Picking computer for graphic design

Hello, Im hoping some of you can give me some advice. I used to be a graphic designer and am trying to get back into it. So, i need a new computer. I want something with a reasonable graphics card and a fast enough processor. I wont be working on huge files just something that can handle photoshop, illustrator, indesign really. CS5 mostly. Ive got a budget of £500, so have narrowed it down to two:

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.212-3243.aspx
or
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/sho...itors/121686424_hp_desktop_tower_p6740uk.html

Id appreciate your advice, i dont know much about hardware!
Thanks
Slor

 

Hardwarewise those two are pretty similar. I would probably buy the Sainsbury one and put an extra 4GB RAM in it.

Alternatively have a look at this one

Its an intel i5. with three times the cache. It uses the onboard GPU rather than dedicated but unless you are doing any realtime 3d rendering it will be fine.

 

Thanks Tueur, I hadnt looked at this site. You think i will be fine without a dedicated graphics card. I was thinking i needed dedicated with 1gb? Appreciate your advice.
Slor

 

To be honest, I am not a graphic designer but my understanding would be that the GPU will help with any 3d rendering. If you are only looking at using photshop etc in a 2d environment any of the PCs will be fine. Ideally you want one of the workstation PCs from Dabs but they start at £650 which is higher than your budget.

I think the i5 I linked to will probably out perform the 2 AMD systems.

 

BTW, I dont know if you already have the software but there is a lot of open source software available

 

Thanks Tueur, the only thing i would worry about would be using the 3D tools in photoshop. I cant use them on my laptop at the moment. Cheers Slor