New computer. What's the least that I can get away with! (1 Viewer)

My old computer is now playing up and as someone who knows nothing about computers and does not want to spend more than I have to, my question is . What is the least that, size etc that I need for my own needs? All that I use my computer for is a little surfing, emails and to store, work and upload photos. Do I need a powerful, expensive computer for this!

I'd say it depends on how intensive the work you do with photos is. If its just some cropping and such, then you dont need a powerful computer. Web surfing and emails arent intensive at all. I'm not sure about desktop brands, but I could give some laptop recommendations. I think most desktops (cheap too) are powerful enough to handle basic editing programs, but again, I'm not an expert in that area.

Hi,
"Do I need a powerful, expensive computer for this!"
A loaded question
What I call powerful and expensive will be very different to your definition.
Have you thought about a low mileage couple of year of laptop of TradeMe ?? ( for overseas folks the NZ equivalent of EBay )
You can plug your current monitor into it and if your like me hate lappy keyboards you can plug your current usb kboard in and use that.
Then if you go away for a weekend etc unplug them and take the lappy with you, best of both worlds.
Most decent couple of yr old lappys will do all you ask above and handle normal image editing easily.
Also think about back up, if you only have one copy of everything ...... that hard drive will fail one day.
Your current hard drive can be put in a caddy and used with your new machine etc.
All the above is said assuming you are currently using a desktop computer.
Not knowing how far Nth you are, Harvey Normans and Dick Smith etc have some good deals at different time for end of line new desktop and laptops.
Short answer .... No .....
But shoveling pixels around in editing programs requires a bit of grunt.
As you update cams and your files get bigger you need more grunt and storage so buying bottom of the line is not an investment in the future either

I guess a starting point (new) would be a laptop like the Acer Aspire (£300 - £400)?

But as mentioned, it depends on what kind of power you need for the kind of photo editing you are carrying out.

A good starting point is to look at the recommended specs of your image editing program of choice.

If you are happy with your monitor and are just swapping the box then that would be the cheapest way to go buying new, but as laptops are much more popular these days there are often much better bargains to be had in the refurbished/end of line department in laptops.

Because I actually bought a new laptop. It comes with light gray letters on silver tabs. That looks fancy, but I can barely read the letters....

Perhaps you can get a refurbished laptop from a local dealer like I have. It does all I want and it cost all of £199.00