I'm planning to purchase an iMac 5K. My primary use is using PhotoShop to process and edit high resolution photographs. My budget will permit one upgrade, either the 4 GHz i7 Processor or the bbetter graphics card. Which one would you choose?
MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10)
I'd go with the processor upgrade. The Image processing will benefit more from it. The Graphics card will have less impact from 2Gb to 4GB unless you plan on playing graphic intensive games that need the rendering power of the Graphic card.
I'd go with the processor upgrade. The Image processing will benefit more from it. The Graphics card will have less impact from 2Gb to 4GB unless you plan on playing graphic intensive games that need the rendering power of the Graphic card.
Thanks Phil0124, that's very helpful.
If it's not too late, I'd recommend neither, at least for now.
I put PSE 13 on a brand new 5K iMac and it is not usable. After a few operations the editor hangs for several seconds before doing anything. There are many, many postings in both Apple and Adobe forums about 5K iMacs slowing down when using various programs, including Mission Control, PSE, Creative Suite, and Lightroom. Apparently Apple is aware of at least some of this and there is evidence that they are working on it (but no generally accepted resolution that I have found as of OS X 10.10.2). It may be a combination of issues with Yosemite and with the large number of pixels to generate on the 5K iMac.
Adobe (with their usual awful customer support) hasn't acknowledged anything and may or may not be working on it. If I knew that PSE would be unusable (and that Adobe offers no support whatsoever for it) I would not have spent the extra money on a 5K iMac, at least until they fixed these issues.
My advice is to wait for a confirmed fix from Apple to the 5K iMac/Yosemite issues or be willing to find another photo program on it. (By the way, the PSE editor by itself - no PSE organizer running - works fine for me. Of course, that's not acceptable.)
I have had my iMac 5K since last November. I regularly use several Adobe CC applications including PhotoShop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, and Acrobat Pro. Other applications I regularly use include Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4, Google Earth and Microsoft Office. Most times there are 3 or more applications running simultaneously. My iMac 5K with the i7 processor and 24 GB RAM runs smooth and FAST! No problems, no slow downs and no crashes.
Graphic cards only really matter for 3d games or 3d like cad , video edit and Photoshop only rely on memory CPU and HD speed
Rudegar wrote:
Graphic cards only really matter for 3d games or 3d like cad , video edit and Photoshop only rely on memory CPU and HD speed
That's also what Phil mentioned previously. I purchased the iMac with the processor upgrade and the stock graphics card. So far it is a great machine.
I'm glad you're not having any problems, and I agree that the 5K iMac with the i7 processor is amazingly fast. In fact, the workaround for the problem I described is only possible because of how fast it is: Open PSE organizer, open the editor with a photo you want to edit, close the organizer, when the organizer is closed the editor runs fine so edit your photo and save it, then open the organizer again and repeat. The machine is so fast that opening the organizer happens within a second or two so it doesn't impact workflow much at all. Still not a solution, but it is usable now. BTW, my investigation with the Activity Monitor suggests that the problem is some sort of communication between Adobe's PSE organizer and PSE editor when both are running. I doubt if it's a graphics issue, at least not directly.
Just to be clear, because "photoshop" has become a somewhat generic term: I'm using Photoshop Elements 13. Are you using that or something else?
I am the owner of a Retina iMac with both of the upgrades you are wondering about. Photoshop CC flies, I have had no problems with it at all. Lightroom too, is quicker, but it does take a slightly longer amount of time to update all the thumbnail photos when the program is opened. But, by any measure, this new iMac is much faster than my old 2012 non Retina iMac. The issues with Lightroom should be fixed any day now. Lightroom 6 will be out very soon. It has support for graphic card acceleration as Photoshop has for some time now. The only time the fans in my new iMac have come on is when playing games at the highest resolution. Having this new Retina iMac for a few days now makes it impossible for me to ever go back to a non-retina type screen. It is that good.
iMac 5K - Processor or Graphics?
