Search the Community

One of the hings I keep toying with is, because I'm fed up with Windows PC's changing and other issues, is changing from PC to MAC, but of course the prices have rocketed and they are all changing to SSD's at the same time & USB is disappearing fast. Most fast PC's are also doing the same with SSD's and going up in price, so going back a year or so I was hoping to get a Apple refurb Mac Book Pro for around £500, but of course the newer models are double (plus in a lot of cases). But as I'm using Windows 7, I don't want to go to 10, or 11 or 12, but the Mac prices are scary, even refurbished. Apple seem to be making it easier to pay monthly, but....it's a lot of money Has anyone migrated and found it was ok? Or was it majorly problematic? Bearing in mind not only do I have my photos on external hard drives, like most other people I have various Word, Excel files etc and also use Outlook for my e-mail on my laptop along with other stuff, but I can't wait too much longer, as my laptop will die soon! Any successful or non successful converts out there? Thanks Chris

I'm looking to buy a new desktop PC (definitely PC - although I like Macs as much as PCs, for a number of pragmatic reasons this one has to be a PC, and also not an all-in-one). What is current thinking on specs? My photo workflow mainly involves Lightroom, but I also use Photoshop and various plugins. While working on images, I usually have a considerable number of browser tabs, word docs, etc open at the same time. I already have a screen. In the past, I've always had machines custom-built in local shops. However, due to early problems with my current machine which the shop didn't resolve well, and the fact that such shops seem to be going out of business at a fast rate, I'll probably go with one of the mainstream brands (eg Lenovo, HP, Dell) this time to get a good solid warranty, despite them being more expensive than local builds. I'll spend whatever it takes to get a decent machine and am aiming for something reasonably future-proof without going over the top. I'd love to hear any helpful suggestions, recommendations and/or experiences, but I have some specific questions as well: Are there any pitfalls in buying mainstream brands? For example, do non-standard cases mean that future expansion is more difficult? And would adding an extra HDD or more memory (things I'm used to doing myself) invalidate the warranty anyway? I get the impression that it's a good idea to put the OS, programs and Lightroom catalogue plus previews on an SDD. But do people find 256GB enough, or is it better to go to the (considerable) expense of 512GB? More RAM is better, I know, and I'm thinking of getting at least 24GB, but does the law of diminishing returns kick in beyond that? Is there a noticeable difference between, say 24GB and 32GB? Many thanks in advance!! David.

To give some background first before I set off, I've been working in IT for the last 6-7 years. A systems admin for a school so I'm always surrounded by kit. Servers, laptops, pc's tablets, phones, you name it, I'm responsible for it. I used to build my own computers, and up until about 3 years ago I haven't really kept my nose to the ground on what's hot and what's not in the world of personal computing. Business and personal computing are two totally different worlds with regards to PC's specs and desirable equipment. I'm part in charge of a £250k year IT budget so you need to make sure you're getting value for money. Anyway. I bought an off the shelf laptop the other day to replace my really old Acer laptop. It wasn't a slouch on spec but the 5400rpm HDD that was in it, really sucked the life right out of it. I took it back for a refund. I'm now looking to either build myself a monster of a computer based on an Intel Core i7/DDR3 system or just walk into Apple and buy a 21" imac off the shelf with 16Gb of RAM in it. I've hardly used MAC OS but would get used to it, and I've heard that your workflow really comes to life on a MAC. The guy I work with says you can get more for less building your own, and I kind of agree, but it's the hassle of it all. I was going to get an SSD based system, however, Apples Fusion Drive sounds quite promising. I should note however, that this system is going to be running Photoshop CC & Lightroom 5 at the same time. What does everyone else use? Are you happy? What is the spec? Cheers for the advice, Paul