What is the ideal computer setup for photography

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wotan1

wotan1

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Right now my main computer is a Razer blade 15 laptop with an i9 processor, 4k OLED screen and RTX 3080 ti graphics card. with 32gb RAM.

I am using an external RAID 5 four-drive array for photo storage and I have a few extra portable hard drives I bring with me on the road.

I find that for the most part it works ok but now and then it bogs down in LR classic. In addition I think the available ports are exhausted with this setup even though I am using an external port replicator. I am running dual external 4k monitors and maybe that is part of the problem. One of my monitors periodically blanks out and I think that is due to system overload. It tends to happen when I am working one of the photo apps.

I want to switch to a single external 5k monitor but I am not clear that my computer can handle it.

I am wondering whether I should stick with PC or consider eventually moving to a Mac Pro. I am also wondering whether instead of a RAID 5 array which requires a direct wired Thunderbolt connection to the computer, I am better off with a network attached device for storage.

I got this computer setup for work about two years ago when I needed to do a lot of video conferencing because of the pandemic. Now I am retired and my main activity is photography. although I still do occasional video conferences.

Of course I am shooting RAW all the time and frequently in 20 fps bursts so I am processing a lot of images.

I am interested in learning what other people are using computer wise for managing their photography and what they like or don't like about their setup.

Also what do you prefer, Mac or PC and why.
 
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“Which computer” opens up a potential minefield- those for a windows pc, those for Apple or those who prefer to build. I’d say just google it. There is a plethora of info out there.

I use Synology NAS on my home network. All at 10Gbps speeds … Hudson Henry has a great video on the subject. Access is really fast when using any post processing software.

My 2017 iMac with the 27” 5k display is gorgeous for reviewing images, just slow. I’m considering a Mac Studio ultra. But holding off to see whether Apple revisits the iMac - rumours of a 32” etc etc
 
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What you describe should be plenty of horsepower. Lack of ports seems to be a common theme nowadays. I have the same problem with second monitor blanking out every now and then. I recently upgraded due to that and for more speed running various "AI" apps. The speed increased dramatically but the monitor locking up when using LRC is still an issue. I think it is an LRC issue and not hardware related.
 
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Most of it is personal preference. There aren’t many real considerations. Essentially: support for larger monitors with high density and enough CPU/GPU to get the job done. My personal preference is a Mac Studio but I also need it for PixInsight which is much more demanding than anything regular photography needs.
 
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Patrick M said:
“Which computer” opens up a potential minefield
Click to expand...

Yup, perfectly agree on that one :)

And there are other things that add complexity, as only the minority of us have the privilege to buy a machine solely for photo or video editing.

I am working as a freelancing consultant and a long time ago I got fed up with all this redundant infrastructure, syncing, copying etc. So I decided to go for a high end mobile solution covering professional and private needs - with the private needs certainly taking advantage of the demands in terms of safety, security, backup, archiving etc. that the professional part has. ;)

After 40+ vears in the Windows world I decided to change to the Apple universe about 1 1/2 years ago and even after having been working with a high end mobile workstation (DELL Precision M6800, i9, 64GB 4 TB) in the end, the jump forward in terms of ergonomics, comfort and performance was remarkable (Macbook Pro, M1Max, 64GB, 2 TB).

But to be honest, from a rational perspective both worked/work great and I could have lived with less horse power in both worlds for sure.
Actually one of the guys writing for Photographylife confirmed that he is doing all his post processing with a Macbook Air and it is working flawlessly for him.

IMHO one of the most important aspects beside a bit of CPU/GPU power in times of AI denoising is around displays and here's where @NorthernFocus is right.
On the one hand you may need less ports these days because bus systems are capable of daisy chaining like e.g. Display Port, USB, Thunderbolt,...
On the other hand even in times of bandwidths of 40 GBit/s there are limitations in relation to the connection of peripherals.

I would probably work with a less powerful machine today, but for me it was mandatory to be able to run two external hires displays on the notebook being my central computer, have the opportunity to connect and operate all kinds of peripherals and have all that working with a single cable setup (one cable to the notebook for everything including power) as I am working in the home office, mobile and - during longer projects - with a secondary "mobile office" that I can carry to the client and is basically a mirror of the home office setup including everything apart from the backup and archiving stuff. Even if the smaller models would have had enough connectors "numerically", the technical limitations inside the machine made it necessary to buy bigger.

I think that there are just as many answers to that questions as there are photographers out there :)
 
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Not sure it's ideal, but sure is good. Probably an overkill for stills, but more than half my work is vid. I run LrC, Ps, Pr, Ae, Au, and DVR.

My MBP M1 was slow to render videos and I don't love working with proxies, so asked around and ended up with:

14in MBP
M3 Max with 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
2TB SSD
128GB memory

The M1 is used just as a tethering station, the M3 for everything else.
 
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I'm always interested in this topic, but to be honest.. most of the current beyond consumer computers should do the trick. I'm using a base M2 Max Studio... 32GB RAM w/ 512GB internal. There are plenty of ports on this machine and it can easily handle a very large Lightroom library. I have over 120K images in my library, and it is not an issue. If anything, I find the speed of the external HD to be the most critical factor.
I've been told that the M1 Ultra is faster than the newer M2 Max and that the M2 Ultra Studio screams... I have no clue about the M3 chip, but if you are going with a Mac, I'd suggest M1 Ultra, M2 Max, or M3 chip in a high end laptop.

If you are into video processing more and faster is always better.
bruce
 
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I am a windows only user, both for my 15 inch laptop and desktop. I use the laptop mostly for culling images and for travel. 99% of my post processing is done on my desktop that supports two monitors--a NEC 32 inch monitor for the edits and a smaller monitor for the thumbnails, panels, etc. For me the two monitor setup is my main requirement.

If I were a laptop only user, I would use a laptop larger than 15 inches with the proper graphics card that would support two monitors. A 17inch laptop be needed to get a large enough area for photo edits if you only had one screen available.

I prefer custom built windows desktops so I can get the needed ports for my desktop and attached devices. I have learned to be careful to in using my attached devices. I turn on only those needed for what I am doing at that particular time. My desktops have been made by a MicroCenter store located where I live. I let the tech experts at the store help me pick out the right mix of parts for the desktop.
 
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I prefer to use internal memory for my work on files and then back them up before and after processing them on a network NAS. This will provide the best possible performance as data movement to and from an external device is avoided completely. This is why I prefer a tower computer that makes it easy to add two internal drives and set them up as RAID1 so they are mirrored. When one drive fails my data is safely retained on the second drive.

I have been using two M.2 NVMe drives and have had two of them fail after less than 2 years of use. I suspect that they have been damaged by heat.

To drive an external monitor as well as the display the laptop needs twice as much VRAM to do this. With dual external displays it is going to need even more and newer laptops using the 4090 graphics module.

This laptop has the latest generation of i7 CPU and 2.5GB Ethernet port and 16GB of video memory (which is most important for image processing and video editing).


Apple and Lenovo provide post sale support that is a level above what one gets with other manufacturers' computers.
 
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I've used Apple Mac products for more than 35 years so I continue on with the product and love it. I have a Mac Studio and a 27" screen. Nothing blacks out and it's very speedy.
 
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All of these comments are very helpful. Thanks to everyone for sharing your ideas with us.

If I were to stay with a pc I could have a tower built.

Before I do that I want to understand what I should have in the system. I understand that a two-drive internal RAID for a hard drive would be ideal, perhaps dual 2tb drives. I would back up and store photos in a NAS.

I would probably want two external monitors so a graphics card that can handle dual monitors is needed.

I am not likely going to want to build this myself. I have built computers on my own in the past and I know how things can get complicated.

So if anyone has specific recommendations for what I need in a tower I would appreciate the feedback.
 
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I use BOTH PCs and Macs, but for photo work I only use a Mac. Most photo work is done at home using a Mac Studio Ultra, dual monitors, and tons of storage attached. When I upload from a card, my images go directly to an attached TB4 SSD system AND a Synology NAS (in RAID). Nothing, except the OS and Applications, resides on the internal drive. I am now using a just purchased MacBook AIR for tethering and LrC in the field. Works for me! Best of luck.
 
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I would go with Apple. Why? I am Apple user and never used anything else at home. At my work, I was working on PC and I hated. My husband is a PC users. Every two years he has to change his computer and buy new one. My desktop Mac Pro, 32 GB , 1tb SSD, I bought it in 2013 and it is still working very well with photoshop and Lightroom as well with Capture One Pro. I still can open and work on different application at the same time. It only works slow when on 4 k videos. Last October I bought a MacBook Pro M2 Max ( I was mad when two weeks later Apple announced their M3), 96 Gb, 4 tb ssd and I am very happy with the fast speed and I am sure this computer will last me at least 7 or 8 years. By that time my husband will be at his third or fourth computer.
Next year I will replace my desktop computer with what comes new from Apple.
For my desktop, I use NEC monitor 27 inc.
 
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wotan1 said:
Right now my main computer is a Razer blade 15 laptop with an i9 processor, 4k OLED screen and RTX 3080 ti graphics card. with 32gb RAM.

I am using an external RAID 5 four-drive array for photo storage and I have a few extra portable hard drives I bring with me on the road.

I find that for the most part it works ok but now and then it bogs down in LR classic. In addition I think the available ports are exhausted with this setup even though I am using an external port replicator. I am running dual external 4k monitors and maybe that is part of the problem. One of my monitors periodically blanks out and I think that is due to system overload. It tends to happen when I am working one of the photo apps.

I want to switch to a single external 5k monitor but I am not clear that my computer can handle it.

I am wondering whether I should stick with PC or consider eventually moving to a Mac Pro. I am also wondering whether instead of a RAID 5 array which requires a direct wired Thunderbolt connection to the computer, I am better off with a network attached device for storage.

I got this computer setup for work about two years ago when I needed to do a lot of video conferencing because of the pandemic. Now I am retired and my main activity is photography. although I still do occasional video conferences.

Of course I am shooting RAW all the time and frequently in 20 fps bursts so I am processing a lot of images.

I am interested in learning what other people are using computer wise for managing their photography and what they like or don't like about their setup.

Also what do you prefer, Mac or PC and why.
Click to expand...
Hi, just an opinion, Mac or PC does not really matter if your setup is appropriately configured. I used to work on Windows since my employer was Windows driven, and I eventually got myself a Mac, which I still (many versions later) enjoy very much and it became my main working station. As someone mentioned in another post, Apple's attitude toward repair is something that might be an issue. My replacement rate is about 5 years on my Macbooks, and probably 10 on my Windows machine (note I do less stuff on it), which is my favorite for video work since the software I use does not exist for Apple. Both systems have advantages and inconvenients, if you are happy with your station and look for performance improvement before investing in a new setup, you may want to ask a qualified computer specialist to review and improve your config for "photo work", ie storage, video card may need a replacement, other config may bog the flow of data. Don't forget that even if the logic is nowaday pretty similar in both systems (iOs and Windows), there is a learning curve that may cost you some time, and if you depend on your setup to generate revenue, you have to consider this. You can off course keep your current setup while you get use to the Mac environment and then fully move to Mac. In short, as a LR Classic user, I prefer my MacBook with an external 27 inch 4k monitor, sometimes two, even if it is not a performance beast, and as a Vegas video user, my Windows based machine is my goto. Also, LR work almost as well on Windows, although some clics location differ. It's nice to have a backup in case one dies on me at an inconvenient time ! Hope this helps.
 
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I'm a Mac user. I recently upgraded to a system I'm very happy with. The Mac Studio M2 Ultra (2023) with 64GB RAM, a 4TB SSD harddrive. I also have attached a Samsung T7 SSD 2TB external drive to hold shows that I have made using Fotomagico. I am still using a pair of 32-inch 4K Sharp monitors (Sharp company no longer exists) which are about 5 years old but still work very well. I expect that before too long I will upgrade to newer monitors.
 
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Wildlife_follower said:
Hi, just an opinion, Mac or PC does not really matter if your setup is appropriately configured. I used to work on Windows since my employer was Windows driven, and I eventually got myself a Mac, which I still (many versions later) enjoy very much and it became my main working station. As someone mentioned in another post, Apple's attitude toward repair is something that might be an issue. My replacement rate is about 5 years on my Macbooks, and probably 10 on my Windows machine (note I do less stuff on it), which is my favorite for video work since the software I use does not exist for Apple. Both systems have advantages and inconvenients, if you are happy with your station and look for performance improvement before investing in a new setup, you may want to ask a qualified computer specialist to review and improve your config for "photo work", ie storage, video card may need a replacement, other config may bog the flow of data. Don't forget that even if the logic is nowaday pretty similar in both systems (iOs and Windows), there is a learning curve that may cost you some time, and if you depend on your setup to generate revenue, you have to consider this. You can off course keep your current setup while you get use to the Mac environment and then fully move to Mac. In short, as a LR Classic user, I prefer my MacBook with an external 27 inch 4k monitor, sometimes two, even if it is not a performance beast, and as a Vegas video user, my Windows based machine is my goto. Also, LR work almost as well on Windows, although some clics location differ. It's nice to have a backup in case one dies on me at an inconvenient time ! Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Great advice.
 
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Like you I shoot at 20fps and in Raw photographing 90% birds with Z9 and Z800 so a lot of images.

Our first home computer years ago was a windows based Dell it gave me fits. When I was retiring our IT manager suggested I check out Apple's Macs. As he put it he was betting I would speak apple OS better than I spoke windows OS. Long story short he new me well and was correct :)

I try to keep things simple and easy for an old low tech codger to use and for me since I speak apple far better than windows I stay with apple. If you speak windows better then go that route.

My wife and I just replaced our old MacBook Pros with new Macbook air M2's. Now I am wanting to update to M2 with my photography set up Apple Mac Studio M1 Max ... I have it connected to a 27" Apple Studio Display and us a data color spyder X2 to calibrate it. I use an OWC Express 1M2 USB4 4TB with thunderbolt USB4 cable to thunderbolt port. This SSD has all of my images on it and my Light Room Classic catalog. I back it up using carbon copy cloner and make exact copies to 4 other SSD drives one of which is always in my safety deposit box.
 
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If you're really serious about photo processing on your computer, the most important component is the display, IMHO. Get the best display and the latest, most powerful processing, machine you can afford. Then purchase, and frequently use, a display calibration system.
 
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My 2 cents worth of opinion,

As technological advances keep accelerating, obsolescence is always an issue. Last week, the 1st prototype graphene base processor was announced. The world will be retooling to manufacture these in quantity because graphene semiconductors can be made smaller, and many more gates can fit onto the same real estate. Graphene offers almost no resistance compared to today's best chips. Less resistance produces less heat to dissipate, allowing higher-frequency operations. Adding in local AI-enhanced applications will require 64-bit CPUs with broader data paths to communicate with larger/faster RAM to communicate with a host of new I/O cards and GPUs. The future will be arriving soon.

I thought we should be given time to update what we all have today. Update your HDD with an SSD, 32 MB of DRAM, a new video card, or the fastest CPU if your motherboard supports it.

Most computers built in the last few years can run PS, LrC, or other post-processing photo applications well. I suggest updating what you have and saving to purchase tomorrow's hardware technology, which will significantly improve processing time. You might also consider buying used from someone else who has upgraded with today's best.
 
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Ken Miracle said:
Like you I shoot at 20fps and in Raw photographing 90% birds with Z9 and Z800 so a lot of images.

Our first home computer years ago was a windows based Dell it gave me fits. When I was retiring our IT manager suggested I check out Apple's Macs. As he put it he was betting I would speak apple OS better than I spoke windows OS. Long story short he new me well and was correct :)

I try to keep things simple and easy for an old low tech codger to use and for me since I speak apple far better than windows I stay with apple. If you speak windows better then go that route.

My wife and I just replaced our old MacBook Pros with new Macbook air M2's. Now I am wanting to update to M2 with my photography set up Apple Mac Studio M1 Max ... I have it connected to a 27" Apple Studio Display and us a data color spyder X2 to calibrate it. I use an OWC Express 1M2 USB4 4TB with thunderbolt USB4 cable to thunderbolt port. This SSD has all of my images on it and my Light Room Classic catalog. I back it up using carbon copy cloner and make exact copies to 4 other SSD drives one of which is always in my safety deposit box.
Click to expand...
Is the new MacBook Air fast enough for editing on LrC and Lr? When making next change I am thinking of getting a MacBook Air for weight reasons. Currently have MacBook Pro with M1 Max and connected to BenQ monitor.
 
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