I know we all have a slant on what we want, but there are just so many ways to tape a system together. For instance, if I wanted a Dell to perform for me as a Photographer, I would want to hear from those who already are set up. Care to offer any USEFUL advice?
Or if you like take it up here at my blog: http://outsideshooter.blogspot.com/
Well, it depends a bit on your budget and what software you use for your photo editing.
If you use Photoshop, then an Intel Q6600 is what would be best for you. Photoshop is a multi-threaded application, and will make use of all 4 cores of the cpu.
I would also recommend 2GB or even 4GB of system memory. Especially if you are editing high-resolution photos.
Video cards don't actually help performance-wise, just actually display what is on screen. Your system processor and system memory will play the role as far as performance.
If your budget is high, and you are working with extremely high resolution photos, then hard drive speed will also help, and 15K rpm SAS drives would certainly be beneficial. Otherwise, these new 7200rpm drives are fast enough.
From my experience as a landscape architect who uses a very high end dell (3.4 GHz Dual Intel Xeon, 2 GB RAM, 2x250 GB HDD-7,200 RPM, nVidia QuadroForce 256 MB - dual screen setup) I use Adobe Design CS3 quite often along with a wide range of Autodesk products for design modeling, rendering, etc. and my setup which I am also selling has performed beautifully!! The dual screen setup is a must!! I never would've realized how helpful two screens are until I had to go back to one at work. I will admit that I feel a little less unproductive without the second screen.
I will guess that you use a fair amount of Photoshop and a computer with 2 GB (4 GB+), 7,200 RPM HDD makes work much more enjoyable instead of waiting for large PSD documents to save or for Photoshop to apply filters, etc.
Like I said before, I am selling my Dell for $1000 OBO plus it has one year left under warranty of Dell's Gold Extended Warranty (4-Hour 24/7 Parts-Labor On-Site Service).
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