My old Barton 2500+M rig really needs to be updated. Even the peripherals are old and no longer doing it for me (monitor / keyboard / mouse). I was really interested in jumping ship and switching to an Apple environment, but my current “infrastructure” won’t play nice, so I think for that reason and for cost reasons I’ll stick with PC / Windows.
I’ve considered buying a package deal from FutureShop, Dell, etc. but I think there are some components from my Barton rig that I can salvage. I have a nice Enermax Liberty power supply, I believe it’s a 500w unit, and my 300GB SATA hard drive will suit me fine since my Windows Home Server holds all my documents, photos, videos, and music. By salvaging these components I’ll be able to save a bit of money and get the enjoyment of building another rig.
Still with me? My plan for the new rig is photo (SLR / RAW) and video (HD) editing. Obviously I’ll be doing all the other web surfing, emailing, and the like, but it’s not worth making it criteria since anything on the market today will be more than capable. I’m not interested in gaming, so I don’t think I need to go too hardcore on the video card or processor.
The other stuff I’m interested in are the peripherals. I absolutely love the Apple LED displays and would like to get a nice 24″ LED display for this new rig. I’m not 100% sure that I need to go LED so I’m open to suggestions. As for keyboard and mouse I’d like it to be wireless and the mouse should work on any surface.
I’m looking for your suggestions. Leave a comment, send an email, come by and visit. I’ve completely lost touch with what’s what for PC hardware, any input will be greatly appreciated!
Will this be your only home computer, or do you have other machines for certain tasks?
Bang per buck, PC’s will win, I think it comes down to the software you want to use. Do you have any plans to use Linux?
If price were less important than user friendliness and ease of use; I’d say try an Apple. If you want to push the price/performance envelope, or you want to play with hardware any more at all, I’d say go with PC.
This will be my home desktop / workstation. I also have my Windows Home Server which will handle all file storage, streaming, and backup.
I don’t plan to use Linux, but it’s never out of the question. I might throw together a dual-boot rig just to play around in Ubuntu.