Best Business Practices for Photographers [22]
Now work the math, in this instance using the Mac pricing as an example. The latest top-of-the-line Mac is around $3,300. Currently, that's a 8-Core 2.26-GHz G5. If you have an older machine, look on an auction website, such as eBay, and review the completed sales to see what the cost differential is. (In other words, if you sold your current machine, what would be the difference between the sold price and the new computer's price?) For example, a Quad 2.5-GHz G5 is selling for around $1,500, and a G4 Dual 1.25-GHz machine is selling for around $400. Taking the G4 as an example, there is a net outlay to you of $2,900 for the latest top-of-the-line machine. So, what does this do for you?
If it takes 38 seconds to process an image in your raw processor on the G4 and another 13 seconds to complete other workflow tasks (metadata application, saving, downsizing, and so on), then you are at 51 seconds per image. However, that 8-Core G5 will take (from my own experience) about six seconds to process that same file and then another eight seconds to complete the rest of the tasks, for a total of 14 seconds—a time savings of 37 seconds per image.
My hourly rate charged to clients for sitting in front of a computer works out to be about $125. This works out to be about 3.5 cents per second. This means that if I am saving 37 seconds of processing time with the new computer, I am saving $1.28 per image in processing time. If 100 images used to take 85 minutes to process, with the new machine they take 23 minutes. With a net outlay of $2,900 for the new machine, the machine pays for itself after about 2,300 images processed, and every image after that provides both cost and efficiency savings.
If you offer video as a service, which is very processor intensive, the difference is even more dramatic.
If you've ever sat at a computer and complained that you had to babysit it, you couldn't process the images fast enough to get to other work, or you were overwhelmed with images, then a faster machine will free you up sooner than the older technology.
The next question is whether it's worthwhile to sell that old computer for $1,500 or whether you should keep it as a second machine that you can use to do invoicing, web surfing, e-mailing, and other non-processor-intensive work while your new faster computer is crunching away on images. In my studio, machines migrate from the processor-intensive work to other workstations as new machines become available with significant speed increases. While a jump from a 2-GHz processor to a 2.5-GHz processor might not be a justifiable expense from a cost-benefit standpoint, taking the time to evaluate the speed jumps that are justifiable will mean less time for you watching a progress bar or batch process and more time for doing other things.
For laptops the same speed issues come into play, and as you migrate from a slower machine to a faster one, the immediate past laptop becomes your backup laptop. This way, in the event of an equipment failure or if your primary laptop is in the shop, you have a laptop that allows you to continue to service clients' needs on the road and do other work while away from the studio, whether for a day-long assignment or one lasting a few weeks.
Monitors are another issue altogether. They age, and they all render colors slightly differently. As they age, their rendering capability reduces and then reduces again. The average lifespan of a CRT monitor is between 15,000 and 20,000 hours. Although this may equate to three to five years before the monitor actually ceases to function if used during a typical cubicleemployee's workday, after a period of 18 months to two years of "always on" use, your monitor will fail. To render colors accurately and consistently, you'll want to replace it within 18 months to two years for the average workday and yearly if your