Budget: $600
More specific use (what games, what programs): needs to run Photoshop (editing high resolution photos) smoothly
Planned time until purchase: ASAP but she has a temp.
Do you need an Operating System?: No
Do you have any specific preferred components?: DVD Writable, small SSD for operating system (windows 7) and photoshop.
Do you need a sound or wireless card?: Wireless card
Do you want stock cooling or do you plan on overclocking?: No
Do you need a monitor? mouse? keyboard?: No
Zip code/location? (Shipping costs): 86315

For that budget, onboard graphics and a budget i7 would likely be the way to go, the i7 is a must to get faster photoshop rendering and cut down on wait time, you will want an SSD big enough for both the OS and Photoshop, as well as any current projects, in fact it will be more important to have photoshop on the SSD, as boot times are irrelevant for a business PC you can just leave running, but the faster read/write speeds will be a big boon when editing photos, then you can archive finished works onto a larger storage drive

I would highly suggest going with 2 large storage drives internally, and striping them in a RAID 10 for redundancy, you DO NOT want to play around with losing important documents

She may want to even consider upping the budget to include a large external drive to backup the computer on a daily basis, and keep this stored off-site, that way if anything were to happen (fire, flood, etc) then all the valuable works and photos are backed up. This is also a selling point to clients "we keep your important photos backed up using triple redundancy"

You will also need a good amount of RAM, probably 8gb (2x4) to start, with an eye on more later if needed (so a 4-slot motherboard)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sRTWhM

im gonna assume she has a hdd for storage she can use?

she has a 1tb external that she runs, she's using her laptop rn, but doesn't want to use it for the business.

Build looks pretty good, sure she doesn't need a graphics card?

Lol don't get the build anymore, it's way outdated.

dont u make future proof builds m9
get on my lvl
scrublyfe

idk y ppl say asap, then come back to it a month later when prices become all fucked up
their loss
ur lvl too high for my toilet

got layed off and had to find a new job, this was the last thing on my mind lol.

your milf has a photo business, so just work for her?

lol no, i'm a cnc programmer/machinist.

and milf? O_O haha mother in law.