Which iMac to Buy 27"

[Wolf-Tau]

About to buy new iMac but its either the Intel Core i5 3.8 GHz and 2 TB drive but the older version for $1999 or the latest version Intel Core i5 3.7 GHz 2TB $2299.99

I use photo shop and Capture One

not sure what I need to be looking to make the right decision to make the right purchase so any help will greatly appreciated.


Eric

 

[Fishrrman]

I'd get one with an SSD, instead of a fusion drive...

 

[donkuok]

Upgrade the Fusion drive to 512GB SSD. Then order 32GB DDR kits for your RAM upgrade.

 

[SpecFoto]

I just ordered yesterday a new iMac to replace my 2012 Mac Pro for my photography. Ordered the 27” iMac 2019 with 512GB SSD, 6 core I5 3.7, 580X and base ram with the Crucial 32GB upgrade kit. LR and PS on the I5 should be more than adequate, as I don’t do video.

Internal 512 GB blade will hold system plus my Lightroom cache files, LR is pretty fast this way on my Mac Pro when the cache is on the fastest disk, and photo files load very fast. Actual data and photo files will be on 8TB RAID USB 3.1 C external Mobius using 2x 4tb HGST enterprise drives coming out of the Mac Pro. My photo files are almost 4TB, plus iTunes is 2-1/2TB, so no way a fusion drive could work for me.

 

[macduke]

I just ordered yesterday a new iMac to replace my 2012 Mac Pro for my photography. Ordered the 27” iMac 2019 with 512GB SSD, 6 core I5 3.7, 580X and base ram with the Crucial 32GB upgrade kit. LR and PS on the I5 should be more than adequate, as I don’t do video.

Internal 512 GB blade will hold system plus my Lightroom cache files, LR is pretty fast this way on my Mac Pro when the cache is on the fastest disk, and photo files load very fast. Actual data and photo files will be on 8TB RAID USB 3.1 C external Mobius using 2x 4tb HGST enterprise drives coming out of the Mac Pro. My photo files are almost 4TB, plus iTunes is 2-1/2TB, so no way a fusion drive could work for me.

I never thought of moving the location of the Lightroom cache. I'll have to try that out! Does it keep a copy of the cache on the external drive in case I want to plug it into another computer or does it have to rebuild it? I use a Samsung T5 SSD and while it has good speed, the built-in SSD on my 2019 iMac is about five times faster. Now that I moved from an old MacBook Pro to this fast iMac, I'm starting to feel the slowness a little bit more in the drive now than before when working with my 42MP RAW files. Maybe I shouldn't say slow, but just some occasional lag or grid previews not filling as quickly.

 

[SpecFoto]

I never thought of moving the location of the Lightroom cache. I'll have to try that out! Does it keep a copy of the cache on the external drive in case I want to plug it into another computer or does it have to rebuild it? I use a Samsung T5 SSD and while it has good speed, the built-in SSD on my 2019 iMac is about five times faster. Now that I moved from an old MacBook Pro to this fast iMac, I'm starting to feel the slowness a little bit more in the drive now than before when working with my 42MP RAW files. Maybe I shouldn't say slow, but just some occasional lag or grid previews not filling as quickly.

The catalog and cache files should be kept on your fastest drive, that being the internal one. However you can keep the actual photos on another drive. When you do this, if you want to take the catalog and cache with you on the external drive, you need to copy the Catalog Name folder over from the internal drive.

If you want full size previews as I do the cache and catalog can get quite large. My main portrait photo folder (where pics are stored) inside my data only RAID is MainRaid>Users>Picture>Catalog Name and 1.9TB. The LR catalog and cache file on my internal SSD is Users>Lightroom>Catalog Name folder and 189GB, or about 10% the size.

 

[Wolf-Tau]

This is all very good info.

I will be looking to go with an SSD of 512 for my iMac. I am using a Samsung T5 SSD for backup on my MacBook Pro.