My mom needs a new computer and I told her I could build her a better one for the same price as she's looking at for prebuilts online (I think that's true anyway?)

So here's the deal:

Budget: $500 approx
Use: mostly photoshop (she is an artist and uses it a LOT for photoshop)
OS: she needs to purchase
Case: needs to buy

She also uses it for word and excel but doesn't have the discs for those programs so she needs to buy microsoft office as well.

Could you guys help me out with putting together a build? I think it would be best if she gets an SSD since it will run PS faster, right?

She's not particular to AMD or Intel, but is one better for photoshop than another?

let me know if there's anything else.

Thanks in advance for any help!

If your buying all that software legitimately your budget will be so low a prebuilt might be easier.
Like office alone is what 100$ for 365 a year?
Also what does she do on PS exactly so we know if more RAM a priority.
Like is it basic drawings? if so what resolutions size?
If she save a lot of her work you will want a standard hard drive as ps files add up and the ssd will be very small in that price range.
Whats the location?

This post was edited by King Atrhur on May 29 2017 11:17am

this.

very much this

location is in Florida USA.

She does mostly editing of photos using multiple layers. High resolution (she takes the pictures with a high end digital camera first).

Would getting an external HD to save stuff onto be an option? I think she already has an external actually.

Ok, let me adjust the budget a bit then. Budget includes OS but does not include office, because that's how they're selling the prebuilt ones as well.

This post was edited by DoomOnYou on May 29 2017 11:26am

How high in resolution are these images... I'm curious cause my buddy generally speaking as a tattoo artist easily exceeds 8gb ram.
or Better yet what is she working from now that being replaced so we can maybe find a happy medium.

yes or taking the drive out of the existing pc works also.
But once again and I can't stress this enough buying that software will hinder budget A LOT.

Do you know if theres any other software she needs Aside from the OS cause thats a mere 10$.

sorry just edited my last post. $500 does not include the software outside of OS (because the prebuilt ones don't come with office either) so budget is actually $500 + office. She doesn't need any other software besides those (she has PS and stuff already).

reesolution: she's using a cannon powershot (guess not as high end of a camera as I thought). It says it's 12.1 megapixel on the camera, not sure if that's the same it would be imported into photoshop as.

edit #2: the computer that's being replaced is a dinosaur. I'm pretty sure they bought it in about 2008 lol. It's an HP prebuilt, no idea on specs. She wants to replace because it's having all sorts of problems (barely even runs, super slow, etc).

This post was edited by DoomOnYou on May 29 2017 11:33am

Yeah thats some basic bitch shit (no offense), You should be fine.
I'm actually about to go out in a min and get a skate session in while suns out but when
I return I'll put something together if zwix beat me to it.

But your looking at probably a G4000 series cpu / 8gb ram / 480 ssd (maybe) / 1050gpu.
can add more here and there tbh more ram/better cpu would be priorities.
I don't dabble to much on the low end but I'll see what I can do after.

yeah it's no high end gaming pc but it's what she needs lol. Thanks for your help.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WL8TTH

Thats where I'd start anyways. allows you to go to 16gb and a real cpu down the road.
Could tweak it a bit more later if price or looks of parts don't suit your taste.

ok now off to skate.

ok i'll take a look at it, thanks!

btw what are the most important things to making PS run smoothly/quickly (hopefully for years to come)?

/edit: also there's no OS on your build. You said you can get win 10 for $10? Where? Is it 32 or 64 bit?

This post was edited by DoomOnYou on May 29 2017 01:45pm