How to choose a computer for digital photo processing

If you've just got started learning Photoshop or any other digital photo manipulation software, you'll soon understand the need for powerful, yet low-powered PC for photo editing. As a serious photo editor, color gamut, memory, and processor speed are at the top must-have capabilities. So, what elements of your PC are responsible for those key functionalities? Let's find out the key roles and the most powerful PC for photo editing by then next year. So far, we've only discussed image processing functions - like correcting, adjusting, adding, and colors - not tools for creative photo editing like advanced brushes, filters, and enhancements.

As an important, but often overlooked, role for your PC for photo editing is the 'ram' - or random access memory. The more memory that your PC has, the better your photo editing will be. Note though that not all PCs have the same amount of RAM; that's why you should always ensure that the RAM is compatible with the software you're trying to use. Some software can only work if there is enough RAM available for it; so if you're using software that requires more than 4GB of RAM, don't panic - the RAM will usually be able to be expanded with more installed RAM sticks (more than double). However, to get the full effect of your editing photos and edits, you need to make sure your PC has enough RAM to do the job.

The second most important and critical component of your PC for photo editing is your 'processor,' which is the central nervous system of your PC. The function of your processor is to 'simulate' computer hardware such as a keyboard, mouse, monitor, and hard drive when not in use. So if your PC is using a slow processor, you'll notice slower editing speeds and processing. For example, when you try to add text to an image with your AMD Athlon processors, it may take several extra seconds for the dialogue boxes to appear on screen. This happens because your processor is unable to read the necessary data from the hard drive to load the dialogue boxes, therefore slowing it down.

To solve this issue, you should first install a good quality graphics card - such as an Nvidia chip. Graphics cards are very effective for improving colour accuracy of your images, so if your PC for editing is struggling, then you should upgrade to a better graphics card. Two of the best graphics cards, however, are not yet supported by your AMD Athlon processors; therefore, you may still be stuck with a poor quality card.

The final major problem that prevents many people from upgrading their PC for photo editing is the lack of available space. If you're looking to upgrade your PC for photo editing and have a fairly modest budget, you might be lucky enough to have a desktop PC that meets all your needs. Unfortunately, most of us do not. If you want to upgrade your PC for photo editing, you will almost certainly need a powerful desktop processor. When searching for a powerful processor, you should pay attention to two factors: the number of cores and the amount of gigabytes of RAM that the processor has.

If you have a large number of gigabytes of RAM and a large number of cores, you can expect your processor to get quite hot. Therefore, you should look for software like the Photoshop Elements 8 Deluxe, or another program like the Clip Studio Paint. With software like these, your processor will stay cool down while your software works away to fix your image processing problems. A good tip for temperature control is to open a new window and configure your monitors temperature, then set the same for your processor. You can then use Windows to set the appropriate settings for your new computer for photo retouching.