iMac 27" 3.4 GHz

Would a bog-standard 27" iMac 3.4 GHz, i5 with 8 GB RAM and 1TB storage be OK for photo editing? I'm only use LR now but may also get into PS Elements (want layers). Nothing professional at this stage - just a hobbiest.

I can get one of these for around $2.2K in Australia. If I custom build the same thing with 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB Fusion drive it hits $3K - not wife friendly....

Cheers

Nick

Sure, why not? I work professionally and I'm currently using a 2011 27" iMac with 2.93ghz i7 with 8gb ram and 1TB HDD, and it works pretty well for photo editing; I have it plugged into an NEC for a dual-screen setup.

If there's anything I wish my computer could be better in, it's probably if it had an SSD, since it takes a while to open large files and some applications...

You should look at the Mac Mini instead. You can easily put in your own second drive to make a Fusion drive. I bought the quad-core i7 model with the 1 TB HD and installed a 240 GB SSD and 16 GB RAM.

Id really suggest 16GB of RAM if thats an option. I have 8GB in my 13" retina i7 dual core and it can get bogged down when doing large batches. 8GB will definitely work, but I would love to have 16GB

I have that exact same computer...well, my daughter does...and I used it for a year with photoshop and Aperture with no problems at all. It's and excellent computer.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to hold off until I can get the 27" with 16 GB ram and fusion drive. I read a write up of this machine and it does a great job with photo editing and can also handle video editing if I decide to experiment with that down the track.

Cheers

Nick