Suggestion on Computer requirement

Hi,
I am planning to buy a Laptop/Desktop for moderate to heavy home use. I would be using Matlab, Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom.

I was wondering what is the minimum configuration I should be looking at for such tasks?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Edit:
Adding answers to the questions asked:
Well do you have a real preference for a laptop or desktop? Do you have/need a monitor what is your budget?
- No preference for a laptop or desktop. Something that is good enough if all the 3 major SWs I mentioned are running together.
- Have a Dell U2410
- Budget: Less than 1K


Edit2: Thanks all for your help.

Well do you have a real preference for a laptop or desktop? Do you have/need a monitor what is your budget?

Quote from komondor : Well do you have a real preference for a laptop or desktop? Do you have/need a monitor what is your budget?

Added answers to your question in the original post.

I see none of that as being heavy use. Matlab is happy with lots of memory and a decent processor. Just grab a desktop with Windows7, 4-8 gb of ram and one of the Ivy bridge processors. That way you won't need to spring for a video card since the HD4000 will do everything you need.

Should be able to do this under $600 for a desktop. Same for a laptop come to think of it.

I would only step up from there if you are doing heavy gaming or video editing.

Quote from Somesort : I see none of that as being heavy use. Matlab is happy with lots of memory and a decent processor. Just grab a desktop with Windows7, 4-8 gb of ram and one of the Ivy bridge processors. That way you won't need to spring for a video card since the HD4000 will do everything you need. Should be able to do this under $600 for a desktop. Same for a laptop come to think of it. I would only step up from there if you are doing heavy gaming or video editing.

What kind of step ups are you talking about? Will those be in terms of adding a video card, or something else?

Quote from ManchesterUtd : What kind of step ups are you talking about? Will those be in terms of adding a video card, or something else?

Basically he is just talking about upgrading to a better video card if you do Gaming. If not the onboard graphics will be fine since your applications don't make use of the GPU.

Quote from ManchesterUtd : What kind of step ups are you talking about? Will those be in terms of adding a video card, or something else?

You don't really need a video card these days to do Photoshop and the like. The Intel HD 4000 is built-into the Ivy Bridge series of Intel CPUs.

Get a quad core i5 desktop with 8GB of memory, and add in a super fast SSD for the scratch disk in Photoshop.

http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/...4-cs5.html

I would look in to an open box dell desktop, as other said you can easily upgrade video card/ memory as needed plus a few extra hard drives for storage.

Quote from neteng101 : You don't really need a video card these days to do Photoshop and the like. The Intel HD 4000 is built-into the Ivy Bridge series of Intel CPUs. Get a quad core i5 desktop with 8GB of memory, and add in a super fast SSD for the scratch disk in Photoshop. http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/...4-cs5.html

I agree. If using progs like PS, this is where the speed of an SSD will really shine over a mechanical drive. Have a large mechanical drive for storing files/backups though.

Quote from AngryPirate : I agree. If using progs like PS, this is where the speed of an SSD will really shine over a mechanical drive. Have a large mechanical drive for storing files/backups though.

How difficult is it to have a mechanical drive as well as a SSD in the same housing? Does the mechanical HDD be externla or internal if I just want to use it as storage?

Quote from ManchesterUtd : How difficult is it to have a mechanical drive as well as a SSD in the same housing? Does the mechanical HDD be externla or internal if I just want to use it as storage?

As the physics principle says no two things can occupy the same space so I would think it's impossible.

But if by the "same housing" you mean the same case but different bays, putting both SSD and a mechanical drive into the case will be an easy task for anyone that has enough strength to lift up a mechanical hard drive.

I would have one mechanical drive inside the case (internal) for storage and another one in a enclosure (external) for data backup. If you earn your living with the data then better to have the 3rd copy somewhere not in the same building as the computer.

Quote from ManchesterUtd : How difficult is it to have a mechanical drive as well as a SSD in the same housing? Does the mechanical HDD be externla or internal if I just want to use it as storage?

Almost all desktop computer cases, including those from brand names like HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc. have slots for at 3-5+ hard drives. The mechanical drive will be 3.5" wide, which will fit perfectly into one of these slots. Most SSD are 2.5" though, which requires an adapter to bring it up to 3.5" width. These adapters/housings are fairly cheap though (~$10ish).