here)- are you building a pc or mac?

If you are asking that question, I think your knowledge base to build your own is too low without some serious help or heavy catching up.

If you are set on getting a custom PC from standard parts I have a suggestion: Depending on where you are located, there are several local shops that will sell you the parts at a fair price and assemble/load the OS/test the computer for about $50. One such shop in Northern California is Central Computers (Google them).

Another alert: If you are moving into a new OS, some of your software may also need upgrading. And, of course, if you are moving from a PC to a MAC (or vice versa), all your software will need changing.

--mamallama

 

[Playsinthedirt]

As promised, below is a list of the parts I decided to use to build my system for Photo Editing. It is very fast and there's no way I'm going to bog it down having several programs open at once. While I'm only using 4 gigs of RAM now I can use up to 16 gigs if I so chose. Having built it myself I now have the knowledge to make repairs and upgrade it myself. Please don't listen to the naysayers who state you're going to run-in to all sorts of problems doing this yourself. As I stated, I've never-ever had any experience building a computer prior to this one and I did not have one glitch doing the build. As long as you can read and understand instructions, and can reason, you'll have no problems whatsoever. There also are plenty of web sites out there where you can get information on building a system as well.

It was a very rewarding experience and now I will never buy a pre-built system again. This one does everything I need it to without all the BS you get on store bought computers that you don't need or want.

Greg

ANTEC 300 Black ATX Mid Tower Case

Gigabyte GA-P55 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i5-750 Quad Core Processor

VisionTek Radeon 1GB PCI Express CrossfireX Video Card

Samsung 1 TB 5400 RPM 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Antec 650 W Cross Fire Ready Bronze Power Supply

Kingston HyperX 2x2 GB 240 Pin DDR3 RAM

Windows 7 64 bit Operating System

I purchased all these parts at Newegg which IMO is a great place to buy computer parts. If you work it right you can get free shipping and save money, (I did). All the parts above less the OS were $826.90

If you have any questions please feel free to email me or ask here. You'll be happy if you choose to build your own, I am.

 

[bill hansen]

Hi Candace -

Since I already have a good monitor and basic speakers which are all I need, I bypassed the screens containing those items.

Porcessor Intel i7-920 2.66GHz
HD 1 TB SATA 7200
motherboard Gigabyte (brand) X58 UD3R 2 way DDR3
Cybrepower 800W power supply
Corsair 2 GB system RAM
two DVDRW 22X DVD/CD/CDR/DVDR drives
Palit GTS 250 graphics card with 1 GB onboard RAM, DDR-3

front temperature display (might be ehlpful during long editing sessions - I don't know)
Win 7 64 bit license
MS Office basic (this may have been overkill, since I already have Office 2003)

I chose an extra "gaming" cooling fan, sound absorbing foam for the case, "professional" wiring, and extra packing precautions. I'm glad I chose these things. The computer was packed with more care than any electronics I've previously bought online, and that's a lot of things. It runs very quietly and it stays cool.

One very minor caution - the drivers sent with this computer were not the latest ones available. That's normal for any computer maker - but in this case there were a couple of minor limitations until I downloaded and installed the latest drivers for the chipset. If you're as uninformed as I am about computers, there's a minor annoyance of having to discover the exact build of your mother board. CyberpowerPC support person talked me through this, and with his help it was easy.

You will see that I didn't choose the highest end components, or the lowest end ones. When I get further into high-end video editing I may choose to increase RAM to 12 GB. With this motherboard, my "sweet spot" of 8 GB is not available - but with some other motherboards it is.

Hope this helps. Let the group know what you decide, and how it goes for you.

Bill

 

[cbranstrom2002]

Thanks so much! Why did you decide to go with the 64 bit instead of the 32?

I've used this site before for camera/lens reviews, but this was my first time to post and it has been very helpul. Thanks.

 

[oduncan4]

I read this thread because my hard drive is filling up, and I may be in teh market for a new computer soon, and I thought I might get some good advice on what to buy. But a very peculiar thing happened. The first advice was, "don't buy a Mac." The second advice was, "don't buy a name brand windows computer, because none of them will work for processing and storing pictures." The third advice was, "build you own," which it turns out will cost slightly less than $900.

Now I am not even going to try to build my own, because I am technically incompetent, and because I would rather spend my time taking and processing pictures, and if I owned a business I would rather spend my time making the business work rather than learning how to build computers, but that may just be me.

But what I have learned, having both a Mac and an HP PC is if I want to focus on photography rather than computers, I am going to consider a Mac for my next purchase even though I know it will cost me more money. The OP has had his PC for two and a half years, and has had nothing but trouble with it. None of the main manufacturers of PCs satisfies the commentors. On the other hand I have had six macs over the years and either sold or gave them all away (I still have one of the original Imacs, which is outmoded but still works fine after eight years) with none of the problems described in this thread. I did have a software problem which cause my current Ibook to malfunction long after it was out of warranty. I took it to the genius bar at Apple where the "genius" said it was one of three problems, and of course it turned out to be the third one he tried. Three times he downloaded my hard disk, reloaded it to fix the problem, and the third time it worked fine, and has ever since. The process took six hours whole he served other customers and I ran errands. I was charged nothing.

My daughter, who knows computers better than I, uses her Mac to run creative materials for the weekly newspaper she publishes and does her accounting in Windows on her Mac, and seems to have none of the technical problems described in this thread.

My point is you might take a couple of hours to actually look at a Mac to see if the extra cost might be balanced out by fewer headaches. Meanwhile, a thrifty Scottish American, I would love to hear any suggestions of reliable PCs that I might consider purchasing for organizing and processing photos, surfing the web, etc.

Owen Duncan

 

[bill hansen]

There are 6 GB of system RAM in the new computer - my note made it appear that there are only 2 - which is not enough for editing images!!

Sorry for that -

Bill

 

[Henry Falkner]

I am going to disagree with the others - on the grounds that your time is spent running a photographic business, not tinkering with computer hardware.

So you want something that works out of the box, and with good backup and the ability to exchange at no extra cost other than the value of any upgrade needed if you specced too short.

You need an Intel core duo machine (AMD if you can figure out which configuration does the same job), running 2.6 GigaHertz or faster. I get reports of short memory with 2 GigaBytes, so you want 4 GigaBytes.

Since Windows XP is no longer sold and VISTA is a dog, you need Windows 7. This means you also need a version of Microsoft Office that supports email (no Outlook Express in Windows 7). Don't go for a cheap VISTA machine with a promise of a free upgrade. Installing the new operating system plus your software will take you up to two working days.

One reason is that (still) photography and video is converging, so you need to be able to edit, run and display full HD video without stuttering.

You should have a firewire port for transferring video in its native digital format from external devices, and at least four High-Speed USB2 ports. For future-proofing you need to be able to read and write Blue Ray disks.

I prefer a laptop to do these things, but that does double the cost. You don't say what type and how old your monitor is. If it is a ten-year old CRT, its brightness and colour representation will be totally misleading.

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

I currently run a Toshiba Satellite M60, and it has barely enough power for my current video editing software in real time at VGA resolution. It definitely cannot run anything with higher resolution than high quality DVD video (720x576). So it won't look at HD video coming out of the current crop of consumer-type cameras.

I cannot at the moment recommend a particular model or brand. I am in New Zealand, and our chain stores are still trying to shift old stock with VISTA and ordinary DVD writers in them.

Henry

--



Henry Falkner - SP-570UZ, Stylus 7020, Stylus 800
http://www.pbase.com/hfalkner

 

[Leonard Migliore]

I read this thread because my hard drive is filling up, and I may be in teh market for a new computer soon, and I thought I might get some good advice on what to buy. But a very peculiar thing happened. The first advice was, "don't buy a Mac." The second advice was, "don't buy a name brand windows computer, because none of them will work for processing and storing pictures." The third advice was, "build you own," which it turns out will cost slightly less than $900.

Now I am not even going to try to build my own, because I am technically incompetent, and because I would rather spend my time taking and processing pictures, and if I owned a business I would rather spend my time making the business work rather than learning how to build computers, but that may just be me.

But what I have learned, having both a Mac and an HP PC is if I want to focus on photography rather than computers, I am going to consider a Mac for my next purchase even though I know it will cost me more money. The OP has had his PC for two and a half years, and has had nothing but trouble with it. None of the main manufacturers of PCs satisfies the commentors. On the other hand I have had six macs over the years and either sold or gave them all away (I still have one of the original Imacs, which is outmoded but still works fine after eight years) with none of the problems described in this thread. I did have a software problem which cause my current Ibook to malfunction long after it was out of warranty. I took it to the genius bar at Apple where the "genius" said it was one of three problems, and of course it turned out to be the third one he tried. Three times he downloaded my hard disk, reloaded it to fix the problem, and the third time it worked fine, and has ever since. The process took six hours whole he served other customers and I ran errands. I was charged nothing.

My daughter, who knows computers better than I, uses her Mac to run creative materials for the weekly newspaper she publishes and does her accounting in Windows on her Mac, and seems to have none of the technical problems described in this thread.

My point is you might take a couple of hours to actually look at a Mac to see if the extra cost might be balanced out by fewer headaches. Meanwhile, a thrifty Scottish American, I would love to hear any suggestions of reliable PCs that I might consider purchasing for organizing and processing photos, surfing the web, etc.

Owen Duncan

I'm in your camp on this, Mr. Duncan. In many cases, it may indeed be more thrifty to spend more on a Mac because, at least in my experience, they break less and last longer than Windows computers. And I build Windows computers at work. At home, I use Macs.

It is undoubtably less expensive to construct a Windows computer than to buy, say, an iMac. And, if you're well-versed in hardware and software, it will run just as well. But I find Windows more subject to irritations and refusals to do something than the Mac OS. I'm willing to get paid to be irritated but I choose not to do so on my own time. Referring back to the OP, he wants to run a photo business, not become a computer geek. I believe that Macs are better for that.
--
Leonard Migliore

 

[nickoly]

I read this thread because my hard drive is filling up, and I may be in teh market for a new computer soon, and I thought I might get some good advice on what to buy. But a very peculiar thing happened. The first advice was, "don't buy a Mac." The second advice was, "don't buy a name brand windows computer, because none of them will work for processing and storing pictures."

If name brand PCs couldn't process and store pictures, they would all be out of business. All that is required is a processor, RAM, and a hard drive. The purchase of the wrong amout of any for the job is down to the consumer, not the manufacturer. This applies to both PC and Mac.

Now I am not even going to try to build my own, because I am technically incompetent, and because I would rather spend my time taking and processing pictures, and if I owned a business I would rather spend my time making the business work rather than learning how to build computers, but that may just be me.

Sounds aboiut right, and for the OP as well.

My point is you might take a couple of hours to actually look at a Mac to see if the extra cost might be balanced out by fewer headaches. Meanwhile, a thrifty Scottish American, I would love to hear any suggestions of reliable PCs that I might consider purchasing for organizing and processing photos, surfing the web, etc.

For starters, filling up a hard drive is not a very good reason for a thrifty Scottish American to buy a new computer. At best, you've done no more than justify a new hard drive and, if it is a reasonably new, you may find that cleaning the junk out of the current one, and a defrag, is all that is required. Total cost of $0.00.

For seconds, the hard disks on a Mac are nothing magical. They are the same size, and (probably) fill up just as quickly, as those on a PC.

The only identifiable technical problem the OP has - the about to self-implode - is software. He can't run CS3 under Vista. This is unfortunate and down to the O/S. It could happen on a Mac but you never heard what a heap of junk OS9 was until OS10 came out.

 

[Jake Loves Good Glass]

Go to Dell.com and find a tower that meets your needs. The parts they use are pretty good quality, the prices are really good, and their customer service is good. Just get on there. Find a tower that meets your needs. Upgrade the things you want upgraded and enjoy.

--
Wow...that's a pretty killer camera! Are you any good?

-Jake-

 

[woodsrunner]

Free advice is cheap - here's mine:

If you haven't done so already, your immediate next step is to protect your data - it's all about the data.

Secondly, check out this web site: http://macperformanceguide.com/index.html as it's highly recommended by people more knowledgeable than me. With the convergence of 64-bit operating systems and standardization of computing platforms on Intel architectures the advice can be applied to PCs as well as Macs.

I personally like to build and operate PCs as I like to tinker. But I also demand rock-solid and capable results.

My configuration is:
Corsair 750W power supply
Intel motherboard with 4Gb RAM and Intel CPU
NVIDIA graphics card
NEC AccuSync LCD monitor
USB ports

Western Digital Black Caviar SATA II 750Gb hard drives for system, data, and backup
HP DVD burner
Windows XP SP3

I reviewed the site above and came away deciding to build a better storage backup solution. I used EASEUS partition manager to convert the old drives to the new drives, and the Intel motherboard RAID utility to create highly available storage. I bought enough drives, cables and drive enclosure to create backups for rotation off site.

Don't think PC or Mac, think software and hardware functional capabilities to support your business process. Get consulting if you think you need it. Buy first or build if you want that satisfaction or cost savings.

And take more pictures!