Mac upgrade on the horizon......

[Mr Pid]

I currently do most of my processing on my Mac Mini which has a 2.6ghz i7 processors, 1.2tb fusion drive and 16gb Ram. Its a pretty powerful little beast and has served me well for 6 years. I store most of my historical photos on external drives and only use the internal drive for current projects for speed.

Due to my ever increasing photography portfolio I am thinking of upgrading to get more horsepower. I am currently studying my masters to looking to captilise on my student discount whilst I can.

I also have two Macbook Pro's, both 15", on 2013 and on 2008, and an ipad pro for working on the move (yes im all in with apple).

What I like about the mac-mini is that I can get into it and clean out all the inevitable dust that accumulates ever six months or so. This reduces the operating temperatures and allows it to run more efficiently.

I have a 27" BenQ monitor and 24hd Wacom for displays

I am leaning towards an imac as the additional screen would be handy. My major concern is that you cannot get into them and I hear that previous models have had issues with getting too hot and frying the motherboard. I am also aware that it is effectively a laptop on stand. The most appealing thing is the larger number of USB and Thunderbolt (etc) ports.

If its ports alone I am after then yes, you cannot beat the mac pro (dustbin model) but this is getting old now and is due for an upgrade soon.

I currently have USB3 extension hubs connected, but this means the share the bandwidth, which is not always ideal when running heavy programs.

The Macbook pro is also nice, but the ports are limited and means converting everything to usb-c, the newer ones also do not have mini display ports, thunderbolts, VGA, etc which means more converters. I do like the idea of the plug in stands, but then you lose that extra screen.

I plan to cull the herd once i Have upgraded, and sell the mac mini and at least one of the macbook pro's.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to what they have/would suggest? If the next piece of kit does another six years of hassle free I will be happy.

Cheers,
Stu

 

[Stephen L]

I've just had 6 years of good use of my Late 2012 Imac 27" 3.2 i5, and a side display of a 27" Dell monitor. I've been impatiently waiting for the rumoured upgrade to the i7, but it looks like it's not coming along any time soon, so I'm about to order another iMac - this time specced as the 27" i7, 512Gb SSD (using Tbolt3 external for data), with the base 8Gb ram which I will upgrade with another 32Gb.

I did look seriously at the 2018 MB Pro, but I would miss the native 27" 5K screen, plus I would only use it as a desktop. I have no use for a portable machine (except iPad). Also, there seems to be a heat issue with those Macbooks if used hard.

I do have a Caldigit TB3 dock waiting in the wings to use with my existing TB3 Caldigit external HDD.

 

[asaspasas6]

if it's only photos you working on, iMac is ideal. Minimum specs: i7 / 512GB SSD / 16GB+ RAM which you can upgrade yourself. I would choose best GPU available at the time (but for photo editing even Radeon Pro 570 will be enough).

 

[Mr Pid]

Yes I read your previous thread with interest. The Gen 8 chips have been rumoured for a while but I to am wondering if they will ever get released.

My Macbook Pro was one of the ones affected by the video card issue, which means motherboard replacement at £500 through overheating. There was a recall on this but apple stopped it and im currently being a thorn in their side asking them to cover the cost. Other than that the Macbook pro is faultless and now fixed is as good as new. Its certainly faster than the mini being a pro, but like you, I dont need to travel with it any more so its just used when im feeling too lazy to go upstairs.

I'm guessing the non-pro imacs are still allowing end users to upgrade the ram via the flap at the rear? RAM seems to be alot more expensive than when I bought it for my mac mini. I've seen decent prices from Crucial and Mr Memory though.

 

[asaspasas6]

Yes I read your previous thread with interest. The Gen 8 chips have been rumoured for a while but I to am wondering if they will ever get released.

My Macbook Pro was one of the ones affected by the video card issue, which means motherboard replacement at £500 through overheating. There was a recall on this but apple stopped it and im currently being a thorn in their side asking them to cover the cost. Other than that the Macbook pro is faultless and now fixed is as good as new. Its certainly faster than the mini being a pro, but like you, I dont need to travel with it any more so its just used when im feeling too lazy to go upstairs.

I'm guessing the non-pro imacs are still allowing end users to upgrade the ram via the flap at the rear? RAM seems to be alot more expensive than when I bought it for my mac mini. I've seen decent prices from Crucial and Mr Memory though.

It allows to upgarde RAM on iMac 27" (2017 model)

 

[ecoleman]

I would not waste your money on the top spec GPU. I made that mistake thinking LR would make use of it and speed things up. LR is actually slower with the GPU acceleration enabled. It's was a complete waste of money.

 

[Mr Pid]

I would not waste your money on the top spec GPU. I made that mistake thinking LR would make use of it and speed things up. LR is actually slower with the GPU acceleration enabled. It's was a complete waste of money.

Really? I thought that would make the most difference? My Mac Mini as 16gb of RAM with my Macbook Pro only having 8gb RAM, the only other difference is the processor, although the Macbook Pro has little on it, but its lightning fast compared to the Mac Mini, and only a year younger.

 

[GTG]

Really? I thought that would make the most difference? My Mac Mini as 16gb of RAM with my Macbook Pro only having 8gb RAM, the only other difference is the processor, although the Macbook Pro has little on it, but its lightning fast compared to the Mac Mini, and only a year younger.

I think you have your wires crossed between GPU and CPU possibly ?

 

[ecoleman]

Really? I thought that would make the most difference? My Mac Mini as 16gb of RAM with my Macbook Pro only having 8gb RAM, the only other difference is the processor, although the Macbook Pro has little on it, but its lightning fast compared to the Mac Mini, and only a year younger.

Certainly upgrade your RAM and get the best spec CPU you can. It's the GPU (Graphics) that I'm referring to. Whilst LR does recognise the GPU and says it's compatible with their GPU acceleration, the performance is poor and not worth spending the extra money to upgrade the GPU. Unless of course you need a better GPU for other purposes.

 

[Stephen L]

I've just had 6 years of good use of my Late 2012 Imac 27" 3.2 i5, and a side display of a 27" Dell monitor. I've been impatiently waiting for the rumoured upgrade to the i7, but it looks like it's not coming along any time soon, so I'm about to order another iMac - this time specced as the 27" i7, 512Gb SSD (using Tbolt3 external for data), with the base 8Gb ram which I will upgrade with another 32Gb.

I did look seriously at the 2018 MB Pro, but I would miss the native 27" 5K screen, plus I would only use it as a desktop. I have no use for a portable machine (except iPad). Also, there seems to be a heat issue with those Macbooks if used hard.

I do have a Caldigit TB3 dock waiting in the wings to use with my existing TB3 Caldigit external HDD.

Just put the order in, except I’ve gone for the Radeon 580 and 1TB SSD, on the grounds that I might need them later and it’s difficult or impossible to do it after. And even the sales guy at Apple advised to get base ram and use Crucial.

 

[Mr Pid]

Yes sorry - I was getting confused with GPU and CPU. I have heard that Lightroom doesnt like to use the GPU, and my current set up wont let me tick the box saying its not compatible.

There is some decent refurbed models but i think its worth the little extra spend for the apple care on a brand new product. I did by my ipad pro refurbed last year and its been faultless.

I'm just hoping the imacs dont suck up dust like the rest of their models as thats the main cause of failures and burnouts as far as im aware.

 

[Stephen L]

Yes sorry - I was getting confused with GPU and CPU. I have heard that Lightroom doesnt like to use the GPU, and my current set up wont let me tick the box saying its not compatible.

There is some decent refurbed models but i think its worth the little extra spend for the apple care on a brand new product. I did by my ipad pro refurbed last year and its been faultless.

I'm just hoping the imacs dont suck up dust like the rest of their models as thats the main cause of failures and burnouts as far as im aware.

You can get Apple Care on refurb models. I did for my last one. And though it’s 6 years out of warranty they offered to have a goodwill look at my present problem in case it could be covered by the Consumer Protection act, but as it’s a long way to the nearest Apple Store or even authorised repairer I’ll probably not bother.

 

[rob-nikon]

I'm guessing the non-pro imacs are still allowing end users to upgrade the ram via the flap at the rear? RAM seems to be alot more expensive than when I bought it for my mac mini. I've seen decent prices from Crucial and Mr Memory though.

The 27 inch iMacs have the flap at the rear. The 21.5 inch iMacs don’t and need the screen removing to access the RAM inside. I’ve been thinking of upgrading my 21.5 iMac but removing screen that’s held to the body by adhesive tape doesn’t sound easy. I’m thinking of upgrading too but was waiting on the new model releases.

 

[Stephen L]

The 27 inch iMacs have the flap at the rear. The 21.5 inch iMacs don’t and need the screen removing to access the RAM inside. I’ve been thinking of upgrading my 21.5 iMac but removing screen that’s held to the body by adhesive tape doesn’t sound easy. I’m thinking of upgrading too but was waiting on the new model releases.

When I was speaking to the Apple guy this afternoon he said he doubted they’d see the update anytime soon. But then he would.

 

[Chappers]

Apple have just announced new Mac MacBook Pro's. Generally we get announcements around September/October along with new iPhones. If you can wait that long

 

[Stephen L]

Apple have just announced new Mac MacBook Pro's. Generally we get announcements around September/October along with new iPhones. If you can wait that long

That was 2 weeks ago. And in my mind a good reason why they wouldn’t announce another upgrade for a while. More so now there’s a glitch causing overheating in some circumstances. But I could be wrong. It’s not unknown.

Anyway, I couldn’t (wait).

 

[Nawty]

Certainly upgrade your RAM and get the best spec CPU you can. It's the GPU (Graphics) that I'm referring to. Whilst LR does recognise the GPU and says it's compatible with their GPU acceleration, the performance is poor and not worth spending the extra money to upgrade the GPU. Unless of course you need a better GPU for other purposes.

I often find LR runs better with GPU acceleration turned off, even if it says it's compatible...

Best thing for LR and computer responsiveness is an SSD HD.