IMAC or IMAC PRO for my specific uses

[jeff7777]

Hello,

I have a IMAC late 2013 that I have loved. I have been waiting for the new IMACs as my IMAC is long in the tooth and I am seeing some spinning balls and believe a new one would likely increase performance, especially as I am using more photography applications. I mostly use Photoshop, Lightroom, Helicon Focus and Indesign, often while having several open windows of the net (Youtube, music etc.). I am not a gamer and don't do video editing. I also use the computer for lots of basic work stuff ie word processing and email. Its possible I might do some light video in the future but I am pretty focused on photography. I don't know a ton about computers and would greatly appreciate the knowledge of people on this forum.

Would you recc that I get: a) pretty maxed out 2019 IMAC (27, 64 Ram) I9) ; b) IMAC Pro (probably the 10 core with 2TB drive and 64ram); c) wait to see what else comes out this year (i.e. Mac Pro or new IMAC Pro)?

I was hoping for the IMAC redesign and have been waiting for about 9 months or so to upgrade. Getting a bit sick of waiting and thinking of pulling the trigger. I am not rich but I could afford the extra cash for the IMAC pro and am thinking the extra thunderbolt ports might be useful (I have a drobo and multiple daisy chained external hard drives for photo backup and a second 32 inch 5k monitor) I like the space grey and might pay a little more for that but not the full price difference and ultimately am about performance not looks. I was about to get an IMAC pro when they came out but read they were really for video editing/work station use and that the programs I use didn't really utilize the extra cores. I have recently read that the software is getting better at utilizing the extra cores. The new IMAC seems like an upgrade, but mostly just a better chip and I worry about the thermal throttling concerns I have heard being raised.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[XNorth]

IMO, the iMac Pro and the to-be released Mac Pro would be overkill for what you do. I would go for the 2019 iMac i7 with Vega 20, 512 SSD, and 8 GB RAM that you can self upgrade to 32 GB without the Apple premium charge. When the redesigned iMac is released, which probably won't happen until 2020, you could sell the current one for the new one.

The throttling issue is overblown, IMO. Macs are built with a perfect balance of performance and usability. Overclocking is for PCs.

EDIT: The above specs are for a MBP. The iMac would come with i9 and 580x graphics.

 

[jeff7777]

IMO, the iMac Pro and the to-be released Mac Pro would be overkill for what you do. I would go for the 2019 iMac i7 with Vega 20, 512 SSD, and 8 GB RAM that you can self upgrade to 32 GB without the Apple premium charge. When the redesigned iMac is released, which probably won't happen until 2020, you could sell the current one for the new one.

The throttling issue is overblown, IMO. Macs are built with a perfect balance of performance and usability. Overclocking is for PCs.

[doublepost=1553383611][/doublepost]Thank you.

I should have also mentioned that I am often stacking 20-100 large raw files (D850) and then processing in Photoshop. I assume that doesn't matter and is nowhere close to needs for video but thought I would put it out there as I am not just playing with jpegs in Lightroom.

 

[Rockadile]

[doublepost=1553383611][/doublepost]Thank you.

I should have also mentioned that I am often stacking 20-100 large raw files (D850) and then processing in Photoshop. I assume that doesn't matter and is nowhere close to needs for video but thought I would put it out there as I am not just playing with jpegs in Lightroom.

You're going to need minimum 32GB RAM, recommend at least 64GB since you're stacking a lot of raws.
The 8-core i9 is the best CPU for photo software right now. 580X GPU will be fine here.

Edit: Get i9/8GB/580X iMac. Buy 3rd-party 64GB RAM (OWC, Crucial, etc.) for half price than Apple.
If you're still seeing beach balls when stacking, get external NVMe drive for Photoshop scratch disc. You're going to need iMac Pro with 128GB RAM if that still doesn't fix beach balls.

 

[macduke]

IMO, the iMac Pro and the to-be released Mac Pro would be overkill for what you do. I would go for the 2019 iMac i7 with Vega 20, 512 SSD, and 8 GB RAM that you can self upgrade to 32 GB without the Apple premium charge. When the redesigned iMac is released, which probably won't happen until 2020, you could sell the current one for the new one.

The throttling issue is overblown, IMO. Macs are built with a perfect balance of performance and usability. Overclocking is for PCs.

I don’t believe you can get the 27” with an i7 and Vega 20, as he said that’s what he wanted. If you were referring to the 21.5”, then he can’t upgrade the RAM on that model.

 

[xgman]

I would suggest you look through some of the articles on this site related to photo and graphics mac hardware.

https://macperformanceguide.com/index.html

 

[mikehalloran]

[doublepost=1553383611][/doublepost]Thank you.

I should have also mentioned that I am often stacking 20-100 large raw files (D850) and then processing in Photoshop. I assume that doesn't matter and is nowhere close to needs for video but thought I would put it out there as I am not just playing with jpegs in Lightroom.

The iMac Pro is not overkill for what you want to do. The base model is always available in the Refurb Store under $4,300 — some might be actual refurbished but most aren’t. I’d wait for the 64GB version when they show up for a little under $5K.

Otherwise, a tricked out i9 iMac with the Vega 48 isn’t much less. To save money, order the 8GB RAM and buy 64GB RAM from a 3rd party.

Before the popularity of video editing (made possible by 4K cell phones), Photoshop was the app that RAM vendors such as OWC used to sell more, more, more.

I agree that the throttling issue isn’t much. You do want all of your work files on the boot SSD — the iMP begins at 1TB.

The base model 2019 will get the job done ... in a lot longer time.