Mac Mini 2012 - Photographer's Initial Impressions Lightroom/PS

[Moccasin]

Interesting thread as in another similar one I started in the buying advice forum last night, I was confidently informed that iMac is the minimum required for photography and a 3TB fusion drive as well. I don't think 27" is right for me either, so a non-apple display is more likely.

Like others, I'm a little wary about buying an all in one and having to upgrade the whole thing.

How easy is upgrading the mini with an SSD and user-installed RAM? I upgraded a few PCs in my previous life.

 

[paulrbeers]

Interesting thread as in another similar one I started in the buying advice forum last night, I was confidently informed that iMac is the minimum required for photography and a 3TB fusion drive as well. I don't think 27" is right for me either, so a non-apple display is more likely.

Like others, I'm a little wary about buying an all in one and having to upgrade the whole thing.

How easy is upgrading the mini with an SSD and user-installed RAM? I upgraded a few PCs in my previous life.

Check out ifixit to see what is required to add an SSD. It's a bit difficult, but not too bad (easier than an iMac!). As far as the RAM, that's simple and very easy to do (no different really than any laptop).

 

[Obsidiank]

So I decided to keep the 1TB drive in the mac mini as a second drive, and I keep current year pics on it. Everything else is achived on my NAS.

I keep a working folder on my SSD, so basically I will edit current jobs on my SSD and then once I'm happy with the final pic count, I will move it to the hard drive.

Thank you for your post.. Your configuration is exactly what I was looking to get myself.. 2.6 i7 with SSD 256 and I will buy the 16GB of ram aftermarket as its much cheaper. I am currently a windows user with lightroom 4. I have about 29,000 images in my library (266GB) and find my quad Q6600 has seen better days.. I am assuming you have your library on an external drive. Did you go a thunderbolt drive? If so, what kind?. Thanks!