Computer conundrumsDigital photographers rely on the smooth running of their personal computers. Here's where to discuss problems and seek, as well as provide, advice.
While I have gamely modified my nearly four and a half year old HP Touchsmart tx2130ea to extend its useful life (three OS upgrades, several hard drives and now an SSD, and USB3 via the PCie port) I have given in to my daughter's regular reminders that she would like to give it a new home when I eventually upgrade it. It has a Wacom touch screen and she has great plans for using this (she is doing Art for GCSE).
I love my little HP but the latest versions of Adobe Creative Suite (6) and Lightroom, among other things, are really thrashing the poor little thing's processor.
So I am on a quest for a more up to date replacement but in these bad economic times the budget is not generous. I have been doing some research and I have decided to follow some others here and go down the refurbished route as there are massive savings to be made and I don't mind the odd blemish or two on the case - I will be adding my own soon enough!
This is what I feel I need:
Ideally a 2nd generation Intel Core i7 CPU although a fast Core i5 would be acceptable. A suitable Core i5 CPU would be about four times faster than my old HP's 2GHz AMD X64 Turion CPU and an i7 would be about 7 times faster. These CPUs also feature extra instruction sets for accelerating multimedia processing, so with some applications like video editing the performance increase would be even higher.
Dedicated nVidia GPU graphics with at least 1GB of video RAM and a minimum of 96 CUDA cores onboard. This is the minimum specification for enabling hardware acceleration for video editing but will also boost GPU-accelerated features in Photoshop and Lightroom. CUDA cores are parallel processors dedicated to crunching graphics data. Programs like Adobe Premiere Pro, which can benefit from Adobe Mercury Playback Engine hardware acceleration, can work far better with a graphics card like this. At the moment a 10 minute video clip may take a couple of hours to render on my old HP while on my new laptop I'm hoping for rendering to be something like a quarter or a fifth of the time - maybe even better, and have near real time previewing while editing.
Plenty of RAM - at least 8GB.
A decent screen, probably 15.6 inches there don't seem to be any smaller affordable laptops which meet my spec. for CPU and graphics support. I don't think I can stretch to a 1920 wide screen so it's likely to be a 1366x768 one.
Built in USB3 ports and eSata for a fast external drive. Even better if the DVD drive can be swapped out for a sata 2nd hard drive caddy.
Hard disk - not that bothered as I have some really good drives here I can retro-fit, including SSD.
Not too bulky and heavy.
And that's about it. The HP cost me £600 inc.VAT back in 2008. My budget for this time is - £500 inc.VAT Is it too tall an order?
English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64Bit OS)
Wireless: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 (1x2 b/g/n+ Bluetooth Combo Card)
LCD Back Cover : Diamond Black Switch Cover [Switchable Lid]
6 Cell Primary Battery, 48W
All this for £439.31, delivered (includes a £15 sale voucher and free shipping worth £22 which is an offer until 27th July).
The hawk-eyed among you will see that there is only 2GB RAM fitted. I'll remove that and replace it with 8GB (around £30) and the spare 2GB will go on eBay - might get £5 for it
I'm really looking forward to receiving my new Dell; it's got a seriously hot 2nd generation quad core i7 Intel CPU - about 7 times faster than my old laptop based on Passmark data. The dedicated graphics GPU is also rated 16x faster than my old system
I don't think upgrading memory is a warranty violation, in fact many laptops have instructions for carrying this out. Even hard drive replacements can be done without sacrificing your warranty - usually, but best check the warranty for your particular computer
And that deal reckons the full price should have been £900 - so that's less than half price for my refurb. Just goes to show you can make big savings with a little bit if research.
And that deal reckons the full price should have been £900 - so that's less than half price for my refurb. Just goes to show you can make big savings with a little bit if research.
Ian
On the face of it you have got yourself a bargain, but the Amazon deal is for a brand new computer with 6 gb of ram. Yours has only 2 gb and is refurbished. Not a lot of difference once you take into account the cost of the upgrade to 6 gb. Don't think I'm knocking your purchase. I too would have gone the same route. I recently saved just under £200 on a refurbished sat-nav. So like you say shopping around is the way to go. Thank God for the Internet. We could not find bargains like that with out it.
On the face of it you have got yourself a bargain, but the Amazon deal is for a brand new computer with 6 gb of ram. Yours has only 2 gb and is refurbished. Not a lot of difference once you take into account the cost of the upgrade to 6 gb. Don't think I'm knocking your purchase. I too would have gone the same route. I recently saved just under £200 on a refurbished sat-nav. So like you say shopping around is the way to go. Thank God for the Internet. We could not find bargains like that with out it.
4GB RAM is £15
Dell Outlet refurbs come in two categories - 'certified' and 'scratch & dent' - the former means the unit will be practically as-new, maybe with one or two minor cosmetic blemishes, the the unit will have been checked and thoroughly tested. Basically these are units returned by customers and some are even unused. It will also have the same warranty as a brand new unit. 'Scratch and dent' units have much more physical cosmetic imperfections and are priced accordingly. Apparently, units are stripped and where necessary components replaced. Screens and keyboards won't have imperfections.
If I had a brand new one it would look like my refurb either straight away or within a few weeks. For a difference of £225 (£240 less the £15 for the RAM) - It's a no-brainer.
One problem with Dell is that they make you wait! I hate waiting! It's torture
I was hoping that as I have ordered a refurb it would simply be waiting in the warehouse for delivery immediately. But the order status still says 'in manufacturing' since Sunday. If it takes as long as the order confirmation info suggested, won't get it until next Monday
The good news is that my laptop was shipped today. The bad news is that the ETA has slipped a day to 31st July - I know it's coming from Budapest, but 6 days? I guess they have specially trained snails to do their deliveries!
Three deliveries here today, including the additional RAM for my new laptop and a shiny new Virgin Broadband Super Hub wireless modem router, but no laptop
Dell's partner courier, Walsh Western, has rubbish tracking - all it says is that the consignment left the factory on the 25th.
I was hoping it would turn up on Friday but I was disappointed. The ETA is Monday, so fingers crossed. The 'very helpful' information on the courier tracking page says 'Plan Commited' for the location of the consignment. Very useful.
Now I am reading that the Inspiron15R is prone to overheating if the CPU and graphics are driven hard...
At last the new laptop has arrived although a day later than originally estimated and a total of 11 days after ordering. Good thing though is that it appears to be brand new (it was listed as a refurb) - so not bad for over £200 cheaper than a new one on Amazon
Now the task of transferring all my apps and data!
Re: My turn to spec. a new computer!
Re: My turn to spec. a new computer!
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