CatherineL

I understand. Like I said, my current one is 10 years old. I am a creature of habit and I don’t like change, but at this point I am wasting so much time waiting for my slow a$$ computer to run I can’t stand it anymore. And time is money so...

thank you so much for all of your help and advice. I truly appreciate it! 

So at this point I’m at $1,699.00 (over my budget not including the mornitor). What about the memory? 

Can I downgrade on the video card or hard drive and still be ok?

And this for a graphics card?

Do you suggest a SATA HDD or the SSD?

I will probably go with this monitor.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005JN9310/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwdamien-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005JN9310&th=1

Wonderful, thank you so much for your help! Since there is 17% off I was going to upgrade the memory to 16GB (if you scroll down it's the one of the left). But if I decide not to, the 8GB would be ok?

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/desktops/tower-special-edition/spd/xps-8930-se-desktop?appliedRefinements=301,402,202

And thanks for the link to the monitors. I read that article several times! I wish there was one in the $300 range. It seems like it's $250 or $400+.

Brian?

I also need a monitor. I realize that is probably an additional purchase. 

Ahhh, I see. In that case, I am

an average user. As far as budget goes, let’s say $1500. 

I have searched topics about PC recommendations and found this:

"Here are the specs that I recommend for a Photo-editing Machine:

• Intel i7 (or i5 if money is tight)
• 8GB RAM at a Minimum - 16GB or more preferred, like 32GB
• 1TB Hard Drive for the main drive. I don't care how fast that 128GB / 250GB SSD Drive is, it won't to you a damn bit of good if it's full. Of course the bigger the better when it comes to hard drives. Windows updates can be huge, so I would shoot for a 1TB at a minimum, though a person could get away with a 500GB HD.
• A video card that has separate & dedicated video memory. 2GB - 4GB is fine (like 4GB) and since Adobe's products are using the graphics cards for a performance boost, a video card with 8GB of Video Memory is a good thing. So call it 4GB recommended / 8GB preferred when it comes to Video RAM.
• I like Windows 10 Pro but I'm more of a power user. Most people will be fine with Win 10 Home."

I am on a 10 year old HP desktop, using Windows 7, Bridge & Photoshop CS4 (hoping to upgrade to CC once I purchase a new computer). I cannot put this off any longer. My computer is so slow working is a complete time suck. I am not a techie person at all so I am wondering if these specs will work or if I need anything extra. And what do you mean by, "I'm more of a power user."?

I am a photographer doing mainly portraits and some Team and Individuals.

I've tried to comment on other threads on this subject, but I am not able to so I started a new one.

Is this any better?

Just applied for it.

Yes, I will. I was thinking you had a curves class, but I didn't see  one.

How is this?

Ok, maybe I just needed a fresh pair of eyes to look at it. Does the edited version look bright enough to you? 

I'm having trouble with lighting the faces in the photo without blowing out the skin. Can someone tell me what needs to be fixed or how to fix it? I want to keep the background the way it is (darker).

Thanks so much.

Thanks again!

I think so. I don't see any weird grid pattern at all.

I just saw the Bridge Class! Will definitely be taking that one soon!

I was opening them from the folder on my desktop, not Bridge. Here is one zoomed in at 100%

Wait, I think I just had to change it to have Ps open them. The default must have been windows. 

I got them open! 

My hero!! Thanks again! You’re the best!  

I got as far as converting the files, but I can’t get them to open. This is what my screen looks like. I am using CS4. I switched the preferences to “Camera Raw 5.4 and later” since it says it’s for CS4. When I click on the dng files it says “windows can’t open files”

I use CS4 and bridge for editing. I know I need to upgrade,  but this is what I have now. I just got a used mark iii and bridge is not reading the files. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Found the update, downloaded it and it worked! Thanks so much!

I will try that. I appreciate your efforts!