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Computer Technology
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Hey all
Just hoping someone can give me a bit of advice I’m looking into buying a laptop at the minute and I was just wondering does anyone have any suggestions on which are the best for using photoshop and dealing with digital etc? The other thing is that I need to invest in a digital camera aswell. I’ve only dealt with manual SLRS up until now. I don’t know what’s good in terms of digital SLR though??
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
DIn general almost any machine will be able to do everything you want, any camera will attach to any computer, most computers you look at will be more than capable of running Photoshop (I have a 3 year old dell 2GB RAM P4 3.4GHz and it’s still running Photoshop 7 without any problems) and as long as you have enough storage you’ll be fine. Some things I would suggest are: get at least 1GB of RAM, get a DVD-R/RW, get 120GB+ hard drive. These are generally all standard but I wouldn’t take them for granted just yet. The only other big issue is the processor and I’m really not sure what to tell you there, I’m prejudiced against the Intel Celeron and I have no experience with AMD so I generally tell people to go for a good Pentium 4 or a Pentium D. on the DVD-R/RW thing, I really do recommend this for backing up you’re photos. Things can go wrong with computers and as bad as you’ll feel if it breaks, you’ll feel worse if you loose all your photos. All machines will have a CD-R/RW but a good DSLR can churn out big files. I’ve gone from a Fuji finepix s5500 to a Canon EOS 400D recently and now if I shoot in RAW my images are up to 15MB (from 1MB on the fuji).
One last thing is to be sure you want a laptop. They’re more expensive for the same power and if you really think carefully about it you may find that you’ll spend most of your time attached to something (power, camera, printer, mouse, network etc.) so maybe you won’t be as mobile as you think you will. Also desktops are definitely more comfortable to use, have bigger screens and I actually don’t find them as intrusive as they used to be.
Oh and one last spanner in the works, Windows Vista is on the way and the specs I mentioned above won’t really be able to handle it. If you are concerned with Vista compatibility that’s another ball game (I work for The Company so I can give you info but treat it with appropriate skepticism :-) )
//Cian
As far as laptops are concerned, if you intend to use Photoshop then you should get one with as much RAM as possible – at least 1G RAM.
As for cameras I could be on here all day, but as you probably know the main players are Canon and Nikon, but there are also Olympus, Sony, Pentax, Fuji etc etc. If you want to go down the Digital SLR route, remember that you are buying into a system – Canon lenses only fit Canon cameras, likewise with Nikon (although they also fit Fuji). Canon and Nikon have the best range of lenses and you should have a look here :http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs.asp
or here:http://www.dcviews.co.uk/cameras.htm
Hi Danielle,
Welcome aboard! You’ve certainly opened up a huge can of worms with your questions. I’ll take one at a time.
Laptop:
Totally depends on your budget and requirements. Do you really need a laptop? Reason I ask is you’ll get a lot more for your money if you can make do with a desktop computer. For me eitherway I’d recommend a Mac over a PC if you’re going to be using it mainly for photoshop & photographic stuff. I know others may disagree, and the Mac / PC debate is as old as they come, but from personal experience I know very few people who use Macs who have ever switched to PC, but know a ton (including myself) who have switched the opposite direction. Now that Macs can run windows as well as OSX, I really see no argument to not buy one, other than price. They may seem expensive on face value, but generally are incredibly well built, with a ton of little things to make life easier (built in web cams, mail / photo / video software included in the box etc). All you need to decide is a budget, and take it from there. If you’re carrying the laptop about with you, consider battery life, weight (including charger), size, wireless capabilities and durability. These can make a huge difference. Also consider hard disk size, as photos will soon eat it up on a laptop. You’ll probably be investing in a ton of blank dvds or a portable hard disk before long..
SLRs:
Like the Mac / Pc debate, you’ll also find a huge difference of opinion on the Canon vs Nikon vs Other SLR manufacturers. Personally I chose Canon, more by accident than anything else, years ago when I bought my first SLR. Once you’ve bought one brand, and started building a collection of lenses etc, it becomes VERY expensive to swap at a later date. I love Canon to bits and have no desire to change, but sure you’ll find a lot of people in the Nikon camp saying the same.
The best advice with regards to which one to go for is that the lenses make more difference than the camera. All Nikon & Canon SLRs are capable of taking decent pics if you know how to use them within their limitations. Spending ?1000 on lenses and ?500 on a camera is a better idea than spending ?1450 on a body, and ?50 on a nasty cheap lens. Even the top of the range models will produce poor shots if used looking through a jam jar! Consider the older models too. Some top bargains to be had on the likes of the Canon EOS300D / 350D / 20D. While they’re not the latest models out, they’re still great cameras, and you get the advantage that all the faults have been ironed out. With the brand new models, you always take a risk of buying an immature product.
Finally – what manual SLR have you been using? have you got any lenses / accessories that you could take into the digital realm with you? Might save you some more cash too!
I realise that I’ve answered your question with 50 more questions in return, but hope it’s been some help, and given you some some things to ponder over!
Tim
EDIT: Apparently I type too slowly – those guys beat me to it!! :lol:
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