What is the ideal computer setup for photography

[O]

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.

Mac with the best choice graphics card available.

Always a desk top pro model with 5k screen.

Lap tops Mac again 16 inch M3.

I have a 13 inch Mac M1 purely for travel, and 2 pro level MAC desk top tower units.

I put extra money into the best card i can find, it makes an enormous difference.

I also have a high end PC for admin and web site work.

I find that if you have a good PC with a super good graphic card and a good Eizo screen its also hard to beat and much the same as a Mac system with appearance on screen.

Storage is what ever suits you

Only an opinion

 

[Woodpecker]

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.

Yup, agree !

Admittedly my shopping behaviour described above seems to be a contradiction to this, but as always the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Since the beginning of my computer days about 45 years ago I considered DIY as the holy grale and I lived it. THere was even a time where it was a sport to be able to run as many OS's on one machine a.s.o. The truth is that there is an equilibrium between multi component systems open to modification, tuning, maintenance, repair, ... you name it and more closed homogenous systems.

On the one hand there is a price that has to be paid for the openness and flexibility on all levels.
One of the life-proven laws is that 80% of the problems with IT hardware is due to electrical connection problems, i.e. each socket is a single point of failure. The less you have the more reilable as system is and the more power-efficient you can build it, because you don't need voltage overhead to overcome the limitations of doggy contacts.

Yes, my old computer had a lot of horse power, but also was a meeting room heating with a power supply weighing almost as much as my entire computer today - with which I was able to work with a customer for two days before even realizing that I forgot the charger at home.

There is controversary about the advantages of modularity - if it is exagorated. It allows to replace smalll parts to repair a system, but the more complex a system gets, the more effort has to go in the diagnostics to find the root cause of the problem. Many systems are so complex today that even in professional environments try-and-error is often replacing structured diagnostics - and overstrained maintenance people and production managers cry for Big Data and AI data analysis.

Another aspect is compatibility. If you talk to people that are developping software related to components for modular systems, you'll find out that - despite of all the stadardization efforts - tremendous amount of brain and work is going into safeguarding the correct functionality in all the different possible combinations. And this applies not only to a graphics card in a PC, but in the same way to car components, communication processors of PLC's, rocket parts ... what so ever.

Yes, the sustainablility of a technical system is important - more than ever -, but modularity is sometimes over-estimated in this respect, because in too many cases it is miss-used as an alibi for not being able to have an outstanding and sustainable manufacturing quality in the first place - from concept and design through manufacturing, usage up to true recycling at the end of the product lifecycle.

The other side of the medal is us, the end user. The more and the better people carefully think over and asess what they really need, rather than buy what others tell them they need, and the more people vote with theier wallet by buying the things in their life with the claim in mind that it should be the last item for the rest of my life - although in reality is of course not realistic at least for the young people - this is one of the key aspects in direction to sustainable consumer behaviour. And this applies to a single user as well as entire societies.

For me the motivation of swapping the computer system towards a different philosophy was, that I was prepared to pay for a system that should be able to cover all my current needs as well as having enough headroom to cope with crazy future wishes, allows me to concentrate on using it rather that on keeping it alive, and simply enjoy another user experience and the perspective to keep all this for a long time.

As a matter of fact, I know for sure, that this will be the last computer of my life and thus I took the chance for a bit of luxury. And the same applies for the platform change to Z. I have to aadmit admit, that I probably could have coped without, but I also didn't want to miss the experience. Dear world, sorry for being greedy.

 

[Anjin San]

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.

Yes. It’s vastly faster than any of the Intel models. I would get the M2 and upgrade RAM and drive size…but to be honest the MBP @4 isn’t much more and there’s a decent speed and performance bump with the Pro version of the chip and upgraded drive size that uses 2 chips instead of @ so the drive is faster. Weight wise…the 14 isn’t much more than the MBA and the screen is better. The 16 is too big to travel much with IMO. The 14 screen is too small for full time LR use but just plug in a monitor at home and it’s fine…you’re not going to do much PP on the road anyway but import and cull with a glass of wine in the evening gives you a head start when you get home. IMO the 15MBA is too large as well…but that’s just me.

As to the Mac vs PC debate…I’m a Mac guy so recommend them over a PC unless you’re a PC/windows person. LR doesn’t care…and use what you’re do for with. I find anything Windows past about the Win 7 interface inscrutable to use…but then I am a Mac guy and was a windows sysadmin when I worked…and to me XP and Win 2003 were pretty much like a Mac interface wise before Microsoft went crazy with it.

 

[Nimi]

Yes. It’s vastly faster than any of the Intel models. I would get the M2 and upgrade RAM and drive size…but to be honest the MBP @4 isn’t much more and there’s a decent speed and performance bump with the Pro version of the chip and upgraded drive size that uses 2 chips instead of @ so the drive is faster. Weight wise…the 14 isn’t much more than the MBA and the screen is better. The 16 is too big to travel much with IMO. The 14 screen is too small for full time LR use but just plug in a monitor at home and it’s fine…you’re not going to do much PP on the road anyway but import and cull with a glass of wine in the evening gives you a head start when you get home. IMO the 15MBA is too large as well…but that’s just me.

As to the Mac vs PC debate…I’m a Mac guy so recommend them over a PC unless you’re a PC/windows person. LR doesn’t care…and use what you’re do for with. I find anything Windows past about the Win 7 interface inscrutable to use…but then I am a Mac guy and was a windows sysadmin when I worked…and to me XP and Win 2003 were pretty much like a Mac interface wise before Microsoft went crazy with it.

Re MB sizes, exactly my experience. Ended up with 14MBP. So far it's been perfect on the road, studio and home.

 

[Ken Miracle]

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.

I would think the M2 is but will not use it for that I do not even have LRC installed.

 

[Woodpecker]

Yes. It’s vastly faster than any of the Intel models. I would get the M2 and upgrade RAM and drive size…but to be honest the MBP @4 isn’t much more and there’s a decent speed and performance bump with the Pro version of the chip and upgraded drive size that uses 2 chips instead of @ so the drive is faster. Weight wise…the 14 isn’t much more than the MBA and the screen is better. The 16 is too big to travel much with IMO. The 14 screen is too small for full time LR use but just plug in a monitor at home and it’s fine…you’re not going to do much PP on the road anyway but import and cull with a glass of wine in the evening gives you a head start when you get home. IMO the 15MBA is too large as well…but that’s just me.

IMHO at https://www.notebookcheck.com/ the do pretty thorough reviews and there is one effect that should be kept on the radar:

It was during the M1x area of Apple Silicon , but they discovered that especially the Air models are subject to thottling in order to meet the TDP desing criteria. Thus, putting heavy load on the system or trying to work with the system after taking it out of a hot car may result in a drop in performence. This was different for the 14" and 16" MBP models, because the have different TDP design criteria and a different cooling system.

The other thing is the number of supported external monitors. For people that just use the notebook as secondary system for mobile use, it might not be that much of an issue, but the models using the ordinary Mx (not Pro or Max) are limited to one external display.

I am using a MBP 16" (M1Max, 64GB, 2TB) as main and only computer system for work and private because I require two external hires displays I need to be on Pro or Max CPU's.

Both aspects might be an argeument to go for MBP with the smallest CPU rather than MB Air, if you have similar requirements.

On the other hand I can confirm that MB Air are totally capable of doing post processing sufficiently efficient. A friend of mine (nature pro photographer) has a Mac Studio at home, but wanted something for travelling also, which meant image backup, culling/sorting and "occasionally" direct processing on site. He is running DxO Photolab on the little baby and even uses AI denoising without an issue. Of course the Max Studio at home is faster, but it works, but let's be honest: Aren't we all a little bit too impatient these days ???

 

[Flemming Morgan]

Yes. It’s vastly faster than any of the Intel models. I would get the M2 and upgrade RAM and drive size…but to be honest the MBP @4 isn’t much more and there’s a decent speed and performance bump with the Pro version of the chip and upgraded drive size that uses 2 chips instead of @ so the drive is faster. Weight wise…the 14 isn’t much more than the MBA and the screen is better. The 16 is too big to travel much with IMO. The 14 screen is too small for full time LR use but just plug in a monitor at home and it’s fine…you’re not going to do much PP on the road anyway but import and cull with a glass of wine in the evening gives you a head start when you get home. IMO the 15MBA is too large as well…but that’s just me.

As to the Mac vs PC debate…I’m a Mac guy so recommend them over a PC unless you’re a PC/windows person. LR doesn’t care…and use what you’re do for with. I find anything Windows past about the Win 7 interface inscrutable to use…but then I am a Mac guy and was a windows sysadmin when I worked…and to me XP and Win 2003 were pretty much like a Mac interface wise before Microsoft went crazy with it.

Many thanks

 

[Flemming Morgan]

IMHO at https://www.notebookcheck.com/ the do pretty thorough reviews and there is one effect that should be kept on the radar:

It was during the M1x area of Apple Silicon , but they discovered that especially the Air models are subject to thottling in order to meet the TDP desing criteria. Thus, putting heavy load on the system or trying to work with the system after taking it out of a hot car may result in a drop in performence. This was different for the 14" and 16" MBP models, because the have different TDP design criteria and a different cooling system.

The other thing is the number of supported external monitors. For people that just use the notebook as secondary system for mobile use, it might not be that much of an issue, but the models using the ordinary Mx (not Pro or Max) are limited to one external display.

I am using a MBP 16" (M1Max, 64GB, 2TB) as main and only computer system for work and private because I require two external hires displays I need to be on Pro or Max CPU's.

Both aspects might be an argeument to go for MBP with the smallest CPU rather than MB Air, if you have similar requirements.

On the other hand I can confirm that MB Air are totally capable of doing post processing sufficiently efficient. A friend of mine (nature pro photographer) has a Mac Studio at home, but wanted something for travelling also, which meant image backup, culling/sorting and "occasionally" direct processing on site. He is running DxO Photolab on the little baby and even uses AI denoising without an issue. Of course the Max Studio at home is faster, but it works, but let's be honest: Aren't we all a little bit too impatient these days ???

Many thanks. Good point about the display

 

[Flemming Morgan]

IMHO at https://www.notebookcheck.com/ the do pretty thorough reviews and there is one effect that should be kept on the radar:

It was during the M1x area of Apple Silicon , but they discovered that especially the Air models are subject to thottling in order to meet the TDP desing criteria. Thus, putting heavy load on the system or trying to work with the system after taking it out of a hot car may result in a drop in performence. This was different for the 14" and 16" MBP models, because the have different TDP design criteria and a different cooling system.

The other thing is the number of supported external monitors. For people that just use the notebook as secondary system for mobile use, it might not be that much of an issue, but the models using the ordinary Mx (not Pro or Max) are limited to one external display.

I am using a MBP 16" (M1Max, 64GB, 2TB) as main and only computer system for work and private because I require two external hires displays I need to be on Pro or Max CPU's.

Both aspects might be an argeument to go for MBP with the smallest CPU rather than MB Air, if you have similar requirements.

On the other hand I can confirm that MB Air are totally capable of doing post processing sufficiently efficient. A friend of mine (nature pro photographer) has a Mac Studio at home, but wanted something for travelling also, which meant image backup, culling/sorting and "occasionally" direct processing on site. He is running DxO Photolab on the little baby and even uses AI denoising without an issue. Of course the Max Studio at home is faster, but it works, but let's be honest: Aren't we all a little bit too impatient these days ???

Many thanks.

 

[Anjin San]

IMHO at https://www.notebookcheck.com/ the do pretty thorough reviews and there is one effect that should be kept on the radar:

It was during the M1x area of Apple Silicon , but they discovered that especially the Air models are subject to thottling in order to meet the TDP desing criteria. o or Max CPU's.

Both aspects might be an argeument to go for MBP with the smallest CPU rather than MB Air, if you have similar requirements.

Could be…I don't have and haven't really looked at the most recent Air model…I would always go with the MBP myself for more ports and the fan for cooling anyway…so I'm with you on that one. My wife has the original M1 13" Air and it runs LR fine although I wouldn't want for everyday use even on travel based on the smaller screen size and quality. I always had the 15" MBP in the Intel based days but the 14 M1 has he same pixels on the screen and is lighter so went with that, skipped the 16 b based on weight.

 

[O]

Life is simple, Mac Book Pro or Air or desktop or phone for photography video editing.

My M1 Mac Pro is purely for travel, web site work on the fly,
and it does all i ask of it.

For myself i am leaning to the cost effective customization PC options over Apple Mac.
A high quality Eizo screen and quality graphics card for just graphics work etc, i can build and update what i have easily myself.

For myself 125 gms difference in weight to the Air is not an issue versus the benefits of the PRO.

For major editing and my taste i don't see the 13 inch or even the 15 inch series as really useful, its purely just to small a screen.

Lap tops i find are traditionally not as accurate compared to larger pro level desktop screen and system, and i don't know the exact techy's why.

Desk Top - A really good PC with good graphics card all on a high end Eizo is very competitive to the heavily priced Mac desktop system, in fact on the screens side by side its a challenge to see any real difference well from what i have seen.

A Classic, used every day now for 14 years.

I have one of the last series 17 inch i7 Mac Book Pro lap tops Circa 2010 ?, with upgraded graphics card, maxed out aftermarket ram at a 1/4 the cost, swapped out the Mac HD for a server grade 1 TB SSD, pulled out the DVD unit and in its place went another 1TB SSD. Slam dunk LOL, only turn it on when needed otherwise all my gear is turned of at the wall.

Its OS is currently unsupported by Mac, i use Fire Fox, hackers usually don't wright hacks that much if at all for really long out of date OS systems LOL.

Its not used for gaming, social media or porn, simply live clean stay healthier. I mean, you usually get dirty if you play in the mud.

This 3.5 kg 17 inch monster runs most large external modern screens via a small hub, it has CS6 and LR, ON One, NX, DXO, Capture one, plus some other programs i hardly use.

The 17 inch screen is a useful size for a laptop and just large enough to do some work editing if needed, i also have an Apple adapter that lets me run any external classic 30 inch Mac Cinema scope, or any other modern screen even Eizo via a small external port in a HUB.

I run the classic Herman Kardman Sticks with sub and its a lovely all up tool, simple elegant set up that just surprises everyone who uses it even 14 years later its still strong.

This system is used every day for anything and everything especially with a lot of Zoom for Yoga often from Costa Rica with Diva Primal. It does video, photography, movies, live stream Zoom, you name it........................

I do operate a modern high end i7 12th generation PC system on a 32 inch curve 4k Samsung, for admin web work, i also have a couple of Mac Desk top towers, but for internal operations only.

The future, for myself i am leaning to the cost effective customization PC options over Apple Mac, using a high quality Eizo screen for graphics work etc, i can build and update what i have easily myself, mind you my needs are different as i out source most editing and or printing.

As to employing staff by the hour that's a different matter that requires fitting them out with the right tools. Thats where the want versus the need decision differs.


Only an opinion

 

[Calson]

Something to consider is running LR with only one 4K monitor and seeing what happens to its performance. With 4K video editing a GPU board should have 16GB of VRAM or more and if this VRAM pool is also being accessed by dual monitors that will reduce the available memory for the application. There are boards like those with the RTX 4090 processor that have 24GB of memory and would be worth considering it you have room for a 3-slot wide card and the computer's power supply can provide power to the 16-pin connector.

At this point in time the "gaming" computers from HP and Lenovo can be purchased with the RTX 4090 installed. The HP 45L lacks any slots for other cards and the Lenovo Legion has only one 16-lane slot and one 4-lane slot available although the Lenovo comes with a 2.5GB Ethernet port.

 

[stanvdw]

I'm also thinking about upgrading my Imac 2019, 3,7 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5, with a Radeon Pro Vega 48 8 GB, 72 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 to a Mac studio. After purchasing the Z8 where the files are large. Importing to LR does takes time.
Thought of this Apple M2 Max with 12-core CPU, 38-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine 64 GB central memory & 1 TB SSD storage.
And externally a 4TB SSD drive.

 

[Ken Miracle]

I'm also thinking about upgrading my Imac 2019, 3,7 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5, with a Radeon Pro Vega 48 8 GB, 72 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 to a Mac studio. After purchasing the Z8 where the files are large. Importing to LR does takes time.
Thought of this Apple M2 Max with 12-core CPU, 38-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine 64 GB central memory & 1 TB SSD storage.
And externally a 4TB SSD drive.

As I noted earlier I use an OWC Express 1M2 USB4 4TB with thunderbolt USB4 cable to thunderbolt port on MacStudio M1Max (will probably upgrade to M2 soon).

OWC sold out of this drive quickly and is in pre order status. This drive is amazing and would be even faster on M2. I keep all of my images and my LRC catalog and presets on the drive if needed I can simply move the drive to my MacBook Air M2 and LRC is ready to go. Yes I use 4 other SSD 4TB for back up and one is in my safety deposit box all the time ... rotate it monthly.

 

[wotan1]

OK I am thinking of trying out MAC and eventually want to add someone's 5k monitor so I want the Retina screen or whatever they call it.

I don't want to spend a lot of money at this point because I have never used mac and I might not adjust well.

I need a recommendation on either a mac pro or inexpensive mac studio that is a good introduction but still can handle Lightroom.

In other words I don't want to spend 3-4k but I might want for instance a 2021 or 2022 model of somethng that is discounted.

Does anyone who knows this world have some recommendations both as to what and where to get it?

 

[Ken Miracle]

OK I am thinking of trying out MAC and eventually want to add someone's 5k monitor so I want the Retina screen or whatever they call it.

I don't want to spend a lot of money at this point because I have never used mac and I might not adjust well.

I need a recommendation on either a mac pro or inexpensive mac studio that is a good introduction but still can handle Lightroom.

In other words I don't want to spend 3-4k but I might want for instance a 2021 or 2022 model of somethng that is discounted.

Does anyone who knows this world have some recommendations both as to what and where to get it?

I bought my MacStudio M1Max June of 2022 and a 27" Apple Studio Display ... new the combo was just under $3,900 ... I bought the computer from a local Apple Authorized Retailer here in Boise who was here before the apple store and they gave me a good trade in for my 27" iMac. Had to buy the studio display from Best Buy because FedEx lost the shipment of studio displays coming to my local apple retailer.

If you have a local authorized apple retailer then they may have some M1 models now discounted since the M2 is quite a bit faster.

If looking on line OWC aka MacSales has new 2022 M1 max discounted and you can also find open box and used macs of various types from them.

They are an authoriized Apple retailer and have been around for years and sell and buy apple stuff.

Configure your own Apple Mac Studio (2022) at OWC

All Mac Studio desktops are fully inspected by Apple Certified Technicians and include a 14-day money-back guarantee. Browse our selection online.

eshop.macsales.com

 

[Woodpecker]

OK I am thinking of trying out MAC and eventually want to add someone's 5k monitor so I want the Retina screen or whatever they call it.

I don't want to spend a lot of money at this point because I have never used mac and I might not adjust well.

I need a recommendation on either a mac pro or inexpensive mac studio that is a good introduction but still can handle Lightroom.

In other words I don't want to spend 3-4k but I might want for instance a 2021 or 2022 model of somethng that is discounted.

Does anyone who knows this world have some recommendations both as to what and where to get it?

If have switched to the Apple universe in winter 2022/23 after 40+ years in the MS world - privately as well as professionally - being contemporary witness to things like the first Windows ever and all I can tell you is that the time for adoption is minimimal. Of course certain things work a bit different, from my point of view the user expoerience with MacOS is just playingf in a different league compared with evernything I knew before (last state being Windows 10 Pro). Already after a short time I got so used to it that now, if I have to go back to my PC for particular tasks depending on Windows, I feel a bit like jumping out of a Tesls and climbing on a Lance Bulldog. Admitteldy this is a bit of a cartoonish way of describng it, but for me it fits the message.

Regarding the way to go the following things comments might give a coarse direction:

• Depending on how deep you are diving with your Windows infrastructure I would recommend to look for not only authorized Apple dealers, but for authorized Apple dealer AND service-provider and get a discounted system with some older generation Apple silicon. For most people being used to ordinary PC's even an M1 Pro machine with sime excess memory will feel like a race horse. The reason for going to an authorized service provider is, that if you tend to dig a bit deeper you might be happy if you have a decently heated wire to qualified support (e.g. juggling with boot devices, SSD manipulation, ...)
  In my case I shot myself in off when experimenting with two exotic apps while running under MacOS 13 (Ventura) and directly after the release of MacOS 14 (Sonoma), so that I got trapped by initiating the update to Sonoma with a system that wouldn't start anymore. This happened only a short time after changing to Apple and I made a number of greenhorn failures and was glad to have the extra bit of motivation at the Apple dealer because I bought my machine there as well. Normally this should not be an issue, but sometimes ...
  
  Since then every things runs just flawlessly right down to not having the smallest issues - talking about heavy day to day use, for all professional and private tasks.
  
  
• Take a closer look at how you want to work, i.e. main machine at home and small system for travel or one-for-all. In the latter case I recommend to look for a Macbook Pro, because only Mx Pro, Mx Max (forgettting about the Ultra, which is a costly overkill for people like us) support more than one external display.
  
  
• If selecting external displays, keppe in mind that there i s an important difference between the way Windows and MacOS handles the GUI. The latter is optimized for resolutions with an integer multiple of 110 ppi, so that e.g. for 27" the optimum is either 2560 x 1440 or 5K (5120 x 2880). 4K devices will cause tremendous overhead demand for the GPU.
  
  
• If you are prepared to make some compromises, I know a retired pro photograher, who in these days is fully concentrating on nature photography and he is perfeclty happy with running DxO on a Macbook Air with M2 / 24GB / 2 TB an one Studio Display connected.

My current setup is a Macbook Pro 16" (M1Max, 64GB RAM, 2TB SSD) with two Studio Displays connected via a Thunderbolt 4 Hub providing me with a singly cable setup (i.e. one single cable to the notebook providing ALL connectivity including loading). Because the enourmous speed f the internal SSD is not required for everything, I hold everything not needed for mobile working on the internal 2TB. "The rest" is sitting on a 8TB RAID 1 SSD array hanging on the Thunderbolt hub. In other locations, where I do stationary work, I have another Thunderbolt hub providing single cable setup, like in the living room for my multimedia/MIDI setup and for my mobile office that I can carry to the client for longer on site work.

HOnestly, it's a breeze to work with this stuff ...

 

[wotan1]

If have switched to the Apple universe in winter 2022/23 after 40+ years in the MS world - privately as well as professionally - being contemporary witness to things like the first Windows ever and all I can tell you is that the time for adoption is minimimal. Of course certain things work a bit different, from my point of view the user expoerience with MacOS is just playingf in a different league compared with evernything I knew before (last state being Windows 10 Pro). Already after a short time I got so used to it that now, if I have to go back to my PC for particular tasks depending on Windows, I feel a bit like jumping out of a Tesls and climbing on a Lance Bulldog. Admitteldy this is a bit of a cartoonish way of describng it, but for me it fits the message.

Regarding the way to go the following things comments might give a coarse direction:

• Depending on how deep you are diving with your Windows infrastructure I would recommend to look for not only authorized Apple dealers, but for authorized Apple dealer AND service-provider and get a discounted system with some older generation Apple silicon. For most people being used to ordinary PC's even an M1 Pro machine with sime excess memory will feel like a race horse. The reason for going to an authorized service provider is, that if you tend to dig a bit deeper you might be happy if you have a decently heated wire to qualified support (e.g. juggling with boot devices, SSD manipulation, ...)
  In my case I shot myself in off when experimenting with two exotic apps while running under MacOS 13 (Ventura) and directly after the release of MacOS 14 (Sonoma), so that I got trapped by initiating the update to Sonoma with a system that wouldn't start anymore. This happened only a short time after changing to Apple and I made a number of greenhorn failures and was glad to have the extra bit of motivation at the Apple dealer because I bought my machine there as well. Normally this should not be an issue, but sometimes ...
  
  Since then every things runs just flawlessly right down to not having the smallest issues - talking about heavy day to day use, for all professional and private tasks.
  
  
• Take a closer look at how you want to work, i.e. main machine at home and small system for travel or one-for-all. In the latter case I recommend to look for a Macbook Pro, because only Mx Pro, Mx Max (forgettting about the Ultra, which is a costly overkill for people like us) support more than one external display.
  
  
• If selecting external displays, keppe in mind that there i s an important difference between the way Windows and MacOS handles the GUI. The latter is optimized for resolutions with an integer multiple of 110 ppi, so that e.g. for 27" the optimum is either 2560 x 1440 or 5K (5120 x 2880). 4K devices will cause tremendous overhead demand for the GPU.
  
  
• If you are prepared to make some compromises, I know a retired pro photograher, who in these days is fully concentrating on nature photography and he is perfeclty happy with running DxO on a Macbook Air with M2 / 24GB / 2 TB an one Studio Display connected.

My current setup is a Macbook Pro 16" (M1Max, 64GB RAM, 2TB SSD) with two Studio Displays connected via a Thunderbolt 4 Hub providing me with a singly cable setup (i.e. one single cable to the notebook providing ALL connectivity including loading). Because the enourmous speed f the internal SSD is not required for everything, I hold everything not needed for mobile working on the internal 2TB. "The rest" is sitting on a 8TB RAID 1 SSD array hanging on the Thunderbolt hub. In other locations, where I do stationary work, I have another Thunderbolt hub providing single cable setup, like in the living room for my multimedia/MIDI setup and for my mobile office that I can carry to the client for longer on site work.

HOnestly, it's a breeze to work with this stuff ...

This is very helpful.

I have a comment and a couple questions. My comment is what drove me to this is I paid $4k for a top of the line Windows gaming laptop to years ago only to find recently that it was bogging down when I imported my card after a photo shoot. I have since found out the culprit is Onedrive, which goes into overload trying to copy all my files to the cloud. I have since figured out how to shut the sync process in onedrive while i am processing photos. THe other point is I would like to get a 5k monitor but they apparently don't work well with Windows at this point.

Now my questions. Is a 16 inch Mabook Pro M1 with 1 tb and 16 gb ram going to be adequate or do I need more RAM? There is a deal on one of those but the price goes way up if I get more RAM or larger HD.


Second question, would I be better off with a Mac Studio? I am not looking at moving this around much.

 

[Woodpecker]

This is very helpful.

I have a comment and a couple questions. My comment is what drove me to this is I paid $4k for a top of the line Windows gaming laptop to years ago only to find recently that it was bogging down when I imported my card after a photo shoot. I have since found out the culprit is Onedrive, which goes into overload trying to copy all my files to the cloud. I have since figured out how to shut the sync process in onedrive while i am processing photos. THe other point is I would like to get a 5k monitor but they apparently don't work well with Windows at this point.

Now my questions. Is a 16 inch Mabook Pro M1 with 1 tb and 16 gb ram going to be adequate or do I need more RAM? There is a deal on one of those but the price goes way up if I get more RAM or larger HD.


Second question, would I be better off with a Mac Studio? I am not looking at moving this around much.

Well, as I said my changeover to Apple is not very long ago, compared to the time othgers here are living in the Apple world, so there are for sure people here, who are more helpful than myself with their experience, but nevertheless, here's what I think:

I start with Q2, as the main issue is the decision desktop versus notebook. If you don't need the mobility of your system and you don't have a mid / long term perspective to do so (e.g. for work) I would say go for a desktop, i.e. for a 24" iMac, a Mac mini or a Mac Studio.

Why am I so "unprecise" regarding the model ?

It's because I don't know enough about your demand in horse power, So I try it the other way round.

CPU / RAM:

After knowing that some users of DxO PhotoLab I'D call "serious users" can cope well with ordinary Mx CPU's (i.e. non-Pro, non-Max- non -Ultra) and you have a strong focus on the budget I recommend to collect opinions around this part of the story first. The latest Mx, i.e. the M3 comes with max. 24GB and if others here can comfirm that this would be enough for your need, an ordinary M3 system could be the way to go. In this case I would try to get a system with an M3 with 24GB.

I simply can't tell, because my first and only Mac has 64GB but this is because I also have other requirements (as mentioned this machine is my one-for-all system)

If 24GB RAM would be shooting too short in your case you need to go one up an get an Mx Pro. If post processing the maximum demanding job for your system IMHO there is no need to spend the money for a Mac Studio, beause you just get it with a Mx Max or an Mx Ultra, which would be overkill.

With M3 you have the choice of 24" iMac and Mac mini
With Mx Pro you have "only" the Mac Mini, but it is not the latest generation, but an M2 Pro.

As a trand I would recommend to got for more RAM if in doubt as one of the disadvantages of the Apple systems is, that you can't upgrade them.

SSD:

This is an interesting one. Many people start moaning about the internal SSD being so expensive. But the truth is that the internal SSD's are the only way to use the performance potential of the latest SSD interface to the maxinum.
On the other hand there are only few things that you would really need this speed for. I have 2 TB, being split in two dynamic volumes for private and for professional use and I have can cope with that relatively easy, because do the following:

• New RAWs got on the internal SSD on a "per download" basis (e.g. one shotting day --> one directory)
• After they went through culling, selecting, postprocessing and export of the processed images as JPG in max quality, the RAWs including their sidecar files go to an external SSD archive
• This way I have all processed images on my notebook all the time, while all finally processed RAWs leave my internal SSD and can minimize the load for the internal SSD.

I think there are as many workflows as people out there, this is just my way, but I think you get the idea.

Also the SSD is not expandable, but the increase in price is heavy. That's why I tried to find a compromise between a fast working machine and a cheaper "data grave" sitting beside the Mac. To give you an idea, the upgrade from 1 to 8 TB SSD costs whopping 2.530 €, while an 8 TB SSD RAID 1 array with USB 3.2 connection stting beside my Macbook was around 920 €. Yes, it is by far not as fast as the internal SSD but for the purpose the speed is nore than enough.

Display:

You might have wondered, why I talk about a 24" iMac although you ask for a 27" display ?
Well, it's because of post processing. It might be a matter of getting used to it, but I am working with 2 displays in my office setup at least the last 15 years, and to me there is one big advantage for post processing:

Instead of having a line of thumbnails at the bottom steeling you screen space for the actual image you are processing and may be doing retouchiung at 100% zoom level, with two screens you have one for the thumbnails and the other one is for processing the curent image only. It's not only an advantage in terms of screen space for editing, it is also very comfortable if you want to make selections of images to which you would like to transfer the settings you just made for one you processed, if you want to see the result of a selection filter straight away a.s.o.

So, if you feel safe with 24 GB of RAM it could be an interesting alternative to combine a 24" iMac with a 27" Studio display.
You are on M3. i.e. the latest technology and for around 5000 € you have a two screen solution with a 5K Retina display and 2TB SSD.

A single screen solution with an Mac Mini (albeit this model is still on M2, so it would probably worthwhile waiting a bit to get a M3) and a Studio display you would get to slightly below € 4.000.

All this is just rough calc with standard Apple prices to have an idea. I ma sure you could find deals and/or go for systems with an older generation chip, e.g. M2 instead of M3

Especially if you go for the stnadard CPU I would not consider the M1, because the new ones definitely were faster especially the M3, but the main reason is that with an M1 you only get max. 16GB of RAM which honestly I would try to avoid.

What about non-Apple displays ?

Yes the Studio display are expensive, but decided not to go 3rd party and I haven't regretted it a single moment.
Admittedly I didn't do a deep dive for alternative high end solution as Eizo or something in this direction.

If you go for a Studio display IMHO don't spend money for the nano glas. I had them side by side and although I have window facing south direclty on the left side of my desk where there are two studio displays in different angle to the window. I have no issue working even with bright day light (no direct sun, however). And even more important: The standard glas you can clean like any standard glass. This doesn't work with the nano.

From ergonomic perspective it depends on your setup. If you have single display solution or you combine a 24" iMac with a Studio display the standard feet are no problem.
For people with dual screen setup like me I would recommend getting the VESA mount version and a proper flexible twin VESA stand.

SOFTWARE:

I have decided to got with DxO Photolab quite some time ago. So my thoughts relating to RAM memory could be invalid or parlty missleading if you work with another software.
Probably worthwhile checking this with others as well.

Hope this helps a bit and all the best for your decision process ...

I'm sure you will love the move.

 

[Ralph]

This is very helpful.

I have a comment and a couple questions. My comment is what drove me to this is I paid $4k for a top of the line Windows gaming laptop to years ago only to find recently that it was bogging down when I imported my card after a photo shoot. I have since found out the culprit is Onedrive, which goes into overload trying to copy all my files to the cloud. I have since figured out how to shut the sync process in onedrive while i am processing photos. THe other point is I would like to get a 5k monitor but they apparently don't work well with Windows at this point.

Now my questions. Is a 16 inch Mabook Pro M1 with 1 tb and 16 gb ram going to be adequate or do I need more RAM? There is a deal on one of those but the price goes way up if I get more RAM or larger HD.


Second question, would I be better off with a Mac Studio? I am not looking at moving this around much.

I have owned nothing but Macs since 1986. I presently have a 2014 mac mini which I plan to upgrade in the near future. My recommendation if it’s in your price range is to go with the Mac Studio MAX with a 1 tb SSD. It comes with 32 gig of memory and has all the horsepower you’ll ever need for photos. It will run you about $2200. It’s 1999.00 with a 512 SSD. As far as monitors go, there are plenty of excellent 3rd party monitors for 1/2 the price of the Apple Studio monitor. But to be sure of your taste you’ll need to go in person to check them out. As woodpecker stated, it would be nice if you had an Apple store close by but their online service is very good.

 

[Woodpecker]

As far as monitors go, there are plenty of excellent 3rd party monitors for 1/2 the price of the Apple Studio monitor. But to be sure of your taste you’ll need to go in person to check them out.

Just as I thought: A really long time Apple'ian shares his experience ...

Yup, that's it. The bottom line for the display topic.

Admittedly I was a bit on the track "If going to Apple then full throttle". Nevertheless I have done some research on the technical side and looking for things like e.g. the LG Ultrafine as an alternative, when I found that in the background there are always little caveats here and there. The fact that running twin 5K over one TB4 connection is not possible with e.g. the LG while you can do that with Studio displays is only one example . To me the overall functionality including sound, camera, micro, connectivity a.s.o. and the seamles integration was a stronger argument than it might be for others and because I am using a Macbook Pro as primary one-for-all system not only for photography but also other things will for sure have put focus on things, that might not be as important for others.

That said, it was interesting to me to find out, that when looking to the system settings the default setting for the Studio display is 2560 x 1440 and the additional pixels are just used by the Retina technology to make the display optically crisper for the human eye (cf. optimization of Apple GUI for integer multiples of 110 ppi). This made it a no brainer for me to have my Studio displays at home for the "high end experience" and my mobile office setup using two calibrated DELL UP2716D with native 2560 x 1440 giving me the same look and feel on the GUI side of things - apart of course from the crispness of the display and needing separate webcam, speakers, micro.

Interestingly I am also able to do post processing with this mobile office setup and the results often only require minor finalization when getting home, where I can use the Studio Displays - if any. So, there is the valid question of who really needs real 5K, 5K Retina and who might be just better of using a high end native 2560 x 1440 non-Retina display with 27" or anything bigger as long as you stay within the windows given by interger multiples of 110 ppi. That' also the reason, why it is important to stay away from solution that fall out of the windows like e.g. a 27" 4K display, that depending on the chosen resolution can put heavy burden on the GPU. There are numerous qualfied articles around this topic.

 

[Ralph]

Just as I thought: A really long time Apple'ian shares his experience ...

Yup, that's it. The bottom line for the display topic.

Admittedly I was a bit on the track "If going to Apple then full throttle". Nevertheless I have done some research on the technical side and looking for things like e.g. the LG Ultrafine as an alternative, when I found that in the background there are always little caveats here and there. The fact that running twin 5K over one TB4 connection is not possible with e.g. the LG while you can do that with Studio displays is only one example . To me the overall functionality including sound, camera, micro, connectivity a.s.o. and the seamles integration was a stronger argument than it might be for others and because I am using a Macbook Pro as primary one-for-all system not only for photography but also other things will for sure have put focus on things, that might not be as important for others.

That said, it was interesting to me to find out, that when looking to the system settings the default setting for the Studio display is 2560 x 1440 and the additional pixels are just used by the Retina technology to make the display optically crisper for the human eye (cf. optimization of Apple GUI for integer multiples of 110 ppi). This made it a no brainer for me to have my Studio displays at home for the "high end experience" and my mobile office setup using two calibrated DELL UP2716D with native 2560 x 1440 giving me the same look and feel on the GUI side of things - apart of course from the crispness of the display and needing separate webcam, speakers, micro.

Interestingly I am also able to do post processing with this mobile office setup and the results often only require minor finalization when getting home, where I can use the Studio Displays - if any. So, there is the valid question of who really needs real 5K, 5K Retina and who might be just better of using a high end native 2560 x 1440 non-Retina display with 27" or anything bigger as long as you stay within the windows given by interger multiples of 110 ppi. That' also the reason, why it is important to stay away from solution that fall out of the windows like e.g. a 27" 4K display, that depending on the chosen resolution can put heavy burden on the GPU. There are numerous qualfied articles around this topic.

Totally agree.The integration is seamless and it is a fantastic But for my needs it’s a little pricy. Especially after spending $2000 or more for the studioMAX.

 

[Woodpecker]

Totally agree.The integration is seamless and it is a fantastic But for my needs it’s a little pricy. Especially after spending $2000 or more for the studioMAX.

Yeah, fully understand that. I was in the comfortable solution that my original setup with a DELL Precision M6800 mobile workstation would have faced 10th aniversary this year and I could get a new IT infrastructure with the bonus of being taxable expenses for my business , because I was lucky enough to get a lucrative project after the 2+ year drought caused by the pandemic. Otherwise I probably would have had to make some compromises myself as well .

 

[wotan1]

In reviewing my current setup, which involves a high end PC gaming computer, I found the culprit recently. It is Microsoft, and in particular Onedrive.

As soon as i start to add images Onedrive goes into ovrerdrive. It ends up bogging down the system, causing Lightroom to slow painfully and sometimes lock up.

If however I stop synchronization for a few hours everything hums right along and I have no problems.

 

[wotan1]

I made a decision to try out an Apple computer.

because this is new to me I did not want to spend a lot of money on this attempt.

I found a reconditioned 16 inch Macbook Pro with a M1 pro chip and a 1tb hard drive. I got a really good price on it. It will be a keeper if I can work Lightroom with it and especially if it can handle a 5k external monitor.