jimflow Loc: Chicago Area

I have a Nikon D750 & D7000 and shoot in RAW. I presently use my IMAC 27" with Aperture to edit and refine my photos (over 20,000). Apple is dropping its' support for Aperture with the next release in 2015.
I need to purchase a laptop in the next few weeks and this is my dilemma: Buy a Windows PC, convert all my photos, and work with Lightroom and Photoshop thus giving up on my IMac, or
Purchase an Apple Laptop PC with retina display, and use Lightroom & Photoshop for the Mac thus using both the laptop and IMac 27".
The Mac will display my photos with the greatest clarity, but the Windows PC will give me more opportunity with photo add-ons, slideshow creativity, and other areas of interest.
Need your help in deciding.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

I also work on a 27" iMac. The idea of giving it up for any reason would be unacceptable to me.

Although Apeture will go unsupported down the road, your current version, nor the next release aren't going to become totally obsolete and quit working anytime soon. When Apeture eventually get to the point that it begins to be a problem, you can switch over to an Apple version of Lightroom for much less than what it will take to change hardware.

Will the laptop be your primary editing station? Are you comfortable switching everything over to a new operating system? Will not having that great 27 inch screen available for editing be just a trivial concern?

If it were me, I'd stick with a MacBook, continue to use Apeture until doing so becomes an annoyance, and then make a software change. Of course my iMac and I have a deep, longtime relationship, so I may be biased!

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

I also have a 27" iMac and my wife has a new Retina display Mac Book Pro. I use CS6 and she uses Aperture. I'm going to get her Lightroom and do the transfer from Aperture. I've also thought about a laptop and will probably get a Mac Book Air for easier portability. There are sufficient apps for slideshows, etc. so I personally don't feel that a PC would be preferable. I'd rather have seamless transfer of photos. Also, I use a PC with Windows 7 for work and the OSX operating system is so much better that I wouldn't want to ever change from an Apple environment.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

Lightroom has added iphoto & aperture import feature so you can import your iPhoto & aperture libraries into lightroom. I just did the update last night. Lightroom 5.7 is the update. I have lightroom and iPhoto on my iMac 27" and am happy with both.

cmc65

Ditto here, have the iMac 27" and never, never, would I go back to the windows platform. In fact when my husband retires he will loose his problem ridden pc (back to his employer) so I'm going to let him take this IMac and I will get the new one with the 5K screen. :P :P :P

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

I'm with you Buddy !!
They can take my mac and Aperture when I forget what to do with it. maybe ….

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

Not sure this is on topic or not, but my opinion regarding screen resolution and color depth might be misplaced. However, I would opt for a large or multiple screen display with HD over a small one with Ultra HD (4k/5k).

The reason I say this is because I have used both now, and I can't really see a clear advantage of the 4K model. Perhaps in TV viewing there is, but I think money is better spent on a very large or multiple display setup for image editing. Perhaps if you print your own work, it becomes more important? I don't know?

This hype of "Retina" display is all marketing. Dell and other MFGs make similar (if not better) LCD displays. Don't misunderstand, I think Apple offers an excellent product, but don't let the word "Retina display" sway your decision making. I agree that you should probably stay with the Apple platform, but for different reasons.

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

I'd stay mac...no way would I go back to a pc.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

I would stay with Mac too. So easy to use and play on. When my boys were small the school system was all Mac's. So we went with Mac. I could always keep them up and running. And now I use mine for PP in Aperture. Trying to learn LR.:)
Erv

jimflow Loc: Chicago Area

I didn't realize that Lightroom had a transfer routine for my Aperture photos. I am leaning toward staying with my Apple platform and going with the Lightroom-Photoshop monthly program.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

The transfer was just announced in the last 3 days.

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

It all comes down to your budget. PC will be just as functional (I've used both, been in IT since 1983 - supported many clients with either one, the other or both). The myths about stability and problems, and virus attacks is just that - myths. Macs have been attacked in recent months with Mac-specific viruses.

Performance for similarly configured systems will be similar. No magic here.

You can get 4K and 5K displays for PC/PC Laptop, if that is what you need. Or you can save that $$ and just get a pair of smaller 24" displays which might be more functional. Also, a laptop with 32 gb ram, .5T SSD boot drive AND a 1 TB system drive, and an NVida Quadro display card will cost less than $2000, and it can display up to 10 bit color on the appropriate monitor. You cannot do that on any Mac, since the Mac OS is limited to just 8 bit or sRGB color depth and space.

A Macbook Pro with comparable specs (sorta, since the MBP cannot accommodate more than one internal drive, and it doesn't support wide gamut display), will cost north of $3200. Comparing the two, you can get visibily superior image quality with a properly configured PC. With Mac, you really only have one choice - and that choice needs to work for video, gaming (which it really doesn't - gamers don't like Macs for a reason), photo editing, general automation etc etc. You can customize the PC for specific intent - with storage, display and ram with more options for a better result.

For me, those are the deal breakers for Mac.

There is zero that you can do on a Mac that you can't do just as well on a PC. Once you are in your application, its all the same. In the meantime you can use the $1200 savings to buy a new camera, lens, a weekend vacation, or whatever.

MTG44 Loc: Corryton, Tennessee

Stay with Mac

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Isn't it possible to connect the 27" display to the MacBook Pro? If not, then using a separate large monitor should work. If I were you, I'd stay with Apple.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

If you are used to MAC then MAC is "intuitve" for you. Stay with it. Personnally, I can't stand the way they work, but I have been using PCs since the mid 80's, so they are "intuitve" for me.