[Leica] What Desktop Computer to Buy These Days?

[abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)]

Robert,

I don't play on the Windows side in any way but I sure am impressed
with what HP has been doing in terms of their user-experience for
delivered products. I've unpacked a few of them and found the
instructions to be without peer, even better than Apple's. Maybe the
best instructions I have ever used.

I used to really trust HP as a company. No longer, what with all their
idiocy at the board level, but they still know how to engineer and
create good products and now their designs are truly done world-wide.

As a Mac guy I'm always there to boost it - but if you have lots of
software and experience using Windows, and you aren't having the
down-side of Windows because you're sophisticated enough to set up and
maintain your system to be virus/spyware free, why change and lose the
productivity while you relearn another way to do things? I find that
Photoshop on the PC feels alien to me and imagine that you'd find the
same experience on the Mac coming over from Windows.

I won't get into all the arguing and brick-bat throwing that goes with
whether one system is better built than another. I know that my G5
desktop system is like a rock - fast and stable. My laptops have been
very good. More expensive? I don't know. But if you buy a system of
equal capability from HP or Dell I have to think the Mac would come in
about the same price: much of the chip set is the same. There will be
fewer driver issues on the Mac because the hardware is owned by Apple
which makes things a lot easier and most Windows people who complain
seem to have driver issues at some point (as I hear them).

Hope this helps. Keep your life simple.

Adam

On 1/31/07, Robert D. Baron <rbaron@concentric.net> wrote:
> My trusty Dell P4 1.7 ghz with 1 gb of ram turned 5 years old this
> month, and like me, it is starting to have trouble keeping up with the
> younger generation....so I would like to ask for the wisdom of the LUG
> regarding a replacement.
>
> Aside from surfing the internet and a little word processing and Quicken
>    financial and such, my main need is for a machine that will quickly
> operate the very latest versions of photoshop and lightroom and their
> various third-party plugins and maybe an image cataloging program if I
> can settle on one I like.
>
> I am not a gamer and although I might watch a movie on it I don't see
> myself doing much video editing.
>
> I see three routes:
>
> 1. A new Dell;
>
> 2. A new local shop built; or
>
> 3. A new Mac Pro.
>
> It would be easier for me to stick with Windows XP Pro because I know
> it, but I bought a G4 Powerbook to learn on last year and in light of
> the new intel chip Macs that allow the running of some windows programs
>   I am not totally Mac averse.
>
> A little while back people were speaking poorly of Dell quality.  Has
> that changed?
>
> Obviously the key elements I need to consider are which processor and
> which video card; I know to load up on ram.
>
> With those questions, and with a projected budget as far below $3,000 US
> as I can stay, what is the current wisdom? What specifications do I need?
>
> Many thanks for your help.
>
> --Bob Baron / Oklahoma City
>
>
>
>
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