Moving to MAC?

Mint_Sauce

Mint_Sauce

Mint_Sauce

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After owning an iPhone and also realising I don't play any games on my PC anymore I was thinking a MAC might be better for me. I'm in Adobe products all day and although I like Vista there's also so much annoying stuff. The interface/file system is glitchy and non intuitive and OSX.... well, it looks lovely and if the iPhone is anything to go with then it will be smooooth.

What I want to know is, what mac will keep up with or hopefully exceed the performance of my PC (minus the games side which I'm not bothered about).

Current Spec:

Abit IP35 Pro
Q6600 @ 3.2
8gb Ram
Antec case
Perc 5/i Raid 5 card with 2TB capacity (5x500gb WD RE2 drives)
Lightscribe drive and DVD drive
Netgear Wireless card
Sound Blaster Extreme
BFG 8800GTX
Vista Home Premium
Videologic Sirocco Crossfire quad sound speaker setup.
27" primary monitor and 24" secondary (I seem to see you can use "normal" monitors on macs so wouldn't sell these if I can).

The new MAC will be used for intensive photography purposes, like working on multiple 22 mega pixel photos, stitching, Video editing, music, 3D Max etc

I am thinking of selling this machine and using the money to go over to MAC but only really if I can get enough for the base unit and not spend more than a few hundred quid on top.

What do you think? Is it do-able or wait till my next upgrade whenever that might be??

btw, I'm going to a mac shop later to have a hands on :D
 
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I think you would have to go for a Mac Pro.

Which are a hell of a lot of cash(i thinking of getting one) and by the looks of it , you would be looking at a lot more cash on top of your pc money(when sold)

For the 2 x 2.8ghz Quad processor, 2gb ram, its £1,700. You then have a Hdd etc to add to
 
Justin said:
Top spec iMac will be fine for that. (With plenty of RAM)
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I just come from a QX6700 @ 3.25 4GB Ram 2 x WD Raptors in RAID0 with 8800GTX and must say the iMac feels loads quicker in vista and OSX. Its nice and quiet too. Its also plays games great on the 8800GS

Oh yeh its the top spec iMac and i'm yet to up the RAM from 2GB to 4GB yet :eek:
 
Also, it's spelt Mac not MAC.

Unless you're on about media access control ;)
 
It would cost you a lot of money. If you want a RAID5 setup again, the Mac Pro RAID card is over £500 alone.

IMO it wouldn't be worth it unless you're determined to move to OS X for a good reason.
 
There are compatible RAID cards for the Mac Pro that are considerable less than the Apple stock RAID.

Search MacRumors Forums.. there's endless models of compatible ones if you're set on hardware RAID and RAID 5.
 
The iMac would be a nice machine for you, and if you feel a need for more power and want to buy a Mac Pro. Then the iMac should have a good resale value too :). But an iMac with 4GB of ram will be very fast under OSX, and will handle most apps with ease.
 
EVH said:
Also, it's spelt Mac not MAC.

Unless you're on about media access control ;)
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That was bugging me to!

wush said:
It would cost you a lot of money. If you want a RAID5 setup again, the Mac Pro RAID card is over £500 alone.

IMO it wouldn't be worth it unless you're determined to move to OS X for a good reason.
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Unless, of course, he doesn't really need all that stuff he has on his PC a 24" 3Ghz iMac would be up to the task or he can get a Mac Pro (should funds allow).

OS X is a better platform for media editing (IMNSHO, of course!)
 
LordSplodge said:
Unless, of course, he doesn't really need all that stuff he has on his PC a 24" 3Ghz iMac would be up to the task
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I assume having that RAID5 setup means storage capacity/speed/redundancy is important!
OS X is a better platform for media editing (IMNSHO, of course!)
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Undeniably, but how much £££ is the improvement worth?
 
wush said:
I assume having that RAID5 setup means storage capacity/speed/redundancy is important!
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Both by the looks of it. RAID5 2TB Array is quite a serious array for home use.

Undeniably, but how much £££ is the improvement worth?
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If he does this for a hobby then it probably isn't worth the cash, however if he does it for a living the increase in performance, reliability, workflow and the increased lifespan that would come with a Mac Pro would make it worth it.

Not my money though... :D
 
You could just have RAID 0+1?

1TB (Slice 1) + 1TB (Slice 2) in RAID 0 = 2TB

Then an identical 1TB pair mirroring the RAID 0.
 
I use it for my work. I am responsible for my clients photos and can't loose them. Raid 5 gives me great performance but also an added bit of protection. All my clients data is backed up over time but I do need to ensure it's safe at all times as much as possible.

Im not sure if Macs (ok, not MACS then :D ) are quicker with their file system or the way they access the data etc, so maybe a Raid setup won't be needed as much. I went with Raid 5 as the Dell Perc cards are relatively cheap and I do see a big performance increase in Lightroom and other hdd intensive apps.

As long as the performance is going to be similar (doesn't have to be spot on) I will be happy. Chewing through a thousand high resolution pictures or importing/exporting them is what can take time.
 
mosfet said:
Big external drive + Time Machine?
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No - time machine does delete information and you can't risk that.

An external RAID5 array with spotlight (and meta data) would be better.

It's possible to get external RAID5 arrays as NASs but the fact they're on a network is going to be slow compared to directly connecting via firewire for example.

Ideally you want a proper backup platform for it in addition to the RAID5.
 
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I have a 1TB NAS box (that's Raid 1) but currently only have a 54mbps wireless card which is BORINGLY slow for backups. I will no doubt upgrade to an N spec router (~300mbps) which would make things a bit nicer/nippier.
 
Top spec iMac + Drobo would do quite well.

Two things to remember: RAID is not a substitute for proper backups and RAID5 has rather poor write performance.

Work on photos on the iMac and store them on the Drobo for backup (as well as keeping an offsite copy, of course!)
 
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