JPG: Stories: Feature Story: PC Buyers Guide for Photographers

PC Buyers Guide for Photographers

By Archie Fresco

17 Nov 2008

PC Buyers Guide for Photographers

Building the right PC for your photography needs is fun to do. You do a lot of research to make sure that every computer parts will satisfy your needs. This is stress free if you have the money, but if you are on a tight budget it's a total headache.

Technology keeps on improving, system and software requirements keeps getting higher and higher. A photo editing software which requires 512MB of RAM today, in two years its latest version could possibly require twice the RAM. If you want to build a PC that would last at least four years before your next upgrade, carefully plan all the pc parts that you will be buying. Careful planning can help you save money which you can use to buy other photographic accessories.

The Processor

CPU or Processor is the brain of a computer system. It is your second brain when you use a computer. You do the input; CPU calculates and does the rest for the output. Processor prices can go from cheap to expensive. Low end CPUs like Intel Celeron or AMD Sempron are good for basic photo editing software, e.g. Picasa, Adobe Photoshop Album. Running Photoshop Elements and Lightroom would be satisfactory but CS versions would be slow. Mid Range to high end CPUs are pricey but it will save you time and electric bills.

The Motherboard

After deciding what CPU to buy it is time to select a motherboard. Motherboards or Mobo is the heart of the computer system. The best Mobos are also expensive. Low priced Mobos functions like their expensive counterpart, the difference is that expansion is limited. For photography needs, look for motherboards that have at least two or more Memory Module or DIMM slots. This will ensure that you will have room for future expansion. You can also consider Mobos with built in Audio and LAN.

The Memory (RAM)

A fast race car would not run fast if the driver is slow. This is the same with the CPU and memory, a fast CPU with limited memory would generally run slow. Memory will determine how well your computer is going to perform and how fast will it work. Consider the speed of the memory, 200MHz is good but 400 MHz is better. Memory is the easiest and cheapest way to upgrade a computer. The more Mobo DIMM slots, the more you can expand your computer's memory and with enough memory you can run Photoshop, convert RAW files, and edit TIFF files with ease.

The Graphic Card

Buying a graphic card? You need to do a painstaking research. Sometimes graphic cards or GPU are more expensive than the CPU. Graphic cards will show the detail of your input like photographs or 3D images. Good graphic cards also produces better color output and can run 3D games smoothly. A Mobo with On-Board video card is a good way to start if you haven't decided what graphic card to buy. You can smoothly run Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, and CS on latest On-Board Video cards. If you use Photoshop CS heavily it is advisable to purchase a separate video card, mid Range GPU is recommended. After editing tons of images in Photoshop you would probably play games with your computer so buy the best GPU that you can afford.

The Monitor

Now that you have a graphic card, what monitor should you buy? LCD or CRT? 17 or 22 inches? You should carefully choose what monitor to buy; bad monitors can ruin your photographs. LCDs are slim and space saver, buy the model with a high resolution and good contrast. There are cheap LCDs out there but there pixels are quite visible and it's not good for viewing and editing photos. Though CRT monitors are bulkier, with their well developed and proven technology, they produce very good output and way cheaper than LCD with the same specs. While high end LCDs are very expensive it is worth to own one. LCD is the next generation and the future. If you don't want to speed too much money, get a CRT it will satisfy your needs.

The Hard Drive

Where would you put all those photographs? Of course, the Hard Drive. Fives years ago your 40GB cost 100 bucks, today a 500GB cost about 100 bucks. See the difference. Improving technology equals price drop. As a photographer, buying a CF card or SD card is the same as buying a hard drive for your photos; you consider how many shots you take. If you shoot RAW, you will find a shortage in space on a 160GB hard drive. RAW file sizes are 10MB to 25MB and once you convert it to TIFF it could go from 25MB to 100MB per file. For RAW shooters it is recommend having at least 320GB hard drive. JPEG users would find 160GB more than enough. If a JPEG file size is 7MB, on a 160GB hard drive you can store at least 20,000 photos. But, that is not a good practice. You should have something to store your photos permanently and safely, the DVD.

The DVD

As said, storing all your photographs in the hard drive is not a good practice. What if your hard drive fails? Then all of your precious captured moments will be gone away. Buying a DVD writer is not hard; any DVD writer would be good. The DVD is the best storage around so far. Be careful on choosing a DVD recordable disc, cheap DVD brands are good only for a short time. It is a good practice to keep two DVD copies of your file, DVD-A for safe keeping and back-up, DVD-B for frequent use. In case DVD-B fails, you can use DVD-A for back up and make another copy of it. You can use a cheaper brand for DVD-B. DVD-A should always be the best one. DVD will come to its end life sooner or later, in the next few years Blue-Ray recordable disc and writers would be available to the growing market.

There you have it, a simple guide to building a PC for your photographic needs. You can go for a better PC like MAC, but if you are a budget type of person there are many ways to enjoy photography.

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