Hi guys,
I own a 2011 Macbook Air (1.7 dual core, 128gb ssd, 8gb ram) that I've been really happy with except for 2 things:
Photography is a hobby I might grow into a side business. I had a paid assignment recently where my Macbook Air was struggling with editing Canon 6D raw files in Lightroom 5, e.g. Previews are really blurry and took a a couple of seconds to get less blurry, then wait a couple more seconds again to see the actual sharp photo (if this doesn't happen then I have to zoom in to 100% and zoom back out again). The blurry - less blurry - sharp transition that happens to every single photo I edit is really messing up my eyes and giving me headaches.
So I'm thinking of getting a desktop to serve as my photography workstation. I'm interested in the Mac mini with 2.6 quad core, 256gb ssd, 16gb ram. Is the difference in power between my current Air and Mac mini makes Mac mini a worthy purchase? Or are they too similar that it's not worth having both?
My budget is $1400 max. I even considered buying the following desktop PC for $800 and upgrading the RAM myself:
3.4 GHz Intel Core i7-3770 Quad Core
4GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM
AMD Radeon HD 7450 Graphics (1GB)
1TB Hard Drive, 7200 rpm
Any thoughts and comments on the MBA/Mac mini combo, or if desktop PC/MBA combo, or any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
A few notes: I really like Macbook Air's portability, so I've ruled out retina Macbook Pro as a one-computer solution. Plus rMBP is expensive, and I don't need all that power and weight when I travel. iMac is out of my budget and I don't have the heart to upgrade its internal components on my own.
I own a 2011 Macbook Air (1.7 dual core, 128gb ssd, 8gb ram) that I've been really happy with except for 2 things:
- it's a pain to unplug and replug monitor, external hard drives, card reader, etc
- I'd like a faster, dedicated photography workstation for Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 5
Photography is a hobby I might grow into a side business. I had a paid assignment recently where my Macbook Air was struggling with editing Canon 6D raw files in Lightroom 5, e.g. Previews are really blurry and took a a couple of seconds to get less blurry, then wait a couple more seconds again to see the actual sharp photo (if this doesn't happen then I have to zoom in to 100% and zoom back out again). The blurry - less blurry - sharp transition that happens to every single photo I edit is really messing up my eyes and giving me headaches.
So I'm thinking of getting a desktop to serve as my photography workstation. I'm interested in the Mac mini with 2.6 quad core, 256gb ssd, 16gb ram. Is the difference in power between my current Air and Mac mini makes Mac mini a worthy purchase? Or are they too similar that it's not worth having both?
My budget is $1400 max. I even considered buying the following desktop PC for $800 and upgrading the RAM myself:
3.4 GHz Intel Core i7-3770 Quad Core
4GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM
AMD Radeon HD 7450 Graphics (1GB)
1TB Hard Drive, 7200 rpm
Any thoughts and comments on the MBA/Mac mini combo, or if desktop PC/MBA combo, or any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
A few notes: I really like Macbook Air's portability, so I've ruled out retina Macbook Pro as a one-computer solution. Plus rMBP is expensive, and I don't need all that power and weight when I travel. iMac is out of my budget and I don't have the heart to upgrade its internal components on my own.