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    iMAC

    Can someone please advise a good spec for photo editing, I'm using a mac book air with aperture at present and it can barely cope, I connect to a Samsung 22" lcd also for editing with magic mouse and keyboard.
    I'm thinking of investing in an iMac or PC tower...not sure if the standard iMac with i5 processor and 4GB is good enough, or is it better to get a PC tower, these come in cheaper with more RAM (8GB) and i3 processor...advice please?
    I'd like to stick with Aperture and DPP if possible....thanking you in advance...
    (this investment is likely to put back my investment in a 5DMKII again - but my 50D and Olympus Pen continue to impress and the frustration of a slow computer outweighs better IQ at present).
    Brian Vickers LRPS

    brianvickersphotography.com

    #2
    Re: iMAC

    The iMac is plenty good enough for editing with the right software you can always get apple to fit a better card and more memory. Mac pro tower better but at a premium. I run aperture with iMac 17" basic 128 radeon graphics card and don't find a problem just take my time. I'd rather buy the iMac and get the 5 series Canon, what comes out is only as good as what goes in. See some of Squibby's pics with the 5D MkII with very little editing. Good luck
    Col

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      #3
      Re: iMAC

      I too am looking at getting an iMac for photo editing etc later this year. Have a friend who has an iMac which he uses for his photography with no speed issues despite his iMac being 2 or 3 years old and nowhere near as quick as today's i5 or i7 models.
      The basic 4gb of ram should be enough, depending on what other program's you are running simultaneously. I could not justify paying Apple an extra £160 for 8gb of ram or a whopping £480 extra for 16gb of ram! If you do find 4gb insufficient you can always buy extra ram later and apparently it is very cheap and easy to fit yourself. I have friends who have done this and it has cost less than £100 to Upgrade to 16gb of ram. The only downside to doing it yourself is that it would invalidate your warrantee. As the warrantee is only for 12 months my intention is to leave it with just 4 gb of ram for 6 months or so just untill I know there are no other issues that I need the warrantee for and then I will purchase 16 gb of ram from Amazon or somewhere and install it myself.
      Martin
      Canon 7D,EFS 15-85 IS USM, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II

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        #4
        Re: iMAC

        Installing additional RAM on your iMac does not appear to invalidate your Apple warranty - see here http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=13946
        I would recommend Crucial for any additional RAM requirements.

        I use an iMac with Aperture on 4gb of RAM with no problems to date.

        Gelert

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          #5
          Re: iMAC

          I basically use DPP for my post processing with a little PSE9 for detailing of the image (such as filters for HDR and monochrome)

          No CSx, Lightroom or anything like that.

          Even taking 500 images per day does not warrant anything more complicated (for me)
          ef-r

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            #6
            Re: iMAC

            If you decide on a PC rather than a mac, your spec looks OK, except I'd go for an i5 or i7 set-up, also, you will need a 64 bit system rather than a 32 bit to take advantage of the 8GB of memory (but I'm sure you are aware of this).

            I would also consider a Solid State Drive as your main drive (with the OS system on), I have one, and the boot up/image processing times are a lot quicker than with a traditional hard drive.
            Last edited by Les McLean; 26-02-2012, 02:19.
            Concentrate on equipment and you'll take technically good photographs. Concentrate on seeing the light's magic colours and your images will stir the soul. - Jack Dykinga
            Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography- George Eastman

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              #7
              Re: iMAC

              I have an old Core 2 Duo with 8Gb which runs very well. I think the biggest performance hit comes through lack of memory
              ef-r

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                #8
                Re: iMAC

                Thanks Les, good point regarding 64bit, Providing the software package can take advantage of it.
                I think you are right Brian, the RAM is key to getting processing work done, my mac book only has 2GB.
                Very tempted by the iMac, viruses are not such a big problem and OSX seems more immune to slow down than windows, and the screens appear to be set up better according to comments
                Thanks - it has to be the IMac for me
                Cheers
                Brian Vickers LRPS

                brianvickersphotography.com

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                  #9
                  Re: iMAC

                  I run a 3 year old iMac, with RAM upgraded to 4GB, using DPP and CS5. It copes with everything I need easily.

                  Colin
                  Colin

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                    #10
                    Re: iMAC

                    Thanks Colin.
                    Brian Vickers LRPS

                    brianvickersphotography.com

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: iMAC

                      Originally posted by Gelert
                      Installing additional RAM on your iMac does not appear to invalidate your Apple warranty - see here http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=13946
                      I would recommend Crucial for any additional RAM requirements.
                      Even more reason to buy an iMac from Apple with the basic 4GB RAM. Amazon sell 16GB RAM upgrade by Crucial for £70 compared to Apple upgrade price of £480 at time of IMac purchase! Thanks Gelert.
                      Martin
                      Canon 7D,EFS 15-85 IS USM, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: iMAC

                        I use an iMac which is 3½ years old, I upgraded my RAM myself to 4GB and it runs Elements 9 along with DPP and its fine.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: iMAC

                          I have a new I Mac - 16Gb very quick for processing - C S5, after my old p.c! My only gripe is 27" screen which displays a tiny font at full resolution and gives me terrible eyestrain! the only way to alter this is to lower the resolution to make the print readable without having my nose touch the screen! I am using Lion, if anyone knows of a better way to fix this, I'd love to hear it!!
                          Di

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