Mac Mini or Server for photo editing?

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Level 4

2,255 points

Mac Mini or Server for photo editing?

I do a lot of photo editing and I am currently using a MacBook Pro, but I am starting to run out of disk space so an upgrade looks to be in order.

Now I am thinking of having a dedicated machine which I can do all my photo editing on and store all my RAW image files on, and to this end the Mac Mini Server looks quite good but I have a few questions.

Reading the Apple info it would appear I can turn the Lion OS 'server' settings off and use it as a stand alone machine?

Will the intel graphics which shares system memory be OK for photo editing? (I intend getting it with 8GB Ram)

As it has a quad core processor would that mean that programs like Photoshop would be able to take advantage of that and run quicker than on a 2.7 GHz dual core?

If I get the machine configured with 2 x 750GB drives presumably I can set these up as a mirror raid?

Or would a Mac Mini 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 be a better option?

Would it be easy to add a second 750GB drive to a 2.7GHz mini?

Pricing wise there is very little between them other than the server version would have two 750GB drives for not much more than the 2.7GHz mini with one, and a quad core processor of course.

Any help in making the choice easier for me would be much apreciated.

Phil

PS

I am not a gamer or do video editing.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), iPhone 4, 80Gb iPod, 1TB TC, Wife!

Posted on Aug 4, 2011 5:10 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

azdawg99

Level 2

327 points

Aug 4, 2011 9:03 PM in response to Philip Tyler

>Or would a Mac Mini 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 be a better option?

For the use you've stated, yes, this is the better option. The server would only be better if you were maxing out your dual core and you won't find Photoshop doing that very often. The server would be better for someone doing a lot of rendering for video or 3d as a render node.

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Answer 2

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Aug 4, 2011 9:33 PM in response to Philip Tyler

I was looking at both and decided on the quad core i7 with 2x500GB drives, so far with PhotoShop, Final Cut Express and rendering it's flying along and I'm happy with my decision. I believe it IS faster than the dual core 2.7 i7 at the sorts of tasks you're talking about. I'm about to pop 8GB of RAM into it (bought from OWC for $80 vs Apple's $240) so shop around for upgrades before deciding !

As for storage the 2 x 500GB's run at 7200 rpm and seem fine at the moment but I've also got 8 TB's on Firewire 800 and Ethernet to play with, down the track I'll look at a Thunderbolt drive but right now they are too pricey.

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Answer 3

Aug 4, 2011 9:40 PM in response to Philip Tyler

What capacity is your current hard drive? Why not upgrade your current hard drive? You can get up to a 1TB drive into your current MacBook Pro. Of course, it won't be covered by AppleCare, but I have a 750GB drive in mine that I upgraded myself. In fact, I went from the original 250GB to 500GB and then to 750GB. My iPhoto library is 383GB...

EDIT: Oops, we were posting at the same time!

-Doug

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Answer 4

Philip Tyler Author

Level 4

2,255 points

Aug 11, 2011 5:32 AM in response to Douglas McLaughlin

My current macBook Pro has a 320 GB 7200 rpm drive, so yes I have the option of upgrading the internal drive. I would like to keep to a drive that was 7200 rpm as that does seem to make a bit of difference on performance.

I was thinking Mac Mini so I could add a decent 'photo grade' monitor to it and then use my MacBook Pro as a 'laptop' rather than the photo editing machine. Then the Mac Mini can reside in the 'home office' and just does the photo editing and storage of all my photo files including the RAW originals. With an 18 megapixel camera RAW files do seem to rather take up a lot of space, and with newer cameras supposedly going even higher file size and storage do seem to become something of a concern.

Many thanks for your suggestion, I will look out for a new drive for my MacBook Pro.

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Answer 5

Oct 9, 2011 5:31 PM in response to iVmichael

Do you recommend the server for rendering, 3d modeling, photoshop/illustrator/indesign. ?

I'm wondering if the gpu make a big difference for these task ...

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Answer 6

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Oct 9, 2011 10:13 PM in response to seriouscharles

The Quad core is only good if the software takes advantage of that, and not everything does at this stage.

Going by the Benchmarks it's delivering the same raw power as the entry level Mac Pro (tower) which is quite impressive for such a little box ...

http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/21/mac-mini-2011-benchmarks/

I'm actually getting better results that that in real life (with 8GB RAM):

When rendering and applying PhotoShop effects having four cores is better than two for sure, but that capability is only going to really shine when Adobe and others actually write software that uses them fully.

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