xt2 Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Not so good for L4 with only 4 or 8 GB...I use an iMac with 6 GB, it is quick.

Cheers!

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

I have a 2009 macbook pro. I have no problem PP my 24MP images using Apple Photos program. If you are tight for funds, you may consider using the onboard photo processing by Apple.

Hsch39 Loc: Northbrook, Illinois

I had my 2013 21" iMac upgraded to 16GB and a 1TB SSD installed. I would not recommend it as
a DIY project. I paid about $450.00. Big improvement.

EriePA

I have the same iMac that you have. It had slowed to a crawl even after using every trick available. Then I added an external Seagate USB 3.0 Solid State Drive and moved my operating system (still High Sierra), files and application on to it. The iMac is now extremely fast!! I run Photoshop Elements 2020 for my photo processing it it works great. I did the same with my wife’s vintage 2008 iMac with similar results. A new iMac is not needed unless you want the latest 27 inch model.

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

That’s a great article. Thanks!

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

You're welcome - I'm investigating building a new machine and running Linux - getting so tired of the constant updates and issues with Win10...

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

The problem with that is the I am has little upgrade ability. You can still upgrade ram but not the internal SSD as it is soldered to the board. And with the new T2? Security chip I've read you can not run the root drive off an external drive. Lastly, Apple will probably announce the new AMR laptops and hopefully the new AMR IMAC next week. I'd hold off. They will be faster, run cooler and may cost less.

marty wild Loc: England

Hold it there tiger slap in a ssd drive it will speed it x6

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Good article but 100% PC biased and does nothing to answer the original question which was about an Apple solution.

tovie

You should check out the Apple web site for refurb'd iMacs.
Also, an Apple reseller I have found to be very satisfactory is Small Dog Electronics, https://shop.smalldog.com.

Webguydave Loc: C'ville, Va.

Lotsa good advice from all points around the compass, but....if you need a faster, more capable machine, buy ( or build) new. Period.
Hardware ages ( grows obsolete) faster than we wish; years fly by and slowly software performance takes a hit, or worse, isn't operable with the latest OS...and that goes for hardware as well ( video cards and external HD cards/interfaces come to mind). So with a used machine, you'll simply get to that point sooner than later.
If $$ is a problem, Apple offers time payments; I'm sure some vendors on the PC side do the same.
I've been down this road before, having been a pShop / Illustrator / Quark user from the very early '90's....(pshop came on a bundle of 3.5" disks, with written documentation!)
Just my .02

Dave in Cville, VA

HawaiianEye Loc: Haleiwa, Hawaii

The 13" 2012 MBP is the last MBP that is easy to upgrade RAM - to 16GB and to R&R the HDD with an SSD. With the latter be especially careful with the ribbon cable. It is easily damaged though a replacement is available, probably from iFixit.com's store. How to do it w/pics available @ iFixit.com. I've done several and their owners have been very happy. The i5 isn't the snappiest, but you'll be happy with more RAM and an SSD which can be done for <$200 if you DIY.

Plug a large 27" or 32" monitor using a DVI connection - better than HDMI IMO, and you'll still have $2K in your bank account.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Better to use it for a second screen than leave it boxed, that's what I did with mine.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Im running a mid 2011 27 inch iMac so I feel your pain even more. It has been a great machine for because - it was upgradeable. I have 32 GB of Ram and I run my apps off an EXTERNAL SSD. I replaced the HD with a 4TB version. Then I have a numbe of external drives attached for Time Machine and CCC backups.

But now many apps will not even install on this under High Sierra which is the last OS it will run. I can't install the latest versions of PS or Lightroom even though the machine meets its criteria. I believe the difference is the ML Graphics added in the late 2011 iMac.

So what I would do if I was you. Ideally, I'd say buy an external thunderbolt (1) hard drive and move your apps there, increase your ram which is easy on your mac by opening the door at the back where there are 2 slots. If you have 8 GB now you have 2 - 4GB. You can buy 16GB and have either 20 or 32. Your machine can install up to Catalina if I remember correctly so you are set EXCEPT you will not be able to find an external Thunderbolt drive as thunderbolt 1 drives have just plain disappeared. So you will have to open up the imac which starting with the late 2011 imac is a real mess as others have said. The thinner model glues the monitor to the computer and it is a bitch to open (look at fixit videos to see). There will not be a Plce slot in your computer so you will need to get a sata SSD (still available). I believe this is only 1 SATA port so you will need to attach an external drive for storage. Your mac has USB1, Thunderbolt1 and hopefully a Firewire port because you can't find the thunderbolt and the usb is slow and you might be able to find a firewire drive.

Or when I buy my new one you can buy my drives!

HawaiianEye Loc: Haleiwa, Hawaii

Uh, the OP has a 2012 MBPro, i5, not an iMac. But you're right about the 2011 iMac. The 2012 27" i7 was a disappointment too. Had one that died of major complications that even Apple's Genii couldn't puzzle out.