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Message
What kinda computer to buy?
Posted on 6/26/25 at 3:48 pm
Posted on 6/26/25 at 3:48 pm
My desktop is over 10 years old and it's showing its signs of age. I recently could not load some software I got from a friend because the CPU was not sufficient. I do not play games, but use it a lot for editing pictures and I may get more into editing video. Let's pretend I have a sideline business with heavy photo and video editing. What would you purchase to upgrade?
Things to note: I like to use a mouse and large computer monitor for picture edits. I use Adobe lightroom and photoshop mostly. It's also in a room that gets warmer than the rest of the house. Current desktop is air cooled and I've received a few "overheat" warnings in the last few months.
One friend told me to get a good laptop and use it as a desktop (but could still use it portably if needed). A coworker said get a liquid cooled desktop if I really like sitting down at a "work station".
I'm computer literate, but don't really want to build my own. What would you all recommend? Any particular brands to choose or stay away from. I don't have an unlimited budget, but would spend up to $2000 if I could get something that would last me 10 more years.
Things to note: I like to use a mouse and large computer monitor for picture edits. I use Adobe lightroom and photoshop mostly. It's also in a room that gets warmer than the rest of the house. Current desktop is air cooled and I've received a few "overheat" warnings in the last few months.
One friend told me to get a good laptop and use it as a desktop (but could still use it portably if needed). A coworker said get a liquid cooled desktop if I really like sitting down at a "work station".
I'm computer literate, but don't really want to build my own. What would you all recommend? Any particular brands to choose or stay away from. I don't have an unlimited budget, but would spend up to $2000 if I could get something that would last me 10 more years.
7
Posted on 6/26/25 at 5:20 pm to sosaysmorvant
We are right at the beginning of a new era of computing so not much is going to last ten years if you’re doing photo editing. Any newer Mac or Copilot+ PC w/ at least 16GB ram would ensure you’re at least getting a modern design. These start at $800 or so or maybe less for a Mac mini.
Anything with Nvidia RTX 3050 or greater would rock all features of Photoshop. I could see something with an RTX 5070 inside still being very useful for photos a decade from now.
Anything with Nvidia RTX 3050 or greater would rock all features of Photoshop. I could see something with an RTX 5070 inside still being very useful for photos a decade from now.
Posted on 6/26/25 at 5:35 pm to sosaysmorvant
Post above me pretty much hit most everything. Only thing I will add is get a laptop instead of a desktop.
Posted on 6/26/25 at 5:35 pm to sosaysmorvant
I don't know that there is any brand (Lenovo, Microsoft, HP, Dell, etc.) to avoid. There might be a product line within each brand to avoid (I think HP had seven different laptop lines the last time I checked,) but I don't think you will go wrong with any of the majors.
If you don't need to move it, I'm a proponent of desktops in almost any factor. You have more options, cooling doesn't cause CPU throttling, etc.
I don't think you need as much juice as you think for editing photos and video. What you need is better efficiency per watt, which tends to be AMD on the CPU. I don't think you can get water cooled on a pre-built PC unless it's a gaming PC with all the accompanying annoying LED stuff (which you can control.) I've been water cooling the CPU for over a decade with a 240mm radiator, and it was great when my office windows faced west.
If you don't want to build it, you could probably pick a case you liked, and someone here would build it for you. Check out some of the designs from Fractal.
I have had 64GB of (absolutely unnecessary) RAM in my PC for six years, and will go to 128 in my AM5 build in 2026. Realize that 8GB video cards take a significant performance impact vs. the 16GB versions, and the more RAM headroom you have the better. It will get used, eventually.
Do you know how many cores you currently have, and what their utilization is when you tend to get the overheat warnings when you work?
If you don't need to move it, I'm a proponent of desktops in almost any factor. You have more options, cooling doesn't cause CPU throttling, etc.
I don't think you need as much juice as you think for editing photos and video. What you need is better efficiency per watt, which tends to be AMD on the CPU. I don't think you can get water cooled on a pre-built PC unless it's a gaming PC with all the accompanying annoying LED stuff (which you can control.) I've been water cooling the CPU for over a decade with a 240mm radiator, and it was great when my office windows faced west.
If you don't want to build it, you could probably pick a case you liked, and someone here would build it for you. Check out some of the designs from Fractal.
I have had 64GB of (absolutely unnecessary) RAM in my PC for six years, and will go to 128 in my AM5 build in 2026. Realize that 8GB video cards take a significant performance impact vs. the 16GB versions, and the more RAM headroom you have the better. It will get used, eventually.
Do you know how many cores you currently have, and what their utilization is when you tend to get the overheat warnings when you work?
Posted on 6/26/25 at 7:02 pm to LemmyLives
Current desktop is a guy from eBay that built it and got it shipped to me. Intel i7 960@ 3.2Ghz, 12GB RAM, NVIDA GeForce GTS 250 (992MB).
The room gets warm and I can't do anything about it which is why I was leaning to a liquid cooled system. Leveno has a Legion gaming PC on flash deal for $2300. It's full on gaming build and overkill, but I was considering it.
Just wanted to ask folks in the know. I'm not a novice, but not up to speed on everything either.
The room gets warm and I can't do anything about it which is why I was leaning to a liquid cooled system. Leveno has a Legion gaming PC on flash deal for $2300. It's full on gaming build and overkill, but I was considering it.
Just wanted to ask folks in the know. I'm not a novice, but not up to speed on everything either.
Posted on 6/26/25 at 7:39 pm to sosaysmorvant
That’s way more than 10 years old. Most PCs handle heat fairly well unless something is broken. My workstation/server heats a room on its own and my NAS is 12 feet up in a cubbyhole so nobody can get to it. They’re fine. Here’s what I’d go for in your real and pretend scenarios.
Copilot+ surface $750
M4 10 core Mac mini 16g $560
M4 pro mac mini 24g $1300
Mac Studio M2 max 32g $1300
Copilot+ surface $750
M4 10 core Mac mini 16g $560
M4 pro mac mini 24g $1300
Mac Studio M2 max 32g $1300
This post was edited on 6/26/25 at 7:40 pm
Posted on 6/26/25 at 8:54 pm to Dallaswho
Appreciate the help. I will likely stay with a Windows machine. I have a lot of software the I can transfer.
Posted on 6/26/25 at 9:25 pm to sosaysmorvant
Posted on 6/27/25 at 5:50 am to sosaysmorvant
If you have an iPhone a Mac is a no brainer because of the tight integration in the Mac world. If not it's a toss up.
This post was edited on 6/27/25 at 9:32 am
Posted on 6/27/25 at 9:18 am to UltimateHog
quote:
Great deal for under 1K.
I don’t think Adobe supports AMD hardware acceleration for any of their latest AI features. Snapdragon is kind of in the same boat there but at least it’s efficient. Apple and Nvidia are years and years ahead here.
Here Intel mini released within the last month that is already mostly Adobe supported. $1150
Lunar lake i7 mini
This post was edited on 6/27/25 at 9:59 am
Posted on 6/27/25 at 2:19 pm to Dallaswho
quote:
I don’t think Adobe supports AMD hardware acceleration for any of their latest AI features.
Of course they do.
Posted on 6/27/25 at 2:58 pm to UltimateHog
quote:
Of course they do.
Copilot points a bleak standing for the 7600xt even against the cheapest Nvidia card available (3050 6g) for latest photoshop features.
Posted on 6/27/25 at 3:35 pm to Dallaswho
Seems unlikely with how well they handle premiere pro often beating Nvidia by a good margin.
Amd and Adobe have a fantastic exclusive partnership.
Amd and Adobe have a fantastic exclusive partnership.
This post was edited on 6/27/25 at 3:36 pm
Posted on 6/27/25 at 3:56 pm to UltimateHog
Not sure but copilot says neural filters are not supported, generative fill will fall back to CPU, and smart portrait/depth blur has extremely limited support.
This is the same story for 25 years straight. AMD is great for gamers and crypto miners but has been awful for anything practical outside of a select few companies like Microsoft who have poured millions of hours of dev work trying to get AMD’s paper specs to even resemble reality. Nvidia and Apple, and even Intel already have that work done for their clients by the time they release a product.
This is the same story for 25 years straight. AMD is great for gamers and crypto miners but has been awful for anything practical outside of a select few companies like Microsoft who have poured millions of hours of dev work trying to get AMD’s paper specs to even resemble reality. Nvidia and Apple, and even Intel already have that work done for their clients by the time they release a product.
Posted on 6/28/25 at 10:49 am to sosaysmorvant
Are you capable of assembling your own?
Posted on 6/28/25 at 4:07 pm to sosaysmorvant
OP, your current setup is probably overheating because it has 10 years of dust inside of it making the cooling less efficient.
I would not get a desktop pc packed into a tiny case. A typical desktop sized case allows for substantially better cooling and modularity. For the same reasons, unless you need/want mobility, I would not recommend getting a laptop.
I would not get a desktop pc packed into a tiny case. A typical desktop sized case allows for substantially better cooling and modularity. For the same reasons, unless you need/want mobility, I would not recommend getting a laptop.
This post was edited on 6/28/25 at 4:50 pm
Posted on 6/28/25 at 4:37 pm to sosaysmorvant
You should really play around with an M4 MacBook Pro. Most of this software is a subscription anyway, so it doesn’t cost as much to swap over as you think.
I do video and photo editing as well and swapped to an M1 MacBook Pro when they first came out and haven’t looked back. I have a docking station for it so I can go mobile or use a bigger screen.
Regardless of what you go with you will probably want 32GB of RAM. Maybe more if you do a lot of 4K video.
I do video and photo editing as well and swapped to an M1 MacBook Pro when they first came out and haven’t looked back. I have a docking station for it so I can go mobile or use a bigger screen.
Regardless of what you go with you will probably want 32GB of RAM. Maybe more if you do a lot of 4K video.
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