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Archive 2015 · Computer Question for Editing with LR

  
 
jah2266
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Computer Question for Editing with LR


I have a few year old Mac Pro that I have been really happy with over the years. I purchased it refurbished from apple years ago and it has served me well.
Im am not computer savvy by any means and do not know how much better the new iMacs perform comparatively to what I am currently running. I have been thinking that possibly by next year it might be time to refresh my computer with a 27" iMac and utilize those thunderbolt ports for storage.
I would love to hear opinions on what I have now compared to what a new iMac would offer in terms of performance for ones that have some experience. I know I can upgrade the RAM in my machine, was going to do that day one after I purchased but at the time the 8GB were doing just fine so I passed and never got around to it.
Use LR mainly and PS rarely if ever with a mix of 12mp and 24mp files and with smart previews and CC that seems to be a non issue these days.
Any advice on what I could do to boost performance and get more time out of what I have would be much appreciated also.

Thanks in advance



Aug 26, 2015 at 03:15 PM
hardlyboring
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Computer Question for Editing with LR


I am running a 3.5ghz I7 with 24gb ram. Regular 27" iMac.
All my hard drives are thunderbolt and my system runs off an external 512GB SSD drive hooked up via USB3...
Fast as lightning.
LR6 works really well, LR5 works really well.
I can download files and backup files crazy fast with my USB3 card readers, the built in SD card reader and my TB HDs. Backing up TB to TB goes even faster. I can backup 100gb in less than 20 minutes.
Exporting out of LR is not all that much faster but I do not mind that because I can set it and leave to do something else.

Also the library mode in LR6 is vastly improved and I can cull files super quick. I know a lot of people use PM and having never used it I cannot compare the speed of LR6 to PM but LR6 is real fast now.

If you got a new computer and TB hard drives and ran your system off a SSD I think you would notice a ton of improvements ... most noticeably with the SSD whether it is built in when you buy it or if you run it externally on USB3 or TB.



Aug 26, 2015 at 03:24 PM
TTLKurtis
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Computer Question for Editing with LR


I use the same Mac Pro as you, Jason, albeit with upgraded memory, video card, added USB 3.0 and eSATA cards to it. I also upgraded the internal hard drive to SSD for systems and applications, and another drive that SuperDuper backs up that drive to internally... My working drives are connected via eSATA (G-Technology 8TB RAID) - i keep two on-site for local backup and rotate a third one off-site.

All that said, I bought an iMac last year thinking maybe it would be faster now than my Mac Pro is. Turns out it was not appreciably faster. Measurably in some specific tasks, sure, but it wasn't worth the upgrade to me. I expect I'll probably be using my Mac Pro for another 3-5 years or so.

My screen is the only thing I've given serious thought to upgrading (from 27" Apple LCD), if they make the 5k one stand-alone I might do it and I'm sure my upgraded video card can handle that fine.



In a nutshell, I would invest a little bit into the Mac Pro rather than changing systems entirely, if I were you (and I have obviously taken my own advice).



Aug 26, 2015 at 04:55 PM
flash
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Computer Question for Editing with LR


Lightroom seems to like fast hard drives and lots of ram. I have a current MacPro with 32GB of Ram and it screams. However my 2011 MacBook Pro that's been upgraded to a SSD and 16GB of ram handles LR just fine. Not as fast as the MacPro but plenty fast enough to do the job, even with 42MP A7R2 files.

I'd seriously consider upgrading your current machine if it's cheaper.

Gordon



Aug 26, 2015 at 09:02 PM





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