On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:40:04 -0700, wrote:

looking for some input/suggestions on buying new pc.

im shooting with the 5d mark II ,raw files are big around 25 the mb
region
my current specs are below .

machine is slowing a bit around 1 1/2 yr old looking to upgrade to a new
one .

INTEL PENTIUM 4 3.20 GHZ
NVDIA GEFORCE 7800 GS
200 GG HD ATA
4 GB RAM
WINDOWS XP PRO
GATEWAY 24 IN HD MONITOR
calabrated with the xrite pro

I have a friend (He uses a Mark II, also, and works with full res RAW
files) who is looking to upgrade because his 2 year old system has become
too slow, too, and it's a 2.8 GHz Intel Dual Core, 4 MB RAM, and a couple
fast SATA drives running 32-bit Vista (Pro or Ultimate??, but definitely
not a Home version). The display is a wide format 24" LG 1920 x 1200
flat panel. He custom built the system, and all components are Vista
compliant. Oh, and in case you're wondering why 32-bit Vista instead of
64? At the time he built it, there were few, if any, 64-bit drivers,
plugins, applications, etc. available. It's a little better, now, but
not much.

We have done everything to optimize the system for speed. He's even done
a complete reinstall of the OS (and all apps) three times over two years
when the system just became too slow and nothing else helped.

Well, after a lot of research, he's finally decided on the new system: A
Mac; specifically, a 15" Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard. (He wants to
be portable instead of tied to a desktop.) He said he did actual timed
tests with his own files on a new Macbook Pro with 4GB RAM and a 2.8 GHZ
CPU, but running Leopard, and it ran rings around his current PC and not
by a little, but by a lot. He said he was amazed at the speed.
Everything happened almost instantaneously. Snow Leopard is purported to
be even faster.

Food for thought.


--
Fotoguy
BestInClass.com
"Personalized digital camera recommendations"
http://www.bestinclass.com/digital-cameras