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Computing Matters - part 2 of 1 2 3

by Mike McNamee Published 01/07/2016

What does today's workstation look like?
Let's set out what you might need for a modern work station and what might be in the box. The aim is not to specify any particular machine that you might go out and buy off the shelf but just to indicate the resources and investment you might need. For comparison we also include an iMac 27-inch 5k Retina machine and for this we have to add in the cost of a monitor to the PC and the cost of some peripherals for the Mac. This tactic assumes that you can cope with the essentially sRGB gamut coverage of the Retina which is firmly aimed at audio visual output rather than printed material and pre-press.

All of the storage values are under resourced and it is likely that additional external devices will be required which might or might not include an NAS box (which might cost as much again as the computer).

Refreshing the Existing
An alternative to a full re-investment is to upgrade an existing machine in those areas where it is deficient. You have to be careful making this judgement as all the components need to be kept roughly in line - the analogy usually used is that it is no good upgrading the horse power of a motor car without beefing up the suspension and brakes! Given that most machines today have at least 8GB of RAM the most obvious upgrade is to install a solid state drive (SSD) as an operating system drive which has the greatest pound-for-pound benefit. A new graphics card may also be required to run some of the latest features of Photoshop, suchas the tree and flame generators (which require a higher RAM capability than that available on older cards). Installing more RAM is an easy upgrade should it be required. If your intention is also to shift over to do more video editing then you have to think very carefully about your storage and fast RAID systems are almost essential, as well as eye-watering amounts of storage capacity.

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1st Published 01/07/2016
last update 09/12/2022 14:52:46

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