mjm6
Member
Folks,
I'm at that place where I need to consider a new machine for my digital files.
My current machine is a Mac Pro from early 2008, and it is working great, but it is getting long in the tooth, and my files are not getting any smaller. I now have 36MP files coming in, and the machine is limited in a few ways.
1. This is the last of the machines that Apple no longer supports with OS updates.
2. It is a bit slow, but not terrible. I am not doing large-scale file processing (I don't shoot weddings).
3. I have it maxed with RAM, and have added new HD's to it at times, so it is a bit of a hodge-podge of hardware. A have no room for more drives, so I would have to put in a card and an external HD box of some kind to expand it and maintain access performance.
SO... I started looking at Apple, and the new Mac Pro appears to me to be really geared towards large scale shooters or video production. It is not a machine that I consider viable for a serious shooter (but not a high volume shooter), simple because of the obscene cost to assemble an image editing system.
...Except that I am not sure that any other model is terribly viable for serious image editing... so I have a few questions.
---What about dual monitors on the laptops? I don't mean using a single monitor extension and the laptop monitor, I mean two separate extension monitors, and not use the laptop monitor? How can this be done? Can I get different profiles working in the configuration as well?
---I presume an external keyboard should be no issues? I detest the small keyboards on laptops, even tough the Apple ones are as good as they get otherwise.
---I presume that the Thunderbolt interface will permit a large, fast HD box to be connected? Need that for all the image files.
---What else do I need to be thinking about if I try to use a laptop and my primary image editing machine? I will be using LR and PS almost exclusively.
---Are either the iMac or the Mac Mini viable alternatives? I suspect profiling will be a problem with these. That is a deal-breaker for me.
Thanks,
---Michael
I'm at that place where I need to consider a new machine for my digital files.
My current machine is a Mac Pro from early 2008, and it is working great, but it is getting long in the tooth, and my files are not getting any smaller. I now have 36MP files coming in, and the machine is limited in a few ways.
1. This is the last of the machines that Apple no longer supports with OS updates.
2. It is a bit slow, but not terrible. I am not doing large-scale file processing (I don't shoot weddings).
3. I have it maxed with RAM, and have added new HD's to it at times, so it is a bit of a hodge-podge of hardware. A have no room for more drives, so I would have to put in a card and an external HD box of some kind to expand it and maintain access performance.
SO... I started looking at Apple, and the new Mac Pro appears to me to be really geared towards large scale shooters or video production. It is not a machine that I consider viable for a serious shooter (but not a high volume shooter), simple because of the obscene cost to assemble an image editing system.
...Except that I am not sure that any other model is terribly viable for serious image editing... so I have a few questions.
---What about dual monitors on the laptops? I don't mean using a single monitor extension and the laptop monitor, I mean two separate extension monitors, and not use the laptop monitor? How can this be done? Can I get different profiles working in the configuration as well?
---I presume an external keyboard should be no issues? I detest the small keyboards on laptops, even tough the Apple ones are as good as they get otherwise.
---I presume that the Thunderbolt interface will permit a large, fast HD box to be connected? Need that for all the image files.
---What else do I need to be thinking about if I try to use a laptop and my primary image editing machine? I will be using LR and PS almost exclusively.
---Are either the iMac or the Mac Mini viable alternatives? I suspect profiling will be a problem with these. That is a deal-breaker for me.
Thanks,
---Michael