burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Your best bet for an optical drive is now an external, NON-Apple Blu-Ray and M-DISC burner. About $130 for the better ones, but they burn everything, especially if you add Roxio Toast software. The M-DISC format is "archival", estimated to last 1000 years, as opposed to regular discs, which might fail in a decade or less.

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

I have one and it is a great computer. Mine has 32Gb of RAC and a 2 Tb SSD drive. Not sluggish in Photoshop editing at all. Highly recommend it. You'll love the 5K Retina Display!

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I would also endorse the 27" Retina 5k screen. I would get at least 16GB of ram and a 1TB SSD. If you do a bit of Lr work I would look into the iMac Pro. The base model, at only $5k would be fine and is what I just bought. I have a LaCie 2Big 16TB Thunderbolt 3, RAID 1, drive attached for EVERYTHING except application software. (My Lr Catalogue and current photos are all on this device). Backups and everything else, reside on Synology NAS servers. Backups are also off-site. About $ 6k in total, then add another $1,200 for an additional LG, iMac Pro specific specific, 5k monitor. Pair down from that as needed to meet your budget. Understand that I am a pro that uses Lr Classic every day. Best of luck.

tomcat

Congratulations on your decision. As others have said, definitely get the 27" screen. I did back in 2011 and at that time, it seemed gargantuan. However, I have grown so accustomed to it, that the other smaller screens seem like toys. Nothing less than the SSD drive so that will make LR sing. You'll be surprised at how fast the machine can process LR commands. Since you'll be using this for a few years, max out everything. Barclays has an 18 month repay plan, so you can enjoy your treasure. I'll be in line right behind you for a Christmas present. I'm going to give this one to my son.

tinplater Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

Thanks to all who are helping me here. Here are some thoughts of a friend who is computer savvy...appreciate comments:

Take a look at the attached. The configuration is on the higher end of middle. Here’s my reasoning:
1) 27” screen… just a much better experience and the 5k will serve you a few years out.
2) 8GB of video memory for better image and video editing
3) 32GM memory… you can never have too much memory, but I think after 32 you won’t notice a difference with what you’ll be doing.
4) 2TB Fusion Drive… I might have even gone down to 1TB, but it wasn’t an option. Fusion drive should be plenty fast… SSD would be overkill.

Floyd Loc: Misplaced Texan in Florence, Alabama

Recently purchased a refurb by Apple from their web site for nearly $500 less than for new. All goodies I wanted with 1 yr. guarantee and 3 yrs additional for $300. Purchased a R/W CD drive (USB attach) for under $50. Bought the 21 inch 'cause can only see so much at a time. 16GB ram and 1.03TB Fusion drive.
This came with High Sierra and have experienced no problems. A couple of question arose due to my ignorance and Apple Support answered quickly.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

Bill,

I think for an amateur photographer's needs, he could save a lot of money by ordering an iMac with a 1TB SSD, if that is still possible. When I bought mine last month the 2Tb SSD was a $600 option on my top of the line i7 iMac. I bought the 1Tb SSD option. The reason I suggest the smaller SSD is because, unless he has an awful number of programs on his internal drive, he can save money by buying an SSD that is big enough for the OS, program files and files for working data that can be transferred to cheap external drives for both primary storage and backup. Less less than 1/2Tb of my SSD is holding all my programs, including Adobe Programs, and large (40Mb each) current working RAW, TIFF and JEPF files. The remaining 1/2Tb should be sufficient for another ten years (if I am still around).

I just looked on the Apple website and they now only show a 2Tb Fusion as standard, a 3Tb Fusion as a $100 upgrade and only a 1/2Tb SSD as a $200 upgrade on the top model only. The other two lower models do not now show any SSD options; only Fusion drives. They did last month. I wonder what is going on.

RickTaylor

IMAC PRO in its base configuration is outstanding. have been using for about a year with light room and photoshop and it is fast. Color on monitor is true to print. Brightness set on third stop from dimmest setting.

tinplater Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

Again thanks to all the help...I would love to get the pro but it has been a struggle to get the CFO (my wife) to deal with approximately 2.5K. For those who suggest a PC...that isn't going to happen. I got on board with Lisa, then the very first Macintosh, and had real struggles with Windows in various forms over the years.

RickTaylor

Try roses! LOL

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

They want you to buy an iMac Pro to get SSD options. Call OWC... even if you pay for installation, it’s less costly to buy SSDs and RAM from third parties.

Of course, you can go all outboard with file storage these days, and not sacrifice speed, via Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 Gen 2 connections.

tinplater Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

I suspect I will replace my 1TB Seagate drive I use almost exclusively for Lightroom files. I have a 3TB that I use for back up and I can see no reason to replace that?

Psoohoo

I was in exactly the same position last year I got an iMac pro. The best part other than it being faster I was able to reuse my old 27” iMac as a secondary screen rather than tossing or recycling it. Don”t know if Apple fixed their documentation but it is flat out wrong. Took a bit of experimenting to get this to work but well worth the effort.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

You are SERIOUSLY underestimating the value of an SSD. I'd suggest the 1TB version. Best of luck.

billmck Loc: Central KY

I also bought the 21.5” iMac earlier this year, planning to increase the memory myself. I found you could do that on the 27” iMacs, but on the 21.5” iMacs. I returned mine for full credit via Apple’s 14-dayreturn policy and ordered the 21.5” iMac with 32 GB already installed. It wasn’t cheap and took a couple of weeks to get it, but I have no regrets.