Brian

It's smaller than a Apple Magic Mouse, to give you an idea of size. I also just fixed my link in the above comment, which should take you to Amazon.

Samsung 2TB SSD I have the 1TB version, which sells for $98 now. It’s a SSD Drive, so no moving parts and it’s in a rugged case, perfect for traveling. It’s also about the size of a computer mouse. Highly recommended.

How much storage do you need? Are you on the go a lot and need this HD to be portable? Or will this be stationary on a desk somewhere and not move?

Laptops are only "En Vogue" for about 45 days. Meaning, you can not wait any longer, as they will either be discontinued or replaced by another model within a short period of time. It used to be that the Manufactures would have a "Spring Line" and a "Fall Line," but that is no longer the case. Well, Apple still follows this model somewhat. So save up as much money as you can, and when you do find something, you need to jump on it. No sitting on making a decision for a few months. Comparing Laptop A to Laptop B and hoping their will be a sales in August for Back-to-School events. Nope. That's 20th Century Thinking. Personally, I'd save up $2500 for a Laptop that's "Good for Photo Editing" in 2023. Sure, you'll probably find one that's cheaper, but having $2500 saved up gives you a little wiggle-room and the ability to pounce. When I give my advice telling you to buy something, I expect you to pull the trigger in a day or so and no longer than a week. Why? Because next week that laptop will either be out of stock or discontinued.

A few things come to mind: Your screen is too bright. Yes, really. Kill the brightness, even after calibration. Yes, you will get used to a darker screen. It takes about a week or so. When you compare your prints, do NOT look at the prints side-by-side with your monitor. Look at them perpendicular to one another. Or to put it another way, 90º. The light around your computer isn't up to par. Your display should not be the brightest thing in the room. Give this article a read: The Light around your Computer. Have you followed Damien's instructions for your Spyder X Calibration? I stopped using WHCC a long time ago. Their colors are just off. Personally, I use CPQ.com. I will warn you, a little color goes a long way with them. So don't think you need to go nuclear with colors with your editing. Their prints are very similar to Artsy Couture, but with WAY quicker turn-around times. Artsy Couture is SLOW to ship. I've also used Color Inc. and have my clients go to their consumer side, UnitPrints when I was Photographing Professionally. Because there is only ONE Color Space in Lightroom, ProPhoto RGB, there will ALWAYS-ALWAYS-ALWAYS be a color shift when during export. Whether that's into Photoshop or to a .jpg file. In addition, since ProPhoto RGB is so large, compared to sRGB, you will get trapped into a false sense of security and push your edits a bit too far, which causes "out of gamut" issues with printing. Meaning, the printers use sRGB, can only physically a certain range of colors and uses the best match to what your photo contains. More often than not, it gets things wrong. This is especially true if you are using a bunch of Presets and Actions to do your edits on. It's easy to make your prints look #AMAZEBALLZ online, difficult to get them to print correctly. You can't always go nilly-willy with your edits. The thing with MPIX, is I believe they use the D50/5500K color standard that is different than the rest of the world, which is D65/6500K. Same thing with Miller's. So that tells me your existing monitor must be way off, so before going crazy, finish with what matches. Even if it's MPIX. Get things out the door and to your customers, THEN we will tackle things with your new monitor. The reason is why we don't recommend Miller's and MPIX, is that even though your prints match them, they will look like garbage to the rest of the world when you post online. The D50 color standard is warm, so it forces you to edit your photos cold in order for them to look right on the screen. You need a decent display. The one you have is crap. Time for an upgrade. Your current PC, is "Okay at best." Or to put it another way, "Meh." I'm not digging your Video Card Choice. Adobe's Products are relying on the video card for not only for a performance boost, but for things like Adobe Camera RAW to actually function. The choice of video card is now more important than the choice of CPU!!! Your power supply isn't sufficient to support a better video card either. So while things might be working for now, don't expect them to in the near future. By the time you upgrade things, with just the Video Card and PS, we are around $900 - $1000-ish. Just for those two items. Then you have to fight your case because it's a store-bought PC. Remember, you aren't playing video games, even though you have a "Gaming PC," Photoshop is changing the rules as it becomes more and more bloated. Remember, Adobe needs to keep people hooked on the Subscription Payment Plan, so they have to keep adding shit so that their subscribers thing they are getting something for their money. In reality, it's time for an upgrade, but it's going to cost you about $1500 more than what you paid for. My advice? Start with the Display, then work from there.

Dell UltraSharp U2722D on Amazon. It's slightly cheaper at B&H Photo.

Ugh. I hope you have this Feature TURNED OFF when editing and more importantly, Calibrating: You do not want to be using any Blue Light Filters or Blue Light Glasses when editing photos. My opinion on that monitor is "Meh." Yes, it has a IPS Screen, but it's also one of the cheaper 4K displays on Amazon. In my opinion, 4K on a 27" screen is overkill. 2560 x 1440 is really what you want. Otherwise, you are scaling things to 125% or even 150% just to see things clearly, like menus and such. So my vote would be to budget for a new display.

Hmm... How about this configuration? I cut the HD in half, to 2TB, but upgraded the CPU and more importantly, the GPU. Then purchase one of these drives: SanDisk Professional 7.68TB G-DRIVE PRO STUDIO SSD or one of these traditional External HDs: SanDisk Professional 20TB G-DRIVE PRO External HDD (Thunderbolt 3 / USB 3.2 Gen1, Space Gray). With a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 EHD, it's extremely fast because the throughput is 40Gbps, so it acts like a internal drive. So let's say, hypothetically...you go with my configuration, that's $2599 for the Mac Mini plus $1000 for the HD. Plus AppleCare and all that stuff. You are getting a lot more computer, and nearly double the Hard Drive Capacity. For $999, you are getting a 7.68GB EHD that's not only a TB3 drive but is also a SSD Drive. Talk about fast!! That said, your configuration is a decent one. I'm thinking a 4TB for $999 is a bit pricey for just 4TB of storage though. Also, you will need a HD that's dedicated for Time Machine Backups, and I recommend at least double the capacity of the internal HD. So a 4TB Internal Drive would have a 8TB External Time Machine Drive. But I understand where you are coming from and your thinking is correct; when it comes to the current line of Apple's M1 & M2 Products, there is no upgrading after the fact. So I'd def. get the 32GB RAM and bump up the CPU/GPU. The HD, like I said, Apple over-charges A LOT for their extras. I used to get people to purchase Crucial RAM instead of buying the Apple Branded, and they'd end up with more RAM for a lot less money. Instead of forking out $1000 for 32GB of Apple RAM, I'd get them to 64GB for a few hundred. Yep, about $800+ in savings. You might have a flaky Bluetooth Transmitter in your Mac or something is wrong with the Keyboard and Trackpad. I've never had any trouble with BT connectivity, but I did have to replace my BT Mac Keyboard once (it just died but the mouse was fine.) I honestly think you have multiple problems, one being the internal battery for your Keyboard (Lithium Ion Batteries do wear out) and to put it bluntly, the Mac Trackpads just suck. I hate them. Hate-Hate-Hate them. I'd opt to get a new Magic Keyboard and a Magic Mouse. Normally, I'd recommend using existing keyboards/mouse to save a bit of money, but in your case, I'd recommend a new Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse to go with your new Mac Mini. (This pained me to type those words out. Ugh.) That's really not a good practice. As long as you keep your Master .psd files, Trash those JPEGS!

Yes. Two reasons: 1. Better Display. It’s a Full IPS Anti Glare Screen, not a “IPS Like” screen. In my humble opinion, thats like saying cheese substitute. It tastes just like real cheese! 2. Video Card. NVIDIA RTX 3080 with 16GB Dedicated Video Memory. This is important for today’s modern Photoshop. The days of choosing this model over that one is because this has a better CPU are over. That was 20th Century Thinking. There’s more to choosing a computer, especially if you are editing photos, than just the CPU. RAM, I like at least 32GB in 2023. This was similar to 32MB in the middle 1990’s. The band members might change, but the song remains the same. It’s a sliding scale, really. 30 years ago we were dealing with MB and GB. Now it’s GB and TB. The problem with laptops is the stupid screen and that people want them to be desktop replacements. People want the portability from a laptop and if they are editing photos, a larger screen, but the full power of a Desktop. Those two worlds come at a price premium. You can’t have cheap and powerful in the same sentence when it comes to a laptop. In your case, you want the better screen at the lower price-point, but at the cost of the screen size. If you want both, you are going to have to pay for it.

Hmm... You might have to remove those drivers that you just installed. There is no 100% sure-fire method to drivers. You basically have to figure things out on your own and if something breaks, figure out how to undo things. I've been doing this same thing professionally for the last 30 years. The trick is remembering what you did to fix things. But I thought you installed the drivers awhile ago and things were working? Also, after you log into Windows, have you re-seated the USB cables for the Keyboard and Mouse? Which USB ports are they in? Most of the time, the Keyboard and Mouse work best that are located just beneath the Ethernet Port on the Motherboard.

Found this on Reddit, and it's a pretty good description. "This means that something like a disk expansion happened and changed block tracking can’t be used, so Veeam will fall back to scanning blocks during the backup and only backing up changed blocks, instead of instantly knowing what the changes blocks are. No need for action on your part." As to what caused this, I have no idea. It very well could be a Windows Update of some sort, especially if it upgraded to a whole new version of Windows. I am concerned though, about the messages of the destination running out of space. Either prune your backups or get a larger HD.

That’s fine. The chipset drivers for your motherboard make things go faster Vs using the MSFT Drivers. It’s not huge, but is noticeable.

It's the same here in the States. The cost for parts is just shy of a whole Brand New Printer! The issue is, as time goes on, the quality goes down. You can physically feel the difference between a brand new model today and one from say 3-5 years ago, let alone 10+ years ago! I'm no fan of Brother's stuff but unfortunately, it seems your choices are lacking and Xerox (and I'm a Certified Xerox Tech) just piss me off. Those suckers are hyper when it comes to Toner and Ink. I've had very expensive printers flat out not work because they think the wrong Toner is installed and it just had a "Brain-Fart." In fact, I've had to reprogram a printer at least 3 times for this issue. Bah! Stupid Xerox.

I am a huge proponent of “Buy it Right - Buy it Once.” I’m not liking those new HP Printers. Need to be hooked up to the Internet 100% of the time and are just cheap shitty plastic. If you get a MFP that’s only a few hundred, don’t come in here complaining when it breaks. You get what you pay for. Personally, I’d get the 404 Printer with the Copier / ADF Option: LaserJet Pro M428 FDN The F D and N stands for Fax, Duplex and Network. Basically HP took the printer I recommended and slapped a touchscreen and Copier/ Scanner on it. I know it’s quite a bit more money, but I hate wasting money on this shit. It does you no good buying something and having it break in 6 months only to toss it. If you are really looking to save money, the Brother MFPs would be something to research and for a decent MFP, your budget should be at least $500. Or more.

Personally, I have the least amount of problems with Genuine OEM Toner Cartridges. With refurbished Toner, they just put more Toner in and clean them up, but there are other existing parts that do not get replaced and they do wear out. (image Drums, Charge Rollers, etc.) I can see the reasons for businesses to get Generic Toner, it is a cost savings, but for your 1st one, I’d get a OEM and see how long that lasts for you. How much are you printing each day / month? I have printers that fill up 2000 page bins at 8AM and then again at 2PM 6 Days a week if you are only printing a few hundred each month, or less…you aren’t going to be buying another Toner for at least a few years. In that time, how many ink modules would you go through? Remember, you will have one in the box for your printer. They are usually starter cartridges bust still will last a lot longer than any ink cartridge. So unless you are printing hundreds of sheets per day, or more, it’s not going to be a big issue. Like I’ve said, I have replaced TWO Toner Cartridges since 2005, but I don’t print much. Well, thinking about it, this number might be 3 as I had a different laser printer back then. The hardest part about buying a Laser Printer is the initial purchase, it’s expensive. I get it. But the alternative is to buy another cheap inkjet printer and deal with the ink cartridges. In the end, you will spend more money and this is intentional.

Yep! That’s what I wanted you to do. Are there any other drivers for your Motherboard? Specifically the Chipset Drivers?

Wow. Here in the states the 58A is just under $117 and generics are around $70. That's A$174.20. I just checked Officeworks, which is like our "Office Depot." It seems that HP has changed some of the numbers for the Toner Cartridge, and the one for the printer that I'm recommending is a bit cheaper. Here is the HP LaserJet Pro M404dw Mono SFP, and even though it's a Wireless Printer, it does have an Ethernet Port, along with a USB Port. You can always shut off the WiFi option in the settings, it's pretty easy to do. Or you could try WiFi and see how things work. Here is the Toner Cartridge that goes with it: HP LaserJet Toner Cartridge Black 76A. We could go to a lower-end model. Since I repair these things, I tend to lean towards the more "Beefier" models that I don't have to worry about, but there are cheaper options, like Brother. The thing with Brother Laser Printers, they work well until they break...then you get rid of them and buy a new printer. Why? Because the main parts that go bad cost $20 less than a whole new printer. For example, there is a component in the Laser Printers that is known as a Fuser. The Fuser bonds the Toner to the paper as there is a Heat Roller and a Pressure Roller. Well, one of these rollers has a Teflon Coating that wears out over time requiring replacement. When it comes to Brother's Fusers, a whole new Printer is $299 and a replacement Fuser is $279...it's ridiculous. SMDH. We live in such a throw-away society. I have had decent experience with this Brother Laser: Brother Wireless Mono Laser Printer HL-L5200DW and here is the Toner Cartridge to go with it: Brother TN 3440 Toner Cartridge Black. Wow...Toner Cartridges are EXPENSIVE in Australia. But again, they don't dry out and last a while. That Brother Toner lasts for 8000 pages. Like the HP that I just linked to, this Brother can use Ethernet and have the WiFi shut off and it also has a USB Port. For even less money, here is one option: Brother Wireless Mono Laser Printer HL-L2305W and the Toner that goes with it, Brother TN 2330 Toner Cartridge Black. There is also this HP Laser Printer, the HP+ LaserJet Printer M110we and the W1410A Toner Cartridge, which is probably more in your price range. Unless you have a huge desire to directly print from your iPhone, which it does not have AirPrint, the HP M110we is very small (it's so little) and would probably be the one that takes up the least amount of room. So those are the ones I'd buy. It's up to your budget at this point.

It's just when the printer goes to sleep, it shuts off the WiFi. Then you spend 5-10 minutes trying to convince the damn thing to connect. Then when you do connect, it seems that print jobs take forever to print, even though the printer prints at 42 pages per minute. Are there any Ethernet Ports on the back of your Modem in the Window? We just need one, then it's a simple matter of buying a 4 Port Ethernet Switch. You can get something like a 50 foot Ethernet Cable if you need to. I just checked your Amazon in OZ. Boy, the pickings are slim there. Ours literally has everything from A to Z. The Australian version, notsomuch. So you are going to have to buy direct from HP in Australia, and here is the printer I am recommending for you, the HP LaserJet Pro M404dn. You need a HP CF258A or HP CF258X replacement toner for it; the difference between the two is the 58A prints approximately 3000 pages and the "X," which stands for "Extra" (or high-yield) prints more, at around 10,000 pages. Yep...you read that correctly. Approximately 10,000 pages on one toner cartridge that never dries out. Of course, everything is either more expensive in OZ, or just isn't available. Even if you go with something like a small Brother Laser Printer, just make sure you have access to Toner as well. Where do you look for electronics and office supplies? Maybe we should start there. This is going to be tough getting you something. If you were in the States, you could go down the street 10 minutes away and buy one. LOL!! Man, I'm so spoiled.

Oh yeah... You have to be careful with some of the Windows Updates. Especially when MSFT thinks their BIOS update is "better" than the current one you just downloaded, from the manufacture, that's newer than the MSFT one!

The biggest problem is installing the RAM. Laptops no longer have easy access panels to pop things in-and-out, they are taking a cue from Apple and making them almost sealed units. So while the average person is quite capable of installing RAM, getting the damn thing apart is a HUGE challenge, and I would recommend taking it to a technician or repair shop in order to upgrade it. They will have the experience and tools, and most importantly, the patience...to get them open. Otherwise you could scratch / scuff things up or at the very worst, break some case part. I've done it myself and "...I know what I'm doing." So while having the RAM installed my seem like a waste of money, with today's laptops, it's cheaper than buying a Tool Kit and attempting things yourself.

The cheaper one had a better screen for editing photos. The NVIDIA 3080 is also a nice choice. Believe it or not, it's the VIDEO CARD'S GPU that is more important with today's modern Adobe Photoshop than the CPU Chip!! Photoshop, and ACR use the GPU for a performance boost and ACR uses it to function. I'd rather people buy a lower-end CPU and buy a beefier Video Card when it comes to Photoshop and editing Still Photos. If you were editing Video, or were a Gamer, that's a different story.

Awesome!!! That's PERFECT. I see you use the "u" in color. Or colour for you. What part of the world do you live? I want to get you links for your region. But here is the jist of what we are going after: Ditch your printer. A B&W Laser Printer is what you want. Seriously. "But isn't that expensive?" Up front, it might seem that way, but in the long run, the cost per page is pennies compared to a inkjet printer. Why? For the sole reason: Those stupid Ink Cartridges. It's like a razor, make a little money on the handle, and a BOATLOAD of money on the disposable razor blades. While a $89 printer might seem like a "Deal" that provides huge savings, forking out $150 or more every 3-4 months gets to be expensive. Which then forces people to buy Generic Ink Cartridges to save a little bit of money. So call that $100-ish...which still adds up. So even though a Toner Cartridge might seem "Expensive," it never dries out and lasts A LOT longer than any Ink Cartridge." Usually around 1500 pages or so. Well, with the exception of the one you get with the printer, which is just a "Starter Cartridge." So your 2nd Toner Cartridge will come sooner rather than later, but still lasts A LOT longer than the set of Ink Cartridges that you will buy. Understand? To illustrate: I have personally installed a total of 2 Toner Cartridges since 2005. Yep, T-W-O in almost 20 years. Again, Toner doesn't dry out. It should last more than 1000 pages and a case of paper is 2000 pages. If you leave your printer sit for 6 months not doing anything, guess what? It's fine. In fact, every one of my friends who I got to switch over have all said the same thing: "...why did I not do this sooner? OMG! I would have purchased three sets of ink cartridges by now!! I also don't really miss the color either." (These are usually from homeschooling Moms.) The other benefit to today's Laser Printers, is that they can be printed to from all sorts of devices, from Smart Phones to being hooked up to your network and ALL of the computers in the house will be able to print to it, you just have to set things up. Not hard, there is a process and I can walk your thought things. The only thing that I recommend, is you do not buy a WiFi Printer. Those suckers are a real PAIN-IN-THE-ARSE to keep connected. I hate-hate-hate WiFi Laser Printers. HATE THEM. A hardwired Ethernet Laser Printer is the way to go. So if you have the option of putting it next to your switch/router, we can connect things there. Or let me know how you are connected now / how your office or computer area is setup.

I like Tacos... Buy Brian some Tacos For the very nature of Windows Computers: The unlimited combinations. Microsoft covers this with basic drivers to get things working, so in a sense your wish is a reality. But I agree, there should be a piece of paper in the box with at least a web link written that tells people to "Go here and use this scanning tool" and then downloads the appropriate drivers. Sidenote: Since you built your computer, head to the manufacturer's website for your Motherboard and see if there are any Chipset Drivers or other Motherboard Drivers, maybe even a BIOS update. You'd be surprised on just how much faster your computer will run when it's off the Microsoft Drivers. Speaking of which, every time that Windows does a MAJOR update, you should scan for new drivers for your various devices in your computer. You'd be surprised on how Microsoft loves to "Butt-In" on your existing drivers. In fact, I would come up with a Checklist of sorts that you should do every 2-3 months to make sure things keep running smoothly.

If you were a Gamer that Streams and a YouTuber, I would. For editing photos. Nope. Skip it.

I’m leaning towards the cheaper one, but I’d like to see the RAM upgraded to 32GB. It can be upgraded to 64GB, so you might want to go the “Full Monty” and do it once.