Prof photog upgrading workstation. Mac Pro vs iMac

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Prof photog upgrading workstation. Mac Pro vs iMac

I am a professional photographer working with an external archive of 6TB and going to need to upgrade my machine soon.

I am currently running a 2.8Ghz Quad-core intel Xeon Mac Pro with 12GB ram and a Crucial SSD for a startup disk.

My new archive-Drobo only utlizes thunderbolt and usb 3. Hence I will need to upgrade. In addition my machine has been getting slower and slower as time goes on.

I wanted to know the pros/cons of buying the new mac pro vs a iMac. I currently run two displays with my mac pro to utlize aperture's dual display feature.

Is it possible to run two displays with the imac?

Will have any performance issues using an imac?

For the cost of the mac pro I could own two imacs. Is it really worth the price difference to go with the new mac pro?

Mac Pro (Mid 2010), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), SSD Startup disk. 12 gigs ram

Posted on Jan 3, 2014 9:38 AM

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Najinsky

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670 points

Jan 4, 2014 1:32 AM in response to dpl60601

You can use an extra display with the iMac, and performance wise it's pretty competitive.

Some initial benchmarks of MP v iMac are here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7603/mac-pro-review-late-2013/7

But for Aperture the story is unlikely to be as depressing as it is for Lightroom.

Apeture 3.5 is (apparently) optimised for the new Mac Pro ( http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/10/23/updates-to-aperture-final-cut-pro-will -tap-into-horsepower-of-new-mac-pro )and also Aperture makes use of the GPU for all processing, so I think for Aperture you will be able to exploit a lot more of the power than Lightroom can.

I'd advise keeping an eye out for Aperture performance benchmarks on the new Mac Pro before deciding.

Edit: Here's an interview with the photographer who got to use the pre-production Mac Pro:

http://9to5mac.com/2013/10/22/interview-with-photographer-lucas-gilman-one-of-th e-only-pros-already-using-apples-next-gen-mac-pro/

Andy

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