I've been using a MacBook Pro for the last couple years for my photo editing with Aperture and the complete Nik plug in suite as my only software. I can't really complain about the performance of my mbp other than some of the lag time when performing certain things such as opening a plugin while in aperture or brushing adjustments. I'm going to bite the bullet this weekend and purchase a 27" iMac because i would like more viewing real estate and a dedicated " station " where I can control the lighting better. I would like some help in regards to.
1- Is it worth the $$ to get the 3.4 Ghz i7 processor over the 3.1 Ghz i5.
2- I know that the more ram the merrier but is 8 gb enough or should I go with 16 gb. Or just stick with 4 and upgrade from a third party such as owc.
3- Is the video card crucial for only photo editing with zero intention of gaming but maybe light video editing if I ever decide to.
There really isn't a budget but I see no need in spending money on performance that won't ever benefit me. On the other hand I'm not afraid to spend if it's going to keep me happy for some time.
Sorry if I sound a little indecisive but I'm just not sure what will benefit me the most.
Any recommendations would be extremely appreciated.
1. I would (and did) spend the extra money for the i7. I believe it adds hyperthreading (or some similar technology) and the i5 does not. So I would go for the lowest speed i7 configuration you can get. I don't think there's any point grabbing the extra .2-.4 ghz for the super high end i7.
2. Stick with the base ram and upgrade from OWC or crucial. Much cheaper and it's incredibly easy to install ram on the iMac.
3. Don't worry about the video card (for your needs).
4. (Bonus!) I know it's expensive, but I highly, highly recommend an SSD as well, just to house OS/programs and lightroom catalogs/previews. That has given me the single biggest jump in speed I've seen compared to any other component upgrade.
Also - be sure to check out the refurbished section of Apple's website. There is some serious cash to be saved there.
Thanks for the speedy advice. I was looking at apples site and the only processor options were the two that I listed earlier so I guess you'd still suggest the i7. I was wondering about an ssd but that's a tough pill to swallow. At least it's reassuring to see that my thought process is about the same as yours tho. Could you by chance explain the benefits of the i7 in regards to what it will help speed up up?
Perhaps someone with more technical knowledge can come correct me, but my understanding is that the i7 allows for virtual cores. So a quad core i7 can actually function like an 8 core processor. While at the moment this doesn't affect Lightroom very much (save for importing/exporting/rendering multiple items at once), I would guess that future software will take advantage of this. And it has quite a speedy outcome when video editing.
Also, in my non-technical thinking (that may be wrong), I would imagine that there's a pretty substantive difference between the i5 and i7 simply because Intel decided to split them into two different lines - not so much with a slower i7 vs. a faster i7. Now, I've never used an i5 before, but my i7s crank, and it seems that nearly every professional I know uses an i7.
1. A difference of a little more than 10% probably won't be noticed, but hypertheading on the I7 would help in multitreaded aps such as video rendering. If your not going to do a lot of video and don't need that extra 10% than an I5 is fine.
2. Get 16mb but not from Apple.
3. Aperture is very GPU hungry get the best video card offered.
I can't really complain about the performance of my mbp
There really isn't a budget but I see no need in spending money on performance that won't ever benefit me.
Based on these two comments, I have to ask: Why are you contemplating spending money on a new computer when all you really need to achieve your goals of "more viewing real estate and a dedicated 'station ' " is to attach a decent external monitor to your MBP?
I wouldn't buy an iMac right now. The current iMac has been out for awhile and a rumored update is probably coming soon. If you believe the rumors, it would have been out by now, but there have been manufacturing difficulties with the 27" display, which suggests a change in display technology. I can't see a retina display coming right now for that size, but maybe there is a display upgrade worth waiting for.
Thanks for all the input everyone. I'm definitely glad I called a few retailers today to check stock before I made a 3 hour drive for nothing as nobody has any stock on what I want. I think I'll hold off on my purchase for now.
Daviddodd- I called a couple apple stores today and they both told me that they're stock has been low for the last few weeks and there is going to be a release on the 17th but they don't know what it will be so let's hope it's something good. But with my luck it'll just be a mini iPad.
BluesWest- I totally understand where your coming from as that was my first game plan. I started to weigh my options and decided that I would rather get something that's always set up and ready to use it as my main station instead of always unpacking and packing up my mbp. Also a performance boost wouldn't hurt because the way I see it is I could spend the money on a display only or get the best of both worlds and get a display and boost at the same time. Besides its my birthday next week so I need to treat myself with something.
WAYCOOL- I was hoping you would chime in as I've been doing some homework and browsing the threads here and you sure seem to know your Apples. Could you tell me me where I would notice the speed difference between i5 and i7 in regards to running Aperture with plugins not so much the video end of the spectrum.
I have a Mac Pro with 4 internal drives. My wife has an iMac. I love both machines. When I decide to replace my Mac pro I am probably going to go with a Mac Mini and external drives. The Mac Pro is an awesome machine but takes up space and is expensive. The Mac Mini is more than good enough for Photography and the occasional video. I mainly wanted the Mac pro for the internal drives because I have had desktop machines from Apple for 15 yrs or so. The Minis are cheap enough to replace more often and with FW800 and Thunderbolt connection external drives are very fast.
I would suggest that Waycool's advice is the best! I have a i5 with 16 gb ram and it flies through Aperture, CNX2, and photoshop CS5. The equipment geeks will always want you to build a gaming rig, when it makes no dif. for photo editing.
IF a new imac is coming, whether it will be better for photo editing or just different is a question that will not be answered by rumours, though many live their lives based on them.
If a new imac does come soon, I will feel no need for it! My machine does everything i require of it and speedily.
(That includes 3 day festivals with close to 1k photos.)
An ssd will probably speed things up, BUT, I, who can't do woodworking, despite training from a master because I don't have the patience, find my machine to be quite fast!
A macbook, in my opinion, is a poor sub for a real editing machine. Those who can't afford other, will tell you it is great.
Not sure what filters you are using but from informal tests I just ran from within Photoshop. Nik and Topaz are multithreaded and would run considerably faster on a i7 than a i5 as well a some but not all of the Photoshop of built in filters.
Oneone seems to not be fully multithread aware and benefit less from the hyper-treading of the i7.
I have a 2 year old 27" i5 iMac with the original 4 gb of ram, and it runs Aperture and the NIK suite just fine. It is a bright display and if you will be printing on your own or with a lab you will need to calibrate or your prints will be too dark. I recommend you take a look at xrite's ColorMunki Display for calibration, and check out xrite's free webinars on them.
Apple's iMac and Macbook Pro lines have limited color gamut for their LCD displays. From what I read, they only offer somewhere between 60% to 80% of sRGB.
When you're ready, I'd suggest shopping at B&H Photo. I bought my iMac from them and saved several hundred dollars + sales tax. It's still covered by the Apple warranty and AppleCare, if so desired.
And speaking of AppleCare...Consider if you purchase aftermarket memory, it won't be covered.
mshi wrote:
Apple's iMac and Macbook Pro lines have limited color gamut for their LCD displays. From what I read, they only offer somewhere between 60% to 80% of sRGB.
So you know how good the screens are by what you read. I know by how the prints I get correspond to what's on the screen on my iMac.
It will take a long time before print technology matches what is on my screen in my opinion.....but since the two outputs will always be different (monitor vs print) the ultimate print will always be an interpretation of what the screen shows.
I have the first 27" iMac and don't see any need to 'upgrade'..I just took the time to learn how to use it properly and relate the screen image to my printers.
It might not be the quickest machine in the world now..but.I suspect it will be fine for 90% of what I want...I will just have to live with the remaining 10% frustration for the cost benefit!
It's interesting to read about the Apple monitors having low gamut, but when you're dealing with consumer computers (which is what most people and clients use) they're actually quite saturated, colorful and bright. If you're doing work for print, it's good to have a really good monitor. But if you're doing work for web, it's a good thing to have a subpar Apple monitor as well so you can see what other people are seeing.
