Precision – 05.23.07

“What do I need in a computer?” This is a question I receive everyday. It’s a very valid question and one you’ll get a different opinion from every person you ask and for good reason. Everyone has their bias and that’s cool. Here’s my bias, Dell and in particular, the Precision line.

I’ve been running Precisions since they first came out. They’ve been with me in trucks bouncing across the nastiest of roads. They been vibrated to pieces flying in Bush Planes across Alaska. Heck, took one on a two week float trip through the Arctic. And after all that abuse, they have never let me down and that’s what’s important to me. Currently, my main computers are the two pictured here, the desktop Precision 390 (office digital darkroom machine) and notebook Precision M65 (my road warrior). Here’s what I look for in my computers.

Speed, speed and more speed which comes from a combo of Ram, Hard Drive speed and video board memory. For that reason, both of my machines run 4GB of Ram and are dual core machines. The 390 runs dual, 160Gb 10,000RPM hard drives and the M65 runs a 160GB 7200RPM hard drive. The 390 is running the new NVIDIA dual DVI board with 256MB of Ram and the M65 runs the NVIDIA Quadro FX350. This combo of ram, hard drive rpm and video boards permits me to run as fast as is possible with current technology.

How good is the Precision line? Well, perhaps too good for its own sake. My other notebook (yes, I often travel with two) that I use for teaching, presentations and the such is my older Precision M70. While a couple of years old, it still is a solid, solid workhorse! With the new notebooks you know are just around the corner, my problem is wondering how I will justify buying a new notebook when my current notebooks work great.

Bottomline, when it comes to buying a computer, buy the most you can, most of ram, hard drive rpm and video board. I know there are some who are diehard Mac folks, and that’s cool. There are some who aren’t into Dells, and that’s just fine too. You’ve got to find the tools that work for you and than make them sing. I just know for myself, my photography and for my business, the Dell Precision line permits me to keep focus on the things the matter, and not my computers!