About to upgrade my mid-2010 i3 Baseline model

[Razeus]

And get myself a new iMac mostly due to the late-2012's quad core CPU, USB 3.0 and general slowness of working with my D800 RAW files in Lightroom.

I'm looking at the 21.5" $1499 version with Fusion Drive add on, but not sure if I need an extra 8GB to have a total of 16GB's of RAM. If so, both add on's bring my total to $1949 .

Like I said, photography is the main activity via RAW files, Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4, followed by gaming (Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Civilization 5), followed by video editing (nothing heavy, just family videos here and there, but not an everyday thing).

Being the wife won't like to see me upgrade my computer every other year, like I use to, this one has to be another 3 year computer as my 2010 was, possibly longer. I'm selling the mid-2010 to offset some of the cost. Should I get the 16 to play it safe? Or just save the ridiculous $200 upgrade cash?

edit: note - I have 8GB's in my current iMac now.

 

[Drharrington]

I have the same 2010. You seem set on upgrading but have you considered upgrading to SSD? I found the 2010 i3 to run great after doing such.


https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1564795/

 

[dan5.5]

At 1949, it makes sense to get a base 27 with a fusion drive. That way you can get more ram down the road.

And get myself a new iMac mostly due to the late-2012's quad core CPU, USB 3.0 and general slowness of working with my D800 RAW files in Lightroom.

I'm looking at the 21.5" $1499 version with Fusion Drive add on, but not sure if I need an extra 8GB to have a total of 16GB's of RAM. If so, both add on's bring my total to $1949 .

Like I said, photography is the main activity via RAW files, Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4, followed by gaming (Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Civilization 5), followed by video editing (nothing heavy, just family videos here and there, but not an everyday thing).

Being the wife won't like to see me upgrade my computer every other year, like I use to, this one has to be another 3 year computer as my 2010 was, possibly longer. I'm selling the mid-2010 to offset some of the cost. Should I get the 16 to play it safe? Or just save the ridiculous $200 upgrade cash?

edit: note - I have 8GB's in my current iMac now.

 

[Razeus]

At 1949, it makes sense to get a base 27 with a fusion drive. That way you can get more ram down the road.

Ya, I was thinking the same thing as well. Apple really priced themselves out of the market with this new iMacs.

 

[RoastingPig]

i put a ssd and 16gb of ram in my i3 and gave it new life

 

[Razeus]

i put a ssd and 16gb of ram in my i3 and gave it new life

I weighed that option, but my backups for my raw files and such, I REALLY need USB 3.0.

 

[RoastingPig]

I weighed that option, but my backups for my raw files and such, I REALLY need USB 3.0.

yeh i have a retina macbook 15 2.3 16gb 256gb that i use as my main computer and i manually backup all my files i never knew how i used to use 2.0 it's just so bloody slow

 

[freeuser]

why not use Firewire800 harddisks?

there won't be such a slowdown for harddisk speed, compared to USB 2.0! USB 3.0 sure is faster, but most harddisks aren't that much faster than Firewire800 transferrates.

Speed improvements for Lightroom:

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/blog/will-an-ssd-improve-adobe-lightroom-performance/