Workstations for Media & Entertainment

Photo Editing for Pros and Enthusiasts

Digital cameras and editing programs have opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for photographers at both the professional and consumer levels. Touching up portraits, stitching large landscapes, and a variety of other options are just a click away, but having a powerful computer is essential when it comes to processing modern, high-resolution images quickly and efficiently.

The bulk of the load for a photo editing PC rests on the processor, so that is a very important selection. Equally important is ensuring the processor has enough memory (RAM) to work with when editing. If you run low on memory, both Windows and editing programs (like Photoshop) will start to use hard drive space instead, which is incredibly slower. Even with enough RAM, drive speed continues to play a role. The performance offered by solid-state drives is particularly beneficial for the OS and applications, while traditional hard drives are still a viable choice for mass storage of pictures and other data.

The video card plays a less vital role here than in applications like gaming or 3D design, but it is worth getting a card with a healthy amount of onboard video memory (VRAM) if you are using recent versions of Photoshop or Lightroom. You will also want to pay attention to the number of monitors supported and what connections are available, and if you have a high-end screen, it may be worth looking for features such as support for 10-bit color gamut. For this task, the monitor is really the more important part in the graphics chain. A monitor with good viewing angles, evenly distributed backlighting, and plenty of options to adjust color reproduction is key in helping ensure that what you see on the screen translates accurately to real life.