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6 minutes ago, ReeRay said:

Yes - very good spec and fast. I have exactly this item. 😀

 

Thanks Ray.

 

Do you use it as your main computer or only for travel?

 

Have you found any need for additional RAM or anything else? 16Gb should be fine I'd have thought.

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I have an iMac with a similar spec and frankly have no preference in which machine I use. The iMac has a 27" screen and I do turn to that for critical work but as far as speed and ease of use there's little in it.

 

I bought the laptop primarily for travelling but really enjoy sitting outside also when processing. 

 

The RAM is fine. You'll enjoy that machine. 

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It depends a bit on what cameras you use, because for me that 512 ssd would fill up in under 2 weeks now. So for travel I have used a 1TB since almost 2 years now and are looking for replacement. I use an older Sony 42 megapixel camera plus a couple of 20 megapixel RX100-s. These however are sometimes set to continuous and at 24 fps their 128Gb cards fill up quicker than the 64Gb card in the A7R2.

 

The 10-bit screen would be really nice to have. My workstation at home is 10 bit throughout, which is quite costly. If that's not a big deal for you, the 10 bit is what makes the whole setup twice as expensive. With 10-bit you do get better gradients in the sky though.

The 6K may or may not be a pleasant thing to work with. It's great for viewing video, but for editing I prefer good old 72 dpi and my images at 100 or 200%.  So I would not order one unless I had tried using Photoshop on it.

 

Btw True Tone must be disabled if you're viewing or editing images for stock or clients. Or if you value true colors. Which True Tone contrary to what the words mean to ordinary people is not. It's a technique that Apple said it was new in 2016 when it appeared on their iPhones and iPads, but I had it on my 2014 Samsung phone and it was not new then. At Samsung it's called adaptive display. Which is what it is: it changes color when colors around you change. Meaning to adapt to the color of the light of course, but that will only work in a neutral white, grey or black room.

I have it disabled on my phone also - I don't read in bed.

 

If you are like me and only view your images on the road and store them for editing at home, a £500 laptop with almost the same specs would be quite sufficient.

If however this is your main machine and are mainly traveling, this would be the machine to get, but with a much larger ssd.

Also think about how long you have used your current laptop. Will you have the same camera throughout the same period from now on? I wouldn't. So on my workstation the memory is now 32Gb and can be enlarged to 128. It is 8Gb on my laptop, which is now as slow as a snail.  Luckily it has USB 3 and that fast ssd.

 

wim

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47 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

It depends a bit on what cameras you use, because for me that 512 ssd would fill up in under 2 weeks now. So for travel I have used a 1TB since almost 2 years now and are looking for replacement. I use an older Sony 42 megapixel camera plus a couple of 20 megapixel RX100-s. These however are sometimes set to continuous and at 24 fps their 128Gb cards fill up quicker than the 64Gb card in the A7R2.

 

The 10-bit screen would be really nice to have. My workstation at home is 10 bit throughout, which is quite costly. If that's not a big deal for you, the 10 bit is what makes the whole setup twice as expensive. With 10-bit you do get better gradients in the sky though.

The 6K may or may not be a pleasant thing to work with. It's great for viewing video, but for editing I prefer good old 72 dpi and my images at 100 or 200%.  So I would not order one unless I had tried using Photoshop on it.

 

Btw True Tone must be disabled if you're viewing or editing images for stock or clients. Or if you value true colors. Which True Tone contrary to what the words mean to ordinary people is not. It's a technique that Apple said it was new in 2016 when it appeared on their iPhones and iPads, but I had it on my 2014 Samsung phone and it was not new then. At Samsung it's called adaptive display. Which is what it is: it changes color when colors around you change. Meaning to adapt to the color of the light of course, but that will only work in a neutral white, grey or black room.

I have it disabled on my phone also - I don't read in bed.

 

If you are like me and only view your images on the road and store them for editing at home, a £500 laptop with almost the same specs would be quite sufficient.

If however this is your main machine and are mainly traveling, this would be the machine to get, but with a much larger ssd.

Also think about how long you have used your current laptop. Will you have the same camera throughout the same period from now on? I wouldn't. So on my workstation the memory is now 32Gb and can be enlarged to 128. It is 8Gb on my laptop, which is now as slow as a snail.  Luckily it has USB 3 and that fast ssd.

 

wim

"It depends a bit on what cameras you use, because for me that 512 ssd would fill up in under 2 weeks now" 

 

Hence my use of a WD external drive 6TB mirrored for image storage. When I'm travelling I take a smaller 2TB for storage and transfer to the larger unit when at home and using the iMac. 

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56 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

for me that 512 ssd would fill up in under 2 weeks

 

My iMac has a 512 SSD for programs and firmware only all files are on separate discs. A small SSD with large memory connected to Macbbook Pro would be of use.

 

Allan

 

edit ReeRay beat me to it.

 

ITMA

 

 

Edited by Allan Bell
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2 minutes ago, ReeRay said:

"It depends a bit on what cameras you use, because for me that 512 ssd would fill up in under 2 weeks now" 

 

Hence my use of a WD external drive 6TB mirrored for image storage. When I'm travelling I take a smaller 2TB for storage and transfer to the larger unit when at home and using the iMac. 

 

Looks a bit like my setup. With a wallet sized 2 TB. And a stack of 5TB's at home.

 

wim

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Increasingly often we need to go down to Wiltshire to stay with mother-in law. Until now I've been taking my 27in Mac in the car which can't do it all that much good. So I want a top spec Mac laptop to do the same job, and also to be able to use it when we go away - probably that will be more likely to be to holiday cottages in UK, or by car and train when Europe opens up. 

 

I can live without but the govt are offering these cheap business loans to try and stimulate the economy so I thought that I could do my bit to help.😀

 

The other thing, and this is a bit crazy, but on the Flat Rate VAT scheme you get all the VAT refunded if you spend over £2000 as any on time. 

 

So the borrowing costs nothing for 12 months then just 2.5% and there is money back too. 

Edited by geogphotos
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Free money, what's not to like. 😁 Clever move. We're all in consumer economies now.

 

Having a good machine in your current situation is clearly important. Still I would bulk it up some more.

And check beforehand if you like that 6K for editing.

 

wim

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4 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

Free money, what's not to like. 😁 Clever move. We're all in consumer economies now.

 

Having a good machine in your current situation is clearly important. Still I would bulk it up some more.

And check beforehand if you like that 6K for editing.

 

wim

 

 

Not sure how I could do that, but interested in the experience of others. 

 

Wim I am a technical illiterate so I certainly won't notice all the nuances that you would. I'm very pleased to hear what ReeRay has to say.

 

You suggest buying more HD storage or more RAM or both?

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I bought a HP Pavilion with 8GB RAM and 512 SSD drive last year. So far, I'm very happy with it. Only cost EUR 799.

 

I don't store picture files on my hard drive. I use external drives instead.

Edited by vpics
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7 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

Not sure how I could do that, but interested in the experience of others. 

 

Wim I am a technical illiterate so I certainly won't notice all the nuances that you would. I'm very pleased to hear what ReeRay has to say.

 

You suggest buying more HD storage or more RAM or both?

 

At least more storage; 1TB minimum; I would go for 2 now. Remember all your programs will live on there as well.

More memory is also better. 16Gb is fine for now, but nothing of the hardware is upgradable (Ifixit).

Adding the 32Gb and 2Tb will set you back another 1000,- . Ouch. Which is why it's not upgradable. These are very standard components in spite of what Apple wants us to believe. And they are still way overpriced.

(A decent 32Gb memory module is under 150,- and Apple wants an extra 400,- to go from 16 to 32Gb. Making it 5 times more expensive?

A 2Tb SSD is $600,- more, but a very decent 2TB SSD on it's own is between 250 and 300,-. Yes I know Apple has taken the chips that go inside all of this and are soldering them on the main board by themselves. And we could never do that. But that could still be seen as a trick to make us pay through our noses. And not as a feature to make it smaller and lighter. Which it also is.)

 

8 minutes ago, vpics said:

I bought a HP Pavilion with 8GB RAM and 512 SSD drive last year. So far, I'm very happy with it. Only cost EUR 799.

 

I don't store picture files on my hard drive. I use external drives instead.

 

Yes I do use external drives too. But as a backup. And I somehow think that adding all those defy what that sleek beautiful Apple is all about. But hey I have 2 older aluminum 15 inch MacBook Pro's lying around here with 512 hdd and I'm taking an old plasticky beat up cheap windows laptop with me for travel. The old plastic one only weighs 1300 gram; doesn't look like it's worth stealing and holds twice as many images, because I have upgraded it to 8GB/1TB for very little money. 

But the MacBooks make me a pro when I get them from my bag. Nobody can see it's only 4GB/512GB. And as slow as my beat up plastic windows toy. (Honestly it's from a toy shop. But Aldi has sold the same.)

 

wim

 

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1 hour ago, wiskerke said:

 

At least more storage; 1TB minimum; I would go for 2 now. Remember all your programs will live on there as well.

More memory is also better. 16Gb is fine for now, but nothing of the hardware is upgradable (Ifixit).

Adding the 32Gb and 2Tb will set you back another 1000,- . Ouch. Which is why it's not upgradable. These are very standard components in spite of what Apple wants us to believe. And they are still way overpriced.

(A decent 32Gb memory module is under 150,- and Apple wants an extra 400,- to go from 16 to 32Gb. Making it 5 times more expensive?

A 2Tb SSD is $600,- more, but a very decent 2TB SSD on it's own is between 250 and 300,-. Yes I know Apple has taken the chips that go inside all of this and are soldering them on the main board by themselves. And we could never do that. But that could still be seen as a trick to make us pay through our noses. And not as a feature to make it smaller and lighter. Which it also is.)

 

 

Yes I do use external drives too. But as a backup. And I somehow think that adding all those defy what that sleek beautiful Apple is all about. But hey I have 2 older aluminum 15 inch MacBook Pro's lying around here with 512 hdd and I'm taking an old plasticky beat up cheap windows lap

 

wim

 


My advice to anyone buying a MacBookPro now would be to prioritise maxing out the RAM as it is not upgradeable as you say and 16GB might not be adequate running Photoshop or Lightroom a few years from now. If a larger internal drive in addition was out of my  price range then I would use the wonderful G-Technology Thunderbolt 3 external SSDs which are almost as fast as the internal SDDs and which are really tiny. Yes I actually did some quantitative tests recently. They come in at around 200 per TB and have their own aesthetic beauty. Also great for really fast backups. 

 

Edited by MDM
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5 hours ago, geogphotos said:

Increasingly often we need to go down to Wiltshire to stay with mother-in law. Until now I've been taking my 27in Mac in the car

Another option to consider: keep a large external monitor in Wiltshire and get a slightly smaller laptop that will be easier to carry when on train journeys.

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