
One note on processor speeds: be wary of paying a lot more for a very slight increase in speed. Although this will be the most subjective of the recommendations that I’ll make, I would consider 3.0GHz to be the sweet spot for photo-editing. Modern processors are mostly running in the 2.2GHz to 3.2GHz speed range. But, for photo-editing, you’ll want more than average speed. Cutting costs by buying a computer with a single core processor would likely result in a computer that’s not up to the task of handling your photo-editing needs.Īll processors in today’s market could be considered “fast” for applications such as word processing.

Most processors available in today’s marketplace have 2 processing cores, but single core models are still available. There are computers selling at big box stores right now which are single core Celeron processors, and single core Athlon processors, that would not be good for photo-editing.ĬPU Essentials: A dual core processor is crucial for a quality photo-editing computer. While many computers sold today have sufficient power, low power CPUs are not so rare that I can skip mentioning them as important to avoid.
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This is even more of an issue if a series of commands are issued (for example, running an action). The CPU now directly controls whether running this command takes 5 seconds or 40 seconds. A command is issued in Photoshop (for example, create a Motion Blur). Let’s say you open a large TIFF in Photoshop (loaded into the RAM). Opening and editing high-resolution photos in a program such as Photoshop requires an enormous amount of CPU power and if your CPU isn’t up to the task, your workflow will grind to a halt.

Essentials will provide the basic needs for the advanced amateur-not the pro-while Options covers those who use their camera to record video and their computer to edit it.Įverything your computer does from the moment it powers on until it shuts down is handled, at some point, by the CPU. You can look at these suggestions as being divided into two categories: Essentials and Options.

In this article, I’ll take a look at some of the features you should look for when considering a new computer. The computer needs of a digital photographer are different from someone who just wants to check e-mail and surf the Web.
