Re: Very OT: Upgrading computer for digital

[Graywolf]

Your list is pretty good except for the video card thingy. For games, for video, 
you need the fastest 3D card with the most memory you can afford. For 2D 
graphics that is not truly neccessary. As long as it has enough memory to keep a 
couple of screens available at whatever resolution you work at (say 8mb or so), 
and is not so old as to be bus bound, almost any fairly modern card should do.

Of course if you want a gaming machine, or just bragging rights go with a top of 
the line (say $700 or so) video card. (Yes, I know you can easily spend $3500 on 
a workstation streaming video card, but it would be a waste with most PC's 
because they could not feed it information fast enough to use all of its 
capabilities.)

Another thought is that in 2 years everything will be 64 bit, but right now very 
little software can use a 64bit processor any better than a 32bit one. So one 
needs to think whether the new machine has to last awhile, or can one afford to 
replace it in a couple of years.

graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
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Lasse Karlsson wrote:
Hi all,
I just sent the following to a friend off-list, but then realized that there 
are many of you who may have some good advice to give me.
When buying a digital camera I will also buy a new second hand computer. I 
haven't been following the development closely during the last years, why 
anything faster than my P 166 seems a wonder of technology... :)
I've done a list of obvious features that I will be looking for:
- as fast a processor as possible,
- as much RAM as possible,
- a video card of as much RAM as possible,
- obviously as big storage drives as possible,
- a CD rom/DVD writer,
- a 19 inch monitor of decent quality,
- USB ports.
As I said, I don't really know even where today's consumer grade computer 
technology is, or where it's going in the near future in terms of expected 
features/speeds etc.. (Or what the latest OS/image editing software will 
require). I simply might overlook something obvious.
If you'd find yourself in my situation with a tight budget, along what lines would your thinking go, like 
"not less than an "NN" processor", "not less than such and such a video card" 
etc.
(I wouldn't mind either passing on any of my requirements if I will easily and affordably 
be able to upgrade at a later stage, or even at first just buy me something very basic 
just to be able to deal with downloading my files from the camera, like "just give 
me a cheap computer that will take big hard drives and is equipped with USB:ports and I 
will upgrade later".)
Any thoughts on what might be a wise approach to all this?
Thanks,
Lasse