photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

I've been blown away by the 1Mac 27 inch 5k display. I've been waiting until Black Friday to order one but today, while searching online for the best deal, I discovered that too many reviews say that photo processing is glacially slow. Other reviews mention quick speeds. Now I'm uncertain if this computer is a wise choice.

To those of you Hogs that have an iMac 27" 5k that you use for post processing, Please share your experience with me.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I don’t own that particular machine, but I can tell you that speed will largely be determined by 4 factors: CPU speed, Memory (DRAM), graphics (GPU and VRAM) and disk. That means that you need to choose an I-7 or I-9 CPU (instead of the I-5), opt for 16GB (minimum) or 32GB (better) DRAM (order the minimum from Apple, buy an upgrade from OWC, and save hundreds), and forget the “fusion” drive and instead opt for SSD. If you can’t afford the largest SSD, pick a 500 GB SSD and buy a thunderbolt connected external for photo storage. 4GB VRAM is enough for still photography, but if you do video, consider the 8GB graphics.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Good advice.

The use of an SSD boot drive will ensure rapid response. 16GB RAM reduces memory paging to and from the hard drive. Together, those reduce the bottleneck of I/O.

pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

I have the iMac 27 inch with a 2 tb ssd, 64g ram and the i9 processor and the included 4gb video ram. The machine is screaming fast. I use a 4tb external ssd for the Time Machine backup and another 8tb for photos connected to the usb C port. Is it expensive? Why yes, at over $7000 it cramped the budget, but I got really fed up with the Microsoft software and having to buy a new machine ever couple years so I took the plunge. This computer should last me a very long time.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yes, it should last a while!

I've used Macs and PCs since the mid-1980s. Apple gear isn't perfect, but it does tend to last. PCs are a mixed bag... Some die young, others last over five years. My personal experience with Macs:

(2) Mac SE — 8 years (retired)
PowerBook 500 — 6 years (retired)
PowerBook G3 — 6 years (retired)
PowerBook G4 — 7 years (retired)
Power Mac G4 — 17 years (retired, but still works)
Power Mac G5 — 8 years (processor melted the motherboard)
MacBook Pro (Early 2008) — 4 years (retired)
Mac Mini (Mid 2010) — still running on High Sierra as a media server
Two MacBook Pros (Mid 2012) Updated with max RAM and 1TB SSD in 2019, still going strong
iMac 21.5" Late 2013 — Updated with max RAM and max SSD in 2018, still going strong (Yes, that model can be upgraded with help from OWC or iFixIt.com. It's a delicate, detailed job, but I did it.)

I had the most trouble with the old PowerBooks, the MBP 2008, and the G5 Power Mac. If you buy a MacBook Pro, get AppleCare. Before you buy ANY Mac, check OWC's site to see what parts of it you can upgrade. Some recent models — especially MacBook Pros and some 21.5" iMacs — have soldered RAM and drives. So consider that when choosing your options on Apple's website.

When you buy add-in RAM, be sure all RAM sticks match (brand, revision, type, size, speed, batch...), or you risk timing issues. I like Kingston, Crucial, and OWC RAM. OWC will buy back your used RAM modules.

My iMac was randomly glitchy with the original hard drive. With the SSD, it only acts weird after a momentary power failure. A shutdown and restart cures that. With the 2TB SSD and 16GB RAM. the fan only comes on when I'm rendering video or doing a large batch of still image exports from Lightroom.

happy sailor Loc: Ontario, Canada

I have two, 2015 models. The photo processing is fine. My only complaint is the fusion drives, buy one with an ssd and you will have no problems at all with speed.

Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

The fusion drives were nice ... up to a point.
Dong "normal" stuff- browsing, writing, viewing movies and clips- they worked well.
The two problems- once you exceeded the buffer chip, it was back to that 5400 rpm hard drive.
Doing ONE photo- a breeze. Batch a hundred or so- Bog city.
Max the ram and install a SSD while you're in there.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Yep, I echo the same! Btw - I process with a 27” 5k iMac, i5 quad processor, 32 GB ram, 2 GB video card, external Thunderbolt SSD, it is no slouch, but depending on the processing might seem to have delays at time, particularly with some new A.I. software, but I would not describe it as too slow.

Get the most video ram you can though, especially if planning on adding a second monitor at sometime.

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

My 27" iMac i7 is 10 years old. It still works great. But it's finally time to upgrade. This is my 3rd Mac in 26 years. I'm thinking about a Mac Pro but haven't begun to shop around yet.

johnst1001a Loc: West Chester, Ohio

i have the 27, 16 RAm but not an ssd. woek fast enough for me unless I use topaz gigip ixel. a bit slow on panos but acceptable

CaptainBobBrown

My new iMAC 5k 27" (early 2019 model) w/128 gig RAM and 1 TB fusion drive is considerably faster than my previous 6 year old iMac 27" doing post processing with the same software (Photo Raw 2020) so I'm happy with it. A side by side comparison also shows better detail definition with the 5K display.

cochese

And a pc with 3x the specs is 1/2 the price.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

The iMac PRO is a GREAT choice for PP, IMHO. It's what I use. Best of luck.

Rathyatra Loc: Southport, United Kingdom

I have the late 2014 version of this imac - the graphics are brilliant and no problem with photo processing - the only time it partially hangs is when I use a plugin of certain editors OnOne photo as an instance - again only on specific images - depending on complexity and level of processing.

I would highly recommend this computer - BTW I have 28gb of RAM which certainly makes a difference,.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Thanks. I plan on buying a maxed out a new 16 inch MacBook Pro in the middle of January.