As said on another thread I'm going to have to look at replacing my existing PC tower to run LR Classic satisfactorily.
I've searched out the minimum requirements from Adobe but would appreciate it if recommendations could be given for off the shelf PCs that will provide the required performance and at a reasonable price. Not looking for blistering performance, just something to do the job. I'm in the UK.
Currently running Windows 10, I assume Classic runs OK on Windows 11?
Thanks, Chris
Chris,
I'm in the US and am a PC builder (as a hobby) and I stay abreast of all the latest PC components. I can't recommend a shop in the UK, but I can tell you that any new mid-range PC is going to rock LR. Just get at least 16 and preferably 32 on the ram. Make sure you are buying a PC with the latest gen processor (at whatever level). For intel that is 12th gen Alder Lake, but very soon (within a few weeks) will be the 13th gen Raptor Lake CPUs.
I need to know what you want to spend to better frame it. But you could wait a couple of months for Raptor Lake and get a pre-built PC with a Raptor Lake chip.
I also think you should not rely on integrated graphics and get a PC with a mid-range GPU, unless you game, then spend a bit more. Those GPUs are getting really cheap now as prices plummet from the recent two years of astronomically high GPU prices. Plus, both Nvidia and AMD are about to come out with a new generation of cards that are going to be a big jump in tech and will drop the prices of this current generation even more.
Storage? You want to be booting off of a 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen 4 M.2 SSD. Anything older than that (like Gen 3) and you are getting an older machine, so be warry of that. You will boot off of that SSD and your Adobe programs and Cat will reside on that SSD.
Your images? You want to be storing them on a separate internal SSD. The question is how big is that? Can you do it on a 2TB SSD? If so, that is a no-brainer. If you need 4, then my recommendation will change. How big is your folder or folder where all of your images are stored? Tell me how big that is now, and if you shoot a lot to account for growth. I will tell you what SSD to get.
External storage for backup? That is cheap and plentiful. Back up to external spinning small portable drives. Those are about 110 bucks for 5 TB, and less for 2 or 4 TB. But it all depends on the size of your current image data. If it is small, say around a TB or so, I'm gonna have you backing up to 1 or 2 TB SSD drives. The point is that now is the time to divorce yourself from spinning hard drives if you are a hobbyist and your file storage requirements are relatively small. 1 TB is a lot of data. But 1 TB is a very small storage requirement these days and you can do it all on SSDs.
Now for the monitor. Get a 4K IPS 32-inch pro monitor if you can. That will dramatically increase your level of enjoyment for your digital photography. That is still expensive but getting much cheaper.