Mac Spec to run LR & PS
Discussion
Time to upgrade my Win 7 PC that loads CC LR slowly and loads PS interminably slowly! Once loaded its OK is but I'd like faster!
The PC runs an i7 at 3.4Ghz and has 8GB RAM and a 1GB Graphics card. The Catalog and previews are on the internal hard-drive and the actual photo files are on an external WD My Cloud drive hard wired to the PC.
Is that a sensible architecture?
I have a Nikon D800 so the files are c36MB and some are closer to 100-200MB edited
I have 2.88TB of photos (170,000 pics)
1:1 Previews 282GB
Catalog 2494MB
I want to get the best speed for £ possible without over specifying.
27" iMac with Retina 5K display to integrate seamlessly with my Apple ecosystem!
I'm thinking choose the fastest processor - 4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor or is that over specifying it for photo editing.
Is a min of 16GB RAM enough or should I opt for 32?
I 'm thinking 1TB SSD my current C:\ hard drive has 485GB used
Advice please!
The PC runs an i7 at 3.4Ghz and has 8GB RAM and a 1GB Graphics card. The Catalog and previews are on the internal hard-drive and the actual photo files are on an external WD My Cloud drive hard wired to the PC.
Is that a sensible architecture?
I have a Nikon D800 so the files are c36MB and some are closer to 100-200MB edited
I have 2.88TB of photos (170,000 pics)
1:1 Previews 282GB
Catalog 2494MB
I want to get the best speed for £ possible without over specifying.
27" iMac with Retina 5K display to integrate seamlessly with my Apple ecosystem!
I'm thinking choose the fastest processor - 4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor or is that over specifying it for photo editing.
Is a min of 16GB RAM enough or should I opt for 32?
I 'm thinking 1TB SSD my current C:\ hard drive has 485GB used
Advice please!
I have the first iMac retina, nearly three years old now, and run LR no problem.
It is the i5 with the standard graphics chip, I believe the 295 ? ( could have updated to 395 but it was too expensive) and the 1Tb fusion drive.
I added another 8gig of RAM bought from crucial to take it to 16gig.
It runs fine. Dedicated Mac software such as Pixelmator run very fast, Adobe improved LR 6 over LR 5 by utilising the graphics chip. I don't use 'shop though, just Pixelmator.
If my iMac works I'm sure the later one with faster cpu and GPU will be even better.
If I was doing it again I'd upgrade the Fusion to a suitably sized SSD and use a couple of external drives to store the actual photographs, not for speed issues as the Fusion drive is fine but simply because I believe SSD drives last longer ?
Personally if price is an issue for you as it was for me I'd upgrade the GPU rather than the cpu, unless you use programmes that actually utilise the multi threading (I stand to be corrected but don't think LR or 'shop do?). Definitely increase the ram to as much as you can afford as well, and don't forget your back up drives via time machine.
You'll find the retina screen on the iMac a revelation with your photography, it is quite simply superb. Enjoy
It is the i5 with the standard graphics chip, I believe the 295 ? ( could have updated to 395 but it was too expensive) and the 1Tb fusion drive.
I added another 8gig of RAM bought from crucial to take it to 16gig.
It runs fine. Dedicated Mac software such as Pixelmator run very fast, Adobe improved LR 6 over LR 5 by utilising the graphics chip. I don't use 'shop though, just Pixelmator.
If my iMac works I'm sure the later one with faster cpu and GPU will be even better.
If I was doing it again I'd upgrade the Fusion to a suitably sized SSD and use a couple of external drives to store the actual photographs, not for speed issues as the Fusion drive is fine but simply because I believe SSD drives last longer ?
Personally if price is an issue for you as it was for me I'd upgrade the GPU rather than the cpu, unless you use programmes that actually utilise the multi threading (I stand to be corrected but don't think LR or 'shop do?). Definitely increase the ram to as much as you can afford as well, and don't forget your back up drives via time machine.
You'll find the retina screen on the iMac a revelation with your photography, it is quite simply superb. Enjoy
singlecoil said:
Are you sure a Mac is the best option if value for money is a strong consideration?
You should maybe have a look at what firms like PCS could offer you for the same kind of money (or less).
This is certainly true. Macs and iMacs in particular appear to cost way more than PC alternatives especially when you start ticking the upgrades. Looking on a purely spec vs £ equation at least. That said, it didn't stop me buying a 27" imac and macbook Pro though! I do like the design, the OS and the user experience and it does all works nicely together. You should maybe have a look at what firms like PCS could offer you for the same kind of money (or less).
Anyway, back to the OP, I think you may be overestimating what is needed for photo work. My imac is a 2012 i5 model with fairly ordinary graphics card. It does have 32gb ram and an SSD. It flies through Lightroom stuff including D810 files.
I would suggest going easy on the options. Get a 'normal' i7 machine with a reasonable sized SSD or fusion drive (it may be more cost effective to invest in decent external storage for photos etc than throw huge money at Apple upgrades). I think you can still upgrade the RAM yourself on a 27" imac so (assuming I'm right) I wouldn't upgrade that. Get the 8gb option or whatever is cheapest and buy 32gb of ram from Crucial or Mymemory. You'll save a fortune.
Thanks
I want to switch to Apple because of all the other Apple stuff I have integrating and access to the support from Apple. I have had a bespoke PC in the past but component failures and lack of support puts me off that route. At least with a Mac I can take it in to an Apple store.
Ive looked at the after market RAM route. In fact Apple themselves said 16GB, see how it goes and upgrade later as memory is plug and play.
What runs slowly on my PC is having LR and PS open together and opening a D800 file in PS for editing. Sometimes PS opens so slowly the file doesn't open. Ive resorted to opening PS directly .
I do a bit of healing (a lot actually!!!), nip and tuck liquifing and portraiture on a separate layer and back to LR for finishing off. Files are c 100-200MB depending on resolution.Nothing fancy.
I'm taking from what you're saying processing speed isn't a factor but RAM is. I would get the biggest SSD I could anyway for storing the programmes and previews. No other application I use has performance demands.
Absolute cost isn't a factor but VFM is - by that I mean not wasting money on over specifying.
I want to switch to Apple because of all the other Apple stuff I have integrating and access to the support from Apple. I have had a bespoke PC in the past but component failures and lack of support puts me off that route. At least with a Mac I can take it in to an Apple store.
Ive looked at the after market RAM route. In fact Apple themselves said 16GB, see how it goes and upgrade later as memory is plug and play.
What runs slowly on my PC is having LR and PS open together and opening a D800 file in PS for editing. Sometimes PS opens so slowly the file doesn't open. Ive resorted to opening PS directly .
I do a bit of healing (a lot actually!!!), nip and tuck liquifing and portraiture on a separate layer and back to LR for finishing off. Files are c 100-200MB depending on resolution.Nothing fancy.
I'm taking from what you're saying processing speed isn't a factor but RAM is. I would get the biggest SSD I could anyway for storing the programmes and previews. No other application I use has performance demands.
Absolute cost isn't a factor but VFM is - by that I mean not wasting money on over specifying.
Edited by ian in lancs on Friday 11th August 08:30
I would suggest getting a couple of external hard drivers to store your photos on rather than keeping them on the computer.
I'm looking in to a new laptop soon, not sure whether to go windows or MAC. My 2012 13" macbook pro with 4GB ram is hanging now. When LR & PS are open together it does slow down, but I can open chrome from time to time, sometimes it runs sometimes it will crash.
I'm looking in to a new laptop soon, not sure whether to go windows or MAC. My 2012 13" macbook pro with 4GB ram is hanging now. When LR & PS are open together it does slow down, but I can open chrome from time to time, sometimes it runs sometimes it will crash.
ian in lancs said:
err! I said the actual photo files are on an external WD My Cloud drive [RAID 1 config] hard wired to the PC
Totally off topic I appreciate, but how do you find that for speed? I've pondered doing this for actual raw files and then keeping catalogue file local but wasn't sure if the wireless connection would slow things down too much?27" Retina 
a think of beauty
Naturally whatever you get it's a case of as much RAM as possible.
I've had mine 2½ years IIRC (3.5GHz i5 32Gb) - not slowed up at all over its life so far, but my AirPort Extreme is used wirelessly and it's a wonder to see 2,495 RAW NEF files (D800) all loaded up in the Library ready to play with!
a think of beauty Naturally whatever you get it's a case of as much RAM as possible.
I've had mine 2½ years IIRC (3.5GHz i5 32Gb) - not slowed up at all over its life so far, but my AirPort Extreme is used wirelessly and it's a wonder to see 2,495 RAW NEF files (D800) all loaded up in the Library ready to play with!
[quote=C&C]
Although not going down the route of getting a new Mac, which I appreciate you mentioned will fit in with your Apple ecosystem, have you thought about simply putting a decent sized (say 1Tb) SSD drive in your existing PC to speed up what you've already got?
[/quote]
Yeah I have, it's a good cost effective idea but my PC is rather like Trigger's Broom!
Although not going down the route of getting a new Mac, which I appreciate you mentioned will fit in with your Apple ecosystem, have you thought about simply putting a decent sized (say 1Tb) SSD drive in your existing PC to speed up what you've already got?
[/quote]
Yeah I have, it's a good cost effective idea but my PC is rather like Trigger's Broom!
Craikeybaby said:
I've also been speccing up a new Mac and have been wondering between getting a Fusion drive, or an internall SSD and storing my raw files on an external HDD/raid etc.It is interesting to see most of the posts pointing to the external storage option.
Its just about practicalities in my case. You don't really know how much room you're going to need 3-4 years down the line and if you pay apple to stick a huge amount of future proof storage in there, your wallet might never recover. And I don't think there is much you can do with an imac these days if you decide you want more space later on so you'll be onto external storage anyway at that point. In the olden days, external hard disks were slow and expensive. Now they're very quick or at least quick enough depending on what interface you use and are very cheap. It's an extreme example but the other week I picked up a 2tb USB3.0 WD drive from tesco for £20.
I would suggest a big enough SSD to store all software on. Depending on what you use 256gb is generally more than enough but if 500gb is cost effectice, that covers one's arse. The rest to be external storage. USB-C or thunderbolt if you're feeling flush. Don't forget to consider backup for it all too. You'll probably want a primary backup drive about 1.5x the size of your normal drive. Secondary backing up after that is a huge can of worms but I'd suggest it's also considered.
ETA, just seen that 1tb Fusion drive is now standard and any changes from that cost a king's ransom. I would therefore, suggest sticking with standard spec I would assume has enough solid state capacity to get everything booting up nice and quickly and plenty of overspill for storing bits and bobs (LR catalogue for example). Can't see any need to spend more when fast external storage is so cheap.
Edited by Gad-Westy on Tuesday 15th August 13:26
To add to that, also look at your own personal preferences for using LR.
Depending on how you work you might find that you can incorporate both the internal and external drives quite efficiently.
Personally I don't work slavishly to LR catalogueing and need to revisit NEFs a lot.
So one way to work is to use the internal drive for files you are currently working on and external for your archive copies. Temporary/copy internally held folders can then be removed from time to time, thus utilising the internal speed benefits. Want to work on a folder of last year's work? Just copy across from your external drive while you make a cup of tea, do your stuff, file your output where you need to.
Of course that may not work if you intend to keep your work in progress on the NEFs - that's why I say it *may* be right for you depending upon how you work.
Depending on how you work you might find that you can incorporate both the internal and external drives quite efficiently.
Personally I don't work slavishly to LR catalogueing and need to revisit NEFs a lot.
So one way to work is to use the internal drive for files you are currently working on and external for your archive copies. Temporary/copy internally held folders can then be removed from time to time, thus utilising the internal speed benefits. Want to work on a folder of last year's work? Just copy across from your external drive while you make a cup of tea, do your stuff, file your output where you need to.
Of course that may not work if you intend to keep your work in progress on the NEFs - that's why I say it *may* be right for you depending upon how you work.
K12beano said:
To add to that, also look at your own personal preferences for using LR.
Depending on how you work you might find that you can incorporate both the internal and external drives quite efficiently.
Personally I don't work slavishly to LR catalogueing and need to revisit NEFs a lot.
So one way to work is to use the internal drive for files you are currently working on and external for your archive copies. Temporary/copy internally held folders can then be removed from time to time, thus utilising the internal speed benefits. Want to work on a folder of last year's work? Just copy across from your external drive while you make a cup of tea, do your stuff, file your output where you need to.
Of course that may not work if you intend to keep your work in progress on the NEFs - that's why I say it *may* be right for you depending upon how you work.
Interesting one this. I have a 1tb SSD in my imac and up until recently had everything stored on there, catalogue, raw files, the lot. I did this on the assumption that it would be far faster than using an HDD for images. However I began to run out of space so recently I moved the raw files to an internal HDD and left the LR catalogue on the SSD. I can honestly say I've noticed no speed drop at all. This is presumably to do with the way LR itself handles temporary data. Depending on how you work you might find that you can incorporate both the internal and external drives quite efficiently.
Personally I don't work slavishly to LR catalogueing and need to revisit NEFs a lot.
So one way to work is to use the internal drive for files you are currently working on and external for your archive copies. Temporary/copy internally held folders can then be removed from time to time, thus utilising the internal speed benefits. Want to work on a folder of last year's work? Just copy across from your external drive while you make a cup of tea, do your stuff, file your output where you need to.
Of course that may not work if you intend to keep your work in progress on the NEFs - that's why I say it *may* be right for you depending upon how you work.
Now I have a 1tb SSD that is about 80% empty hence my post above suggesting it is not really necessary to splurge too much on a big SSD. I got mine very cheaply at the time but in hindsight still thing I should have just opted for a smaller one.
The 1TB Fusion drive only has about 30GB SSD. So I'd be wanting to upgrade that. Whatever I go for I realise I'm going to need to spend a pretty penny on external storage, but hopefully with TB3/USBC it should be fairly quick.
I'm currently running everything off the internal HDD on my 2010 iMac.
I'm currently running everything off the internal HDD on my 2010 iMac.
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