Hi, I am thinking to change my computer, but I am lost... Could someone help me out and give some advise on what to buy? How much ram do I need to run photoshop properly? and what schould I look for in a monitor to be decent for photography? contrast, response ecc... I can not afford a mac and my budget is around 700 euro. Any help would be much appreciated.

Anybody?? is it such a silly question?

No tito it's not a silly question. Buying computers is very complicated these days, way to many choices. Your budget is very limited. In the U.S. that kind of money would only buy you a basic computer with a basic monitor. You could easily spend twice that much on a really good quality monitor alone. So I will try to get some basic guidelines:

RAM is very important, especially if you will be using Photoshop, you will need at least 2GB, 4 is better. I have 8GB.
A relatively fast processor is important although not as much so as RAM. I have a AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.10 GHz
A LCD monitor of at least 19" that has controls for calibration is very important. I have a ViewSonic VX2025 (not all that good) I need a new monitor myself.
You need some way to calibrate your monitor. I use the MonacoOPTIX by X-Rite
And then there's software. I use the Adobe products, Bridge and Photoshop, expensive but great. I use them at work so they are very familiar to me. Lightroom is good but I haven't really adapted to it very well, sticking with Photoshop and Bridge for now.

Bottom line if you are not familiar with PC computers and configuring them, buy a Dell or HP that is pre-configured for what you want.

Thanks Clyde for clarifing I bit the fog...your help is very much appreciated. If someone want to step in is going to be very welcome.

I would get a mac of course but it's hard on such a tight budget. You should be able to afford the mac mini together with a not too expensive monitor. Also I got a student version of Photoshop which was 90% off =)

You could perhaps get a used iMac, macs tend to have quite good quality and can keep working for a long time so it can be worth looking at used ones.

Tito I was about to write exactly that..
Even a used Mac ..with an small external hard drive for Time Machine would be a better choice than a cheaper PC. If you live near to an Apple Store, go at least to have a look. You do not have to buy one, but you can ask good questions and learn. You might be closer to affording a Mac than you think; especially a refurnished one. If you are involved with Education..or have children. you can get an educational discount..it saves a lot of money.

As for RAM..if you get only 2 Gig you can add more..not from Apple. You can find it cheaper at other places. Right now you can get a new i-Mac with 2 Gig for $1200 in the States here without the discount..but if used....much cheaper. Also, Apple will give you a warranty with their used products. It is worth a look. Remember..you won't have to buy a monitor which as Cylde has pointed out a good one costs a lot. With an i-Mac you will already have a very good Monitor..

Good luck with your purchase.
Phyllis

With such a tight budget I would go the PC route. You'll get a decent enough PC and monitor that can run Photoshop or whichever editing software you use without too much drama. It won't be high end at that price range but will have better hardware specs than will be in a Mac.

Dell, HP or Acer make decent enough boxes. There may be a local computer builder that can put together a good good box for you.

As Clyde says, lots of RAM good. But, with a 32 bit version of Windows 4gb is the limit as it cannot "see" anymore than that. If you want to go for more than 4gb of RAM, then you need a 64 bit operating system. The bigger manufacturers like Dell generally don't have the option to go 64 bit on their cheaper systems, here a smaller local computer builder may be a better bet as they could install 64 bit version for the same price as a 32 bit version of Windows.

Being able to install more hard drives into the box good, easy enough thing to do. Check the system specs for SATA ports as well as spare drive bays. Something you can do at a later date when some more money is available.

Graphics card, most cards produced today are more than adequate for the operating system needs as well as the Open GL Drawing requirements for Photoshop CS4. Even if not up to those requirements for Photoshop it will still run fine, just none of the fancier new interface tricks. Unless your doing hard core gaming on it don't spend big on a graphics card.

Dual core versus Quad core. For the same price you will get a higher speed Dual core and clock speed still matters. i7 or i5 processors are out of your price range. Intel or AMD, both good, AMD better value.

Having a look here at the Dell site, the £ 429 Dual core is better value than the £ 479 Quad core as the clock speed is faster on the Dual core.

Windows 7. If you can hold out until the 22nd of October then you can get a machine installed with Windows 7. Vista was a bit sad at first but works fine now but Windows 7 is impressive. Home Premium in Vista or Windows 7 is the version to go for.

I think Clyde is talking about the higher end models such as an Eizo or NEC monitor designed for graphic designers or photographers. The iMac panels are not in this league, they are same quality as those from Dell etc on their consumer PC's. They are not good for photo work.

thanks everyboody for the nice advise