Need a new iMac

[Betty LaRue]

2 hours ago, Sally R said:

 

Hi Betty, Apple will apparently have an event on 20th April, so you will at least be able to find out then if a new iMac is announced. It may, however, only be the smaller one if it does get announced. You may have to wait a couple more months to find out about the larger iMac. But hopefully, either way, it will be a bit clearer what the future holds for the latest generation iMacs.

Glad you found that bit of news. I’ve been looking and never saw that. I’m picking up my computer from the shop this afternoon and will be back in business. I’ve felt like I left my left arm there. (I’m left handed)
They cleaned out white feather dust! 😂 That was from the time the bird cages were closer to the computer which isn’t the case, now. Although I kept it covered, I was using it a lot when it was uncovered, of course.

I did read that it seems there will be several options of the new iMac, with different price points. I hope the 27” Mac will be offered in April, but if not, I can wait. Hopefully.

[Betty LaRue]

13 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

With all this talk of upgrading computers, I just had my son’s computer geek friend put in a new 4T SSD drive into the computer I use for all my photo editing work.  He built the computer about 4 years and I asked him to come by and see how he can improve it. So far it seems like nice improvement, the computer is much quieter and files move much faster!  

Good for you! I had to look up what SSD meant last week, lol. Yesterday was understanding cores. I read an article that said some years ago that Photoshop of that time only used one core, leaving the speed of any other cores on the table. I wonder what it does now?

Literally, the only time I use my computer is for my images, CC, etc. I do all my reading, searching, forums, on my iPad from the comfort of my easy chair. So if LR and PS doesn’t use multiple cores, why buy one that has the most?

[Betty LaRue]

2 hours ago, Sally R said:

 

Betty, I just watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc6Hxg5cj3w

 

The guy presenting seems pretty confident both size iMacs will be announced on the 20th. He is predicting a 24 inch model for the smaller iMac and 30 or 32 inch for the larger one. Of course still not known for sure, but seems encouraging.

 

Funny about the feather dust 😂  Glad your Mac will be back in business 👍  I'm left handed too.

Exciting news! Thanks for the video. On left-handedness...I hope your teachers didn’t put you through what my first grade teacher did to me. She hit my bent back hand with a ruler 4 or 5 times when she caught me using my left hand. That is...until my mother got hold of her!  it went on for weeks. I didn’t tell my mother until she asked why my grades slipped. I thought I was a baaad girl at the age of 6. My grades shot up after the... ah-hum...straightening out of the teacher. Her stomach probably roiled with acid every time she saw me using my left hand after that. I was the only lefty in the class. There are many more of us now, probably because many were left alone in recent decades.

[Betty LaRue]

BTW, I found out PS uses more cores these days. Also read about “threading”.

[Betty LaRue]

Apologies to Ed in the other thread, I should have posted here.

While no decision is made between the latest iMac-to-be, I’m also looking at a mid 20-20 27” iMac.

1TB SSD hard drive

Standard screen, Retina display, not nano glass. Some reports say images don’t appear as crisp (sharp) with nano, and there is some “sparkle”. I’ve done fine without it up to now.

AMD Radeon Pro 5700 8 GB GDDR6 upgrade cost worth it for better performance here.

3.8 GHz Intel core i7, 8 core (very tiny improvement in choosing i9-10 core and not worth the cost) 
10GB Ethernet port, important upgrade

 

In wishlist, OWC 32GB DDR4 RAM kit. Watched the video, and YES it is very easy to change RAM. 
 

I found out it’s best to have two RAM sticks in 2nd and 4th slots. That configuration runs faster than using all the slots. So I won’t use the 8GB it comes with.

 

Whatever I decide, if I go with the above, I’ll wait for the new silicon chip iMac intro. There might be some price breaks on the old.

 

[MDM]

25 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

Apologies to Ed in the other thread, I should have posted here.

While no decision is made between the latest iMac-to-be, I’m also looking at a mid 20-20 27” iMac.

1TB SSD hard drive

Standard screen, Retina display, not nano glass. Some reports say images don’t appear as crisp (sharp) with nano, and there is some “sparkle”. I’ve done fine without it up to now.

AMD Radeon Pro 5700 8 GB GDDR6 upgrade cost worth it for better performance here.

3.8 GHz Intel core i7, 8 core (very tiny improvement in choosing i9-10 core and not worth the cost) 
10GB Ethernet port, important upgrade

 

In wishlist, OWC 32GB DDR4 RAM kit. Watched the video, and YES it is very easy to change RAM. 
 

I found out it’s best to have two RAM sticks in 2nd and 4th slots. That configuration runs faster than using all the slots. So I won’t use the 8GB it comes with.

 

Whatever I decide, if I go with the above, I’ll wait for the new silicon chip iMac intro. There might be some price breaks on the old.

 

 

I would agree with almost all of that but, if you really want to future proof it, then going for the 16GB graphics (GPU) would be sensible I think, as it is only an extra $200 which is not a lot considering the price of the whole machine. You can't upgrade the GPU in an iMac. Some people might say you don't need such a powerful GPU for Photoshop and Lightroom and that is true now but in a few years time it may not be. Photoshop and Lightroom use the GPU a lot more than they used to. If my budget was really tight, I would even do that over getting the 1TB storage and go for just the 500GB. You can get very fast Thunderbolt3 or even USB3 drives for storage which, while not quite as fast as the internal SSD, are extremely fast and much, much cheaper than SSDs. With the type of workflow you have described before here, you could copy your working files to the internal SSD and when finished move them to an external drive.

[Ed Rooney]

On 10/04/2021 at 01:13, Betty LaRue said:

I think Ed is going for a Mac mini.

Betty

 

No, Betty, I'm going for an M1 MacBook Air. 

[Betty LaRue]

3 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

No, Betty, I'm going for an M1 MacBook Air. 

Today I read that your planning on the laptop, Ed, but several days back before you first went to the Apple store, you said you were thinking about the mini. You changed your mind, kind of like me wobbling all over the place between the next Gen iMac or the mid 2020 iMac.

Decisions, decisions. I hope you get what you want soon, because you’re in a worse pickle than I was in. I have mine back, clean and hooked up. I’ll give it a test run tomorrow.

Keep taking pictures, you’ll have something to work on with your new computer. Don’t forget those skies for the sky replacement tool. I go out and look at the sky numerous times during the day.

I’m after late day golden hour skies right now.

[Betty LaRue]

8 minutes ago, Sally R said:

 

What a horrible teacher, but I'm so glad your mother 'straightened her out'. Would love to know her methods 🤣  Luckily I wasn't given a hard time for left-handedness.

 

On the topic of new Macs, you may be just fine with one of the latest Intel Macs. The OS on each model of Mac eventually becomes no longer upgradeable (after several years), but the recent Intel Macs should last you a while. If you wait about 6 more days you will at least have a sense of what the new M1 Macs are about, and then can make a decision from there. I'm just keen for M1 as I can see my photo processing needs stepping up in the future and thought it would provide the best performance going forward. I have interests in music too and wouldn't mind starting to do some video, so the extra processing power may be worth it.

 

I've been tossing up 3 options:

New M1 iMac

M1 Mac mini plus external monitor of choice

M1 Macbook which can also be used to run an external monitor of choice

 

I have been leaning towards the new M1 iMac because it just seems the simpler option overall (though Mark Chapman in Edo's thread is half convincing me to do the Mac mini with external monitor option again, especially as it can work out cheaper). I've been wondering if the predicted 24 inch iMac monitor would be adequate as I only have a 21.5 inch now and I've been fine with that. It will be interesting to see the pricing and features of the new M1 Macs.

 

 

 

Everything you read about “needs” right now say a photographer “needs” the larger screen. But if you’ve been working on a 21.5” monitor, I would expect the 24” will look very nice.  When I joined Alamy, I was working on PCs with smaller monitors, too. I do wonder if that’s why I had so many failures, but pretty much all of us were working on smaller monitors then. 
I think it was because I wasn’t that good at evaluating my images.
 

[Betty LaRue]

1 hour ago, Sally R said:

10 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

 

 

What a horrible teacher, but I'm so glad your mother 'straightened her out'. Would love to know her methods 🤣  Luckily I wasn't given a hard time for left-handedness.

Well, at 5’2”, my tiny mother stormed into the classroom holding my hand. She was red-faced and shaking all over with anger and the teacher saw it. Mom told her I was born left-handed and she (the teacher) from that day forward would never bother me over it again.  And she never did. My mother was very sweet, timid and mild-mannered. Not that day. Mom told her off in front of me so I wouldn’t have to be terrified anymore. I was also shy and timid. The mouse in the corner.

[Ed Rooney]

7 hours ago, Sally R said:

 

That sounds like a good plan Ed. 

 

The current M1 MacBook Airs don't have an SD card slot, but if that is your preferred method of transfer of photos between camera and computer you can buy a docking station or USB hub which is not expensive, and people at the Apple Store could advise you on that.

 

Hey, don't accuse me of having a plan!

 

You only need a little card reader. Put your memory card in and attach it to an adopter cord.

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Ed Rooney

[MDM]

18 minutes ago, Sally R said:

 

Oh ok sorry Ed!! That's good to know. I was looking at a dock with additional USB ports which I thought might be useful, but that reader is better for just an SD.

 

This won't apply to Edo most likely as he appears to have minimal requirements but Apple have gone extremely minimalist with these M1 MacBooks in terms of external ports. There are only two Thunderbolt/USB4 ports so a dock will be all but essential for many users. One of the ports is used for charging so, if you wanted to have an external monitor and an external drive attached at the same time as keeping the computer charged, you would need a dock. As far as I know, there are only a few docks that are fully compatible and small enough to be portable (Caldigit and OWC). By the time you would get all the adapters you might need to attach a monitor, older USB3 drives, a card reader and so on, then a portable dock is probably a better solution.

[Marianne]

On 09/04/2021 at 16:16, Betty LaRue said:

I think I’ve read just about all of the Mac rumors. I’m excited about what you’re saying, but from what I read, 16GB Memory is it. So will 16 be enough future-proofing? Will the new chip make it run like it has 32? I would assume if the graphics performance is mind-blowing, then it should handle the demands of CC, layers, etc. is that what you think, Mick?

I could use about 20 $$$ licenses about now.

Yes, I agree Apple isn’t fan-friendly. They overcharge for the computers, then for out-of-warrant repairs (I guess, never needed a service until now) Yet they have services once you buy that are very supportive at the Apple stores.

Apple products are kind of like having an addiction. Once I got a Mac it was like, “Oh, My God” and I never wanted to go back to a PC. Most, not all, Mac users seem to feel this way. So it comes down to can you afford it, even if it means waiting and saving up? So far, I’ve managed to do it. When there is something I want really bad, I find a way. Saving, garage sales...selling my scrap gold and silver.

Right now, I have camera equipment I need to list. Earlier this month I sold two very nice reclining chairs I no longer need...there’s $400.

 

That very expensive addiction reference is spot on Betty. I'm sitting here with an 18-month old $4,000 MacBook Pro loaded with a 2TB SSD & 32GB RAM. Love how blazing fast it is but as I think I mentioned it has to go to the Apple store when it's safe to go to the mall, because about 1/3rd of the letters on the keyboard are obliterated. After about a month of doubling random letters that seems to have stopped but really I could have bought 4 PCs for the money - but I can't ever go back to a PC despite the diminishing build quality and the fact that these things just don't last. I future proofed it by going big with the RAM etc, but not sure the hardware will last. Crazy but I'm clearly an Apple addict despite all their flaws. LOL. 

 

I opted for a laptop for travel expecting to be spending more time out in the midwest with my daughter & grandson before Covid so I could work when visiting them for extended periods and attach it to my old iMac as a monitor at home. I had considered the Mac mini too, but the laptop made sense. I still don't have an iPad but when travel opens up, the newer ones could be a good option. And perhaps my keyboard would last longer if I had an iPad LOL. 

 

Glad your computer is clean and working - feathers! Wow, you just never know do you? 

 

Great that your mother straightened out that teacher. I went to a parochial school in the Bronx growing up and the poor lefties were shamed into using their right hands and then shamed for their poor handwriting. The nuns seems to think penmanship was next to godliness. My youngest sister was ambidextrous, and would use her left hand at home, to keep it in shape. She was lucky her right hand worked as well. When I was tested for ADHD in my late 40's, I found out my left hand is in the 10th percentile (no wonder I could never seem to throw a tennis ball up for a good serve). Had it been my right if I was a lefty I can't imagine how tough it would have been. Glad the right hand mania has subsided. 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Marianne

[MDM]

35 minutes ago, Marianne said:

 

I'm sitting here with an 18-month old $4,000 MacBook Pro loaded with a 2TB SSD & 32GB RAM. Love how blazing fast it is but as I think I mentioned it has to go to the Apple store when it's safe to go to the mall, because about 1/3rd of the letters on the keyboard are obliterated. After about a month of doubling random letters that seems to have stopped but really I could have bought 4 PCs for the money - but I can't ever go back to a PC despite the diminishing build quality and the fact that these things just don't last. I future proofed it by going big with the RAM etc, but not sure the hardware will last. Crazy but I'm clearly an Apple addict despite all their flaws. LOL. 

 

 

You can get really cheap third party bluetooth keyboards that will work with a MacBook Pro to keep you going or you might even have a wired Apple keyboard hanging around from the past. 

[Marianne]

13 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

You can get really cheap third party bluetooth keyboards that will work with a MacBook Pro to keep you going or you might even have a wired Apple keyboard hanging around from the past. 

 

Yes - I have one currently replacing my bluetooth one that is fused due to exploding Duracell batteries. They went bad in my tv remote around the same time t I was able to clean that out. Took them out of all my other devices. This keyboard is working ok thankfully after all tthese years I no longer need to hunt and peck - though I spoke too soon and jinxed myself - the double letter thing is happpening again - as you can see here! And I cleaned upp some of them earlier in this paragraph! 

 

Good idea though when I've got it hooked up to my iMac it'd be nice to have the bluetoothh instead of the wired one.

Edited April 14, 2021 by Marianne

[MDM]

Just now, Marianne said:

 

Yes - I have one currently replacing my bluetooth one that is fused due to exploding Duracell batteries. They went bad in my tv remote around the same time t I was able to clean that out. Took them out of all my other devices. This keyboard is working ok thankfully after all tthese years I no longer need to hunt and peck - though I spoke too soon and jinxed myself - the double letter thing is happpening again - as you can see here! And I cleaned upp some of them earlier in this paragraph! 

 

Maybbee you could tryy voiccee recognittionn  😀

[Marianne]

7 minutes ago, MDM said:

 

Maybbee you could tryy voiccee recognittionn  😀

 

Grrrrreat idea!

[Simon E]

18 hours ago, Sally R said:

I have been leaning towards the new M1 iMac because it just seems the simpler option overall (though Mark Chapman in Edo's thread is half convincing me to do the Mac mini with external monitor option again, especially as it can work out cheaper)

 

For anyone considering an iMac I would certainly suggest they look at an M1 Mac mini with SSD and a separate monitor. These days even average desktop monitors are excellent.

 

And even Macbook fans might think about having an SSD Mini desktop plus a lower spec, smaller and lighter Macbook model for portability. You have 2 devices available if the unthinkable happens (and sadly it can). If you're managing a large image collection you may want to consider a NAS or similar network storage accessed by both devices. It will still require multiple backup strategies - at work we run a 2TB Synology 2-bay NAS, the built-in Hyperbackup utility runs backups to both external HDD and cloud on a daily schedule. A UPS is also advisable.

[Betty LaRue]

6 hours ago, Marianne said:

 

That very expensive addiction reference is spot on Betty. I'm sitting here with an 18-month old $4,000 MacBook Pro loaded with a 2TB SSD & 32GB RAM. Love how blazing fast it is but as I think I mentioned it has to go to the Apple store when it's safe to go to the mall, because about 1/3rd of the letters on the keyboard are obliterated. After about a month of doubling random letters that seems to have stopped but really I could have bought 4 PCs for the money - but I can't ever go back to a PC despite the diminishing build quality and the fact that these things just don't last. I future proofed it by going big with the RAM etc, but not sure the hardware will last. Crazy but I'm clearly an Apple addict despite all their flaws. LOL. 

 

I opted for a laptop for travel expecting to be spending more time out in the midwest with my daughter & grandson before Covid so I could work when visiting them for extended periods and attach it to my old iMac as a monitor at home. I had considered the Mac mini too, but the laptop made sense. I still don't have an iPad but when travel opens up, the newer ones could be a good option. And perhaps my keyboard would last longer if I had an iPad LOL. 

 

Glad your computer is clean and working - feathers! Wow, you just never know do you? 

 

Great that your mother straightened out that teacher. I went to a parochial school in the Bronx growing up and the poor lefties were shamed into using their right hands and then shamed for their poor handwriting. The nuns seems to think penmanship was next to godliness. My youngest sister was ambidextrous, and would use her left hand at home, to keep it in shape. She was lucky her right hand worked as well. When I was tested for ADHD in my late 40's, I found out my left hand is in the 10th percentile (no wonder I could never seem to throw a tennis ball up for a good serve). Had it been my right if I was a lefty I can't imagine how tough it would have been. Glad the right hand mania has subsided. 

In 2009 I had a Macbook Pro that I bought for travel. I took it on our New England leaf-peeping trip to download all the photos to, and worked on some of them. When I got home and transferred them all to my iMac, I found the ones I processed on the laptop were all way too contrasty. Unacceptably so.  All of that time I spent was wasted. I did them over.  I sold the MacBook not long after, because I was finding I was only using it for web-surfing and the forum. And since I had a desktop, getting a monitor for the MacBook was useless. I wasn’t going to travel with that. My iPad does fine for everything besides photo work, doesn’t get hot on my legs, and is way lighter.

The laptop was great for keeping up with the one soap opera I watched though, while on vacation! But I can do that on my iPad, too!

 

I had great penmanship with my left hand. I am the youngest of three girls and my sisters taught me so much before I started school. I clamored for information from them and learned to read, too.
The teacher didn’t start punishing me until the second six week period. We got grades every six weeks. My first report card was perfect. Then she started in on me, and I had six weeks of hell. I spent most of my time like a mouse watching a cat, trying to get work hastily done with my left hand while her back was turned. I’d get caught up and forget to keep my eye on her, and BAM! My heart felt like it stopped every time and I’d hear a roaring in my ears, besides the pain in my hand.
That’s why my mother questioned me, because my second report card was so poor.

[Betty LaRue]

15 hours ago, Sally R said:

Good on your Mum for sticking up for you Betty. Those early experiences of bullying by teachers can have a lasting effect, so having your Mom step in would have helped you to feel safe and supported and mitigate against future harm. I am only 5'1" and a quiet, gentle person. I was super quiet and shy in school. But if I see someone vulnerable being bullied or mistreated a kind of ferocity kicks in and I have a strong instinct to go in and defend/protect, and I imagine you are similar. I think sensitive people with strong nurturing instincts really care about the sanctity of life and so instinctively protect that. I've read about mother octopuses going to extraordinary lengths to protect their eggs and young, and male Emperor penguins protecting and incubating their eggs on their feet under their fur through extreme Antarctic winters. I haven't had my own kids but if I did I think I'd be like an octopus or Emperor penguin 🐙 🐧 😂

Good for you, Sally!  So right! I cry when a bird dies, and jumped in an unfamiliar river to save a mother dog. She was caught with a hook in her chest from a fishing jug line after trying to cross the river with her half-grown pups.That was tough, because I was trying to chew through the dirty, slimy cord that was tied to the large hook while one of the pups had thrown his front legs over my arm. The rest swam to shore, but this one wouldn’t leave mom and was about to drown. I threw an elbow out and it grabbed on. I didn’t get typhoid or anything from the cord chewing!😂 I did free her, though, without getting bitten. I approached her with soothing baby-talk. I took her and the pup close to the opposite shore from where I was fishing, but the water got too deep so I gave them a shove and they made it to the rest of the clan. I was exhausted and trembling, because it took a long time supporting two dogs while wrestling with the hook in chest high water with a strong current.

[Betty LaRue]

I used my computer today, and it seems to be working great. So I have time to wait until the M1X iMac comes out.

[Betty LaRue]

On 13/04/2021 at 16:47, MDM said:

 

I would agree with almost all of that but, if you really want to future proof it, then going for the 16GB graphics (GPU) would be sensible I think, as it is only an extra $200 which is not a lot considering the price of the whole machine. You can't upgrade the GPU in an iMac. Some people might say you don't need such a powerful GPU for Photoshop and Lightroom and that is true now but in a few years time it may not be. Photoshop and Lightroom use the GPU a lot more than they used to. If my budget was really tight, I would even do that over getting the 1TB storage and go for just the 500GB. You can get very fast Thunderbolt3 or even USB3 drives for storage which, while not quite as fast as the internal SSD, are extremely fast and much, much cheaper than SSDs. With the type of workflow you have described before here, you could copy your working files to the internal SSD and when finished move them to an external drive.

I appreciate the info on the GPU. I can upgrade that, maybe. Probably. But I think I’ll still hang on to the 1TB SSD, considering I always seem to have 20-30 “work in progress” folders on my desktop!

[CAROL SAUNDERS]

10 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I used my computer today, and it seems to be working great. So I have time to wait until the M1X iMac comes out.

That's great it's back up and working now Betty, hopefully it will stay that way.  Mine is still ok I've just checked my storage and have 1TB with 902.99 available.  I think it really does help moving files onto external drives, I only have one folder on it now.

 

Carol

[MDM]

10 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I appreciate the info on the GPU. I can upgrade that, maybe. Probably. But I think I’ll still hang on to the 1TB SSD, considering I always seem to have 20-30 “work in progress” folders on my desktop!

 

Definitely do both if you can afford the extra $200. It really is about future proofing. That $200 now could mean you get some extra years out of the machine down the line. GPUs are probably going to become more important in the coming years as well it seems. 

 

Something to be aware of (and this is new to anyone who has never had Thunderbolt on a Mac, particularly Thunderbolt 3) is that there are external solid state drives that run just as fast as internal SSD drives. They are even incredibly fast on older USB3 but they fly on Thunderbolt. These are the same price or cheaper than buying extra internal storage at the time of purchase. So the key point you don't have to load up with internal storage at the time of purchase.

 

The word on YouTube seems to be that Apple are going to release a 24" M1 iMac but again this looks it might be more of a consumer model - not designed for graphics as such and with no separate GPU. So you might well be going for the Intel Mac if you can't wait. 

[Betty LaRue]

4 hours ago, MDM said:

 

Definitely do both if you can afford the extra $200. It really is about future proofing. That $200 now could mean you get some extra years out of the machine down the line. GPUs are probably going to become more important in the coming years as well it seems. 

 

Something to be aware of (and this is new to anyone who has never had Thunderbolt on a Mac, particularly Thunderbolt 3) is that there are external solid state drives that run just as fast as internal SSD drives. They are even incredibly fast on older USB3 but they fly on Thunderbolt. These are the same price or cheaper than buying extra internal storage at the time of purchase. So the key point you don't have to load up with internal storage at the time of purchase.

 

The word on YouTube seems to be that Apple are going to release a 24" M1 iMac but again this looks it might be more of a consumer model - not designed for graphics as such and with no separate GPU. So you might well be going for the Intel Mac if you can't wait. 

I think you’re right about what’s coming. A new video I watched last evening talked like there might bring two 24 inch iMacs announced on the 20th, different specs. Everything is speculation, but clues are speaking to that fact.

What I’m leery of is this. Apple will introduce the 27+ iMac M1X with 16GB RAM. Not ever upgradable. I buy it. A year or two down the road they introduce a new model with 32GB RAM and M2 I’m chewing nails. After all, it’s all about making sales, and a lot of that is deliberate marketing strategy. I hate it.

I’m hearing of a huge chip shortage that’s affecting the auto industry and just about everything else that uses chips. I gather it’s some of the material that make up the chips that’s in short supply. That will affect all sorts of electronics. Ford & Chevrolet have both paused manufacturing of a couple of pickup models because of it.