Totally confused as to what Mac to buy.....

kalibre

kalibre

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Doug
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Hiya,

I've decided that the time is right to jump ship and grab a new Mac, the only question is which one? I've heard loads of mixed stories regarding i7 vs Mac Pro etc, but don't know what to believe.

My choices are:

1)
Mac Pro Quad Core 2.93 Xeon
8Gb RAM
2 x 1TB HD
2 x 24-Inch Apple Displays
2 x Nvidia 120 Cards

2)
27" iMac Quad Core 2.8 i7
8Gb RAM
1 x 1TB HD (+ another external jobbie)

My questions:

1) So which one suits a togs workflow the best bearing in mind the huge difference in price between the two? (Gaming not really fussed about)

2) Is having two displays on a Mac really advantagous over a single bigger display? (27" seems quite big...)

3) Are glossy displays a problem for image editing? The windows in my study are behind the monitors so no direct or side light.

I know there are loads of Mac threads but my search didn't turn up a recent one with the same kind of questions.

Cheers all in advance. ;)
 
I thought having the window behind the monitor was the worst position?

I use two monitors for editing, an external with the image and the laptop screen with the grid view and tools, as they aren't as colour critical, although I imagine that the 27" screen would have enough room for both.

If it saves some cash and makes the decision easier you could look at other brands of monitor, such as NEC, still very high quality, but cheaper than Apple.
 
Kalibre

Remember that you can add a second display to the 27" mac with no problems. I have the older 24" with a second monitor and old 19" one that I use for having tool palettes on when in PS and addition functionality when in either Lightroom or Aperture.

I have found over the last 2 year that the 24" mac has been more than powerful enough for all my needs and I like the fact that is a all in one solution with minimal space being taken up.

I have not had a problem with the glossy screen but some other might disagree, just ensure you calibrate.

Regards

Nigel
 
Your Quad Core option is going to be more expensive, plus I think there are better displays on the market than the 24" apple ones. There are also rumours of 6 core chips arriving early next year, for Apple

Also Mac drives are expensive. ( £240 for a 1Tb drive), get one with a single "System drive" then add additional ones your self ( 1Tb Samsung about £65 ), It's easy on the Mac Pro and will save you money. The 8Gb memory upgrade is good value ( By Apple standards )

I would seriously reconsider having your monitors in front of the windows unless you have the blinds drawn.

Do you need 2 monitors.... Maybe. If you are going to have one that you do your critical work on and the other is for tools and additional windows, get one really good monitor and a second one that's a bit cheaper. Plus you may not need 2 cards as I believe both the nVidea card and the Radeon will both support twin monitors. Buy one monitor then if you feel you need a second buy it then. You could always try out the twin monitor set up using your existing monitor as a trial.

Decisions ....Decisions
 
My advice for what it's worth...

Buy the cheapest you can and upspec it yourself.

The difference between processor speeds is not going to be critical these days - they are all bloody quick!

Ram from crucial.com check out the cost yourself.

Hard drives. If you buy a mac pro, there are three additional slots for hard drives. Slide out the sled and use the supplied screws to bolt the drive to the sled and insert - job done. Have online daily backup :)

The imacs are difficult to upgrade. I would suggest that a glossy screen is not suitable for colour critical applications. That rules out the imac I think.

Buy a third party monitor.

Good luck.
Graham
 
I went with the Mac Pro 8 core, 8gb ram, Do not get there drives buy them afterwards from a third party much cheaper option, They are Western Digital Blacks...

Only £75 from Amazon for a 1TB drive compared to £240 from Apple and they are self install and do not void your warranty as the MAC is designed for user installation of drives, memory and cards.
Also i would go with the Dell 2209WA monitors these are IPS displays and get great reviews from many and much cheaper than the Apple monitors
 
Thanks for the replies peeps. Should have mentioned before that the cost isn't really an issue as it'll be a business lease so I won't be adding anything after market and everything will be sourced apple.

The windows behind the monitors have blinds on them so there is no really issue there.

Thinking about it some more and I'll probably go with the 4-core Mac Pro with dual display. I can't see the benefit in the 8-core as the vast majority of the apps I'll run (inc PS) won't be able to fully use that number of cores anyway.

Cheers.
 
27" iMac standard format with the 3.06 processor is MORE than capable of running anything you can chuck at it!

If you are looking to be doing any sort of high level movie rendering like Final Cut etc and producing cinema quality movies, then start looking at the Quad core processors!
But if it is just for workflow using iPhoto, Aperture or editing in PS, then stick to standard model!

You can add any external monitor if you required.

The 3.06 27" iMac with 4gb Ram is an amazing machine, add extra ram and it will be even smoother!

J

www.justinmoirphotography.co.uk
 
My problem is that this machine needs to be performant for the next 3 years or so. If multi-threaded multi-core utilising software is the way the industry is going then getting the 8-core will be the best because it will actually get faster over time! However, if later version of apps like PS (which currently do not fully utilise more than 4 cores) do not take advantage of the extra processing because the industry doesn't fully embrace the multi-core direction then it's a bit of a waste of money.......

hhmm....... Will be placing the order today, so will need to make a decision shortly.

P.S Thanks to those suggesting the iMacs but I've defo decided to go mac-pro as I've never had a PC in my life that I haven't 'maxed out' during my photo or video workflow.
 
neil_g said:
yes yes yes yes... :naughty:



nooooo. :suspect:
Click to expand...

Lol, tapped up a few friends who are graphic designers etc and they put my mind at ease regarding the glossy screens. There will be no light coming from the sides of the monitors within the room and the ceiling light is diffuse, so I'll be find me thinks. (He hopes)
 
Could have easily got better and bigger screens from other places instead of being ripped off by Apple - But you said it was a biz lease so I guess the company doesn't mind being screwd :)

Don't forget to order keyboard and a mouse - the ones that come with the Mac Pros are worse than aweful
 
You could have built a better PC yourself with a broken coat hanger and a toilet roll :lol:

That sound a lovely bit of kit and the glossy screens will be ok if you don't need accurate colour.

At least you are subsidising all the other mac owners who are trying to buy with their hard earned. It should keep Apple in business for a couple more years.

Be sure to tell us how you like it.

Graham
 
AndyJC said:
Could have easily got better and bigger screens from other places instead of being ripped off by Apple - But you said it was a biz lease so I guess the company doesn't mind being screwd :)

Don't forget to order keyboard and a mouse - the ones that come with the Mac Pros are worse than aweful
Click to expand...

More of a financing thing really, didn't want any initial outlay and couldn't be arsed to organised multiple leases etc, besides I was mipressed with the quality of the 24" LED. My Mrs isn't going to like the size of the new screens as it is, so no way I could go bigger. lol.

I'm looking at a new mouse setup now (hadn't heard any bad things about the keyboard to be honest). Really like the idea of the Logitech Performance Mouse MX but have concerns over the drivers with Snow Leopard despite Logitech releasing some in Sep. Any advice?

justinmoir said:
Great Set Up!!

That will last for years!

J

www.justinmoirphotography.co.uk
Click to expand...

Cheers! Really looking forward to it.
 
blue max said:
You could have built a better PC yourself with a broken coat hanger and a toilet roll :lol:

That sound a lovely bit of kit and the glossy screens will be ok if you don't need accurate colour.

At least you are subsidising all the other mac owners who are trying to buy with their hard earned. It should keep Apple in business for a couple more years.

Be sure to tell us how you like it.

Graham
Click to expand...

Lol. From what I've heard colour is spot on so long as there isnt a ton of reflection. Even dealing with Apple, I still managed to haggle a discount, but sure thing they are making a decent profit from it. ;)
 
kalibre said:
Lol, tapped up a few friends who are graphic designers etc and they put my mind at ease regarding the glossy screens. There will be no light coming from the sides of the monitors within the room and the ceiling light is diffuse, so I'll be find me thinks. (He hopes)
Click to expand...

lol thats fair enough, i just dont like them personally.. although i mean why do apple call the matte screen option on their screens "Antiglare"? :thinking:
 
blue max said:
Now that's impressive! :clap:

Care to spill the beans - how and how much?

Graham
Click to expand...

Not that impressive really, I moaned lots about having to run two cards to support two apple displays, in the end I got a chunk off the second card and 5% off the whole order after umming and arring if I could 'justify' it or not. ;)

neil_g said:
lol thats fair enough, i just dont like them personally.. although i mean why do apple call the matte screen option on their screens "Antiglare"? :thinking:
Click to expand...

I'm now starting to have doubts...... I'm still not concerned about the gloss finish as I know that'll be fine, however I've heard mumours that the increased contrast on the LED displays can cause problems when trying to correct of exposure and colour. Trying to get an answer from a tog in the know......
 
I don't think the colour is off necessarily, however the 'enhanced' contrast of the LED may cause some mis-judgement on shadow depth and exposure level. Everything is customisable so I'd hope that you dial-in the monitor to represent a similar picture than a calibrated LCD and print.

Worth double checking given the price tag! lol.
 
I work as a graphic designer and want colours to look as if they were printed on regular paper. I'm not sure how that can be achieved if your screen is glossy.

A calibration will only be able to 'subdue' the colours, rather than make them accurately represent a printed article. Photography is a different matter however.

Glossy screens are the best way to view a movie or something with no particular reference. It's not just about reflections.

That's just my take on the subject. No doubt there are many differing views.

Graham
 
Why are you getting two Nvidia 120 graphics cards?

If you want to drive 2 monitors then one card will do that.

Upgrading the single 120 to a 4870 will be much faster and still give two displays.

Also you can still add additional drives to a lease machine.
 
blue max said:
I work as a graphic designer and want colours to look as if they were printed on regular paper. I'm not sure how that can be achieved if your screen is glossy.

A calibration will only be able to 'subdue' the colours, rather than make them accurately represent a printed article. Photography is a different matter however.

Glossy screens are the best way to view a movie or something with no particular reference. It's not just about reflections.

That's just my take on the subject. No doubt there are many differing views.

Graham
Click to expand...

After a bit more digging, I've cancelled the 24" ACDs. Not so much because of the glossiness but because of the 'boosted' pallette not being colour accurate or consistent.

I'm going for dual HP LP2475Ws instead me thinks as that seems like one of the better mid-range monitors with a H-IPS panel.

cowasaki said:
Why are you getting two Nvidia 120 graphics cards?

If you want to drive 2 monitors then one card will do that.

Upgrading the single 120 to a 4870 will be much faster and still give two displays.

Also you can still add additional drives to a lease machine.
Click to expand...


To be honest I'm not too fussed about the card configuration, I got a good deal on the 2nd 120 which makes it much cheaper than a single 4870 and I'm not fussed about gaming (I've got other rigs for that.)

Now I've switched monitors and will be running DVI I could still do it with a single 120 however as the package has shipped it's a lot easier to return unopened ACDs than pulling out cards! lol.
 
Will do, although the Mrs only just realised that the monitors are going to be well over a meter long when placed end to end on the desk. I think 'imposing' is the word, lol.

Really looking forward to everything arriving, although I'm on decorating duty as a priority first! (first baby arriving in 4 weeks)
 
kalibre said:
After a bit more digging, I've cancelled the 24" ACDs. Not so much because of the glossiness but because of the 'boosted' pallette not being colour accurate or consistent.

I'm going for dual HP LP2475Ws instead me thinks as that seems like one of the better mid-range monitors with a H-IPS panel.




To be honest I'm not too fussed about the card configuration, I got a good deal on the 2nd 120 which makes it much cheaper than a single 4870 and I'm not fussed about gaming (I've got other rigs for that.)

Now I've switched monitors and will be running DVI I could still do it with a single 120 however as the package has shipped it's a lot easier to return unopened ACDs than pulling out cards! lol.
Click to expand...

I have no interest in gaming either but the latest cs package and certainly the next one will use the gpu as a fluating point coprocessor and speed up certain tasks. Still you should be fine with what you're getting!
 
I couldn't live without two screens. I actually have 3! well 4 if you count my projector but my sympodium can't display at the same time as the other unless I get a usb dongle so I have to swap it around when I need to use it
 
This has produced another display related question. The new HPs have 'displayport' inputs as well as DVI. So the question is what benefit (if any) is there to getting some form of mini-DP to DP cable and run that, or is DVI up to the task of 1920x1200 without a hitch?

I'm not interested in RFC/White paper figures regarding colour bandwidths (as DP has the edge there), I'm talking in terms of real-world benefit. Any ideas?
 
kalibre said:
This has produced another display related question. The new HPs have 'displayport' inputs as well as DVI. So the question is what benefit (if any) is there to getting some form of mini-DP to DP cable and run that, or is DVI up to the task of 1920x1200 without a hitch?

I'm not interested in RFC/White paper figures regarding colour bandwidths (as DP has the edge there), I'm talking in terms of real-world benefit. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

DVI is more than up to 1920x1200. DP is just a newer interface connection which is smaller so allows thinner laptops etc.
 
It's strange having to search a bit harder for answers to things, I've obviously taken 1+ billion PC users for granted up till now, lol. I know there are tons of Mac users but the info isn't quite so prolific as yet. I'm going to give the mighty mouse a go for a bit when it arrives (didn't want magic mouse), however I've got my eye on a Logitech Performance Mouse but have so far seen too many reports of problem on mac platforms.....
 
cowasaki said:
DVI is more than up to 1920x1200. DP is just a newer interface connection which is smaller so allows thinner laptops etc.
Click to expand...

what he said. the new dell laptops come with VGA and displayport. why they couldnt of just put in an HDMI and have done with it i dont know.. theyre all digital so covert easily between each other. ive got a DP to DVI adaptor in mine.
 
I've just ordered my usb video adapter so I can have three screens working at the same time, had to get it from the US though.

Also the magic mouse rules - it took me a while to get used to not having the pinch buttons but the multi touch scrolling surface beats those stupid little balls any day of the week! I love it
 
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