Computer Suggestions?

[karlimarie]

I have an Asus laptop from 2018 that's still going strong... apart from some fan drama It's held up all this time because I leaned hard into the RAM, graphics cards, and storage. However, the CPU just hasn't held up over time and the seams are starting to show.

While she's not on her last leg yet I think it's time to start researching new computers to see what's out there and what I need to budget for.

While a Mac was always the dream, we use the computer not just for graphics but for gaming and video recording/editing/streaming as well, so I think that sticking with a PC is our best bet for now. I've always been a laptop person, but for the past few years the laptop has been almost completely stationary - so I'm willing to consider a tower if it means saving money on convenience to be able to put towards a better CPU, if that makes sense.

So I'm curious where are we shopping for computers these days?

What brands you're loving right now and which ones to stay away from?

If you have a computer that performs really well... what are your specs?

Any advice before I jump down the rabbit hole??

 

[AmieN1]

My tower is from 2021, so probably outdated at this point, but it's been a power horse! I went with a Dell (personally, I have had the best luck & customer service through many computers/laptops through Dell.) I also built basically a gaming tower with all the things you mentioned- highest graphics card, ram & storage as possible in our budget. We also purchased through Costco and on a black friday sale time so we got a phenomenal deal.

I have wanted to get a laptop- but between the kids always needing something- ipad/laptop/chromebook, new $500 softball bat, new hockey stick/gear etc- it's just never been in our budget. Plus, I REALLY love my 3 monitor setup at my desk and not sure I am willing to give that up for a laptop size screen now!

 

[Brendazzle]

We just got the kiddo a Dell laptop last year and it's probably the most powerful computer in our house. We're not going to tell him that it's specced for gaming or he'll never do homeschool again. We literally got the very last one that Best Buy had of that model and only because it was hidden behind some other model and neither the Best Buy staff nor the Dell guy could find it.

I have a 3(?) year old gaming PC from I Buy Power that my brother picked out for me. She's a beauty with a fancy graphics card, still-not-enough-but-decent RAM*, SSD hard drives, and came with a mouse and keyboard** for a good price. The internal hard drive isn't that big but I have two 1 TB external SSD drives - the one that is always connected for scrapbook supplies and one that I use for backing things up and photo storage. Plus an older external hard drive with older photos and albums that feels so slow now. I have two mismatched monitors so anything that needs to be color-calibrated is on the good one and stuff that I just need open (like my scrapbooking brain dump spread sheet) gets put on the other one.

* I am that person who tries to batch edit multiple files from my 5D Mark IV with complex 30+ layer Photoshop actions and so I ask too much of my computer. I have 24 GB of RAM, which is fine for scrapping upwards of 100 layers in a single PSD as long as I convert some clusters to smart objects. Did it for a challenge and didn't die.

** My husband has the keyboard now. I needed a gaming keyboard with more hot keys because I have so many things saved as shortcuts that way. Again, I am beyond what normal people do.

 

[AmieN1]

I am beyond what normal people do.

Who's normal anyways!? I think that we (collective scrappers) tend to require a lot of our systems in general!

 

[angiekey]

When you're looking at a machine to handle graphics and video editing, you're talking about a workstation or a mobile workstation rather than just a personal computer. At least, that's the nomenclature manufacturers use to separate out those machines.

If you want a laptop, I swear by HP's Z-Book series. But they are not cheap. You're looking at about $3,500 for a well-configured laptop and when I priced out a new one with specs to last me 5 years, the price tag was $5,000. You won't find these in stores ... you order them online directly through HP's website.

The big issue with laptops is that they're generally not upgradable except for the memory (RAM) and hard drives. If you wind up needing additional processing power, you'll find that the processor is usually soldered onto the motherboard, meaning it can't be changed out without ditching the entire guts of the laptop, in which case all you've saved is the laptop shell and your hard drives. And manufacturers have a nasty habit of changing the footprint of their motherboards so they won't fit in older cases, which forces you to buy a whole new machine.

Those are all reasons why I went back to a tower. I ended up going to Microcenter and building out a custom machine. I have a background in building PCs so assembling one from parts and configuring drivers isn't a big deal to me. Don't know if you have or know anyone with that skillset... it took me around 3 hours to assemble it, so if you paid someone $50 an hour, it'd only run you $150 to have them put it together.

And I wound up saving a FORTUNE by building it from parts. I was able to get a case with a massive power supply and lots of slots for expansion, a motherboard that can support the 4 dual-core processors I wanted (which means it runs like there's 8 processors in it), a big chunk of RAM, solid state hard drives, a video card with its own processors, and a liquid cooling system. I think I spent less than $2,000 to build my workstation. Compared to the $5k for the laptop with similar specs, that was a steal.

I've found that processing power, not memory, was the biggest thing to slow me down as my laptops aged. Adobe products are relying more and more on the machine's processors to do a lot of the heavy lifting, so starting out with lots of horsepower and having the flexibility to upgrade it as time goes on is key.

Anyway, I hope this info helps - if you want details on my machine's specs (because she runs like a champ!) just let me know.

 

[angiekey]

My tower is from 2021, so probably outdated at this point, but it's been a power horse! I went with a Dell (personally, I have had the best luck & customer service through many computers/laptops through Dell.) I also built basically a gaming tower with all the things you mentioned- highest graphics card, ram & storage as possible in our budget. We also purchased through Costco and on a black friday sale time so we got a phenomenal deal.

I have wanted to get a laptop- but between the kids always needing something- ipad/laptop/chromebook, new $500 softball bat, new hockey stick/gear etc- it's just never been in our budget. Plus, I REALLY love my 3 monitor setup at my desk and not sure I am willing to give that up for a laptop size screen now!

YAAAAASS to the multiple screen setup! Even when I had my laptop, I'd plug it in at home to my monitors using one HDMI cable and two USB-to-HDMI adapters.

I'm back to two monitors now that my oldest one died, and I find myself grousing periodically that I "only" have two. Don't we get spoiled so quickly? LOL!

 

[Brendazzle]

When you're looking at a machine to handle graphics and video editing, you're talking about a workstation or a mobile workstation rather than just a personal computer. At least, that's the nomenclature manufacturers use to separate out those machines.

If you want a laptop, I swear by HP's Z-Book series. But they are not cheap. You're looking at about $3,500 for a well-configured laptop and when I priced out a new one with specs to last me 5 years, the price tag was $5,000.

The big issue with laptops is that they're generally not upgradable except for the memory (RAM) and hard drives. If you wind up needing additional processing power, you'll find that the processor is usually soldered onto the motherboard, meaning it can't be changed out without ditching the entire guts of the laptop, in which case all you've saved is the laptop shell and your hard drives. And manufacturers have a nasty habit of changing the footprint of their motherboards so they won't fit in older cases, which forces you to buy a whole new machine.

Those are all reasons why I went back to a tower. I ended up going to Microcenter and building out a custom machine. I have a background in building PCs so assembling one from parts and configuring drivers isn't a big deal to me. Don't know if you have or know anyone with that skillset... it took me around 3 hours to assemble it, so if you paid someone $50 an hour, it'd only run you $150 to have them put it together.

And I wound up saving a FORTUNE by building it from parts. I was able to get a case with a massive power supply and lots of slots for expansion, a motherboard that can support the 4 dual-core processors I wanted, a big chunk of RAM, solid state hard drives, a video card with its own processors, and a liquid cooling system. I think I spent less than $2,000 to build my workstation.

I've found that processing power, not memory, was the biggest thing to slow me down as my laptops aged. Adobe products are relying more and more on the machine's processors to do a lot of the heavy lifting, so starting out with lots of horsepower and having the flexibility to upgrade it as time goes on is key.

Anyway, I hope this info helps - if you want details on my machine's specs (because she runs like a champ!) just let me know.

My stepdad built all my computers for me when I was a teenager and I never had any issues when he did. I wish he was still around to do it now.

Your computer sounds like a dream.

Who's normal anyways!? I think that we (collective scrappers) tend to require a lot of our systems in general!

That is very true. I remember years ago when I was starting out, I got to play with a 5D Mark II at a wedding I was photographing for a friend. (I did not have as professional a camera as the guest who shared his; he was an architectural photographer.) The files were bigger than my old computer could open comfortably and I think my fear of insufficient RAM comes from that. I came to scrapping by way of photography so my layouts seem almost gentle on Photoshop in comparison.

 

[angiekey]

That is very true. I remember years ago when I was starting out, I got to play with a 5D Mark II at a wedding I was photographing for a friend. (I did not have as professional a camera as the guest who shared his; he was an architectural photographer.) The files were bigger than my old computer could open comfortably and I think my fear of insufficient RAM comes from that. I came to scrapping by way of photography so my layouts seem almost gentle on Photoshop in comparison.

I know exactly what you mean! Each time I upgraded my cameras (and I tend to use them until the shutter dies) I found the new RAW files were so big, Lightroom and Photoshop either couldn't handle them or would clock for upwards of 60-90 seconds every time I tried to make a development change. That's all about processing power, and it's utterly painful to try and even scan through and do an initial culling from a big event when you have to wait that long for each pic to pull up. Ugh!

 

[Brendazzle]

I know exactly what you mean! Each time I upgraded my cameras (and I tend to use them until the shutter dies) I found the new RAW files were so big, Lightroom and Photoshop either couldn't handle them or would clock for upwards of 60-90 seconds every time I tried to make a development change. That's all about processing power, and it's utterly painful to try and even scan through and do an initial culling from a big event when you have to wait that long for each pic to pull up. Ugh!

I'm on my 3rd DSLR in 20 years and only because my needs outpaced what they could do. (I started with a Canon Rebel XT, jumped to a 50D, and now I have a grown-up 5D Mark IV.) I haven't killed a shutter yet but the senor in the Rebel couldn't handle ISO 1600 so now she's my "questionable decisions" sidekick. At least photographing a Color Run didn't kill her.

I do my RAW processing one or two at a time in Adobe Camera RAW and then try to do 2 or 3 similar shots together to finish in Photoshop. I've had this crash my old computers so many times. My C drive is basically a scratch disk for Photoshop at this point and it still complains sometimes. Luckily I'm not doing much for anyone other than myself these days so I can go super slow and give my computer breaks. I just cull as I go because I have blue screen of death anxieties now.

 

[littlekiwi]

Like @angiekey, my PC is a custom build. I went down this route for more bang for buck essentially as I knew I wouldn't be happy with how far my money would stretch with a laptop specs wise. I gave my friend who is much more technology minded than I am a budget, a list of what I wanted it to do (she's a photographer so understands graphics needs) and let her go to town then her & her brother built it for me. I only recently had to replace the motherboard nearly four years down the track & also replace a second hand monitor & so far no complaints.

 

[AshleyMilfd]

Here I am crying that my phone I used for scrapping finally crapped out (it had been abused and dropped so many times) the phone I'm using is a better phone talking "big picture" but the graphics are super gross compared to my scrap phone I spent $100 on. I spent too much on this phone bc my husband is Mr Samsung only, but unless you're buying the big boy with big boy pricing the phone just doesn't do it for me. I don't know why he won't spend LESS money on a phone I like just bc it's not Samsung.

(so our tvs and appliances are Samsung and "talk" with our phones without any extra apps or needing a wifi - this is why he is so stupid about it. I don't even use the phone for ANY of that so it doesn't even MATTER!!)

SORRY, I went on a rant and totally not even close to answering your questions. I am watching this thread bc I'm trying to figure out if I want to finally invest in something that I can play in the big leagues with yall or just find a refurbished phone like the one I had and keep doing it from there. I'm just so unhappy witn the quality of my pages I've done with this phone and makes me not want to scrap at all if it just looks like blurry funky poop.