Just did my first big paid shoot, buying a new computer...

I just made out at around $2500 (before print and shipping costs) for my last shoot and I'm finally going to upgrade my computer with the proceeds!

I've been editing on a 2006 Macbook 13" for... well, since I got it! It's never been a huge issue for me unitl the past 6 months or so and especially now that I'm doing paid work, I really need to get a larger, calibrated monitor. My Macbook is also exceptionally slow when editing photos... mine is a 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4 GB DDR2 RAM. It's also a huge inconvenience that Lightroom 5 isn't even supported on my macbook

I know I can get a PC with much nicer specs for cheaper than a mac and blah, blah, blah... but I'm really skeptical on going that route. I used PC's in the past and had nothing but bad experiences on them, the macbook however, has been nothing but a pleasure (actually, the shoddy charge cable annoyed me, other than that though, it's been great).

I'm leaning toward picking up a mac-mini and finding a nice monitor to go with it. My question is, will the basic Mac-Mini be enough for editing in LR and the occasional video or PS tweak? 95% of what I do on my Macbook is LR editing or internet browsing (the later will still be done on it after I have a desktop), so I'm figuring just the basic Mac-Mini should be fine, but I'm wondering if anyone thinks the quad core version is worth the extra pennies just for photo editing? Or should I go with an iMac? Or does someone have an incredibly strong argument for why I should switch to PC (it's really going to take a lot to convince me)?

I'm pretty novice when it comes to computers, I know roughly what things are for and I'm pretty sure I'd want the fusion drive for whichever one I get and I'd definitely upgrade the RAM myself (did it on my macbook, I imagine it's not much harder on the Mini), but aside from that I'm sort of in the dark. I could also use advice on a monitor, anything between 20" and 30" should be plenty for me. I've been browsing a lot of IPS monitors on Amazon and there are so many to choose from, some with much higher resolution and the same cost... the last monitor I bought was my 51" Samsung Plasma (which is great!), but I feel like the specs on a TV are much different from the ones I should look for on a monitor, especially since video isn't a priority.

Thank you so much for any and all advice!

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #16666913
My question is, will the basic Mac-Mini be enough for editing in LR and the occasional video or PS tweak?

Yes, the i7 Mac Mini is plenty. I use one and edit 5Dii files (24 mb) and Sigma Merrill files (52 mb) in real-time with Aperture. Get 16 gb of RAM from OWC or elsewhere and you should be in good shape. Fusion drive is nice, too.

Tony-S wrote in post #16666998
Yes, the i7 Mac Mini is plenty. I use one and edit 5Dii files (24 mb) and Sigma Merrill files (52 mb) in real-time with Aperture. Get 16 gb of RAM from OWC or elsewhere and you should be in good shape. Fusion drive is nice, too.

Awesome, thanks man! I'll look into it a little more.

I am also considering a mini but heard rumor of an updated model next month. Haswell chip in other updated Macs is a big upgrade from Ivy Bridge in the current mac mini. Either way get quad core processor and 16 GB of memory.

Congrats on your first paying gig!

jlf_200290717 wrote in post #16669813
I am also considering a mini but heard rumor of an updated model next month. Haswell chip in other updated Macs is a big upgrade from Ivy Bridge in the current mac mini. Either way get quad core processor and 16 GB of memory.

Interesting, thanks for the heads up! I probably have to wait anyway unfortunately, I'm still taking orders for print packages so I can't cash the final check until it's done on the 17th.

karobinson wrote in post #16669842
Congrats on your first paying gig!

Thanks! Not technically my first paid gig, but my other ones netted significantly less

I'm just anxious to get my hands on a new computer finally! This old mac is showing it's age... still though, all the PC's I had before this would've been lucky to make it 2 years, this thing is going on 8 and still works the same as it did new (doesn't look at all new though lol), it's just too darn slow for what I do with it.

I might pick up a monitor first and connect it to my Macbook to edit the shots from this shoot. The last shoot I did the prints didn't match up perfectly with how they looked on my screen. They still looked great thankfully, but it got me pretty paranoid about what other fallacies my display is showing...

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #16669943
Interesting, thanks for the heads up! I probably have to wait anyway unfortunately, I'm still taking orders for print packages so I can't cash the final check until it's done on the 17th.

Thanks! Not technically my first paid gig, but my other ones netted significantly less

I'm just anxious to get my hands on a new computer finally! This old mac is showing it's age... still though, all the PC's I had before this would've been lucky to make it 2 years, this thing is going on 8 and still works the same as it did new (doesn't look at all new though lol), it's just too darn slow for what I do with it.

I might pick up a monitor first and connect it to my Macbook to edit the shots from this shoot. The last shoot I did the prints didn't match up perfectly with how they looked on my screen. They still looked great thankfully, but it got me pretty paranoid about what other fallacies my display is showing...

That has nothing to do with it being a Mac vs. PC, though.
It has to do with previous generations of computers doubling in speed so rapidly (Moore's Law); think how fast we jumped from PII's to P4's (in <4 years).
While transistor count still increases, relative speed/performance doesn't; my 4-1/2 year old PC is still very fast.

Gains will come slower and slower over the next 5 years.

Check macrumors.com for their buyers guide. There will be a new mini soon... and there will probably be new monitors as well. It would be smart to wait a bit.

The iMac would be great as well, but some will complain about lack of correct sRGB color. It depends on how much of a color peeper you are. If you are not shooting for four color print it probably will never matter... and even if you were any additional color corrections could be taken care of on press.

1Tanker wrote in post #16669978
That has nothing to do with it being a Mac vs. PC, though.
It has to do with previous generations of computers doubling in speed so rapidly (Moore's Law); think how fast we jumped from PII's to P4's (in <4 years).
While transistor count still increases, relative speed/performance doesn't; my 4-1/2 year old PC is still very fast.

Gains will come slower and slower over the next 5 years.

I'm sure that's true, and I've heard that PC's are much more pleasing to work with these days. I couldn't stand all the constant virus scanning and other junk like that on my PC's. When I first switched to Mac it took me a while to get used to the new system, but now that I am PC's feel incredibly foreign to me... I'll probably stick with a Mac based on that alone.

FarmerTed1971 wrote in post #16670000
Check macrumors.com for their buyers guide. There will be a new mini soon... and there will probably be new monitors as well. It would be smart to wait a bit.

The iMac would be great as well, but some will complain about lack of correct sRGB color. It depends on how much of a color peeper you are. If you are not shooting for four color print it probably will never matter... and even if you were any additional color corrections could be taken care of on press.

Thanks for the advice! I'll probably do that then... wait I mean. As for the monitor, I'm not buying a Apple monitor anyway, probably going with an Asus. I bought my GF an Asus tablet last Christmas and the screen on that thing is gorgeous, they're displays get reviews to reflect it. I also love that they come pre-calibrated for sRGB, and I can't argue with the pricing. The only thing I have left to decide on that front is what resolution I want... have to decide whether the 4k resolution is worth double the price.

I get all my prints done through my Smugmug right now, I'd like to have my shots as close to what I'm seeing on my screen as possible.

Yeah, i wasn't suggesting that one is better than another... although i prefer one over the other. It just seemed like you were saying that Windows machines don't stay as fast as Macs, over the years.

1Tanker wrote in post #16670041
Yeah, i wasn't suggesting that one is better than another... although i prefer one over the other. It just seemed like you were saying that Windows machines don't stay as fast as Macs, over the years.

I meant more in terms of reliability, but I'm sure the PC's of now are more reliable than they used to be as well. All I know is during the time I've had my macbook, two of my best friends have gone through multiple Windows based laptops. One of my friends gave up after his third and bought a tablet and still thinks I'm nuts for buying Mac's

To each their own, I most definitely get the arguments against Apple. I use an android phone and loathe iTunes, but I really like my Macbook

Did you issues start after you got the 6D?

For LR, what I read is that this is heavily CPU intensive. So, since the bulk of your editing is in LR, it goes to follow that a better CPU will be better for your longterm needs (since you get paid and don't change computers very often).

If you can wait, then an updated mac mini will be a real treat.

flickserve wrote in post #16670081
Did you issues start after you got the 6D?

For LR, what I read is that this is heavily CPU intensive. So, since the bulk of your editing is in LR, it goes to follow that a better CPU will be better for your longterm needs (since you get paid and don't change computers very often).

If you can wait, then an updated mac mini will be a real treat.

Yeah, I was hoping to get the new computer to edit this shoot on (I've got hundreds of photos to go through ), but I'll just suck it up and do the editing now with what I've got.

It started with my T2i. The 20D files were never much of a problem

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #16670031
I also love that they come pre-calibrated for sRGB

I don't think you should rely on precalibration if you're concerned about color accuracy. Nothing beats periodic calibration with a good colorimeter.

Congrats!

What did you shoot?