Computer purchase question

aeromed202

aeromed202

SOH-CM-2014
I'm tossing this here cause I got nada from Other Hobbies. Throw it back if you must.
The wife is wanting to start a home furnishing business. What kind of desktop should she be steering for? This would not be a gaming station. I presume there would be memory-heavy design/graphic/image software but I also presume a fast processor is not a big consideration for those, I could be wrong. I am looking for recommendations for specs from the ground up as I think off-the-shelf stuff for this purpose is just not out there. Any help will be most welcome. Thanks a bunch.

One local comp store suggested

New:
INTEL Core i3-530, 2.93GHz, 4MB Cache Processor
CasEdge FX-776BK case, 350W PS
LG Electronics GH22NS40 STAA 22x DVD/RW Drive
Seagate 250GB Barracuda 8MB Cache HD
ASUS P7H55-M Pro MB
2GB Super Talent DDR PC3-10600 1333Mhz MEM
Windows 7

for about $700, comparable price to NewEggs. What can I trim here or will I have to go used.

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Hi,

Like you, I'm having to second-guess the actual program to be used, but I agree that it will probably involve heavy graphics. For this you will probably need a better-than-average graphics card, lots of memory and large quantities of storage, although even the 1Tb drives now available are pretty cheap. With large image files 250Gb may not go as far as you think, although you could always add more later. As for the processor, it depends on what the design program needs, but I'd guess that a modern processor ought to suffice.

I'd also suggest a GOOD, large monitor. Most seem to be widescreen these days and its easy to overlook the fact that a 22" widescreen is the same sort of height as a traditional 1.0:1.33 ratio 17", so unless you go for one that can be turned to "portrait" mode, you may need to look at big monitors. Hopefully your wife can comment on whether this is an issue.

You may also want to just check that with a good graphics card you need a PSU bigger than the 350W one you list. It seems a bit small to me.

Cheers,

Alastair
 
If this is for a lady, and not a gaming computer, why not get her a Laptop computer. She can put it away when she wants, she can use it in bed, in the kitchen, on the sofa while listening to TV. She can take it with her on appointments, to nice coffee shops and restaurants that have free wifi and do work there while having a frappacinno.

They are amazing these days and some are pretty sylish. They come with webcams, speakers, some have illuminated keys now.

I would get one with either Win7 or Windows XP. vista runs terrible on most laptops. Also at least 3 to 4 gigs of RAM.

I recently purchased a laptop for my brother, a HP in burgundy. Nice little laptop. Illuminated keys, Win7, large HD, 4 gigs Ram. He loves it. He can go mobile whenever he needs and has all his information there with him. Only $440.00


If, if she is interested in Apple, they have a sweet, completely white laptop that girls really love. She can load windows on it in Bootcamp. It runs $900 and has a ton of built in hardware. Apple iWork is only $75.00 for it and can do all the same things Windows Office can do. My sister got the MacBook Pro 17" loaded with her tax money. She loves it, mainly for iLife as it has tons of media things you can do with photos, music, editing them, etc. You can get the mac version of Windows Office as well for them.

If she isnt into Macs though, no worries. Some like them, some dont.
 
Great minds think alike...what Bill said !

A laptop would be a very good solution. It would give her a lot of portability and flexibility as Bill noted.

I do digital art/drawing and if design software is like my digital art software, I would get as much memory as possible in addition to as big a HD that you can get. Art files tend to be large by nature although external drives for added capacity are reasonably priced now.
 
Lady? (did the missus clock you after saying that?) Actually she wants a DT cause she will have a desk and needs a big monitor for multiple documents or large fabric images. And I may have found a tower at a local store as I have the peripherals. They buy bulk cast-offs from companies. Don't have the spec sheet yet but for about $270 I can get a big case (room for new stuff), Dell Core 2, multiple sockets for RAM, etc, room for second HD, 80G memory (will need to do something about that), and all re-formatted with XP. I'm asuming it was part of a main frame.
 
A laptop may not be as bad as you think, with windows 7 its pretty much plug and play if you want to add new monitors. And the latest generation of laptops can be just as powerful as desktops. I bought a studio 17 from dell recently and its at least 4 times more powerful than my old PC, plus the 1TB HDD is a bonus as I can get all my stuff on it and still carry it around if i have to. One thing worth mentioning is that I'm not sure if backlit keyboards are worth it, my laptop has them and even on the lowest brightness setting the screen generally provides enough light to see them by, but thats just my two pence
 
Yeah I hear you but I have to consider price too. That under $300, or $400 with a new thing or two is awfully persuasive.
 
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