New iMac

[Ian S]

Is anyone using any of the newer iMacs for photo editing? My old machine is getting quite slow now and I'm looking to upgrade. The options, and the price is mind boggling. Not sure whether the new all in one units will be very future proof or if I should go for a iMac mini. I think the studio version will be beyond me at the moment. what are people using?

Cheers

 

[iamdlewis]

An Apple product will never be future proof.

 

[Landshark99]

I am mostly using an iMac Pro, still going strong, it is much faster than my old tower. The new regular iMac looks ok, my father in law has one. I am not sure if my next one will be the rumored iMac Pro replacement or just getting the studio with a monitor

 

[LandyShooter]

I disagree with the above. Modern Mac's are incredible. Any Mac with a M1 or M2 chip with a good amount of RAM and a SSD will handle photo editing with absolute ease.
I'm editing 4k video all day from SSD's on a 4 year old Intel Mac and it never misses a beat. Photos are super easy. My last MacBook lasted 6 years and I only upgraded it as I wanted a 4TB internal drive and the need for 4K editing.
Use this link to see when new models are coming out... they are fairly accurate:

MacRumors Buyer's Guide: Know When to Buy iPhone, Mac, iPad

This page provides a product summary for each Apple model. The intent is to provide our best recommendations regarding current product cycles, and to provide a summary of currently available rumors for each model. This page is based on rumors and speculation and we provide no guarantee to its...

buyersguide.macrumors.com

 

[Tim Mayo]

I recently replaced my 2015 iMac 27" with a Macbook Pro 14" with the M1 Max Processor, 32GB RAM and 1TB drive. I got a good discount on it since the M2's are out now but from the comparisons I watched they don't offer much of an improvement over the M1's for photo editing. I mainly wanted to upgrade for video editing since my iMac fell over as soon as I tried to edit H.265 files, the M1 has no such struggles. Hopefully it will last as long as my iMac did before needing to be replaced. I'd expect the iMac Mini's with 32GB of RAM to handle all of your photo editing needs with ease, of course you'll need to add a decent monitor if you don't already have one.

 

[liggy]

Picked up an M1 Mini when they launched. Excellent machine. Drove my 32” UHD monitor and handled big files (GFX100S) with ease.
Just traded it in on a MacBook Pro M2 Max 30 core beast. Definitely better for batch processing which I am doing more of these days.

Yeah baby - it rocks.

No computer if future proof but this setup is going to do well for me for quite a while. I am not a pc fan but have always had one for work and vote with my dollars for my personal machines. I also find that my Macs stay relevant for longer than PCs seem to.

 

[iain clyne]

I’m using a 2020 intel iMac for photo editing and it handles the files no problems. It’s was fast even when I tried a A7rv file on it.

 

[Clix Pix]

I'm using a 16" 2021 M1 MBP Max with 4 TB Storage (SSD) and 64 GB RAM. It replaced a 2918 (Intel) MBP with 1 TB storage and 32 GB RAM. I had intended to go with 2 TB Storage and 64 GB RAM but when I realized that they had the 4 TB SSD / 64 GB RAM available on the shelf at my local Apple Store, I quickly decided to splurge a bit and have the extra storage plus the benefit of being able to bring the machine home with me and not wait for a BTO to be shipped and delivered.

I shoot with an A1 and an A7R V so both of those have large files since I process in RAW Uncompressed. I definitely knew that 1 TB was not going to work for me any longer and that I needed more onboard storage as well as continuing to use external drives. My MBP is hooked up to a 24" LG 4K Thunderbolt 3 monitor which works well for editing at home. Away from home the 16" MBP screen does fine, too, of course.

For me, the advantages of an MBP over an iMac: (1) easy portability when needed,; (2) can have external monitor of any size desired (I'm using 24" because it was what I had hooked up to my earlier 2018 machine and I find 27" to be a bit too large for me); (3) the current line of colorful 24" iMacs is too limited in terms of how far one can go with upgrading them in terms of storage and RAM capacity, and of course that upgrading has to be done at time of purchase, too; (4) I like having the machine able to function both on battery power and with a power adapter plugged into the wall. There are other advantages, too, but at the moment I cannot recall them.

 

[Gaz]

Is anyone using any of the newer iMacs for photo editing? My old machine is getting quite slow now and I'm looking to upgrade. The options, and the price is mind boggling. Not sure whether the new all in one units will be very future proof or if I should go for a iMac mini. I think the studio version will be beyond me at the moment. what are people using?

Cheers

I’ve been buying Mac minis. They’re bang for buck.

 

[Landshark99]

JUst an FYI my 27" iMac Pro is running with 64GB memory Intel processor internal 2tb ssd drive, hooked up to two12tb hard drives for storage and a 4tb ssd for my recent processed image

 

[Gaz]

An Apple product will never be future proof.

In 2015 I purchased 6 iMacs dated mid 2010, through SSD’s in them and maxed the Ram. I sold them as 10 year old iMacs for near on $1000 each. Try that with any PC.