Mac or PC for PP

AJR SIMPSON

AJR SIMPSON

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484
Name
Andrew
Edit My Images
Yes
It's been pointed out that the laptop isn't the best for Processing so I need a desktop solution I guess.
I have a decent large monitor but my PC isn't up to processing using Lightroom CC so what should I go for, Mac or PC.
Are there any major advantages or disadvantages either way, I'm looking at a mac mini or a PC and never used a Mac.
Is an I5 with 8GB and 1TB enough as it will only be used for stills PP and surfing?
Cheers
 
What is the spec of your current laptop? Can you not upgrade the RAM and add a SSD to it?

If you are after a mac mini it might be worthwhile tracking down a 2012 quad core i7 which has plenty of grunt.

It really doesn't matter what you get as long as happy with the OS overall.
 
Covered already in other threads, I think. It doesn't matter which. These days I'd double the 8Gb to 16Gb. The main issue is with what display you get ... because photography is visual. Slow processing can be one thing, but it's essential to be able to SEE ....!
 
Thanks for the replies, I couldn't find what I wanted on search Rog, It'll be the grammar police next!
Off to search monitor advice now!
 
For a monitor have a look at the dell ips ones, you may also have to get a monitor calibrator like a i1 display, or spyder.

An i5 with at least 8gb ram will do fine.
 
Craig1912 said:
I recently bought a 2012 Mac mini (quad core i7, 16gb ram and fusion drive) from the apple refurbished store and love it (it's my first Mac) and runs much better than my previous PC (i5, 8gn ram). Also got a Dell Monitor- this one
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2415.htm

Worth looking at tftcentral for reviews
Click to expand...

The 2012 been popping up on the refurb store? I stopped looking a year or so back as never ever appeared. You got a cracker of a machine.
 
juggler said:
All the mac monitors I've seen have been incredibly glossy & reflective. It won't be a problem if you've got total control over your editing environment but may be otherwise.
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I'm sitting in front of my 27" iMac and don't have any problem with refections - maybe if I lugged it outside into the Scottish sunshine it might have problems but I can't see me doing that ;)
 
Boldonian said:
It's all about the GPU . Get yourself something with a decent graphics prcessor.
Click to expand...
For gaming maybe.

For image editing you need raw computing power and plenty of memory, and an SSD helps too.

As far as Mac vs PC, surely whatever you're used to is what's best for you.
 
Phil V said:
For image editing you need raw computing power and plenty of memory, and an SSD helps too.
.
Click to expand...

To be honest I don't have a problem doing Light Room and PSE image processing on an Ivy Bridge I5 laptop with 4GB of ram... so long as you arent doing massive batches or really intensive video or something its not really a problem

(that said Ive also got Darktable running on a linux box with 16GB of ram and an SSD ... that's only a Core Duo processor though, and it will still crank through a big batch process without any real problems )

IMo you only need the high spec stuff if you want to be able to do something else as well as image process for a single task you can get by with quite modest kit
 
Phil V said:
For gaming maybe.

For image editing you need raw computing power and plenty of memory, and an SSD helps too.

As far as Mac vs PC, surely whatever you're used to is what's best for you.
Click to expand...
Phil V said:
For gaming maybe.

For image editing you need raw computing power and plenty of memory, and an SSD helps too.

As far as Mac vs PC, surely whatever you're used to is what's best for you.
Click to expand...

Indeed. My mac's graphics card is pretty basic by today's standards but I do have 32gb ram and a quad core i5 (I guess also a little out of date) and a 1gb SSD. It absolutely flies through Lightroom.
 
IF it's just the laptop's screen that makes it unsuitable for editing, can you plug the "good" monitor into it to avoid spending money?
 
Ensure you have plenty of storage, or are ruthless is deleting images as it can fill up quickly with raw file sizes getting larger and larger.....
 
Or store your files on external drives / second drives and keep the SSD or primary HDD for applications only
 
big soft moose said:
Or store your files on external drives / second drives and keep the SSD or primary HDD for applications only
Click to expand...

Sound advice.

I keep current projects on the hard drive and a copy on my nas. Once done with edits the completed versions are placed on the nas.

This is going slightly ot, but worth considering if you are looking G to upgrade equipment
 
Lightroom and PS look and work almost identical on both platforms. A decent IPS calibrated monitor will hook up to both. It can be desktop or laptop - it makes little difference with external screen. Only video editing needs lots of extra hardware power.

Since we got basics out of the way macs are usually more stable and more virus-proof and have better resale values. Many apple products like retina macbooks are great well-designed devices with few matching competing products. There may be a better value proposition self-building a desktop workstation on the other hand.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Since we got basics out of the way macs are usually more stable and more virus-proof
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managing a suite of Dell and Apple machines side by side, they're comparable for reliability and W7/10 is as stable as Yosemite and higher. Although both platforms have their issues.

Virus proof? Not really, certainly not for Malware. Sophos on our Macs regularly flag attempts at malware coming in on email (usually Office document macros). Then you have the biggies like Flashback and the other Java exploits and the whole exploited Xcode apps fiasco. The tide is slowly turning on that one, as you'd expect as Apple take up more market share.
 
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