i stop for freebird

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Computer update: Well, after a long setup, the new Dell is in action and working fine. First impression: it’s quite a bit faster than the old HP but it plays well with the HP monitor. It’s a nice monitor, 24 inches, with both DVI and HDMI inputs and 4 USB2 ports. The Dell is connected to the HDMI port and it works fine. The monitor has some decent speakers, too.

The Dell has Windows 10 pre-installed, a separate graphics card with 2G RAM, 24G of DRAM, 4 USB 3 and 4 USB 2 ports as well as a card reader. The hard drive enclosure is connected via USB3. It contains the two drives with photos from the old HP. It’s seems to be working well and still has two empty bays.

Before I downloaded any software I installed Norton AV. I had to remove the MacAfee that was preinstalled at the factory to do so but I’ve had good luck with Norton for 12 years so I’ll stick with what works for me. I also got an offer from BLURB to get Adobe CC (Photoshop, Lightroom and Bridge) for $7.99/month (US) for the first year. I still don’t like the idea of renting software but I’d better get used to it. I haven’t installed any plugins yet but I hope to get around to it soon.

I have had the opportunity to edit only a few images so far but the Dell seems to be designed for the task. It’s fast and smooth and more than capable handling multiple large files.

I’ll try to let everyone know how things go with it as I progress.

1704

20 thoughts on “i stop for freebird”

Fran November 2, 2015 at 3:57 am

Congrats for the new “Dell-station” 😉 .

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oneowner Post authorNovember 2, 2015 at 7:13 am

Thanks, Fran.

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Barry Comer November 2, 2015 at 5:11 am

I second Fran’s congratulations. Have fun and be productive.

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oneowner Post authorNovember 2, 2015 at 7:14 am

Thanks, Barry. I’m working on it as we speak!

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Lucy November 2, 2015 at 9:15 am

Best of luck on your new computer.

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oneowner Post authorNovember 2, 2015 at 9:49 am

Thanks, Lu.

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Linda Grashoff November 2, 2015 at 11:09 am

Glad you’re happy with your new computer. Nice trees, and good to see Emo again.

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oneowner Post authorNovember 2, 2015 at 1:53 pm

Thanks, Linda. The trees are across the street but Emo is staying home. He say’s thanks, though.

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John November 2, 2015 at 1:33 pm

Congratulations on the new PC! I think there may be a new one perhaps next year for me. Emo’s looking good!

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oneowner Post authorNovember 2, 2015 at 1:55 pm

Thanks, John. I’m finding Win10 to be very easy to work with and the new Edge browser is also very nice. A good upgrade.

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linn.john@gmail.com November 2, 2015 at 1:34 pm

Lots-o-color… quite pretty.

I just took the leap with Adobe CC on sale for an annual $98 which is about what your first year comes out to. Not a lot new in LR and not a lot of stuff I need in PS, but it is nice to be up-to-date and expecting more as the year progresses. The CC connection to mobile is neat but I can’t image doing too much editing on my iPhone or iPad and automatically syncing back to the desktop (and works fine) but I only trust my desktop monitor, so…

Have fun with your new computer. It is nice to have things speed-up while editing.

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oneowner Post authorNovember 2, 2015 at 1:59 pm

Thanks, John. Aside from some cosmetic changes in Lightroom, I haven’t noticed a lot of difference (so far). I’m not interested in the mobile version but maybe someday it will come in handy.

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disperser November 3, 2015 at 6:20 pm

Great! . . . finally, we’ll see some good photos.

Also, wondering if all your peripherals are working fine and playing nice with Windows 10.

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oneowner Post authorNovember 3, 2015 at 6:31 pm

Wait a minute…I never said there were going to be good photos!
So far, everything is working fine. The monitor calibrates nicely. The enclosure works fine and very fast with the USB3 connection, just like a regular internal HD. It took me less than 5 minutes to add a new drive but after I installed it the drive had to be formatted, of course. Easy. Photoshop and Lightroom CC are working fine and very fast. Haven’t used Photoshop yet but I installed the On1 suite and it works fine, automatically integrated with Lightroom. I’ll try installing some Topaz plugins soon. The Impressions plugin gave me a lot of trouble on the old HP so I think that will be the real test as to how fast this thing is, Stay tuned.

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Anita Jesse November 3, 2015 at 7:14 pm

I hope everything continues to go smoothly. Still like my Dell #2 and its close to three years old, I think. Did you get 64 bit? That helps.

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oneowner Post authorNovember 3, 2015 at 10:08 pm

Thanks, Anita. Yes, it’s 64 bit. I think that’s pretty common now. My old HP was about 7 years old and it seemed very fast to me at the time. But computer companies are putting their efforts into tablets and phones now so progress on these desktops will probably be slow from now on.

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Paul November 4, 2015 at 7:48 pm

Congratulations, Ken. It looks like the computer is Emo approved!

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oneowner Post authorNovember 4, 2015 at 11:32 pm

Thanks, Paul. Yes, Emo approves of the first photo processed on the new PC. We’ll be seeing more in the future I’m sure.

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