"Obsolete" iMac negates new features in Lightroom (Page 2): If you are going to use the new machine as both a laptop and desktop, you would probably be better off with as much internal...

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

jcboy3 wrote:

It is an Apple product. It connects via USB-C/Thunderbolt and adds 3 USB-C expansion ports.

There are cheaper third party monitors, some mentioned by others in this post.

I do recommend upgrading storage to at least 1TB. I prefer more, and have 2TB on my desktop, but only 1TB on my laptop.

If you are going to use the new machine as both a laptop and desktop, you would probably be better off with as much internal storage as you can afford. If it's just a desktop you can use external drives conveniently. If all your photo stuff is on an external drive it makes it awkward to do any editing in the field. External drives are an affordable way to get lots of storage for your computer. They're just less convenient to carry around with the computer. Not to mention that a loose drive, connected only by a cable, is more susceptible to damage by falling off your desk while the drive is running. On a desktop, you can use a long enough cable to place the external drive on the floor where it can't fall.

With the Apple Silicon machines, internal storage is all SSD, which has a speed advantage. That advantage is very useful for programs, but not really as necessary for data.

MJPerini

You Can have your cake and eat it too
Upgrade the laptop and add and external display for when you are home, and you still have the laptop for when you travel.
However I wouldn't do it all at once, because if you buy the 16"MBP, the screen is crazy good. You may decide you do not need the larger screen. If you DO want it, trying some in a store might be a good Idea. There is likely to be a resolution mismatch (most times the 16"MBP will have greater resolution) so you will need a higher end external display to match or do better.
There is also the Mac Mini or Studio option

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Your best value would be a Mac Mini with at least 16GB and 1TB or more of SSD. Get a good quality 2k monitor and calibrate it. For the price a m2 or m3 chip will last you for another 10 years.

I have a M1 Mac Mini with 16GB and 500GB SSD and it runs every photographic and video app without any issues including having Photoshop, Camera Raw, On1 and Topaz Studio 2 open working on same image.

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

jdub82 wrote:

My preference leans strongly toward the convenienc... (show quote)

Yes, the MacBook has better specs. Thank you. I was already leaning that way.

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

jaymatt wrote:

May I make another suggestion?

I had the same problem and, after some research, purchased a Mac Studio Cube, configured to my specifications, and a 27" BenQ monitor. The old Mac keyboard and mouse work just fine with the new setup. Go to the Mac website and give the Studio setup a look. What I like best about it is that I had it built with the ram, memory, etc. installed as I wanted it. A custom setup, so to speak.

I was looking at the Studio Display and the choices are standard glass or nano-texture glass. My wireless keyboard and mouse work just fine and I prefer using a mouse to the trackpad, although when major editing is required on PS, I use my Wacom tablet. I didn't see a Mac Studio Cube on their website.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

GrandmaG wrote:

I was looking at the Studio Display and the choices are standard glass or nano-texture glass. My wireless keyboard and mouse work just fine and I prefer using a mouse to the trackpad, although when major editing is required on PS, I use my Wacom tablet. I didn't see a Mac Studio Cube on their website.

The Mac Studio is the name. No 'cube' about it.

The Studio Display is gorgeous, but pricey. It *almost* has the guts of a computer inside it. There are third party alternatives that are similar, but less costly.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

GrandmaG wrote:

My iMac is late 2014 and will not update past Big ... (show quote)

I just got your first choice... iMac 24". but only 16 GB and 512 SSD. I am a single user and it is QUICK ! I cancelled LR/PS and now use ON1 Photo RAW 2024... I am totally satisfied with EVERYTHING ! Numeric keyboard is nice and Ethernet port is great also... If you feel like you really need more unified memory, go for it as you will not have a second chance...

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

MrBob wrote:

I just got your first choice... iMac 24". but only 16 GB and 512 SSD. I am a single user and it is QUICK ! I cancelled LR/Ps and now use ON1 Photo RAW 2024... I am totally satisfied with EVERYTHING ! Numeric keyboard inside and Ethernet port is great also...

There are tons of great options for external storage. You might want to check out the MaxTech YouTube channel for information on custom building a super fast SSD at a great price.

jcboy3

GrandmaG wrote:

I was looking at the Studio Display and the choices are standard glass or nano-texture glass. My wireless keyboard and mouse work just fine and I prefer using a mouse to the trackpad, although when major editing is required on PS, I use my Wacom tablet. I didn't see a Mac Studio Cube on their website.

The nano-texture glass is a matte finish, great for reducing reflections, but it impacts contrast and color accuracy. If you work in an area where you have light sources behind you that will reflect, then I would get the nano-texture glass. I do not have any light sources behind me, so I have nothing reflecting, and thus I bought mine with standard glass.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

burkphoto wrote:

There are tons of great options for external storage. You might want to check out the MaxTech YouTube channel for information on custom building a super fast SSD at a great price.

Thanks Bill... I did get a 2 TB WD for Appletime just to be initially covered... but I would like to explore the possibilities. Thanks for info.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

coolhanduke wrote:

I would go with the MacBook Pro 16”.

I just bought one recently and I like the portability.

Why have 2 units?

Unfortunately for me, mine is an M2 chip and they came out with the M 3 like 2 weeks later.

Honestly Duke, my wife has an M2 and I have an M3 and as single users we cannot tell ANY difference in speed for what we do... A couple windows open and doing single tasks, I don't notice any change. I am sure the newer silicon will do lots more and more efficiently but question whether an avg. user really needs it....

quigsby

For me it's about real-estate, both machines are closely speced. So for me I'll take the big screen. That's just me.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

MrBob wrote:

Honestly Duke, my wife has an M2 and I have an M3 and as single users we cannot tell ANY difference in speed for what we do... A couple windows open and doing single tasks, I don't notice any change. I am sure the newer silicon will do lots more and more efficiently but question whether an avg. user really needs it....

Unless you work with huge files, render complex video or very large images, or do multi-track recordings of large orchestras with a microphone on every instrument, the more advanced chips are not really necessary. Most casual users are fine with M1, M2, or M3 models. Don't starve them for memory or storage, though. MacOS is noticeably smoother with 16GB memory and 1TB storage.

If you bought a base model, and find that it slows down or chokes on multiple applications, close all but the one you're using. Performance should improve. However, 8GB is an unrealistically small amount of memory for heavy lifting in Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, Blender, Mathematica, and other high end applications. By heavy lifting, I mean working with very large or complex files with lots of layers, effects, and components that require rendering.

Try to keep at least a third of your storage empty, too, so that the operating system can do virtual memory paging when you fill up the memory with lots of open applications. The less memory you have, the more important this is.

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

neillaubenthal wrote:

Either of those will be fine…RAM isn’t a big issue for either with Apple’s silicon chips…well, it is but not as much as it used to be with Intel chips. Either screen is fine…so your choice really comes down to whether you want a laptop or desktop. 16GB is plenty for LR…but generally speaking the current iMac is less fully featured. If it were me…I would get the laptop and an external 4K or 5K monitor for home use and not worry about keeping up 2 computers…unless you have other reasons for having both. I need a machine that is always on at home for file sharing, printer hosting, scanner hosting, and laptop backups over wifi…so I wanted and can afford both the Mac Studio and its display in the office and a 14 MBP for daily use and travel but using LrC on the smaller display of any laptop is a pain and ypu don’t want to do it full time. In your case…particularly if you take it out of the house…I would suggest the 14 MBP instead and a 27 inch monitor. Apple’s Studio display is nice…but there are plenty of very nice displays like the LG for less money, and the 14 is cheaper than the 16 laptop to partially offset the extra monitor cost. If I didn’t need a ‘server’ at home that’s the way I would go myself.

After size…then pick the chipset you need…I would suggest the M3 Pro over the vanilla M3 for longevity reasons…but getting the Max or eventual Ultra version is way overkill unless you’re. Pro or are seriously interested in lengthy videos…and even the base M anything is vastly faster than any of the Intel Mac hardware. RAM…16 is fine for LrC but I personally would get 24 for future proofing reasons…and get as much storage as you can afford because it’s fixed. I have the M1 Pro 14 MBP and it runs LrC just fine…and really, even an M1 base would be plenty fine for any non pro use.

If I were doing this clean slate from scratch…I would get the 14 M3 Pro MBP…the 11/14 core will actually be fine but the 12/18 will be (maybe) marginally faster but would give (maybe) 1-2 more years on future proofing. I would get 36GB RAM for future proofing, but again the 18 will be more than enough unless you do pro or video work which doesn’t sound like the case. 2 TB storage but if budget is a problem 1 is enough…but depending on the size of your catalog and originals it might not be enough for everything. I personally would put my catalog and images on either a 4TB internal or external SSD and when space became an issue would move older year images to another drive in LrC and keep catalog, current year images, and Smart Previews of all images on the internal or external SSD. Since I have need for a home server…I would get the lowest end Mac Mini for that and run it headless in the closet with big drives hanging off of it…and use Screens to control it remotely when needed, but would keep it close enough to the big display to run a cable to it when occasionally needed.

Either of those will be fine…RAM isn’t a big issue... (show quote)

I went to the Apple store to look at the choices and the salesman didn't even suggest a separate monitor. My current MBP is 15.4 inches and the 14” was really small to me. However, that's a mute point if I added a studio display. Both of my computers have 1TB internal storage and they are over half full, so 2 TB is probably a good idea. I keep my catalog, pictures and personal documents and spreadsheets on several external drives. I'm not a professional photographer but I do all the school pictures, senior pictures, and special events for the family and I have 42 grandchildren, so that's a lot of pictures!! Plus, they are large files since I use a Sony a7R4 full-frame camera with 61 mp resolution. My peripherals almost all have USB connections, not Thunderbolt 4 or USB 3, so the number of ports and available “dongles” is important to me. It's $700 more between the 14 and 16-inch MBP with the same specs,$200 less if I don't upgrade the M3 Pro chip on the 14-inch. I will definitely buy a new MBP with 36GB RAM and a 2 TB SSD. I just have to decide on the size. I'm leaning towards the 16-inch. Thank you for your advice!

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

burkphoto wrote:

img src="https://static.uglyhedgehog.com/images/s... (show quote)

My current MBP has a 1 TB SSD that is over half full so I think the new MBP should have a 2 TB SSD. I store my LR catalog and pictures on an external SSD. I think 16 GB Unified memory is enough for now, but more may be needed in the future and I can't add it later. Thank you!