Help - computer advice needed from people much more in the know than me :)

moomike

TPer Emeritus
Messages
5,773
Name
Mike
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi all,

I am thinking about upgrading my computer (2015 imac, 3.2GHz Quad core intel i5) and wondered if anyone could offer any advice on which route I could take, or whether or not I should bother? I have swapped out the HDD for an SSD and installed extra RAM so it's not exactly slow, but it's getting on a bit and after checking the Geekbench scores for it, was shocked to see how far down the table it was - am going to run the geekbench test on it now.

I was pretty set on picking up a Macbook Pro and just using it for tethering to C1 alongside my imac - but after some research, it seems like the laptop may actually be faster and more powerful than my desktop - I've seen a lot of retouchers use Macbook Pros but assumed it was just for portability and convenience. I am in need of a new laptop regardless, just wasn't expecting the speed and power to be better than my desktop - hence wondering if it was viable to replace the imac with a new Macbook Pro :)

With this in mind, I wanted to ask what people that know more about the computer side of things would do in this case? Should I go for a decent Macbook Pro and see how it holds up against my imac? Should I go for one of the new chip Macbooks or something else entirely?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can offer any advice,

Mike (y)
 
Last edited:
I have a 10 year old iMac it is just starting to show it’s age. I will upgrade next year when the apple silicon comes online
 
It seems like you can wait a year or maybe two for new apple stuff to get more mature which I would certainly advise if you are planning on that route. If you are desperate perhaps consider some fancy AMD build. There is nothing faster out there right now.
 
Was watching a couple YouTube videos last night where they test the new Apple silicon Macs and to be honest I was pretty impressed with their findings.
And it seems that the new M1 chips are cheaper than the slower Intel variants, wonder how that is going to pan out with Intel stock ???
 
It seems like you can wait a year or maybe two for new apple stuff to get more mature which I would certainly advise if you are planning on that route. If you are desperate perhaps consider some fancy AMD build. There is nothing faster out there right now.

Thanks for the advice, appreciate it (y)

Don't do that. If you're happy with your machine then never benchmark it. There will always be somebody faster :)

Haha, It's ok, I'm not bothered about the people that have crazily faster computers than mine, I just want to know if it'll make much difference in speed to upgrade for what I do - I am in need of a new laptop regardless as my old macbook is really (really) slow and it's affecting my shoots while tethering in the studio because I'm missing shots from having to wait for it to catch up. I just wasn't expecting a laptop to be faster than my imac tbh and just wondered whether it was viable to replace the imac with a faster laptop.

Does it still do what you need it to do?

If yes just carry on.

The imac does generally do what I want it to - it has started struggling a little every now and again, but it's not something I cannot deal with when working at home.

Was watching a couple YouTube videos last night where they test the new Apple silicon Macs and to be honest I was pretty impressed with their findings.
And it seems that the new M1 chips are cheaper than the slower Intel variants, wonder how that is going to pan out with Intel stock ???

I'm yet to watch any videos on them as I didn't want to get drawn into the hype before doing some proper research :) But yep, cheaper and more powerful - Apple are an absolute monster company and think it could have a massive impact on Intel if it plays out the way everyone seems to be predicting.
 
I'm yet to watch any videos on them as I didn't want to get drawn into the hype before doing some proper research :) But yep, cheaper and more powerful - Apple are an absolute monster company and think it could have a massive impact on Intel if it plays out the way everyone seems to be predicting.

Potentially a little more powerful but not cheaper (I can’t see apple changing that point). The M1 chips look like they will replace the entry level i3 Intels. For the Mac mini’s I’ve been looking at they are about the same price as the previous entry level models. I can see apple producing faster more expensive chips.

I watched the launch video and much of it was marketing hype. Lots of saying this is faster but not much specifics included about faster than what.
 
Thanks for the advice, appreciate it (y)



Haha, It's ok, I'm not bothered about the people that have crazily faster computers than mine, I just want to know if it'll make much difference in speed to upgrade for what I do - I am in need of a new laptop regardless as my old macbook is really (really) slow and it's affecting my shoots while tethering in the studio because I'm missing shots from having to wait for it to catch up. I just wasn't expecting a laptop to be faster than my imac tbh and just wondered whether it was viable to replace the imac with a faster laptop.



The imac does generally do what I want it to - it has started struggling a little every now and again, but it's not something I cannot deal with when working at home.



I'm yet to watch any videos on them as I didn't want to get drawn into the hype before doing some proper research :) But yep, cheaper and more powerful - Apple are an absolute monster company and think it could have a massive impact on Intel if it plays out the way everyone seems to be predicting.
If you want to use it JUST for tethering (and not editing the shots in the field) then a cheap MacBook air may suit you very well. I use one with lightroom and the usb 3 means that transfer is much quicker than my old MacBook Pro.

Was watching a couple YouTube videos last night where they test the new Apple silicon Macs and to be honest I was pretty impressed with their findings.
And it seems that the new M1 chips are cheaper than the slower Intel variants, wonder how that is going to pan out with Intel stock ???

It's always the case. Newer = cheaper + faster. I suspect Intel won't care. Last time I checked, Macs were a rounding error in their figures. Pcs really are that much more common.
 
I use the last gen 2019 16 inch MacBook for everything from web browsing to 4k video editing and colour grading. It's going to be powerful enough for most normal consumers.
The new ones even more so, but I'd be hesitant to be an early adopter of it just in case something crops up.
 
It's always the case. Newer = cheaper + faster. I suspect Intel won't care. Last time I checked, Macs were a rounding error in their figures. Pcs really are that much more common.

I think Intel will be worried, they have lost all Mac sales and AMD are hammering them in the desktop market with their 7nm chips, intel cannot get away from 14nm at the moment.
 
I think Intel will be worried, they have lost all Mac sales and AMD are hammering them in the desktop market with their 7nm chips, intel cannot get away from 14nm at the moment.

Handing is a bit of an overstatement.

Amd have gained market against Intel in the past 18 months but Intel still have 63%

Windows still has nearly 80% Vs 17 for Apple. Since Macs tend to last longer than PCs, the change won't hit them significantly for a while.
 
Back
Top