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To Mac or not To Mac

B

bormo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 15, 2012
3
0
Hi Folks,

a question - my current desktop is close to dead and I need to get new one asap, and I decided to turn to Mac.

I need it for:

1. Lightroom/Photoshop
2. Video editing
3. ProTools (Music recording)

And I puzzled in my choice -

from one side new retina MBP, with 2.7 MHz cpu with new HD graphic features, and 1666 MHz memory,

from another side current iMac with 3.4 MHz cpu but 1333 MHz memory. Let's count that both have SSD drives, and price is about same

What is bothering me -

- what is more important for performance - cpu or memory?
- how new graphic of Ivy Bridge is important for my tasks?
- Retina display - will it be usable for Photo processing? I use 24" now, with less resolution, will it help or not?

Thank you in advance
 
bormo said:
Hi Folks,

a question - my current desktop is close to dead and I need to get new one asap, and I decided to turn to Mac.

I need it for:

1. Lightroom/Photoshop
2. Video editing
3. ProTools (Music recording)

And I puzzled in my choice -

from one side new retina MBP, with 2.7 MHz cpu with new HD graphic features, and 1666 MHz memory,

from another side current iMac with 3.4 MHz cpu but 1333 MHz memory. Let's count that both have SSD drives, and price is about same

What is bothering me -

- what is more important for performance - cpu or memory?
- how new graphic of Ivy Bridge is important for my tasks?
- Retina display - will it be usable for Photo processing? I use 24" now, with less resolution, will it help or not?

Thank you in advance
Click to expand...

Can you hold out another month or so? The iMac still may refresh this summer, possibly with the release of Mountain Lion. If so do that. If not, the new MBP does appear to be quite the beast.
 
bormo said:
What is bothering me -

- what is more important for performance - cpu or memory?
- how new graphic of Ivy Bridge is important for my tasks?
- Retina display - will it be usable for Photo processing? I use 24" now, with less resolution, will it help or not?
Click to expand...

-Both CPU and memory are crucial components of the computer.
-Ivy bridge uses less power than sandy bridge.
-Photos looks really special on the Retina display, this is something you should see for yourself - is an apple store nearby?

If the machine will hold out you might want to wait for the iMac refresh, if not i'm sure the retina MBP will suite very well.

Note: CPU speeds are in GHz, not MHz
 
Thank you Folks,

Yes, sure it is GHz :) just typo :)

Visited local Apple store in Burnaby BC - they still have no Retina MBP for presentation.

I tried Lightroom on iMac 3.4 i7 cpu, with 16g memory - it is simply a rocket. I even can't imagine that something can be faster....
 
bormo said:
Hi Folks,

a question - my current desktop is close to dead and I need to get new one asap, and I decided to turn to Mac.

I need it for:

1. Lightroom/Photoshop
2. Video editing
3. ProTools (Music recording)

And I puzzled in my choice -

from one side new retina MBP, with 2.7 MHz cpu with new HD graphic features, and 1666 MHz memory,

from another side current iMac with 3.4 MHz cpu but 1333 MHz memory. Let's count that both have SSD drives, and price is about same

What is bothering me -

- what is more important for performance - cpu or memory?
- how new graphic of Ivy Bridge is important for my tasks?
- Retina display - will it be usable for Photo processing? I use 24" now, with less resolution, will it help or not?

Thank you in advance
Click to expand...

You have decided to turn to a mac, my inference from that is that you currently own a pc that is about to die? If so you would need to add the cost of purchasing mac software to the cost of a brand new mac. Why not stick and buy a high end pc. You can get a shiny high spec machine for a fraction of the cost and it would actually incorporate proper components rather than the mobile rubbish apple use (unless you buy a overpriced mac pro). eBay is rather good, if you are from the uk scan computers are well known for their quality, in the us I think cyber power systems are rather good too.

Anyway good luck with whatever you decide.:D
 
If video editing and iPhoto are priorities for you I wouldn't think you would want a 27 inch screen to work from rather than a small MacBook. Just my opinion. I do a lot of of lectures from PowerPoint and I find it much easier to work in a 27 inch screen then my smaller MacBook.
 
necromorph said:
You have decided to turn to a mac, my inference from that is that you currently own a pc that is about to die? If so you would need to add the cost of purchasing mac software to the cost of a brand new mac. Why not stick and buy a high end pc. You can get a shiny high spec machine for a fraction of the cost and it would actually incorporate proper components rather than the mobile rubbish apple use (unless you buy a overpriced mac pro). eBay is rather good, if you are from the uk scan computers are well known for their quality, in the us I think cyber power systems are rather good too.

Anyway good luck with whatever you decide.:D
Click to expand...

Thank you necromorph,

I have all programs I use in both versions- for PC and Mac, so cost will be almost 0 :)
Solution to turn to Mac actually because of ProTools - Music recording software/hardware, which is sucks on PC.

----------
cypress822 said:
If video editing and iPhoto are priorities for you I wouldn't think you would want a 27 inch screen to work from rather than a small MacBook. Just my opinion. I do a lot of of lectures from PowerPoint and I find it much easier to work in a 27 inch screen then my smaller MacBook.
Click to expand...

Thank you cypress822, good point!

One more thing to think about - 200 DPI on Retina is too small for correct photo editing I think, 27" one is about 100 DPI. Currently I have about 100 and it is ok, smaller will be much harder to make it.

So only a desicion I have to made - buy now or wait (nobody knows how long) for new iMac.

I read tests of both Ive and Sandy 3.4 GHz, with same memory 1600 Ivy one has +2-3% on tasks I am interested. So I do not see any reason to wait for Ivy only because CPU, but memory....

Will try to find difference between 1333 and 1666, but if it will be less than 10% in performance, honestly I think I can go with current iMac.
 
If you need mobility, then the MBP is your only choice. Integrated graphics from Intel doesn't really matter here since both options will have much more powerful discrete GPUs.

If you don't require the mobility of a laptop, I'd go w/t the 27" iMac. The larger screen will be invaluable IMO.
 
Easy choice, go with the desktop. The bigger screen is more important than the higher rez. They're both fast enough to do the job, max out the RAM though. Do it yourself with the iMac and save a bundle.
 
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