Keep going round in circles!

[roghun]

In the past I've bought two AIO PCs from PC Specialist (the first many years ago has is an Intel i5-3rd gen and my current one an i7-4790S 3.2 GHz).

To fair, I've been exceptionally happy with both (my wife uses the i5 but it's beginning to creek).

My main use is for photo processing and I currently use Adobe CC (Lightroom and Photoshop). That software has started to run so slowly (like many others have reported) and in spite of numerous tweaks and cleanups etc, things are no better. I'm beginning to think the software has a memory leak! I've already looked extensively at the other photo processing software out there, but there's nothing that quite incorporates the functionality into a single piece of software.

Anyway, I'm in the market for a new PC and I don't want to swap to a tower system and separate monitor because (believe it or not) I take the AIO away with me on holidays in the UK. A big laptop might be an option, although I would still need a separate keyboard and mouse as I've never got on with laptops, plus I wonder if they're less reliable?

The following is a specification I've come up with, and it's a bit more expensive than my budget (£max £1000 - £1100 inc VAT). So I have some questions below the spec listed here:

Chassis & Display
VanGuard Series: 27" FHD 144Hz Screen (1920 x 1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700 (3.0GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
VanGuard B365i-P: Mini-ITX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB INTEL® 760p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (upto 3210MB/sR | 1315MB/sW)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT + WIRELESS 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC
USB/Thunderbolt Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Speakers
2 x INTEGRATED SPEAKERS
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Hailan G700: 27" Slim Bezel FHD 144Hz AIO
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 15 working days
Price: £1,284.00 including VAT and Delivery

Questions:

1. My plan would be to run Windows 10 from the 256Gb SSD. Is that plenty big enough to run the OS from and programs (Lightroom, Photoshop, MS Office plus a ton of other much smaller stuff) and just use the HDD for my documents and photo storage?

2. I'm afraid I've never used RAID before but I'm thinking I might need to, especially with regard to my photography images. Am I right in thinking that I would need an even bigger HDD if I wanted to use RAID 1. ?

3. I've specified a 4Gb Graphics Card (purely because programs such as Lightroom can make use of GPU Acceleration). Have I over-spec'd for this ?

4. Any suggestions and comments are welcome, especially if it means I can get a lower price/spec that would still amply meet my requirements.

Many thanks!

 

[VenatoS]

In the past I've bought two AIO PCs from PC Specialist (the first many years ago has is an Intel i5-3rd gen and my current one an i7-4790S 3.2 GHz).

To fair, I've been exceptionally happy with both (my wife uses the i5 but it's beginning to creek).

My main use is for photo processing and I currently use Adobe CC (Lightroom and Photoshop). That software has started to run so slowly (like many others have reported) and in spite of numerous tweaks and cleanups etc, things are no better. I'm beginning to think the software has a memory leak! I've already looked extensively at the other photo processing software out there, but there's nothing that quite incorporates the functionality into a single piece of software.

Anyway, I'm in the market for a new PC and I don't want to swap to a tower system and separate monitor because (believe it or not) I take the AIO away with me on holidays in the UK. A big laptop might be an option, although I would still need a separate keyboard and mouse as I've never got on with laptops, plus I wonder if they're less reliable?

The following is a specification I've come up with, and it's a bit more expensive than my budget (£max £1000 - £1100 inc VAT). So I have some questions below the spec listed here:

Chassis & Display
VanGuard Series: 27" FHD 144Hz Screen (1920 x 1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700 (3.0GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
VanGuard B365i-P: Mini-ITX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair 2400MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (5,400rpm)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB INTEL® 760p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (upto 3210MB/sR | 1315MB/sW)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT + WIRELESS 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC
USB/Thunderbolt Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Speakers
2 x INTEGRATED SPEAKERS
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Hailan G700: 27" Slim Bezel FHD 144Hz AIO
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 15 working days
Price: £1,284.00 including VAT and Delivery

Questions:

1. My plan would be to run Windows 10 from the 256Gb SSD. Is that plenty big enough to run the OS from and programs (Lightroom, Photoshop, MS Office plus a ton of other much smaller stuff) and just use the HDD for my documents and photo storage?

2. I'm afraid I've never used RAID before but I'm thinking I might need to, especially with regard to my photography images. Am I right in thinking that I would need an even bigger HDD if I wanted to use RAID 1. ?

3. I've specified a 4Gb Graphics Card (purely because programs such as Lightroom can make use of GPU Acceleration). Have I over-spec'd for this ?

4. Any suggestions and comments are welcome, especially if it means I can get a lower price/spec that would still amply meet my requirements.

Many thanks!

Alrighty my dude!

CPU: I'd recommend you to switch to an AMD build for this. Cheaper and better processors for the things you've mentioned.

Screen/Display: Also the screen is a baaad idea. 1080p on 27inch screens is NOT a good idea. 1440p is soo much better for 27 inch monitors wont cause eye strain.

RAM: Get the 3200Mhz RAM at nearly no cost increase.

Storage: HDD's are starting to become not worth the purchase in all fairness. You'd be much better of getting a bigger SSD - Unless you really do require A LOT of storage space. get a 512GB to be safe if you gonna go with this storage set up.

GPU: Not an overkill. I'd consider even getting 1660 even if you can spare the cash.

RAID: Don't do it.

 

[roghun]

Alrighty my dude!

CPU: I'd recommend you to switch to an AMD build for this. Cheaper and better processors for the things you've mentioned.

Screen/Display: Also the screen is a baaad idea. 1080p on 27inch screens is NOT a good idea. 1440p is soo much better for 27 inch monitors wont cause eye strain.

RAM: Get the 3200Mhz RAM at nearly no cost increase.

Storage: HDD's are starting to become not worth the purchase in all fairness. You'd be much better of getting a bigger SSD - Unless you really do require A LOT of storage space. get a 512GB to be safe if you gonna go with this storage set up.

GPU: Not an overkill. I'd consider even getting 1660 even if you can spare the cash.

RAID: Don't do it.

Unfortunately, the All In One PCs are Intel only and the 1920x1080 is the max screen resolution available. I use a lot of storage (my images currently take up 1Tb !).

I can see I'm restricting myself with an AIO, but the portability and desk space are what's always led me down this route.

Many thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

 

[VenatoS]

Unfortunately, the All In One PCs are Intel only and the 1920x1080 is the max screen resolution available. I use a lot of storage (my images currently take up 1Tb !).

I can see I'm restricting myself with an AIO, but the portability and desk space are what's always led me down this route.

Many thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

Just get a Mini ATX machine.