On Wed, 2009-08-12 at 23:14 +0800, khen lim wrote:
> Hi all
> Big question for all of you - especially the budget experts:
>
> I'm looking to get a desktop PC and a 19-to-23" TFT panel for post-editing
> work
>
> There're two ways any of you can help me out here. If you know of a
> particular PC brand and model you can recommend, I'll take that advice
> onboard. On the other hand if you prefer, let me know what you think I
> should look for spec-wise, what to avoid, what to particularly focus on.
>
> As for TFT monitors, I'm confining my range to between 19" and 23". No
> Eizo's or Apple's - way too costly for me over here. Can't get my hands on
> Sony's either for some strange reason. So I'm limited to Samsung, LG, HP,
> Dell, Lenovo, Viewsonic, Acer, Benq etc.
>
> I've been looking around online and it gets increasingly confusing. It's
> difficult to make any direct comparisons from one make/model to another.
> While most if not all manufacturers seem convinced that the larger the
> contrast ratio, the better but someone on this List quite a while ago
> mentioned that, that's not exactly true.
>
> Then there's the issue of whether it's a good idea to be able to
> individually and separately adjusting the R, G and B colours as part of the
> menu controls. Almost every website doesn't provide any such information. Is
> this because this manner of control isn't possible at all or just that
> manufacturers are slack in the info department?
>
> I also read that Lenovo offers very affordable monitors that can pivot so
> you can have landscape and portraiture viewing format, which is great.
> However it also says that the PC's graphic card must be capable of taking
> advantage of this feature. If this is true, do today's standard graphic
> cards all support this pivoting feature?
>
> Thanks
>
>
> K.
I've been reading this thread and I've got to chime in here and say that
I agree with C.H. Ling almost point for point. The difference? I'm a bit
more a fan of the AMD processors, but that's a pretty tiny difference.
It was C.H.'s recommendation of Samsung monitors some time back that
lead me to purchase a Samsung Syncmaster 2243 BWX, and I have been very
pleased with it. Pleased enough to have bought a second for my spouse,
and a third for my daughter-in-law. It does pivot.
My personal choice for a system was one from Shuttle
http://www.shuttle.com/ I've built 6 now by buying bare-bone systems for
myself or for family, am about to spec a 7th for a friend, and have
successfully used a number (pre-built) for work. Small, quiet and a
quite large variety to choose from, although of late, not many using AMD
processors. Their already-built systems aren't bad either.
In these days of commodity hardware, I can't see why having a "brand
name" system is any advantage at all. Most parts that die under warranty
die of "infant mortality" so length of warranty is usually irrelevant.
Individual parts are often inexpensive as replacements, interchangeable,
and available from a wide variety of vendors. In fact, it's the brand
name vendors who have, most often in my experience anyway, been guilty
of some sort of proprietary twist that results in one having to return
to them for spares.
My question for you, Khen, is why limit yourself to Windows? On almost
any hardware, you can save yourself the cost of all the software you'll
need for photo editing (and internet use, and general word processing,
and spreadsheets, and etc). Current versions of Ubuntu Linux, for
example, are easy to install, easy to use, and the GIMP is a fine
editor. All free. I use digikam for cataloging (it will open your editor
of choice) and have had no issues in opening Olympus RAW files (my
wife's brand-new Olympus E-620's ORF files work just fine) which is more
than I could have said for Adobe's product without pricey upgrades. Add
to that support for more RAM than XP's 3GB RAM limit, lack of malware,
few viruses... yadda yddda yadda and we've had no reason to regret
switching over and ditching Windows.
---
Scott Gomez
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