Gretchen

Thank you @Brian! This is great info and I'm so glad I asked.  I appreciate your input.

I noticed on the back of my monitor, I have two options for connection cable: DVI port or VGA. I'm buying a new monitor and it had HDMI or VGA.

On the back of a tower computer that I've decided to start using, it has HDMI, DVI, and Display-Port (looks like HDMI but one side is squared off).

I am just curious if any of these cords/ports have any effect on the color accuracy of the display on the monitor? It seems like it would not, but I'm not a tech person so I thought maybe I would check. 

sure! the "use Windows Ink" box needs to be unchecked, but you need to click each tab and uncheck it on each tab.

Thank you @Brian. I actually did get it figured out finally after much digging on the internet. The answer was to un-check "Use Windows Ink" in the settings box but I had to turn it off for all the functions (tablet, pen, and general).

SO glad I got it figured out! Thanks.

Hi! I've used a Wacom tablet for years but I just got a new one and I can't seem to figure out how to set it up for editing. 

Specifically, here's the challenges I faced:

When cloning in PS, I would hold the ALT key and touch the pen to the tablet (to set the clone area) but it would never accept the selection. I'd have to go to my mouse, ALT + click, then I could clone with the pen.

When trying to use sliders (like brush size) the pen won't move the slider. 

I've tried adjusting the different options in the tablet properties but I'm struggling to figure it out. Is there a list of "generally, set up your pen with these settings" type of post in here?

thanks.

Damien, how many photos will I have to edit before you will let me move on in the class? Whether I have mastered the skill or not I do feel I have done a LOT Of editing and I would like to move on.

I'd like to soften the The shadow created on this young man's shirt (vertical near center of the shirt). What I mean is, I'd like to have just a slightly more gradual change from bright to dark. I understand it's not going to be a wide, huge change but just soften it up a bit.

When I try, using the patch tool, the texture of the shirt is lost and it looks fuzzy and wrong. I'm positive that I don't understand the skills I need to accomplish this.

Any help you can provide would be great. Thanks!

OK so. I feel like I'm about to jump off a cliff. haha

I bought the Samsung 860. And I bought the extra RAM. And now I also bought the Samsung 970. I've got all of it ready to give to my computer guy.

I have my appointment on Monday to hand over my laptop.

**SWEATING BULLETS**

OK boss. I can get on board with that.

So, looking at my computer.... everything on it functions well. Its manufacture date was April 2019 so not terribly old.

After the updates, i will have 32 gb RAM, and If I have the 970 drive AND the 860 drive, THEN would you say I'm set to have a pretty decent computer for at least another few years?

I have to be honest - I love PCs. I've never ever had a problem with them. (not saying they are invincible but I am happy so far). And I know they don't last forever but my most recent reasons for upgrades to new laptops were because of needing a newer OS or more space.

I guess my final question, so I can relieve you of my unending confusion (LOL) is: should this machine now last me a while?

44 minutes ago, Brian said:

OK. So you bought a RAM upgrade kit and a extra Hard Drive. You still need to purchase the "Stick" Drive in order to replace / upgrade your main Drive.

Here is the current model of the "Stick Drive" that I recommended. It's $149.99:

Samsung (MZ-V7S1T0B/AM) 970 EVO Plus SSD 1TB - M.2 NVMe

Again, this drive will replace your current main "Boot" Drive. I swiped this photo off of Amazon to illustrate what we mean by "Stick."

 

See how similar it looks to the RAM "Sticks" that you just purchased? Only this is a Hard Drive and not RAM.

OK so do I need the original Samsung 860 thing also? Or should I return it? Just wondering why you suggested it. 

Sorry, I bought what was listed above in the 4th post. Here are pictures of what I bought.

On 12/23/2020 at 12:49 PM, Brian said:

So you still haven’t bought the “Stick Drive” yet and just the one that looks like a regular HD? Here is what I would do:

If you are able, definitely upgrade your laptop’s RAM to 32GB! 
 

Replace the existing main drive with the Samsung 870 drive. You want a large main drive. Clone the existing main HD to the new Stick Drive. 
 

If you already purchased the SSD Drive, keep it and have your guy install it while it’s open. It will only take him 5 minutes or so to set it up. Seriously, it’s not a huge deal for him when it’s already opened up.
 

Even though you will probably be spending around $500 for the whole thing, it’s a lot cheaper than forking out $1400 for a new one and then you have to install everything, which is a time suck. 

OK I apologize because I know I sound like an incompetent idiot but I know ZERO about this and I'm trying to decipher what you're saying and what Charlie (my local guy) is also saying. He said this Samsung 860 is a stick drive (is that right?). He seemed very interested to just replace the D drive with it because it would be easy. I understand that but honestly, I'm having trouble keeping my C drive from filling up. It's constantly in the red. Right now I have less than 10gb of free space (which is less than 5%). So yeah.... I think I definitely need to get a bigger main drive.

So yes, I have already bought the 1TB SSD drive. I did notice in the photo above that the main drive appeared to be about the size of a deck of cards but the picture of this samsung drive looks smaller and I wondered how it all would fit together but.... I assume this is because I don't know anything about computers.

Charlie's rationale was: if your computer programs are already running fine, then it's just easier to add the new SSD as your D drive. and the extra RAM will really help too. But I'm worried bc I'm basically OUT of space on my C drive. 

I spoke to Charlie tonight and he really SOUNDS like he knows what to do so I'm hopeful. I got referred to him by a friend (who I definitely trust) so I hope everything will be okay.

And if nothing else, I have insurance...... haha

Thanks again, @Brian. Finding a reliable computer person is not easy, as people claim they know what they're doing but to a person who knows ZERO, everyone seems to know what they're doing (even if they don't!)

Actually I showed him the Samsung 1TB HD that you suggested and he said, yes that's perfect, we will use that. I also asked him about bumping up my RAM to 32 gig so we're doing that as well. 

I already ordered the SSD you suggested, as well as the RAM this guy suggested. Do you think I ALSO need some additional stick drive? I apologize if I sound stupid.... I'm really relying on people smarter than me to tell me what I need. I'm not afraid to invest money to make my computer work well but I don't want to go nuts. The SSD + Ram was about $350. 

So at this point I should tell my local guy.... what? Should I say, "I think the larger Data drive would be helpful but I think it will be better if we can use this new 1TB drive to make it my Main HD. We will need to clone my existing HD. Can you do that?" Is that what I'd say?

Hi again! I have my local computer dude helping me. I sent him the specs of my computer and this is what he said...

"Ok your D drive is your system recover drive. From what I can see from the specs it uses a stick style SSD drive. And the board does have a spot for a stand hard drive. So what I would do is split the case add the new drive. Formats the new drive and give it a drive letter and poof done. Take less then an hour I'm sure. "

Heres my specs....

57 minutes ago, Brian said:

This is the drive that I would install: Samsung 860 Pro SSD 1TB  

so that link didn't link to a product, but I just searched for it on Amazon and found this. is this correct? And after I buy it then I just take it to a computer person and tell her/him to clone my existing ssd?

On a scale from 1-10, how hard would it be to do it myself? I have changed and added RAM to previous laptops and I've seen the innards of my old laptops when the HD went bad. Just as a reference of my experience level. LOL

33 minutes ago, Brian said:

The laptop you were consider is fine. It checks all the boxes and that is a fair price. 
 

Your current laptop is upgradable, you just have to remove the bottom panel, disconnect the battery and then the existing HD, then install the new one and reverse the process. The toughest part will be cloning one HD to the other. 

This is the drive that I would install: Samsung 860 Pro SSD 1TB  

If you wanted to, you could go higher and get a 2TB model. You would also need to get a Sata to USB adapter and cloning software, like Acronis which would clone and expand your existing HD to the new one. So for roughly $275-ish, you could upgrade your existing HD if you went the 1TB route. 

Thanks for your advice Brian, You're super helpful!

this is the $1300 laptop I was considering.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088WNQQVQ/?coliid=I1J6XKCRC9880Y&colid=2Z02MIRHN9OK8&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Thanks Brian. I should have known about the small HD but at the time I told myself that I could make it work.

And truly, I'm not having problems running anything, but that HD is really small. Last night I spent over an hour cleaning items off my C drive and moving things around, and now I'm up to a whopping 35gb of free space. (insert eye roll here)

Here's a link to the laptop I bought if that helps

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077QXGF6R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

HI there

I bought a gaming laptop 18 months ago because I needed a new photo editing laptop and I knew I wanted one with an SSD drive and a dedicated graphics card and IPS display. I got one and I liked it (still do, running great!) except I was an idiot and bought one with a 256G SSD. 

I've read your posts about what to look for and I found another gaming laptop that seems great. IPS display, 32gig RAM, i7 processor, 1TB SSD. However the price is $1300 and I'm wondering if I'm missing something (because your suggestion was that it should be closer to 1500-2000).

Are laptops just getting cheaper in general? I can post a link to the computer I'm considering but I didn't know if that's allowed or not.

Also, I'm wondering.... if my computer is doing fine, no issues (except that my SSD is so damn small that I'm really doing ALL my editing on an external HD), do I really need to get a new one? 

OH! Also, I figured out why my Spyder display would not go onto the screen I wanted it to go onto. It had something to do with selecting the screen for calibration purposes from a menu. Something about the menu would only display on the monitor selected.

I think I got it. I think I've successfully calibrated both!  Thanks for holding my hand through it!! 

OH! Also, I figured out why my Spyder display would not go onto the screen I wanted it to go onto. It had something to do with selecting the screen for calibration purposes from a menu. I don't really know what I'm doing... THere's one step, right after selecting "desktop" where I can choose which monitor I'm calibrating. And there's 2 choices, both named (almost) the same name. I don't know how to delete the one that I"m not using and I can't figure out how to rename it. ugh. oh well. 

OK, just want to double-check.

When I'm looking at my prints and comparing them to the image files I see on screen, what program should I be using to look at them? Photoshop? Something else?

NEVERMIND, I found where you said to use PS or elements or Firefox (don't know how to delete this question.  )

OK I'm going to tackle this problem again today.  Going to switch the screens so that the external monitor will be the main, then I will calibrate, then switch back, and calibrate the laptop monitor.

OK so I tried to calibrate the external monitor before you responded (just above) and In order to do that, I just switched the display to duplicate (temporarily) but still placed the Spyder on the external monitor. 

I have no clue if what I"m doing is right or wrong.

If it would help (although I can't imagine that you'd be able to change anything, LOL) I could take a video of what's happening....

Also, I know you said it's possible to run two profiles at the same time but I'm wondering how to do that? And how to assign the correct profile to the correct device (monitor, laptop).

Sorry I have so many questions. 

Also sorry if I haven't read enough. I'm okay with being told to go read something you've already said - feeling overwhelmed with other things as well. Just trying to put out fires as they pop up and this calibration thing is almost extinguished. LOL

Spyder 5 Pro