Your Workstation

Lets have a look at the main computer that will be used to edit images.

TL;DR¹ The importance of the different components for a computer that is to be used to edit photographs with Lightroom and PhotoShop is this in prioritized order:

• Screen
• RAM
• CPU
• Graphics card
• Disk

PC, Mac or Linux

The most basic choice is to choose what kind of computer and operating system you want to use. If you want to edit photographs with Lightroom and PhotoShop, you will have to choose either Windows or an Apple mac. Both platforms can run Lightroom and PhotoShop just fine, can be properly color managed, and support all types of photo printers you are likely to buy.

Many photographer prefers Macs, but a Windows machine will do just fine, and can cost less money.

I would not recommend using Linux as the operating system. That OS do is not capable of running Lightroom and PhotoShop without major workarounds (virtual machines), and is also very difficult to color mange properly.

Screen

Get a good screen that have a large color space, at least Adobe RGB. And get a calibration tool to keep the screen calibrated for correct colors and light levels.

Disk

The disk in the computer only need space for the operating system, and software that you use. 500GB should be enough for most uses. The disk should be a fast SSD drive.

If you want to keep the Lightroom database on you main disk in the computer you should increase the size to 1TB.

All you images and other data is better kept on a separate NAS. Se separate article “Storage”

CPU

RAM

Graphics card

1. TL;DR or TLDR is an acronym that stands for “Too Long Didn’t Read.” While originally the acronym was was an insult to criticize a piece of writing as overly long, tl;dr have now taken on a second meaning as a shorthand for a “summary,” frequently called the tl;dr version of a longer account or article. Like it is used here. ↩