DIY design 3 - toolbox: hardware
31 March 2008 Jeff Gill
Before I get to the how-to’s I’m going to spend some time on the tools. Whether you are the equivalent of a master joiner or a gangly kid in his first woodworking class, you can’t cut wood without a saw, unless you are also a ninja.
I’m going to assume that you are not a ninja.
So, hardware.
Computer You need a computer that is up to the task. Most modern computers are going to do the job for you, pretty much. The biggest concern after capability when buying a computer for design work to find one that will give you a minimal amount of hassle. (Any computer is going to give you some hassle. It’s a computer.) When you are buying a new computer, you should buy a Mac.
Here’s why.
- They just work. You know those CDs that come with external hard drives and cameras and scanners and printers? People with Macs leave those in the box. They just plug the stuff in and use it. I very rarely have to think about operating system things or viruses and stuff like that. When I think to myself, the computer should do x, and then try x, I usually discover that it does
- They are good value. Yes, they are a bit more expensive than most Windows machines, but they tend to last and they come with the very useful iLife software. I bought my first Mac, a G4, in 2001. I used it for all my design work until autumn 2007. It is still going strong in my oldest daughter’s bedroom.
- They are pretty. If you are going to spend a lot of time with something, it should be a pleasure to use. Macs are.
You don’t need a top spec machine to get these benefits. Since January, I have been using a bottom-of-the-line MacBook. It does everything I need, including video editing, perfectly.
Go get yourself an iMac or MacBook.
Printer Unless your church is located in Silicon Valley and peopled entirely with tech-saavy under 40s, you will need to put things on to paper. Get yourself a good office colour laser printer that will duplex and print on A3 paper and give you a hundred copies of your bulletin in five minutes.
Camera You will want to record your church’s life together. (You can see a lot of our church’s life together on Facebook) You may want to create some of your church’s imagery (like this). A camera will help you do that.
A six mega-pixel point and shoot with a good optical zoom should do the job nicely. But remember, not all mega-pixels are created equal, so do a bit of research to find a high quality camera. Have a look at Nikon Coolpix or Olympus cameras.
If you are a little more serious about your photography, you will want to think about getting an SLR. Nikon or Canon are the brands to go with. Christine shoots with a Nikon D200, and she recommends a Nikon D80 as the SLR to start with.
We are very impressed with the prices and service at Warehouse Express.
If you, like me, are not a photographer, find someone who is. I was very clever and married one.
Scanner There is a good chance that you will want to scan something sometime. When you do, get yourself a decent A4 USB scanner. Don’t spend too much on this. If you ever need some really high quality scans, you can get that done somewhere for pretty cheap.
Exernal hard drive You need to back your stuff up. Sometime, something catastrophic will happen to your computer, and if you don’t keep your backups current, you will be paying your new friends at a data recovery centre a LOT of money to get it back. (New Macs come with exceptional backup software built in.)
Paper and pen The best way to get ideas out of your head is still the old-fashioned one.
Okay, that was an expensive list. My advice is start with what you have and work from there. But start. A cheap saw is better than no saw at all (usually). If you don’t start sawing you will never learn how to cut a straight line.
Enough with the metaphors. Next, I’ll start on software, and I’m going to save you some money.
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tags: design
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