Which iMac

sid-180

sid-180

sid-180

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6 Nov 2009
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As tittle looking at replacing my 4 year old iMac with a new one.

Only edit images in RAW.

So looking at either the 27inch standard 3.4ghz model or is it worth getting the 5k version??
 
Highest spec you can afford. Get RAM from 3rd party, make sure you get fusion or SSD and get the fastest GFX as Adobe have started to shift towards GFX processing.

Then...if you can afford the screen, do it.
 
5K version, I doubt. Don't get me wrong the screen is delicious but the standard screens on the iMacs are already stunning. :)
 
sid-180 said:
As tittle looking at replacing my 4 year old iMac with a new one.

Only edit images in RAW.

So looking at either the 27inch standard 3.4ghz model or is it worth getting the 5k version??
Click to expand...

Considering LR6 is just around the corner you want one with good openCL performance. Right now that is basically the m295x. The nvidia graphics in the standard imacs are nowhere near as good at openCL.

The 5K imac doesn't really perform that great in LR5. For when I need to make fast adjustments I open lightroom in low res mode (2560*1440). This will give you the same visual quality of the images as a standard 27" imac. The problem with this though is that once you get used to 5k, 2560*1440 looks blurry in comparison. It actually strains my eyes because everything else on the screen (icons etc) is so much sharper, my eyes seem to think they haven't focused correctly when looking at the image, or the image looks out of focus.
This is not an effect of interpolation either. the 5K imac has no interpolation issues at 2560*1400 as the res scales perfectly. I even viewed the same image side by side. One image on the imac, another on a thunderbolt display at native res. They looked exactly the same.
It is a similar experience as when I looked at a Playstation 1 game after having got used to Playstation 2 graphics.

In LR6, the 5k imac should fly with the m295x and the graphics card is well suited to Opencl, so that's what I would get. The i5 CPU performs well in LR, but I would still be tempted to get an i7.
 
Is Lightroom really that bad with the 5K iMac? I've been thinking of getting one since Christmas after I took my first dive into the Mac with a Macbook Pro which I love.

How does it perform in Photoshop as a comparison?

I haven't purchased one yet as I was still undecided between that and the Mac Pro, and also I hoped that apple would announce a replacement for the Thunderbolt Display.
 
LR5 works perfectly well on my i5 5K iMac, much better than my 2011 i5 iMac. The screen is simply stunning, the fusion drive loads everything very quickly, and RAM upgrades are surely the simplest they've ever been on an iMac - two minute job, quite literally. I think you'd be crazy to opt for a non 5K iMac if you're into photography. The old 27" iMac screen, that used to look so good, looks blurry and dated side by side. And yes, I have run them side by side to test ;)

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16 gb RAM works fine for me for Lightroom, but I haven't put any serious video editing through it yet.
 
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