help me buy a pro spec mac

mrjames

mrjames

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I have recently come into some money and my parents have offered to get me a new phone, and a new computer to replace my core 2 duo machine and buggered up iphone.

They told me I can get 'top of the line', but I just need to know what that is for me

My current laptop is a 15" macbook pro, 4gb ram, hdd connected up to a 26" screen. Great laptop, runs a bit slow but workable for photoshop/lightroom, the odd bit of 3d rendering and some video editing

I'm a designer and photographer, shooting quite easy-to-process 1dmk3 10mp files, but i'm probably upgrading camera to a 5d2 pretty soon and i'm going to start shooting video too.

A week ago I went to buy a 15" retina on higher purchase but was refused credit, I had originally planned to buy an air but decided against it.

I was saving for a base spec 13" macbook pro that I was going to upgrade to 16gb ram, put in an ssd and rip out the optical drive for a big hdd

so now that I have been given the go ahead for basically anything, the question is what the hell to get?


option 1) beast of a laptop- 15" retina/mpb- ~£1500

option 2) ok laptop, (13" mbp or air) ~£1000, ok desktop (Maybe a quad mac mini for 650)

option 3) beast desktop (27" imac) £1500, sell screen, keep current laptop, replace it with an older 13" for £500 in the future, upgrade to ssd for now


I was considering a used, 2011 macbook pro or imac, but lack of usb 3 is a killer- although there are some thunderbolt converters coming on the market now so i'm sure a $50 chinese knockoff isn't far away

my questions are:

1) for my use, is quadcore going to make much of a difference to photoshop/lightroom use (professional use, big files 1gb+)
2) will I miss the dedicated GPU, especially if I start video editing 5d2 and go pro footage
3) Will I regret going for the 13", in terms of screen size, dual core, etc


really struggling to come to a decision here, I know that a fast laptop would be nice, but i'm more likely to edit at home than do a lot of editing in the field, and i'm not sure I want the size/weight of another 15"
 
If the reality is you're going to be doing the editing in the warmth and comfort of the home, you'd be best with a desktop - 27" iMac i7

If video editing is going to become more of a feature, then Thunderbolt and a RAID setup will be almost obligatory - but it'll not be a cheap outlay depending on how many streams you'll be using.

Watch the video here - https://thunderbolttechnology.net/tech/how-it-works

For in the field, I doubt you'd need more than an iPad 3 and camera kit, if the Canon uses SD or is supported via USB.
 
PJ S said:
If the reality is you're going to be doing the editing in the warmth and comfort of the home, you'd be best with a desktop - 27" iMac i7

If video editing is going to become more of a feature, then Thunderbolt and a RAID setup will be almost obligatory - but it'll not be a cheap outlay depending on how many streams you'll be using.

Watch the video here - https://thunderbolttechnology.net/tech/how-it-works

For in the field, I doubt you'd need more than an iPad 3 and camera kit, if the Canon uses SD or is supported via USB.
Click to expand...

thanks

27" imac is definitely on the bill, but definitely need more than an ipad in the field, I shoot events/sports and import-process-export-ftp 100's of pictures, so often need to dive into photoshop in the field

although I really can't say whether 6 months from now i'll be working more at home, or working more in the field, for all I know I might be photographing around the world living out of hotel rooms
also not sure how much i'm likely to get into video- i've stayed away from it due to lack of processing power, but if I can't make money from it then I won't bother

the more I think about it the more the good laptop, with good screen sounds appealing

I don't like the new imac's though- why so thin, why lose the cd drive (well I know why...), why so hard to upgrade
I'm seriously considering a hackintosh and packing it with drives to raid 0!
 
I decided against an imac due to glossy screen. I've got a high spec mini (well, 16GB RAM went in from Crucial :) saving me a tone) connected to a lot better Dell u2711 screen (you probably want the newer u2713H). Incidentally I still have 15" C2D 4GB MBP - it's great because it's now cheap and I don't have to worry about it

The retina MBP 15" is very tempting, I know. But let's not forget that a refresh is coming this summer, so not long left to wait. It may mean heat down, power up and prices down as they sold very few 13" rMBPs this year
 
No-one buys a Mac with the intention of upgrading anything bar the memory, or adding more drives in the case of the MPs.
The previous gen iMac 27 i7 has plenty of grunt and capacity for beefing up the RAM for video editing, which if it starts to pay off for you, you can then explore the MP and a pair of 24s, etc.

If you need more than the iPad, then with mum & dad funding the iMac (new or pre-owned), you can sell the current MBP, 26", and C2D desktop to fund a newer MBP.

Depending on funds/generosity, you may replace the iPhone with a half decent 'Droid instead of a new iPhone, unless you opt for someone's unwanted one.
 
ok
i've pretty much narrowed down my decisions

1) macbook pro 13" 2.9 ghz 8gb 750gb- £1250, defeinitely worth the extra cost over the base 13"

2) 11"/13" air base spec ~£1000, with quadcore mini £650

3) 15" macbook pro base spec ~£1300

4) 27" imac base spec, no laptop


if I was to go mac pro the 8 core 20008's go silly cheap, but i'm not sure it's so viable

ok I haven't narrowed them down at all!
I think option 1 or option 2 is the best, if GPU rendering becomes a problem then i'm sure there will be a serious thunderbolt e-gpu solution on the market soon
 
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None of these are really 'top spec' and buying two machines is ridiculous.

I had a MBA, it wasn't powerful enough (okay it's not the newest one but still), sold it for a Mac Mini as I wasn't using the portability, and it gets the job done well, but if I could I'd much rather have a 27" iMac with the best CPU and GPU.

Do you NEED a portable machine? For editing you want to be using a separate screen anyway, and the iMac screen is stupidly good.
 
at least if you buy 'thin and light', in 3 years time when it's under-powered it will still be 'thin and light'
if you buy 27" imac, it will always be a 27" display that's not going to be completely useless anytime soon, after all I still get on fine with a c2d laptop for daily pro photography/retouching use

the thing is that I know i'd be fine and happy with the base spec 13", as that's all I could afford so I was saving with that in mind, but when you're not paying for it the options are more, 'interesting'.
none of them are particularly risky investments


neil_g said:
can we assume that there is a top end budget of £1700 then?
Click to expand...

£2000
and I wouldn't mind a new phone either, and that was the deal that was mentioned by the deceased party

Digitalize said:
None of these are really 'top spec' and buying two machines is ridiculous.

I had a MBA, it wasn't powerful enough (okay it's not the newest one but still), sold it for a Mac Mini as I wasn't using the portability, and it gets the job done well, but if I could I'd much rather have a 27" iMac with the best CPU and GPU.

Do you NEED a portable machine? For editing you want to be using a separate screen anyway, and the iMac screen is stupidly good.
Click to expand...

I don't think buying 2 machines is ridiculous at all

the new macbook air's can be speced out to benchmark faster than the base spec 13" pro

Do I need a portable machine? I don't know- I don't know where my career will take me, so a nice imac at home, or a nice macbook pro in the field will ultimately shape who I am as a photographer, and how I do business

I have a 26" IPS full a-rgb pro grade screen already, the imac is nice but my screen actually has higher specs than the imac screen (but a large part of me just can't accept that and thinks the imac must be the ultimate tool)

I connect my laptop to my screen and it's totally workable, and if I really 'want' the imac screen the thunderbolt display is out there
 
I think my parents will probably force my hand- they'll likely say something like "the imac is so good, wow get that"

ssd in the macbook pro, still fast enough for my needs probably
 
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mrjames said:
I have a 26" IPS full a-rgb pro grade screen already, the imac is nice but my screen actually has higher specs than the imac screen
Click to expand...
In which case avoid paying for the screen in the iMac, get a Mac mini for home and laptop for field.

Job done.
 
arad85 said:
In which case avoid paying for the screen in the iMac, get a Mac mini for home and laptop for field.

Job done.
Click to expand...

i'm glad you agree with me

but there's something about the imac that screams "i'm a successful human being"
which does appeal to me...


and my screen, nice as it is, is only 1080p in a 26" frame so not as high res, and to be honest looks a little utilitarian
as a designer aesthetics are important

my home office/studio where I bring in clients needs to look like this
http://cdn.freshome.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/homeoffice-writing-desk-e-by-huelsta-15.jpg

rather than this
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=ho...bnh=183&tbnw=275&start=0&ndsp=32&tx=126&ty=86


I'm being obtuse, the truth is no one can make this decision for me- all have pro's, all have con's (at least when i'm doing contracted digital consulting I don't have to live with the consequence of bad decisions :D)
 
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It comes down to if you need a powerful GPU, and considering more and more program's are using it, I'd say its always important (although my Mac mini has an Intel 4000, but I only bought it as a stop gap)

MacBook Pro 15" or iMac would be my choice.
 
mrjames said:
but there's something about the imac that screams "i'm a successful human being"
Click to expand...

im sorry but I did just LOL

seriously though, if you have a good IPS already then a mini + laptop might be the way to go.

not sure about the intel onboard GPU for video processing mind (why o why have apple removed the ATI option..)
 
mrjames said:
I have a 26" IPS full a-rgb pro grade screen already, the imac is nice but my screen actually has higher specs than the imac screen
Click to expand...

and:

mrjames said:
and my screen, nice as it is, is only 1080p in a 26" frame so not as high res, and to be honest looks a little utilitarian
Click to expand...

***DOES NOT COMPUTE!***
***DOES NOT COMPUTE!***
***DOES NOT COMPUTE!***
***DOES NOT COMPUTE!***
***DOES NOT COMPUTE!***

:D


mrjames said:
but there's something about the imac that screams "i'm a successful human being"
which does appeal to me...

...

as a designer aesthetics are important
Click to expand...
You Sir, are Apples target customer! ;) You're right, only you can make the decision ;)
 
if the mac mini could be had with a decent gpu then i'd be all over it
but alas

i'm sure there's external thunderbolt gpu's on the horizon, maybe a stackable module like these http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack

imagine: mac mini's with parallel processing so you can add as many quadcore i7 'modules' as you like, then an external gpu module, hot swapable hard drive modules, hot swapable pci card slots- all in the same shape as the mini, and stacked as high as you want, all daisy chained via thunderbolt- bye bye mac pro!

decisions decisions
I may go hackintosh in the future for video editing duties
but at the moment lr3 and cs5 aren't GPU heavy apps, I need to buy a 5d2 and learn to shoot video with it before i'll have any work with deadlines, so I think for now I can get by without the gpu

but apple's pricing structure is annoyingly teasing, everything is only a stone's throw away from the next level up- if for example retina's were twice the price it's be a solid NO, but only being £200 more makes you think a little harder, argh
 
Mac said last year that they would be re-doing the Mac Pros. The current ones are no where near top of the line and the 27" iMac is the best available at the moment but it might be worth waiting a while to see if, when and what they do with the Mac Pro. Unfortunately there's no way of knowing when this might happen but according to the rumour mills it could be this or next month. A search on Google will give you all the speculation you could want.
 
Merluza said:
Mac said last year that they would be re-doing the Mac Pros. The current ones are no where near top of the line and the 27" iMac is the best available at the moment but it might be worth waiting a while to see if, when and what they do with the Mac Pro. Unfortunately there's no way of knowing when this might happen but according to the rumour mills it could be this or next month. A search on Google will give you all the speculation you could want.
Click to expand...

I think a brand new mac pro would be more power than necessary

anyway it has to happen this weekend as i'm back in Scotland on monday and I think my parents would like to be there at point of purchase
 
Ok. If you go for the 27" iMac, which I would, go for 3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, with Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz. Upgrade the memory yourself, you can do that on the 27" but if you go for the 21" you have to get the upgrade before you buy, you can't do it later.
 
Merluza said:
Ok. If you go for the 27" iMac, which I would, go for 3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, with Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz.
Click to expand...
You'll get about 15% extra speed with that option - even for video encode. Hyperthreading isn't all it is cracked up to be (the fundamental difference between i5 & i7 is the hyperthreading) If the extra £160 is hurting too much, just get the i5....
 
I'd go for a 15" MBP 2.6Ghz (non-Retina but hi-rs ant-glare) with the bog standard 500GB 5400rpm drive and usei with your current screen. Think prie is £1700 ish bless you are at uni then it's about £1400.

Later for a couple of hundred £££s you can slot in a 256GB SSD and a new 1TB 7200rpm hard drive. Also upgrade AM to max (16GB?) and you're away.

Good enough screen size for outside work coupled with good processing power and good memory/ hard drives :)

Either that or new Mac Pro when released but you'll then miss out on a mobile solution?
 
arad85 said:
***DOES NOT COMPUTE!***
***DOES NOT COMPUTE!***
***DOES NOT COMPUTE!***
***DOES NOT COMPUTE!***
***DOES NOT COMPUTE!***
Click to expand...

quite right. That screen is anything but pro

mrjames said:
if the mac mini could be had with a decent gpu then i'd be all over it
Click to expand...

what is wrong with the one it and what are you planning to do? I am yet to find any of its negatives in my 2D world.

mrjames said:
I think a brand new mac pro would be more power than necessary
Click to expand...


except that you can't get a new mac pro now from apple, and there isn't a new one anyway. There might be one at some point later, but it will probably run over £2000 to get any impressive spec
 
daugirdas said:
what is wrong with the one it and what are you planning to do? I am yet to find any of its negatives in my 2D world.
Click to expand...

there is going to be a pretty major shift in the IT world to GPU processing, haswell is going to be a lot better than hd4000, but even so if i'm buying a computer right now, with the intention of using it for the next 4 years, it should have dedicated GPU- cs6 makes use of GPU, I am willing to bet that cs7 will use it even more, and CS8 onwards will rely on GPU

the new ipad is more GPU than CPU

but that being said I use cs5 at the moment so no GPU acceleration, but my parents (and the apple store guy) were convinced I should get something with a GPU- so 15" mbp or imac, although I guess I could buy now and re-buy in the future- the resale value of apple products is extremely good

and i'm completely discrediting external gpu's!


so I went into the apple store, with 4 options:

1) quad core mac mini and macbook air
2) 27" imac, sell current screen and keep laptop
3) 15" macbook pro or 13" macbook pro with i7 upgrade
4) macbook air and 2008 mac pro 8 core

option 4 went out before I got to the store when I saw the prices of FB dimms
option 1 was thrown out due to no GPU in either model
option 3 was augmented into option 2 and somehow I ended up walking away with an ipad, and a 27" imac

although i will be collecting my imac from scotland, and I have 14 days to 'think about the ipad', so really still no decision has been made
the more I think about it the more the 15" macbook pro seems like a better deal, it even has a higher geekbench score compared to the base spec imac

so still undecided

and not sure if the ipad is worth keeping, certainly not a productivity tool, but as a portfolio/tethering solution it might work out, i'm looking to get a 'cam ranger' set up for wireless tethering
 
I have an iPad instead of a laptop now, anything serious I did at a desk anyway.

Although, I'd say the iPad money would be better spent on upgrades to the iMac, as you have a laptop for any portable needs, even if it is old. And the iPads are past mid cycle now, new iPad mini will be the best thing to get when it comes out.
 
if you can I'd wait until June /July when Apple will make all their new announcements at the WWDC

Any of the Mac you mentioned will handle 1Dslll files without any real problem. And that's from personal experience.

OK Video What app are you going to use for video. If it's simply iMovie ( which is not a bad app) then again any of the above will work OK. If you are leaning towrads FCPX then an i7 processor could be an advantage, as this program will use the facilities of Hypertheading and speed up the render time. However if you don't mind waiting a bit longer, an i5 will be OK

I've done editing on both a laptop, and one connected to a separate monitor, and that works fine. However for serious work I'd opt for the iMac. Failing that the Mini.

If you do opt for the MacBook pro add an external mouse. The trackpad is OK but you'll find a mouse much easier to use for precision work

For external drives, USB 3 is going to be fast enough, or if you can't get USB3 go for Firewire 800. Apple do a Thunderbolt to FW800 adapter, at about £25.00. if the machine you get doesn't support Firewire. Thunderbolt drives are faster than you need and are too expensive at the moment in my opinion
 
mrjames said:
option 3 was augmented into option 2 and somehow I ended up walking away with an ipad, and a 27" imac

although i will be collecting my imac from scotland, and I have 14 days to 'think about the ipad', so really still no decision has been made
the more I think about it the more the 15" macbook pro seems like a better deal, it even has a higher geekbench score compared to the base spec imac

so still undecided
Click to expand...

I did call that right at the start of the thread.
That said, I'd have went pre-owned on the iMac for a mid-2011 with optical drive, and SDXC slot on the side rather than the rear!

Moreover, I'd have used the saving to put towards the amount you'd have got from selling the 26" screen and current Mac laptop, and the C2D PC (even if only to clear it out), and bought the pre-owned MBP you could've got with it.
 
PJ S said:
I did call that right at the start of the thread.
That said, I'd have went pre-owned on the iMac for a mid-2011 with optical drive, and SDXC slot on the side rather than the rear!

Moreover, I'd have used the saving to put towards the amount you'd have got from selling the 26" screen and current Mac laptop, and the C2D PC (even if only to clear it out), and bought the pre-owned MBP you could've got with it.
Click to expand...

thanks
i'm pretty set that anything I get will have usb 3 though- although I could get something like the caldigit thunderbolt dock. But comparing the 2011 to the 2012, the 2012 really does have much much much better control of reflections

the more I think about the ipad the more I want to keep it, and learn to use it properly, even just for showing work to clients, which is what attracted my parents so much to it. Although i'm tempted to take it back, get a 3rd gen with some scuffs and save some money there.


to sum up i'm still none the wiser: and i'm back thinking about the mac mini too!

none of them are bad decisions- the 15" mbp is perhaps the most logical, but also the least interesting
how important is the gpu really?


post ipad my 15" feels enormous now
 
Ok the iMac has fallen out of favour, definite need a laptop instead- the question is
1) quad Mac mini and 13" or MacBook Air
2) 15" MacBook Pro and keep ipad but have no money left
3) 13" retina

I absolutely love this retina display, not sure I can go back now- everything else looks horrible!
 
If you're returning the iMac to go fully mobile, there's little point in keeping the iPad, given its price.
Sell the current laptop and desktop, buy a refurb or pre-owned one then, in the meantime, throw the iMac and iPad money at one of these.......

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro/15

Same 12 month warranty and all the rest that comes with a brand new one.
Alternatively, if you've a friend or family member at university, have them order the 15" Retina with their discount, and you'll also benefit from 3 year Applecare included.
 
mrjames said:
Ok the iMac has fallen out of favour, definite need a laptop instead- the question is
1) quad Mac mini and 13" or MacBook Air
2) 15" MacBook Pro and keep ipad but have no money left
3) 13" retina

I absolutely love this retina display, not sure I can go back now- everything else looks horrible!
Click to expand...

original 15" mpb with anti glare option, upgrade RAM, SSD, large drive in the optical drive space. external screen for editing at home..

job done.
 
The 13" retina is pointless, no dedicated GPU, and a high resolution. I'd spend the full £2k on getting the best Retina 15" you can, maybe even going refurbished (they're usually regarded as better than the new ones as they have stricter QC)
 
Having viewed a retina MBP side by side to the standard this week, I would go standard with future upgrades as I mentioned in my earlier post.

Neither Apple store had a hi-res anti-glare on display/in stock so couldn't do a direct comparison but would favour the ant-glare option too.
 
I hate decisions

I think you're right to go 15"
Retina is pretty but I want to upgrade myself and put in a second drive, if I keep the ipad I've got my retina fix there ha (seriously wish I'd never set eyes on this display, it's gorgeous, but I think maybe phone and tablet benefit more for retina- laptop usually sits further away)

Getting the 15" would mean the ipad definitely stays, if I went 13" I'd think about losing the ipad, as a tethering solution for the ipad isn't going to be cheap

If the performance of the 15" is really that much more (I know it's quad core, I know it geekbenches at 10k instead of 7k but can photoshop and Lightroom take advantage of that? Do they use the gpu?) then ill go for it, but if I'm going 15" I'd like to stay light as possible by going retina but I guess carrying around an external drive will remove that advantage.


I'm 99% certain I'm going to get a refurbished base spec 15", but retina is just 200 more with double the ram, the ssd and twice the VRAM...
 
I'm utterly confused now as to how you're making this anything but a straight forward decision.

You're talking of spending an additional £200 to get the MBP 15 Retina, when you could have forgone the iPad and put its value into the iMac, thereby getting you the i7 version with 3.4GHz, which benchmarks at 14K - £1699+£160 vs £1799+£399

As you can't do much editing on the iPad, then your existing laptop would suffice for displaying images to customers at the very least.
The difference in the figures above would've let you sell the laptop, and replace with a refurb/pre-owned iPad, if you preferred that option for when you're out and about.

I read a comment posted on another forum yesterday - the i7 in the iMac is a desktop version, the one in the MBP and Mac mini are mobile versions, so if you start taxing the MBP's, it'll throttle back as a function of thermal (and power?) management.

You've not stated why you weren't much fussed with the iMac once you got it home - what specifically is it that you're not getting on with?
 
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why are you getting so hung up on retina.. even Eizo pro screens dont have retina PPI..

throw that "pro" 26" 1080 screen away and get a decent display for home editing, the mpb anti-glare will be fine for on the move editing.

PJ S said:
the i7 in the iMac is a desktop version, the one in the MBP and Mac mini are mobile versions, so if you start taxing the MBP's, it'll throttle back as a function of thermal (and power?) management
Click to expand...

i dont think they throttle back (andys probably more qualified to answer that than me though). the i7 QM's certainly dont (ive got one in my dell). the early 2011 mbp i7 QM dont either, those buggers get red hot on your lap..
 
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neil_g said:
i dont think they throttle back
Click to expand...
The Intel chips will throttle back if you go over power or they get too hot. It's all in on-chip hardware, so unless there is something sneaky you can set, it's all automatic. Without knowing the cooling, it's difficult to know if it will or won't throttle back.

Red hot is OK - on-chip temps of 100 deg C are OK (borderline, but OK) so that has to be dissipated somewhere....
 
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