BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Hey all, here is the pitch. I am a long time Mac user with experience with Windows through Windows 7.

I am tired of Apple diddling around. My current MacPro (early 2008) is getting tired and cannot have an upgrade to the latest OS X iteration. There have been no upgrades to the Mac Pro for over 3 years, the little waste can Mac Pro currently available has real heat problems, and there is lack of internal storage.

So I am looking to return to Windows for my Photo Processing and web coding.

My basic requirements are:
1 Tb SSD boot drive.
2 Spinning disk internal drives (2-4 Tb each).
Video card capable of driving 2 4-K monitors
Ample USB connections (Version 2 and 3). Also possibly USB-C.
2 Gb Network ports

I prefer a user accessible and upgradeable small tower (not an all in one unit).

Recommendations. Price is not the target here; useability is. In any event it will be less than a new MacProl, should apple ever decide to release on.

Note: I had considered the latest 27" iMac, however I have this fantastic NEC Multisync PA 322 UHD monitor that I want to continue to use.

Please be succinct.

Kent111

If you know how i would build my own, buy a midtower case or a full one. A good motherboard intel or AMD, and cpu, and the power supply are key, that can run anything you throw at it, put whatever you want to add to it with room to spare.

BebuLamar

Get one of the HP Z840 workstation. You can have up to 44 cores.

JPL

You will probably get much better help from others here than from me, but MSI do have some powerful machines, maybe this one f.x. could fit your needs http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1311819-REG/msi_aegis_ti3_vr7re_sli_014us.html

MSI do have a range of powerful desktops to choose from, check their website for product info.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Consider a Apple 27" iMac with Retina 5K Display (Late 2015) for $2100

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1190439-REG/apple_mk482ll_a_27_imac_with_retina.html

Have one and love it. I switched from windows last year and never looked back

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Bob, that is a very good spec, perfectly reasonable, and you described the computer I just built for a friend for about $1900 based on an ASUS Z270 motherboard. It uses a Samsung 850 EVO m.2 SSD, but you could install a much faster 950 Pro NVMe board for 4x the performance but you'd add several hundred dollars to the price.

Asus Z270 ROG Maximum IX Hero LGA 1151 ATX with Intel i7-7700K $505
Fluid cooling for CPU, Corsair H100i $100
Diablotek EVO III ATX Mid Tower $45
Corsair CX850M power supply $90
Samsung 850 EVO M.2 1 TB SSD $350
WD RE or HGST Enterprise 4 TB $250
Asus GeForce GTX 1060 3GB Vram $215
G. Skill Ripjaws V Series DDR4-3333 2x16 gb for 32 gb ram $235
wireless keyboard and mouse $50
DVD burner $25
Wireless network adapter $30
Windows 7Pro or 10 Pro $100

Total $1,995

You can build this yourself for about 3 hours of assembly time, or pay someone at MicroCenter $150 to build it for you.

This system can accept up to 64 gb ram. ASUS has other very good motherboards with other features, including support for XEON cpus, which may be useful for Lightroom, but not necessarily for Photoshop.

If you are going to double up on the displays, and you want to take advantage of that nice wide gamut and color depth, I would substitute a 4gb Nivdia Quadro K2200 which will drive the display to 30 bit color with Photoshop.

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

I agree with the above. I just built a new Win 10 system with similar specs and I'll put it up against anything Apple has.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

I still have reservations of the ability to fully calibrate the Retina© display on the iMacs.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Excellent system suggestion(s). I would only upgrade the DVD to a BluRay/MDisk drive.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Why would he do that if he already stated he doesn't want Apple? You guys all seem to have a one track mind. . . SMH. . .

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

I too am am generally an Apple guy BUT I've pointed many folks to Xotic pc for a high performance pc package: http://www.xoticpc.com/g8-raptor-z270.html?startcustomization=1

Check out their other models as well. They know what they're doing and you can go right down your list with SSD and hard drives configure just the way you want.

BebuLamar

I don't think Mac display support hardware calibration.

dfrodin Loc: Colorado Springs, CO

You should also check out Alienware, handled by Dell if you don't want to build your own computer. Lots of options available.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You are correct. Software profiling only. Nothing wrong with that - most of the displays in production work this way.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

And their laptops can be configured to be as fast as most desktops for a very reasonable price. In particular, the Sager laptops are great values with lots of options, including 64 gb motherboards, space for 4 drives - (2)-m.2 and 2 2.5" drive bays - unlimited battery life - (with extra batteries), and discrete graphics cards with their own memory - all user accessible.