PC guy of 25+ yrs..thinking of going to iMac...???

[iMyke]

Hey folks!! Been lurking here for a while, reading and researching. I am 25+ year user of PC's, well versed in PS, Lightroom, Camera Raw, Corel Draw, etc. Owned a screen printing, sign and embroidery business and have dabbled in photography for 25+ years.
I have always been interested in Mac's, I just have never had one and mostly for the fact that I had a lot money invested in PC software.

With the cloud age here now, I am interested in trying/switching to Mac.
I would like to get some serious advice and suggestions from knowledgeable iMac photo editing users about which 27" iMac would be best for photo editing (RAW files) and maybe light video editing (as I am looking to get a GoPro or similar camera in the near future also).
I would like a iMac that will last a few years, I am not one to buy the newest thing on the market every time something comes out.
At the present, I am running an 10 year old PC with 8GB of RAM...using Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, etc...(don't laugh..)
I am seeing the post about the over-heating issues with Mac and other issues in the past few years that I am reading in my research and it makes me sort of leary of changing at this time. So with that said...what is the overall prospect of Mac's in the near future and what benefit(s) am I to expect by switching to an iMac?

 

[techwarrior]

I can't personally speak regarding pro level photo and video editing but my Sister-in-law is an award winning editor\instructor who has used Macs for 30+ years in her business.

She just upgraded six months ago from a MacBook Pro that was 8-10 years old to an iMac 27. I don't recall exact specs, but at the time there were 3 base models, she went for the mid-grade option, no graphics card upgrades. She opted for a 500GB SSD and 16GB RAM, and bought a thunderbolt external drive to store her work. She loves it.

Apple offers several graphics card upgrade options with iMacs. From what I have been told, the upgraded graphics cards are primarily helpful for intense video editing, not very helpful for photo editing (overkill). The RAM and SSD are probably most critical for photo editing, especially larger files.

A 10 year old iMac will hold up well, I still use 12-13 year old Macs for general daily use. After about 5-7 years, Apple may not support Macs with the latest yearly OS release, but given Adobe and others tend to support their software for longer periods, I would expect you could get 10+ years out of an iMac, hardware wise, they hold up well. If you hope to use it for a long time like the PC, then go for as much power as you can afford, it may help down the road.

As far as upgrades, the iMac memory is a breeze to upgrade, I believe the current models support up to 128GB (4x32GB) but Apple only sells up to 64GB if I recall. Since it is so easy to add RAM, and since OWC and Crucial offer RAM kits at a fraction of the cost Apple charges, many iMac buyers order base memory configurations and upgrade RAM themselves.

HDD\SSD are more complicated to upgrade, it can be done, but is not a slam dunk like many PCs. But with thunderbolt 3 ports, throughput to external dives is excellent, so if space becomes an issue down the road, offloading files to external drives is probably a better choice than surgery. I understand graphics upgrades are not possible, but these should support external GPU if that ever becomes a need.

The iMacs also support a second 4K\5K monitor if that is ever a need.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

The first thing to understand is that this is not an all-or-nothing decision.

You can use both Windows and Mac computers. Hell, I have been doing that for 25+ years, mostly Mac at home, mostly Wintel at work.

Today, I have three PCs at home: two are Macs, one is a Wintel PC. Each platform has its pros and cons, I use whatever is the most appropriate.

Not a big deal. It's not a freakin' lobotomy or a lifestyle change. You probably transitioned from a landline phone to a "feature phone" to a smartphone without much drama.

It's just a stupid computer.

 

[mpConroe]

iMac will be enough for your needs. But stock configuration needs updates, such as at least 512GB SSD (or 1TB like mine). When I was ordering iMac, I also opted for better processor. But current generation is more powerful.
Don’t buy RAM from Apple. In every 27 inch iMac (not sure about smaller models) you can easily upgrade RAM using parts from Amazon, which are way cheaper. And my last advice: they are rumours about new iMacs coming out soon, so hold on! Or buy MBP 16inch.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Good advice so far.

I work at a University in the Art department. We run iMacs for all labs...nearly 3000 Macs on campus. Adobe CC campus-wide. Zero overheating or other issues, primarily using PS, ID, IL, LR Classic. Even on 2012 iMacs with mid-range i5 CPUs, no lag or issues in any 2D editing, general use or printing, because of 2 things:

• 16 GB RAM
• SSD (no spinning HDs)

The only place these older machines are showing their age is video editing (still usable, but less than ideal) and especially 3D graphics such as Autodesk Maya.

You should have zero problems with performance if you end up with a late model 27" 5K iMac with SSD.

You can upgrade RAM easily, but you don't want an HD internally. Besides a serious performance issue, HDs fail too often, and they are not easy to swap out. And performance issues....are very real. Especially since they rolled out a new file system optimized for SS storage a couple of years ago. Apple should really stop selling HDs...they are unacceptable for boot drives since about OS 10.13.

External storage is fine (I would even say preferred), so you can get away with as little as 250GB for an SSD.

500GB would be nice...but if you go with fairly fast external by design, 500GB is actually more than needed for an OS, lots of room for applications, and all the data, settings, and preferences you need to keep in the boot drive. I have a Mini running as a server with 250GB SSD Boot drive, and it more than 60% empty after about 4 years of 24/7 use, and multiple OS upgrades. About 16TB of external RAID 5 storage.

Focus on specs you can't (easily) upgrade: CPU, SSD, and to a lesser degree, GPU.

Plan for high-quality external storage if you have or plan to keep lots of data/images. TB3 is not as cheap as USB3, but performance and reliability is on par with internal storage.

If you plan on many TB of storage, don't forget backups. You might consider a NAS both for archiving/file-sharing/cloud syncing as well as a backup destination.

If you are hunting for a good deal for less than the current models, consider the Apple refurbs. Closeouts, demo models, and returns. Full warranty, and essentially like new at a pretty good discount. It's like a yard sale though, have to watch daily and grab one when you see it. When they are gone, they are gone. And yes, as was mentioned, newer models are likely due soon, so whether you go current or refurb....there will be a good chance at closeout sales when the new model pops.

 

[sublunar]

As already mentioned on this thread, going all SSD is a must for an iMac. BTO orders are currently delayed by upwards of a month because it's been over a year since the current 27" model was released (March 2019). We're all discussing the recent rumours in other threads but the most obvious reasons for hanging fire till at least late June is the fact that people are expected at least a spec bump.

Because of their buying power Apple have generally been doubling NAND storage on Mac refreshes since last year: MacBook Pro 16", Mac mini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro 13" have all been refreshed since October 2019 and had their base SSD capacities doubled for no extra cost. You can look them up in the buyers guide.

iMacs (and iMac Pros) are the last machines in line for a refresh this year and uniquely the non Pro iMacs have to contend with hard drives (and fusion drives) so 'doubling' storage isn't as easy. There is debate on how the iMacs will get their update but we do know that the next iMac model has been ready for launch since the Mac mini was refreshed - the reason for delay is currently unknown.

It's accepted that Apple will eventually go all SSD but unlike the laptops which were already all SSD there will surely be a price to pay to bump a 27" iMac to all SSD configurations - you only have to try and spec up an iMac to have a guess as to how prices could go.

One thing to note is the rumour for a 23" iMac later this year - there's a discussion over where in the lineup this Mac would fall, and what resolution the screen would have (classic 4k - which would be lower resolution than the 21.5" model, or possibly 4.6K to retain the 'retina' ppi). This Mac would be an opportunity to go all SSD in one model but Apple may choose differently as it's been suggested to be a 'cheaper' model.

In conclusion, I would definitely wait until the iMac situation becomes clear later this year.

 

[iMyke]

Thank You ALL for the great information and suggestions.

I have narrowed it down that I want...3.7GHz 6-core 9th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz , 512GB SSD, 8GB of RAM (I will upgrade it myself), Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory..

Should this be a "long lasting" unit and capable of photo editing and hobbyist video editing?

 

[SkiHound2]

I've used iMacs for years and use Windows 10 on a work computer. At various times I've felt sort of trapped in the Apple ecosystem. You're pretty much at Apple's mercy in terms of hardware options. I had a 2012 Mac mini. It was one of the good minis with i7. Worked great until I started using software that was much more gpu intensive. My hard drive was also starting to fail. Apple really hadn't upgraded the Mini (there was a 2014, but it was more of a side grade, at best) and the available iMacs at that time were really showing their age. There just wasn't a good option for me. Then the 2019 iMacs appeared and kept me in the Apple family. If someone wants to constantly maximize raw performance, Windows is a better platform. If you want the option of buying the hottest, newest GPU, Windows is a better option. But it comes at the cost of often requiring more fiddling around with drivers and making various things work together. macOS offers a better integrated overall system, IMO. While the old slogan of "it just works" isn't always true, it's more often true than in a Windows environment. I'm not really into computers per se and I do very little gaming. I have an iPhone, an iPad, and an iMac. Stuff integrates seamlessly via iCloud. At least, it works without a glitch for me. I'm a photographer and bought a 27" iMac shortly after the 2019s hit the market. I experienced much angst in terms of specs. i9 vs i5? AMD 580x vs Vega. In the end I bought the 3.7ghz i5 with the standard 580x gpu. I upgraded to a 1TB SSD. And I installed an extra 32gb of ram. My guess is that's the last iMac with user upgradeable ram. Benchmarks for the 2019 i5 were very close to the benchmarks for the i7 in the previous model and I never really heard folks say that computer was slow. Hot yes, slow, no. I don't do much video editing and I think where the i9 really trumps the i5 is when using software that really takes advantage of the additional cores and threads. It runs every thing I use very well including LR, PS, On1 Raw. I just didn't think the i9 and/or Vega offered enough extra performance for my needs. I also thought that the lower cost would allow me to upgrade sooner rather than feel I had to hang on. There are rumors of a 23" iMac appearing in the not too distant future and I suspect there will be a major upgrade within the next year or so. And of course, the plan seems to be too migrate all Macs to ARM sometime in the future. Though I think that's further down the road. That said, it wouldn't shock me to see Ryzen processors in the next generation of iMacs. There will of course be a learning curve moving from Windows to macOs. If you buy a 2019 you're not getting current technology. But you will still be getting a very nice computer. Good luck.

 

[sublunar]

Thank You ALL for the great information and suggestions.

I have narrowed it down that I want...3.7GHz 6-core 9th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz , 512GB SSD, 8GB of RAM (I will upgrade it myself), Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory..

Should this be a "long lasting" unit and capable of photo editing and hobbyist video editing?

Looks like a good spec - I would choose that from the existing lineup but obviously being a BTO at the moment you'd be waiting several weeks.

I am expecting better value from the imminent iMac refresh. Depending on how deep they go you should probably expect better value from storage options, possibly upgraded CPU, and maybe even RNDA graphics (AMD 5500 Pro for example)

 

[iMyke]

I've used iMacs for years and use Windows 10 on a work computer. At various times I've felt sort of trapped in the Apple ecosystem. You're pretty much at Apple's mercy in terms of hardware options. I had a 2012 Mac mini. It was one of the good minis with i7. Worked great until I started using software that was much more gpu intensive. My hard drive was also starting to fail. Apple really hadn't upgraded the Mini (there was a 2014, but it was more of a side grade, at best) and the available iMacs at that time were really showing their age. There just wasn't a good option for me. Then the 2019 iMacs appeared and kept me in the Apple family. If someone wants to constantly maximize raw performance, Windows is a better platform. If you want the option of buying the hottest, newest GPU, Windows is a better option. But it comes at the cost of often requiring more fiddling around with drivers and making various things work together. macOS offers a better integrated overall system, IMO. While the old slogan of "it just works" isn't always true, it's more often true than in a Windows environment. I'm not really into computers per se and I do very little gaming. I have an iPhone, an iPad, and an iMac. Stuff integrates seamlessly via iCloud. At least, it works without a glitch for me. I'm a photographer and bought a 27" iMac shortly after the 2019s hit the market. I experienced much angst in terms of specs. i9 vs i5? AMD 580x vs Vega. In the end I bought the 3.7ghz i5 with the standard 580x gpu. I upgraded to a 1TB SSD. And I installed an extra 32gb of ram. My guess is that's the last iMac with user upgradeable ram. Benchmarks for the 2019 i5 were very close to the benchmarks for the i7 in the previous model and I never really heard folks say that computer was slow. Hot yes, slow, no. I don't do much video editing and I think where the i9 really trumps the i5 is when using software that really takes advantage of the additional cores and threads. It runs every thing I use very well including LR, PS, On1 Raw. I just didn't think the i9 and/or Vega offered enough extra performance for my needs. I also thought that the lower cost would allow me to upgrade sooner rather than feel I had to hang on. There are rumors of a 23" iMac appearing in the not too distant future and I suspect there will be a major upgrade within the next year or so. And of course, the plan seems to be too migrate all Macs to ARM sometime in the future. Though I think that's further down the road. That said, it wouldn't shock me to see Ryzen processors in the next generation of iMacs. There will of course be a learning curve moving from Windows to macOs. If you buy a 2019 you're not getting current technology. But you will still be getting a very nice computer. Good luck.

Thank you very much for your insight and suggestions, much appreciated.
I also wonder about whether the new iMacs will allow user upgrade RAM?????...that is one reason that I am looking at getting a 27" iMac now, so that I have that option to upgrade the RAM.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Your choice of specs in reply 7 above should do fine.

With the 27" iMac, it's EASY to just add more RAM yourself.
BUT ... don't cheap out... get "the right" RAM.

Also... SSD only !!
BUT...
Be aware that you must special-order iMacs with SSDs through Apple's build-to-order page. You CANNOT walk into an Apple Store and buy one there.

You CAN find SSD-equipped iMacs on Apple's online refurbished pages.

A very few retailers like B&H in New York City keep pre-configured iMacs with SSDs in stock -- but, they have quirky return policies, so you must be sure of what you want before you order it.

Best of luck with the iMac.

 

[sublunar]

Thank you very much for your insight and suggestions, much appreciated.
I also wonder about whether the new iMacs will allow user upgrade RAM?????...that is one reason that I am looking at getting a 27" iMac now, so that I have that option to upgrade the RAM.

Difficult to say what they will do with RAM. Obviously the 21.5" iMac was first to lock away the upgradable RAM - it was soldered for a time too - while the iMac Pro shows that they lock the RAM away due to the cooling solution.

I would say that at some point that 16Gb RAM must become standard for the iMac partly because the 2x4Gb DDR4 sticks that they buy in for 8Gb RAM will become unavailable in the supply chain - or perhaps uneconomical.

One way of getting what you want for a cheaper price could be to watch the refurb store and see if your desired spec turns up. Some third party retailers sell CTO pre-upgraded specs so it might also be worth looking at the likes of B&H Photo in the US for example.

 

[iMyke]

I have so many questions....oh my..
I have several external HD's with my photos on them, cloned and backups on my Windows PC..
Can I partition those drives and format the new partition for the iMac and still retain the windows based files on another partition on the same drive?...Or do I need new external HD's?

 

[sublunar]

I have so many questions....oh my..
I have several external HD's with my photos on them, cloned and backups on my Windows PC..
Can I partition those drives and format the new partition for the iMac and still retain the windows based files on another partition on the same drive?...Or do I need new external HD's?

It depends how they are formatted. macOS seems to be happy with ExFAT (for cross platform compatibility) but NTFS is a proprietary file system which requires additional software to allow Catalina to write to it (read is possible while I think Samsung drives have a free licensed version of the driver that you can install).

FAT32 is a bit of a legacy format and needs to be avoided.

 

[techwarrior]

When new iMac models arrive, current gen iMac prices will drop. Apple sometimes keeps prior gen models available for a while at a lower price, but many who recently purchased will do a return to get the newer model, thus the Refurb store stock grows. Apple Refurb devices are every bit as good as new in my experience.

 

[hobowankenobi]

As stated, you can buy tools to make NTFS work, but it is a hassle. Same goes the other way: you can buy tools that will let your Win box use a Mac drive.

exFAT is the most cross-platform format. I would only add that you give up a bit of performance, and perhaps reliability. I have seen more exFAT drives have issues compared to legacy HFS+...but that is just anecdotal evidence.

It would be wise to have at least one cross-platform external. But it might also make sense—depending on home much data you have—to also have at least one dedicated, Mac-specific drive as well. Same typically goes for backup drives (most backup tools are file system specific), especially if you want to make and keep bootable clones.

FIY: A NAS or file server also bypasses file system issues.

 

[iMyke]

Thank you all for your suggestions and information. It is a great help and much appreciated.

I did chat with an Apple representative and He answered the most important questions that I had that I did not address here or was not sure about.
Again..Thank you all for your time and knowledge