Computer Selection My daughter is an aspiring artist/photographer in her last year of school. She needs a computer that is configured to meet her needs. She will be using professional Photoshop software and other software related to the artistic side. Additionally, it needs to be functional for normal college class requirements. Unfortunately, all sales people have their bias and angles. Frankly we are confused about i5, i7, AMD, RAM size, Hard drive size, etc., etc. We would appreciate insight regarding the "best fit" computer for her, based on this post. $$$ always a concern...will $700-850 cover it?Thanks in advance Computer Selection My daughter is an aspiring artist/photographer in her last year of school. She needs a computer that is configured to meet her needs. She will be using professional Photoshop... » Read More Computer Selection My daughter is an aspiring artist/photographer in her last year of school. She needs a computer that is configured to meet her needs. She will be using professional Photoshop software and other software related to the artistic side. Additionally, it needs to be functional for normal college class requirements. Unfortunately, all sales people have their bias and angles. Frankly we are confused about i5, i7, AMD, RAM size, Hard drive size, etc., etc. We would appreciate insight regarding the "best fit" computer for her, based on this post. $$$ always a concern...will $700-850 cover it?Thanks in advance « Show Less
1312378
You would be very hard pressed to get a better laptop than this one, it has the new Intel I3 processor installed, which benchmarks far faster than the AMD Phenom II 3 gHz. model. Also, this laptop has a very large hard drive, HDMI output port for viewing streaming videos on HDMI TV's, etc. The four megabytes of RAM expandable to 8 megabytes is excellent. Also, has WiFi with all three frequencies, b,g, and n. All in all, one of the absolute best buys on the Market in this price range.
1808547
Although it is a great tool, most schools with a Photography Dept. have a computer Lab with all the necessary equipment. I currently have a 12x18 Wacom 4. It is a great piece of gear, but does take up a lot of space on the desk. Before purchasing the tablet, try to find out what resources she has for doing her work currently. The Wacom tablet might be a better gift for graduation.In addition, the tablet is really just another version of a mouse...it operates with a 'pen' and has more sensitivity. To really do high end photo editing or more precisely photo manipulation, you need to have Adobe Photoshop installed. This program has all the filters and features to do just that.Good luck. Although it is a great tool, most schools with a Photography Dept. have a computer Lab with all the necessary equipment. I currently have a 12x18 Wacom 4. It is a great piece of gear, but does take up a lot of space on the desk. Before purchasing the tablet, try to find out what resources she has for doing her work currently. The Wacom tablet might be a better gift for graduation.In addition, the tablet is really just another version of a mouse...it operates with a 'pen' and has more sensitivity. To really do high end photo editing or more precisely photo manipulation, you need... » Read More Although it is a great tool, most schools with a Photography Dept. have a computer Lab with all the necessary equipment. I currently have a 12x18 Wacom 4. It is a great piece of gear, but does take up a lot of space on the desk. Before purchasing the tablet, try to find out what resources she has for doing her work currently. The Wacom tablet might be a better gift for graduation.In addition, the tablet is really just another version of a mouse...it operates with a 'pen' and has more sensitivity. To really do high end photo editing or more precisely photo manipulation, you need to have Adobe Photoshop installed. This program has all the filters and features to do just that.Good luck. « Show Less
1243496
It should run photoshop perfectly fine. I run games and tons of productivity tools on mine. I have upgraded my RAM, but most programs are processor intensive over RAM. And the HP can handle most productivity software that you can throw at it.
1386550
DAB, just read your reply, I've been debating the same issue. My plan is for video and photo editing, along with music recording. I think I'll need the extra HD space and the GPU would be handy. I think you just convinced me. But I'm waiting until after August 2010 to see if there are new iMacs being announced.
1952333
It is a solid computer and can handle school work well. This PC is not a recent HP model and will not do well with games that require faster graphics. One drawback to this machine is that it uses DDR2 memory which is usually more expensive than the newer DDR3 standard. Maximum memory for this machine is 8 GB.
1879638
the cace is great, it is strong, and i do not problem with that, in general i am so happy with this computer, and help me alot with my job as wedding photographer, photoshop, dark room, light room is running very well, i recomend you to by this, with this price is owesome. at last the decision is your, good luck
1673482
The fan issue regarding the X4 I believe is actually moot because since the reviews that stated any fan issues, we changed the case and went with a much more efficient and ventilated case, as well as having an extra case fan now. There is room for a second... and 3rd (I just checked) DVD drive and is this the best we have for Photoshop work... no. Our technical best would be the AAC-T7S but that is not available on Amazon yet. We currently have a model called the AAC-X8 which we have in stock that would fulfill photoshop work VERY well. It has an 8 core 8320 processor, 16GBs RAM, a 2 TB hard drive and everything else that come standard (card reader, DVD drive, 3 year warranty.) We are working on getting that up and running on Amazon's catalog.
188164
When I researched my purchase, I found that the most small tablet users preferred the larger size of a medium, and that many Large users said that the Medium is pretty much the perfect size (Unless you are used to drawing or painting on a large canvas). I personally recommend the medium size. However, if you are only using the small for photo touch-ups you'd be fine though. Now as for the difference in tech, you'll have better line variation on the pro, but If I had to choose between size and line depth... Well, I guess I'd go with size. Lots of hours on a cramped drawing interface does not sound productive to me. I recommend ponying up a little more and just getting the Pro Medium, you'll be happy you did. Lastly, the Intous 4 Medium isn't alot different (different finish, no wireless, harder buttons) and can be found cheaper if the price is just a little out of your budget.
1976936
That is one of the reasons I got it. I'm a professional photographer and this is such a better deal than a Mac, performance per $. Very upgradable too. Ditch the HDD and get another Solid drive. Runs Lightroom and Photoshop like a boss. It's also great for video, runs Davinci Resolve and Premiere great.
306614
Hey. I'm a college student myself and here's my two cents. Wireless internet is very much available all over pretty much any campus. From personal experience attending Boston University I can tell you that for me it is available in all classrooms, the library, and study lounges and the student Union. The one place it is not provided is in the dormitories themselves where they also discourage hosting your own wireless networks, though I have managed to stay under the radar making the network hidden which is really quite simple. The lack of an optical drive could prove somewhat inconvenient. I'd suggest getting her the special external drive Apple makes to accompany it. That would take care of installing software and importing music CDs. The only place where it'd be a very serious inconvenience would be the inability to play dvds on the move without an external drive. The iTunes rental service is pretty neat but it is still an inconvenience. I personally think that trade off is well worth the benefits of having a lighter machine however. The Mac OS could prove to be a barrier if her school uses some Windows only software. The chances are working in a group she would really just need Word, Powerpoint and Excel compatibility. Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac is a great program which plays very nicely with its Windows counterpart. A lot of specialized educational software solutions these days are browser based so operating system isn't even a problem. I have a cousin who was the proud owner of a Powerbook who made it out of law school a few years ago. She raved about her experience with it and I never heard any complaints of compatibility issues. I think a MacBook Air would be a really great and thoughtful gift. Good Luck.
537592
this is a wonderful laptop. though it may not be the optimal time yet, but half a year after your precious daughter's graduation, the transtion should be pretty smooth by then, and dual-booting windows XP and OS X on mac book pro would be much more pleasant. at any rate, even now photoshop still runs well. not as fast as it could POTENTIALLY run a bit later, but still very good. it is always good to have the choice of running windows and os x on the same machine. (while doing so on a non-apple pc is illegal)
80326
I don't see why not. But I am not sure you will be running much of anything else while using Photoshop with this computer. I installed Windows 8 and it gives you a status report of sorts. Graphics was 5.5 which is middle of the road. Also, I would recommend maxing out on the Ram. You can easily add RAM to this computer. Just go to the crucial memory website and it will automatically tell you what ram to buy and which slots to install. Good Luck! I have yet to install Elements on this one because I am thinking of buying another one just for me which I will most likely purchase either Photoshop or Lightroom 4. Try it and let us all know how it works. I don't see why not. But I am not sure you will be running much of anything else while using Photoshop with this computer. I installed Windows 8 and it gives you a status report of sorts. Graphics was 5.5 which is middle of the road. Also, I would recommend maxing out on the Ram. You can easily add RAM to this computer. Just go to the crucial memory website and it will automatically tell you what ram to buy and which slots to install. Good Luck! I have yet to install Elements on this one because I am thinking of buying another one just for me which I will most likely purchase either... » Read More I don't see why not. But I am not sure you will be running much of anything else while using Photoshop with this computer. I installed Windows 8 and it gives you a status report of sorts. Graphics was 5.5 which is middle of the road. Also, I would recommend maxing out on the Ram. You can easily add RAM to this computer. Just go to the crucial memory website and it will automatically tell you what ram to buy and which slots to install. Good Luck! I have yet to install Elements on this one because I am thinking of buying another one just for me which I will most likely purchase either Photoshop or Lightroom 4. Try it and let us all know how it works. « Show Less
1856044
Sorry not exactly sure what are the requirements for photoshop software you will be using, certainly this is an i7 4Gen laptop, should be able to run any programs on it, if you are currently using a laptop and you have used the same applications with that many pictures and works fine, then with newer models you shouldn't have any problem. We would also recommend to find more info online. Thank you,
2203007
It's a good laptop for college, just know that it is older unless the seller has updated it so if they have not then you will be limited as far as downloads go. I actually have a new Macbook Air and with Macs they are already limited and then you add the age would make it very limited with basic downloads like Adobe, etc. Try looking around locally on Craigslist and you may find one that are updated with the newest OS. Hope this was helpful.
1459782
I would say yes, but I have not used this computer for too long. You know that at the begining all windows computers perform great, but after a while it starts giving problems. But for now, I have used photoshop, photmatrix and lightroom and everything is great.
1578820
The minimum Mac OS required to run Adobe Photoshop CS5 is OS X 10.5.7. A multicore Intel processor is required. The complete list of system requirements is available from Adobe: http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/system-requirements-photoshop.html However - if you have 10.6.8 (minimum) and the cash for the application, I have found CS6 to be a very worthy upgrade.
566581
I use this computer for many uses, one of which is graphics work with the GIMP (gnu image manipulation program) which is similar to Photoshop (in both capabilities and requirements). This computer can easily run the program, and has enough ram to open/edit good sized documents, but will lag on big files or if you run a processing task of any magnitude. Simpler processing tasks like adjusting brightness and contrast work fine, but lag on big images to the point that it is (slightly) annoying if you use the active preview. I also have a powerful home- built desktop, and it's greater speed is both noticeable and welcome after using the laptop. Short answer: it will work fine, but it is the minimum, more power would be ideal if photo work is your focus. If you only edit photos occasionally, this laptop should perform fine. Disclaimer: I cannot speak on the software aspect of the computer(win8) and how much power it consumes, as I wiped the hard drive immediately after the computer arrived and replaced win8 with Ubuntu 13.04