“I need a PC.”

“Okaayyy…what kind?”

“A personal computer.”

“Yeah, I know a PC is a personal computer. What do you wanna do with it?”

“Things. And you don’t need know what things.”

“Well, sir, I NEED to know ‘things‘ that you gonna do to recommend you the best bang for your buck. What’s your budget?”

“What’s the best you got?”

“(Feeling somewhat annoyed) Well, we got one that can run Vista and Linux while downloading Star Trek on the background and you can play Starcraft 7 on it too at the same time. Oh, and did I say that it can unfreeze your turkey on Thanksgiving? I bet even the CIA supercomputers couldn’t do that.”

“Wow, how much does it cost?”

“Twelve thousand dollars. And we accept cash only.”

“NO! That’s waayyy too much for my blood!”

“Well sir, you indeed asked me what we have here.”

“Gimme something that can run Photoshop and burn CD.”

“….”

This is a real conversation that I overheard at a PC store some time ago. And the buyer carried a Canon EOS 1D Mark II on his shoulder, a 2-kg professional DSLR with a price tag comparable to a 1976 Chevrolet Camarro.

The point is, if you are a photographer, you SHOULD at least be competent in IT and multimedia as well. In this digital age, everything is connected to computers in many ways (What do you mean the pictures are gone? I formatted the card, not deleted the pictures.)

Okay, you don’t need to know how to write a program that can reduce fuel consumption of a car by 80%. You just need to know the basics of computer, and the requirements of programs that you wanna use in editing pictures. That’s it. Don’t put a shame to yourself. And don’t tell me that you can handle the most sotphistaced complex DSLR in the world, and yet you don’t know how to burn a CD (Uhh…do I need Zippo?).

Oh, hey, you need a DVD writer to burn a CD;) Start searching for one now.