I bought a Mac Pro in 2008 (3,1). At the time I was doing a lot of photography and using Photoshop extensively, working on relatively large images (Canon 5D II) with several layers. I upgraded it with an 120 GB SSD boot drive, a few 2 TB WD Caviar Blacks for media, and a 480 GB SSD I use for data and ACR scratch. I have 24 GB of RAM.
Fast forward to today. I'm still doing a bit of photography, but my workflow has changed a lot. I use Lightroom 90% of the time, and the few times I do export to Photoshop it's to use a filter like Silver Efex Pro or Photokit Sharpener. I'm rarely working on images with several layers.
I've noticed that my 2011 MacBook Pro is almost as fast, and in some ways feels snappier, with Lightroom than my 3,1 Mac Pro. I know the most recent MBPs and iMacs are far quicker still than the 2011 MBP I have.
I've read all about the new Mac Pro, but now I'm wondering if I even need that. I'm not a gamer, I don't do video stuff, and my photography work is mostly limited to Lightroom. Maybe an iMac with external TB storage is enough for me? The one downside of this solution is that I have an NEC PA271 monitor that I really love, and prefer to the iMac display. That said, I don't do ultra-critical color work so I suppose I could just sell the NEC if I buy an iMac.
Another option would be to buy a 2010 Mac Pro, but that doesn't really make sense to me. I'd like to have TB ports and USB 3.0, since that's obviously the future for peripherals.
What do you think?
Fast forward to today. I'm still doing a bit of photography, but my workflow has changed a lot. I use Lightroom 90% of the time, and the few times I do export to Photoshop it's to use a filter like Silver Efex Pro or Photokit Sharpener. I'm rarely working on images with several layers.
I've noticed that my 2011 MacBook Pro is almost as fast, and in some ways feels snappier, with Lightroom than my 3,1 Mac Pro. I know the most recent MBPs and iMacs are far quicker still than the 2011 MBP I have.
I've read all about the new Mac Pro, but now I'm wondering if I even need that. I'm not a gamer, I don't do video stuff, and my photography work is mostly limited to Lightroom. Maybe an iMac with external TB storage is enough for me? The one downside of this solution is that I have an NEC PA271 monitor that I really love, and prefer to the iMac display. That said, I don't do ultra-critical color work so I suppose I could just sell the NEC if I buy an iMac.
Another option would be to buy a 2010 Mac Pro, but that doesn't really make sense to me. I'd like to have TB ports and USB 3.0, since that's obviously the future for peripherals.
What do you think?