Choosing a custom computer for your T2 is worth considering. You can spend a little or you can break the bank. How do you decide what is the right configuration for your needs? That will depend on what you will do with the computer. If you plan to use the computer for a Capture Station you can get by with little investment. If you need to do shooting, heavy post production, multi-layer Photoshop editing, Quark work, and web authoring, you’ll need a more robustly configured machine. Define your needs and pull out your checkbook. Consider the possibility of upgrading your machine should the need arise. Also consider the wisdom of purchasing a new, second machine rather than upgrading your current computer. Be realistic in assessing future needs, placing a heavy time burden on a single souped up machine may not offer the flexibility you may need to insure profitable throughput for your business.
Just what do you need for a Capture Station? You’ll need 100 mhz, a PCI local bus, 64 megs of RAM, millions of colors on a 17” monitor, and an entry level hard drive, these days that’s about 4 gigs. You’ll have a choice of PC or Mac. Be aware that you may want SCSI drives for speed and a SCSI bus for connection of peripherals such as Zip, Jazz, Syquest, or magneto-opticals. Network connections are very convenient for connecting several computers together. Macs have SCSI connectivity and Ethernet built in, PC’s will generally need to have those capabilities added. If you have a preference for a computer you may want to poll the workflow downstream before exercising it. There is little sense in fighting with file formats when choosing the “right” computer (the one that’s used by the imaging professionals downstream of the capture process) will streamline the process.
What is needed for the primo computer? Let your pocketbook be your guide. Expansion card flexibility is key, look for 5 or 6 slots. You’ll want lots of hard drive bays, 100base-T Ethernet (or Firewire), SCSI Fast & Wide, RAID array drives, more RAM than you can afford, 8 megs of video RAM, and extended warranties for everything. Be aware that if you can identify your dream machine and can wait 18 months, the cost of that configuration will drop by half.
Lots of shooters will find the cheapest G3 with the minimum RAM configuration of 64 megabytes will do just fine. If you can find a 200 mhz machine you can get a computer to shoot the T2 for under $1,000. If you need a recommendation you can ask any of our tech support personnel.