I need a new computer, one that can handle several Adobe products open at the same time

[Attroll]

I need a new computer and I need some advice about what to get in a computer. Please do not reply if you’re not familiar any of these products and the computer resources they use.

I have had some friends say that it is all in the graphics processor you get and others says its computer processor and memory. I need someone that really knows what they’re talking about and uses these programs to offer advice.

First off, I do not want and Apple, I want a PC and I want Windows 7 professional.

I need a computer that will handle running these products, Adobe photoshop, Illistrator, Indesign, Acrobat, word, and excel. I will have three or four of these products open at the same time. I need a machine that will be able to handle a majority of these products open at the same time and not be slow or sluggish. I would rather it be a laptop so that I can travel with it but I might consider a desktop.

I currently have a laptop that works with this but when I get into some real intensive work on Photshop or Indesign it really starts getting very sluggish. Here are my current specs.

Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM CPU @ 2.20GHz 2.20 GHz = Processor

16.0 GB (15.9 GB usable) = Installed memory

64-bit Operating System

Can someone that is very familiar with this, please offer advice on what I need to get?

[Nancy OShea]

There is no one size fits all answer here.  It all depends on which apps you use and how you use them.

System requirements | Adobe Creative Cloud

Heavy graphics apps like Photoshop and InDesign  require more resources than say Dreamweaver or Acrobat.  And if you do a lot of heavy lifting with 3-D graphics, filters, multiple layers and effects, you'll need a good deal more than the minimum requirements.

Generally speaking, buy the best machine you can afford.  A fast chip, a rugged desktop with plenty of memory -- physical and RAM to handle all the tasks you will be throwing at it.  A good graphics card & the more RAM you have, the better.

I would stay away from 4k and 5k displays.  Adobe support for ultra Hi-DPI screens is not quite there yet.   You probably won't like what you see.

IMO, Windows PCs give you a lot more bang for your buck than Apple . But you may have a hard time finding  one that doesn't come with Windows 10 already installed on it.   At least that was my experience a year ago when I bought my current system.   BTW, I'm very happy with Win10.

Happy shopping!

Nancy

[Attroll]

Nancy

    Thank you for your reply. The reason I did not want Windows 10 was because of what I have been told. I was told that Windows 10 will not run the old Adobe programs, like the CS3 versions (which I have). I was told you have to pay the monthly fee through Adobe to use them now. Do you know if that is true?

[Nancy OShea]

I see.  Eventually Microsoft will stop supporting Win7 the same as they did with XP and Vista.  That's why I replaced my 7 year old machine last year.   It wasn't safe to keep using it.

CS3 is legacy software from 2007 (10 years old).  It's not certified to run on Win10, however it might work if you run it in compatibility mode.  No guarantees however. 

Another important point, CS3 has no support for Hi-resolution displays.  It's just too old.   I realize you don't want to pay monthly for Creative Cloud software but at some point you may have no choice.

So you have a lot to consider.  New computer with the latest OS & cross your fingers that legacy CS3 will work.    Or new computer with old OS & cross your fingers that MS keeps supporting Win7.

Nancy

[Nancy OShea]

This Life Cycle fact sheet issued by Microsoft may help you make an informed decision

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet

"Prior versions of Windows, including Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, have limited support when running on new processors and chipsets from manufacturers like Intel, AMD, NVidia, and Qualcomm."

"October 31, 2016 -- End of PC sales with pre-installed Win7 Pro or 8.1."

As I read this, all new OEMs like Dell, HP or Toshiba that come pre-installed with Windows will offer only Win10.

Nancy

[John T Smith]

Build your own and buy the operating system you want... but don't delay... I have NO idea how long these will be available

-Win7 Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit-Newegg.com

-Win8 Windows 8.1 Pro - Full Version (32 & 64-bit)-Newegg.com

[Attroll]

I really don't want to build it myself. I don't have the patients for it and with my luck something would go wrong.

I am starting to think Nancy has the right idea and it might be better to go to Windows 10.

I don't want to just buy the highest priced items to just have the best. I just want something that will do what I need it to do without losing and arm or a leg doing it. As Nancy said "buy the best machine you can afford". I agree and that is what I will do but I want to make sure it will do what I want before I purchase it.

I was just over a Dell's web site and looking at laptop workstations. Here are some option they gave me when buidling one. I would appreciate any feedback on these items.

Processsors:

Intel® Xeon® E3-1505M v5 (Quad Core 2.80GHz, 3.70GHz Turbo, 8MB 45W, w/Intel HD Graphics P530) [Included in Price]

Intel® Xeon® E3-1535M v5 (Quad Core 2.90GHz, 3.80GHz Turbo, 8MB 45W, w/Intel HD Graphics P530) [add $213.13]

Intel® Xeon® E3-1545M v5 (Quad Core Xeon 2.90GHz, 3.80GHz Turbo, 8MB 45W, w/Iris Pro Graphics P580) [add $259.46]

Intel® Xeon® E3-1575M v5 (Quad Core Xeon 3.00GHz, 3.90GHz Turbo, 8MB 45W, w/Iris Pro Graphics P580) [add $871.06]

Graphics cards:

Nvidia® Quadro® M3000M w/4GB GDDR5 [Included in Price]

Nvidia® Quadro® M4000M w/4GB GDDR5 [add $259.46]

Nvidia® Quadro® M5000M w/8GB GDDR5 [add $769.13]

LCD's: (I don't need a camera or mice)

7.3" UltraSharp™ FHD IPS (1920x1080) Wide View Anti-Glare LED-backlit, with microphone only [Included in Price]

17.3" UltraSharp™ FHD IPS (1920x1080) Wide View Anti-Glare LED-backlit, with camera and microphone [add $9.26]

17.3" UltraSharp™ UHD IGZO (3840x2160) Wide View Anti-Glare LED-backlit, with camera and microphone [add $157.53]

Hard drive:

As for the hard drive. That is not a big deal as I have a NAS that I work off at the house. However I want something that will run my programs and not slow that part down.

512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive [Included in Price]

1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive [add $305.80]

High Performance SATA Solid State Drive

1TB 2.5 inch High Performance SATA Class 30 Solid State Drive [add $213.1]

[Nancy OShea]

Photoshop says:

• Intel® Core 2 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor; 2 GHz or faster processor
• Microsoft Windows 7 with Service Pack 1, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10
• 2 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
• 2.6 GB of available hard-disk space for 32-bit installation; 3.1 GB of available hard-disk space for 64-bit installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system)
• 1024 x 768 display (1280x800 recommended) with 16-bit color and 512 MB of dedicated VRAM; 2 GB is recommended*
• OpenGL 2.0–capable system
• Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, validation of subscriptions, and access to online services.**

A year ago, my Dell Inspiron  came with Intel Core i7-4790 CPU @3.60 GHz

Intel HD Graphics 4600 (In hindsight, I should have bought a better graphics card).

RAM memory is cheap and you cannot have enough of it.  I increased RAM to 32 GB.  Best decision ever.  If you can't get 32, get 16.  8 is not enough.  You need a lot of RAM for  Windows ++++ everything else.

My primary hard drive is 2 TB.  Plus I have a 1.5 TB external drive.

Display.  How is your vision?   Eye fatigue and not being able to see your toolbars can be a real deal breaker.  If you get a 3800px wide display, everything is going to look very, very tiny.  Keep that in mind.   1920x1080 will be easier to see.

Nancy

[Attroll]

Adobe says that I need the following to run Indesign.

• Intel® Core 2 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor; 2 GHz or faster processor
• Microsoft Windows 7 with Service Pack 1, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10
• 2 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
• 2.6 GB of available hard-disk space for 32-bit installation; 3.1 GB of available hard-disk space for 64-bit installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system)
• 1024 x 768 display (1280x800 recommended) with 16-bit color and 512 MB of dedicated VRAM; 2 GB is recommended*
• OpenGL 2.0–capable system

I meet all those requirements. I am not sure if I have a OpenGL 2.0–capable system. I don't know how to check that.

I have this for a system below which meets there requirements but when I run Indesign it is very slow and sluggish.

Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM CPU @ 2.20GHz 2.20 GHz = Processor

Windows 7 Professional

16 GB RAM

64-bit Operating System

What give with this?

[Ussnorway]

Attroll wrote:

I meet all those requirements. I am not sure if I have a OpenGL 2.0–capable system. I don't know how to check that.  

any windows system made after 2010 shoud but you can test by typing "dxdiag" (no quotes) into your run box... if the rendor is direct X 9 or above then it does * you may still need a better driver to actually use it however.

I would also run some basic benchmark tests on any new system to fine tune it and 3dmark is my goto but there are many others

[KShinabery212]

I say go for the Wacom Cintiq Companion 2 or Wacom MobileStudio Pro.

Runs Windows 10... and great thing you can draw directly on the screen which will increase your workflow!!!!

Avoid the new Microsoft Surface Studio.... as I have heard some big complaints.

Drawing towards the outside is not good as it is not stable but wobbly.  This is what happens when you try to imitate Apple and put the lower device in the center.....silly mistake on their part.  Second... the dial slides down the screen.  Also a silly mistake in the design.  Great that Microsoft is thinking forward... but they jumped on production too soon.

So if you have the cash get a Wacom product.  I run the whole entire Adobe suite and Microsoft Office on my Cintiq Companion 2.  Also I know people using ZBrush on it as well!

[Nancy OShea]

Min-Requirements are merely a starting point for that product.  In the real world, we need more than that to support the the OS, plus everything else we have running. 

[Ussnorway]

my current system is a stock Asus Tp500ln that cost me $900 back in March this year... it has w8.1 | wx as dual boot

my previous system was a Asus S500ca that cost $750 back in June 2013... it has w8 | wx as a dual boot with extra ram (16g total) and a 1t ssdd for an extra $150 to speed up the V-networking I was doing back then

the main difference between them is the ram and faster drive of my old system made booting | software run faster but the new system with its i7 eats up the rendoring I need done today... My point is decide what task you need done faster and look for (really shop around) a system that can handle that task better.

p.s, laptops = harddrives and ram can normaly be upgraded later but your cpu and grapthics are locked in!

[Attroll]

I want to thank everyone for three feedback and inputs on this. I am having a system built for me. Here is what it will have, plus a few more things.

Processor = i5 6600

32 GB RAM

525 GB Solid State Drive

GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Graphics Card 1.29 GHz Core 1.39 GHz Boost Clock – 4 GB GDDR5

[Ussnorway]

the i5 chip will not rendor well so any 3d work load? I'd recommend an i3 or i7

it will do still the job but it takes longer.

p.s, windows 7 does not like solid state drives... you may want to go with a windows 8.1 system instead.

[Attroll]

Thank you Ussnorway.​

I have decided to go with Windows 10 so from what I read the solid state drive should be fine, I hope.

I was told that the i5 is just as good as the i7. I read that a couple of places. Where did you get your information about the i5 chip not rendering well? I would like to know now so I can change the order in the morning if I need to.

[Ussnorway]

Attroll wrote:

Thank you Ussnorway.

I have decided to go with Windows 10 so from what I read the solid state drive should be fine, I hope.

I was told that the i5 is just as good as the i7. I read that a couple of places. Where did you get your information about the i5 chip not rendering well? I would like to know now so I can change the order in the morning if I need to.

Define "just as good"

Your new i5 will be a 6th generation chip (i.e, one back from the current) so lets look at the other two compatible chips in that generation. The recommended price difference between them is about $200 (shop around for real prices because many shops will have old stock they are willing to discount) and they draw about the same power 51w vs 65w but its not a laptop anymore so power isn't a major issue now

intel stats = ARK | Compare Intel® Products

In laymans terms a core is the brain of the chip and determines how fast it can do mathematical functions like counting

A thread is how many "things" it can do at the same time so two threads = two things at once and 4 = 4 (assuming ram is free to use) so a chip with more threads will be better at multitasking than a chip with less threads because that second chip has to stop what it was doing or wait until the first task is done before starting another

The i7 is fastest but of course you would expect that and it has twice as many threads so scenarios that involve multitasking are faster with the i7 and not just because it has a slightly higher overall speed i.e, the i7 can do a heavy cpu task and still manage to "walk along" because it doesn't have to stop as much.

As a real world scenario lets say you play around with Adobe Felix to make a ball... The default model has three parts with a colour and some transparency so you set these then ask your system to rendor this image as 1024 X 768 (high);

My i7 chip will rendor this image in about half the time as it takes your i5 (even thou you have more ram) so if it takes me 2 hours then it will take you 4 hours... Now this is 'best case' and assumes we don't do any other multitasking (emails, play music etc) and just allow the system to complete the rendor task while we eat dinner... Its perhaps worth noting that the nature of rendoring is such that the bulk of the image will be in the first half so 1 hour for me and 2 hours for you will give us an image that is at least 80-90% done or "good enough".

Stepping away from Adobe we look at the other major multitasking scenario witch is virtualization. You should opt for the pro version of windows 8.1 or 10 because that gives you the FREE hyper-v and then your windows desktop can have a V-windows 7 (Linux or even server) running inside it "at the same time" as the main operating system chugs along.

My i3 laptop once did a PXE (pronounced pixie) boot demo where I had a V-server 12r2 installing V-windows 7 with in hyper-v whist we watched from the main operating system... Your i5 would just about manage to run the server or the w7 along with its native system but will scream to a halt before adding the 3rd despite appearing to have the same number of threads as my i3 because all i5 lack the hyper-threading technology.

Perhaps you only need to rendor 3d images once in a blue moon and never want a windows 7 | Linux (to say test a game) so then the i5 is "just as good" and you save about 50-100 dollars by stepping down.

[Attroll]

Thank you for the reply. Which i7 chip do you recommend that I get then? I don't want to spend a lot of money but I want something good.

[Attroll]

I called and changes mu processor to a i7 6700, it was only $130 more.

[Randy Hufford]

I just did research and built a new system. I found these guys that are a real blessing check them out and call them.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/

You can call them and discuss all of these questions and they will answer in detail. (888) PUGET-PC (784-3872)

I would also have to encourage you to support Adobe with their monthly subscription. As far as I am concerned Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom is what has made photography where it is today. To have access to all of the newest tools and know you are supporting the leader of our industry is a good thing. Please consider for only $9.95 per month to support more research and development of all of the new tools that we now have. Just the one tool of content aware makes it worth it!

[kglad]

i can vouch for pugetsystems, too.  i purchased a computer from them several months ago and it was a great experience.

i told them what i wanted and they built the system.  i got exactly what i wanted with no crap-ware (<cough>dell</cough>) and at a great price.

here's my review (k.g.) along with a couple of dozen others, Puget Systems - 33 Photos & 27 Reviews - Computers - 2707 W Valley Hwy N, Auburn, WA - Phone Number ...

[karlapep]

Just the info I needed.  I'm calling them tomorrow.

Thanks so much!!!

[KShinabery212]

So here is an example of me running Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Character Animator and Adobe Video Presenter Express all at the same time on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2.  Also note... I was running its built-in webcam along with my c922 Logitech webcam and Blue Snowball mic.

https://kennshinabery.myportfolio.com/adobe-character-animator-overwatchs-winston

In fact, it is better to have Illustrator running at the same time as Character Animator... because as you change your Illustrator file, the puppet in Character Animator changes.

So if the Wacom Cintiq Companion 2 can handle more than one piece of software... then I  know the Wacom MobileStudio Pro can really handle multiple programs as it is even more powerful.

[Attroll]

I thought I would post a follow-up on the outcome of this thread and my new computer.

I took the plunge last January and had a company build a computer for me.

Everyone had their ideas and opinions on what would work. I went above and beyond what everyone told me and the computer still did not live up to expectations.

The computer I had built does work a heck of a lot better than the one I was using but it does not live up to my expectations.

I wanted a computer that would handle large files in InDesign and get instant responses when I made changes to my project. It does not do this.

Let me explain what I got for a computer.

Intel Core i7 Quad-core 3.40 GHz32 GB memory

525 GB Solid state drive

GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Graphics Card – 1.29 GHz Core – 1.39 GHz Boost Clock – 4 GB GDDR5

Is there something wrong with this setup that will not let me handle large files in Adobe?

[Erik_Lord]

I don't think there's anything 'wrong'. That's a beefy setup, for sure.

Only thing I can suggest is adding a second drive.

With one drive, you have the OS, the applications, and the 'scratch disk' all accessing that drive as needed.

SSD is fast, but the bus can only handle what it can handle.

So a second drive might help. One drive for the OS and application, one drive for the scratch - i think that would be best.

It has been a long time, however, since I've built a higher-end custom rig