Where To Buy

[gordypix]

Gonna kill my computer soon with all my pix work so need more power at my fingertips....

Ideally:

AMD Athlon 64 3400+ PROCESSOR

1000 MB minimum RAM

250 GB minimum Hard Drive

19" TFT Monitor

Media Card Readers

DVD-ROM Drive 1

DVDRW Double Layer Drive 2

You get the idea..........

Have seen a Compaq for £950 but can I do better on performance and price??

Where from?

Any help appreciated

[Demonic Angel]

There is a company in Rugby that is really good for PC's - if you know someone in the know (like I do!) you can buy the components cheap from them and get the person to build you a top notch PC!

Rich built my PC - cost me £100 (the rest was a gift from him!)

The company is Stak Computers and if they dont have what you want I'm pretty sure they will custom build for you too!

Much better than going to PC World IMO!

[Fidgits]

Dell are good machines...

and i have had great service, but i have heard mixed reviews of them...

[gordypix]

DELL are great machines except I keep locking up my Dad's one with Photoshop and constant CD burning...........

But alas they dont do AMD processors and dont' match the spec I want for the price I want.........

[Fidgits]

ahh okay..

my old Dell Latitude runs PS 7.0 without any issues...

[mr2nut123]

www.cclonline.com

awesome warehouse based company so low running costs etc. really cheap and ace service.

[Moffmo]

if its for picture editing and stuff, i would really recommend a mac, they seem to excel in this area....

[gordypix]

Can't justify the exense on a mac at moment. But yeah they do rule the pic world :D

Will be getting PS CS2 soon (think thats what its called)

Mind you my Dads only has 256 RAM - so real memory lapse there then even though it's new - he only uses it for word stuff and internet so he didnt want too much power = expense.

[Fidgits]

mine only has 256 Gordy, and runs a shed-load of background programs...

I think he has an issue there...

[gordypix]

mine only has 256 Gordy, and runs a shed-load of background programs...

I think he has an issue there...

←

The issue I think is me overloading it with files, memory burning and stuff.

Know what ya mean Ian - but doesn't XP take up a shed load of that memory then + PS + WORD + internet + file burning + Excel + GORDY = FROZEN WINDOWS......

Nutty computers can't handle ME.................

[Fidgits]

ahhh.. mebee your right Gordy...

[Robie]

As you are in Hertfordshire it might be worth trying:

http://rlsupplies.co.uk/

Who are based in Rickmansworth. I pop into there too much on the way back from work :S

[scionic]

Ideally get a Macintosh. They ARE price competitve to any of the better PC's and viruses and spyware and typical Windows problems are a non-issue. Not to mention they come with the best free software suite in the industry. But let's not let this turn into a pointless Mac vs. PC argument. If you're open minded, consider it and PM me, if you are like everyone else and think you "need" Windows, move on to next paragraph and ignore this one.

....in that case then I can recommend ordering a machine from Dell, especially if you want a competitive deal on a pre-assembled Windows PC with a support package. They have arguable the most competitive prices in the industry. If you want max performance in a pre-assembled Windows PC, try http://www.alienware.com/.

I recommend buying a PC with at least one FireWire (IEEE 1394) port. Many come with only USB 2.0 now and ideally you should have both.

If you're handy with a screwdriver and don't mind dealing with 5 or 6 different warranties of varying length from different manufacturers then you could save some money by building your own Windows PC. I'm sure some people here could give you tips on which motherboard is best and so forth.

As a photographer, you should be looking at a Mac though. The new Mac's have 64 bit processors and a 64 bit OS. Something Microsofts still not quite got sorted out. They also have excellent photoshop performance and UNIX stability. Forget your frozen Windows.

[Moffmo]

As a photographer, you should be looking at a Mac though. The new Mac's have 64 bit processors and a 64 bit OS. Something Microsofts still not quite got sorted out. They also have excellent photoshop performance and UNIX stability. Forget your frozen Windows.

←

Id have to agree there gordy, and becuase you dont get spyware etc it will last much longer and the speeds in which it loads pictures etc wont slow down....

Youll be wanting to upgrade your pc again in about 2 years, the mac would last alot longer simply becuase it can handle it

[cfc1]

One word........ buildyourown (or get someone to do it for you)

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/ are good for components, and are very reliable too.

As for xp being memory hungry.. run it in classic mode so it looks and feels like Win 98.. the more of the fancy stuff you got running the more memory it will use... also try getting xp antispy to turn off all the unnecceccecassassry stuff that runs in the background, this might just speed up your comp a little.. also try defragging your hardrive.

I have PS CS2.. just need to learn how to work the thing

[Tom.B]

:D yup as CFC said...ebuyer is the best bet..or buy my pc matey!!! it has all the specs you listed!!!!! :D

[Carrera_C]

Cheapest way to do it is definatly build your own, www.microdirect.co.uk is quite cheap for components.

Don't listen to anyone who's saying "Get a Dell" (and this is rich since I'm about to start working for them) but I just don't see you getting the power you need from a Dell system. They're great machines for standard office work and such, and they're top spec ones are probably a bit over the 'common sence' price range.

Putting a PC together is pretty easy, if you decide to go through the self-build option and are a bit unsure about what extra bits and bobs to order, feel free to PM me.

[phil3345]

Gordy

Try scan.co.uk

Always good prices and they have a today only page with good deals m8

[Chuck04]

couldn't agree more, i use a mac on a daily basis, finally people are agreeing they have a purpose rather than slating them :P

fantastic peices of kit when it comes down to design and image work, handle the files extreamly well.. just think no more spyware, slow windows, loading files and folders, in the long run will last longer than the PC, unless you monitor you pc very closly

[scionic]

couldn't agree more, i use a mac on a daily basis, finally people are agreeing they have a purpose rather than slating them  :P

fantastic peices of kit when it comes down to design and image work, handle the files extreamly well.. just think no more spyware, slow windows, loading files and folders, in the long run will last longer than the PC, unless you monitor you pc very closly

←

All true, but some people just refuse to see the truth. Plenty of people on here will still tell you Mac's are slow or they cost £1300 or they are just pretty fashion accessories etc. etc.

There's no limit to the ignorance really and the less people know about Mac's the more eager they are to slate them.

If you're sticking with Windows, I also agree that building a PC is a good way to go money-wise, as long as you don't mind having a seperate warranty for everything and are willing to do the research to find out what works well with what and what is good to have. In that case, you might try starting with a motherboard that supports IEEE 1394 at least.

[Carrera_C]

There's only a few things about Mac's I don't like

1 - Can't upgrade as much

2 - Not as many games

Apart form that they're great, but I'll still never buy one, I'm a child of the PC.

[Fidgits]

In all honesty - unless your going for a very high spec - it is no longer cheaper to buy your own...

What about Mesh, Carrera etc? have you looked at them Gordy..

[JustJJ]

www.aria.co.uk <-- also reasonable *shrugs

[Karma Supra]

look on ebuyer.co.uk for prices, then build your own :D

[Jamesb4uk]

Macs are the way to go Gordy- i've been using PC's for years now, but i started playing with mac's last year & got my hands on a G5.. Great bit of Kit.

Also Apples have the added bonus of Virtual PC - not sure how well it works though. but the other way around doesn't work very well at all lol.

Bit more expencive than the PC your after but check out the spec :bookworm:

Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5

1GHz frontside bus/processor

512K L2 cache/processor

2GB DDR400 SDRAM

Expandable to 4GB SDRAM

400GB Serial ATA

16x SuperDrive (double-layer)

Three PCI Slots

ATI Radeon 9600

128MB DDR video memory

J