Not looking for any knockdown dragouts between brand loyalists, please.

Haven't bought a new computer in 5 years.

Need to be able to process photos from new DSLR (18MB) using mid to hi-end photo editors. Initial research has landed me thinking....

Min: i5, 6GB, 640GB, discrete graphics.....

What am I missing? And can I do it for under $600?

Saw this http://www.woot.com/blog/viewentry.aspx?id=22304 on today's Woot for $699 and thought about it, but mostly concerned about screen resolution (1600x900) and the fact it's refurb.

:-) can't write refurb.ished without some guy with a sign showing up in my post....ha

Thoughts?
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You could probably do pretty well with just a 2GB processor. Check out B&H:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
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It really depends on what you will be running and how many images you are pushing at what speed. For me as a professional photographer I need the fastest lightest out there with the bast possible screen, so I go for a $1500 Asus laptop. If you don't need the top of the line though then you can easily process images on a $600 machine with great resulty it will just be a little slower than top of the line. I think the specs you are looking at are fine. Maybe check dell as their sale prices are great and cover a lot with their extended warranty.
Posted via Mobile Device
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Thanks! I hadn't thought too much about portablility except that I want a laptop. Aside from home to work, I've never lugged one around. Good point.
I also hadn't paid much attention to Dell, but this morning came across what looks to be a pretty good deal I just may jump on:


Inspiron 15R - i5/ 6GB/ 500GB
Inspiron 15R, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64-Bit, English
Unit Price: $568

Processor 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2450M processor (2.50GHz, with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.10GHz) edit
Memory 6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory edit
Monitor 15.6" High Definition (720p) LED Display with Truelife™ edit
Video Card AMD Radeon™ HD 6470M (64-bit) 512MB (Dual) edit
Hard Drive 500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive edit
CD ROM/DVD ROM 8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive) edit
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What Software are you going to be using for prossesing? And I suggest a bigger hard drive.
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Thanks for the input. I suppose software is probably my next thread....lol

Been a 4-5 years since I shopped for photo editing software - ended up with Ulead and Photoshop (don't know/remember versions.) Both were slow and interfaces were cumbersome. Was never really satisfied with either.

I'm hoping that PaintShopPro or Photoshop Elements will do me ok for now.
Acknowledge the HD size. Will look at that. Any reason not to go with external down the road?
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Don't even bother with paying for that kind of stuff.

If you are going to need about 75% of what photoshop or lightroom could do, go and get gimp. It is free works great right now and getting better all the time. They do a fantastic job and I was actually very close to switching to it and getting rid of Adobe all together.

http://www.gimp.org/
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I love Light room and with the new version out you can put together books for the family. It is also a good piece of software if you want to grow more. I have had my DLSR for a little more than a year and this is what I use.
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