Final upgrades for the AM4 platform

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU, January 2025, Perth

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently upgraded one of my computers. It is based on AMD’s AM4 platform, which means that any CPU (Central Processing Unit) from the AM4 range is physically compatible with the CPU socket on the computer’s motherboard (the main internal component). The first AM4 CPUs were released in… Continue reading Final upgrades for the AM4 platform

Fixing access to Thunderbird user data after upgrading Microsoft Windows

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

Over the last six years, I have been using a Microsoft Windows 10-based computer as a secondary machine for my work. In terms of hardware, it uses AMD’s AM4 platform, and it is a custom-built machine that I assembled from parts. One of the remarkable things about this platform is that AMD has supported several… Continue reading Fixing access to Thunderbird user data after upgrading Microsoft Windows

Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

While I have used the Apple Macintosh platform for photographic work for many years, I will very likely be moving to the Microsoft Windows platform in the future. To me, MacOS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) was the pinnacle of MacOS versions; a refinement and optimisation on MacOS 10.5 that was touted as having ‘zero new features’… Continue reading Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows

Intel and AMD

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

Some years ago, Intel was the only real choice for a consumer-level CPU for serious productivity work, such as RAW image processing. Over the past year or so, though, AMD has really come to the fore—not necessarily for raw computing power, but for sheer value-for-money combined with good multi-core performance. At this point, Intel CPUs… Continue reading Intel and AMD

Farewell to NEC?

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

In mid-2015, I wrote about monitors for high quality imaging work. Obviously, these kinds of monitors are not frequent purchases, so I have not kept track of that scene for some time. Visiting Image Science‘s website again recently, I noticed that NEC apparently changed its dead pixel policy for the worse in 2017. Previously, NEC had… Continue reading Farewell to NEC?

DxO acquires the Nik Collection

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

Late last month, DxO announced that it has acquired the Nik Collection from Google. As a direct result of this acquisition, it seems, Nik Software’s U Point interface technology is now included in DxO’s flagship image processing software, along with a name change of that software from DxO Optics Pro to DxO PhotoLab. The Nik… Continue reading DxO acquires the Nik Collection

Memory card failure

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

Recently, one of my Compact Flash (CF) memory cards failed. To date, I’ve only used SanDisk cards in my digital cameras, and they’ve been very reliable. This was only the third error in 10 years of shooting, with more than 120,000 frames shot during that time (albeit across two DSLR bodies and five CF cards). That’s a… Continue reading Memory card failure

Monitors for high quality imaging work

Published on Author Yean Wei Ong

One of the most important tools for any digital photographer is a high quality computer monitor. There are many capable ‘standard monitors’ out there (the kinds we can buy for less than $200), but then there are the professional-quality monitors designed for imaging work—these range from several hundred dollars to thousands of dollars in price. It’s immediately clear… Continue reading Monitors for high quality imaging work