1200$ PC for a photographer

Bill, it's pretty tough to beat what's in the OP, unless you are going for small upgrades in CPU performance in exchange for large quantities of cash. Intel has a new line of CPU's coming out next month, which will be a little faster and use less power than the current models.

A monitor recommendation is subject to the user's tastes. How large is comfortable for you? Do you prefer a glossy or matte screen? Do you process your images in SRGB, or do you require a larger color gamut? A popular model for enthusiasts is the Dell U2713HM, a 27", 8-bit IPS display. It usually sells for ~ $600 USD, but is sometimes on sale for less.

Many people (including me) have a dual-monitor setup. My main monitor is a 24" Dell U2412m, and my secondary monitor is my old 20" Dell.
 
I went through this process: mac vs off-the-shelf pc vs build-your-own.

I was in a pretty similar boat as the OP, around $1200 for a great list of components. But I ultimately didn't want that to be my first PC build, so add another $200 to get that done.

Mac Mini had lots of pluses for me, but the charges for upgrades are BIG, and I really didn't want to be cracking open a Mac as my first foray in to hands-on computer work.

So, I ended up compromising on ultimate performance and going with an Asus refurb for <$700. i7-3770, 16GB RAM, 2TB hard drive, very quiet and discreet case, basic graphics card and PSU. It ultimately made the most sense to me for a couple of reasons: 1 - I am an upgrading fool, so better to spend less now because I will want something "better" relatively soon. 2 - I can do a "soft" upgrade a year from now by adding an SSD and potentially a better power supply (for peace of mind, not performance). 3 - I was pretty frustrated by the seeming diminishing returns on spending $1200+ coupled with the fact that I couldn't really figure out what I needed to edit photos and HD video. So far so good on both fronts. I'm sure other machines are faster, but what I have is plenty fast for me as a pretty casual user.
 
Mac users: before you start considering selling off or switching platforms... Hard drive upgrade and RAM upgrade are probably cheaper and more effective options. Its usually possible to put more RAM in your machine than is Apple supported (eg my Mini can take 8Gb RAM officially... But 16Gb unofficially). I plan to make this upgrade as soon as my warranty has expired, as well as add a SSD drive. Mac mini can have two drives, so i'll make the SSD the boot drive and the existing 500Gb, the secondary one. Its a bit complicated but a better option than switching machines every few years.

Sue

How do you get on using a Mac Mini for Photo editing? What progs do you run for editing and can you have a fair few progs open at the same time and still edit images without the Mac complaining?
 
I certainly didn't want to start a mac vs pc debate. My main "work" laptop is a MacBook Pro which has a nice 17" screen. I guess I'm just more comfortable using a pc running windows 7 for editing pictures. I didn't include the monitor as part of the build, because there's a huge range on offer. From Eizos to Dell UltraSharps to Korean made IPS monitors on the cheap on ebay. Now that I actually have to build this pc, till now it was all conjectural since I hadn't bought the Nikon D800e, but that's kinda changed. Got gifted one tonight! So I should be able to give first hand reports on how this setup copes with the heavy nikon files sometime soon. Cheers!
 
Sue

How do you get on using a Mac Mini for Photo editing? What progs do you run for editing and can you have a fair few progs open at the same time and still edit images without the Mac complaining?

Surprisingly good. You do need a good monitor, and I bought mine last year to go with the MBP I had at the time (and which I sold so I could have the Mini, since all my mobile stuff is now iPad, if, indeed, I ever bother being mobile). I bought the base Mini which is an October (IIRC) 2012 release. It doesnt have much to recommend it on the surface, and if I could have afforded the next model up, I would have, but I was funds limited.

So, with a relatively slow CPU (by current standards) and only 4Gb RAM (which will be boosted to 16Gb before long... I can do that nearly right away without compromising warranty, its one of those user serviceable things, unlike the SSD which is not... but will be) I can run iPhoto (current version) Photoshop (CS5.1), Lightroom 4.4 (though not currently) as well as having a number of other apps open, concurrently. YES I get beachballs when I have a gazillion apps open, and I get them because I also always have my Calibre and Plex servers running in the background and they use enough resources to slow things down a bit. If I have them off, I get no beachballs until I have done quite a few photographs. I usually also have Safari and Mail.app open and am often doing things there, even if not actually using PS/iPhoto/LR. Having 16Gb and a faster hard drive would fix all these issues. I don't do any number crunching as such. I've tried to switch to Aperture but I just cant get used to it, even though it is so similar to iPhoto... and it doesnt like sharing resources with anything, so I do have issues there. Again, I suspect with additional RAM, it would be fine. 8Gb would probably be enough but I am going to jump that step and go straight to 16.

Hope that was not too confusing, with all those parenthetical remarks... I'm given to doing that rather too much. LOL
 
Yesterday I had to resuscitate my 3yr old system for the third time in 8 months. It has been getting sluggish for a while despite numerous work. I just found and ordered one of these and thought I'd share it with all. Looks like a decent photoshop system for the price.

Dell XPS 8700 Desktop 4th Gen Intel® Core i7-4770 3.4GHz $699

Processor & Memory:
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4770 processor 3.4GHz (8M Cache, up to 3.9 GHz)
12GB RAM Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz - 4 DIMMs

Drives:
1TB (7200 RPM) SATA Hard Drive
16X DVD+/-RW Drive (Writes to CD/DVD)

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 8 (64-bit)

Graphics & Video:
1GB AMD RadeonHD 7570 GDDR5 Graphics

Communications:
Dell Wireless 1703 802.11b/g/n + Bluetooth v4.0
10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet

Audio:
Integrated 7.1 with Waves MaxxAudio®

Keyboard & Mouse:
Dell™ Multimedia Keyboard and USB 6-Button Laser Mouse

Rear Ports USB:
2x USB 3.0
4x USB 2.0

Front Ports USB:
2x USB 3.0

Top Ports USB:
2x USB 2.0

AVI Ports
Audio Jacks
Combination headphone / microphone jack
RJ-45
HDMI

Additional Information:
Color: Black
Power Supply: 460 W
Dimensions: 7.30" W x 15.99" D x 17.49" H
Approximate Weight: 30.42lbs
 
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