I have an 8 year beloved Mac tower that is so old I haven't been able to upgrade to the new OS X operating systems for over two years. Presently I have it filled with 16 gb Ram, a 256 old state HD for the boot drive, and 3 3Tb hard drives for storage and backup. I only use it for Photoshop and Lightroom, no video or other graphics. I would like to replace it with a new Mac Pro. Right now you can get the last (old) mid 2012 Mac Pro for $2200. I could swap my hard drives into it and be up and running after purchasing some additional RAM. If I buy the new Mac Pro when it is available, in addition to spending $3000 for the base model, I will need to buy more RAM, and external thunderbolt hard drive units. Who knows what this will cost, but it could easily be over $5000 and more like $6000. If the 2012 model is anything like the older Mac Pro models, it should serve me well for at least six years (or more). I don't anticipate the need for peripheral expansion, as I am only a serious hobbyist. I'd appreciate your thoughts about buying the old Mac Pro verses the new one. Thanks!!
Given that you're just using PS and LR, the last version of the Mac-Pro should be more than adequate. First, I would buy a new SSD for your main drive and do a clean install of the latest Mac OS, device drivers, and your programs. Second, if 16GB RAM is working for you, aim for that level in the new box. Third: move one of your 3 TB drives to the new box, leaving the old Primary drive and 2-3TB drives in the old machine. Why? Here's my thought...
Set up the old machine as a network computer. You could use it for storage of archived files, and always use it for other tasks, as well.
Going this route will save you a ton of money, and you'll have a second computer to use if the new one needs to go down for maintenance, or fixes.
Those are just my thoughts. Since I am a PC person who doesn't really keep up with the Mac world, I hope others will chime in.
--P
Posted by David Bostedo on October 26, 2013 at 10:28 PM
I'm not a Mac guy either, but the latest Mac pro's seem to be nicely spec'ed machines; And I'm sure the build and assembly is excellent. I would also say that it's more than enough for PS and LR.
One piece of advice - check the prices on drive and memory upgrades. Most typical Apple sellers (or Apple themselves) mark these up a lot, compared to what you could do yourself if you're willing/able to install things. For instance, MacMall charges $351 to go to 16GB of memory. You could by 16GB yourself from Crucial.com (or other retailers) and install it yourself for about $220. The same situation exists with hard drives or other peripherals.
Posted by Mark Seaver on October 28, 2013 at 2:44 PM
Tony, do you really need the mac Pro? I work from a 27" iMac (2012 model running system 10.7.5) with 12 GB of RAM and it flies along nicely with LR4 and PS6 and usually a couple of other programs open at the same time. Definitely do your own RAM upgrade, it's very simple. My only complaint about my iMac is that the range of colors it can display is slightly smaller that sRGB according to my Spyder 3. It would be nice to have a wider gamut of colors.
Thanks for the input guys. After a lot of reading various forums and reviews, here's my latest thoughts: The yet to be released Mac Pro is probably overkill for still images on Photoshop and LR. The old 2012 MacPro would be just fine, but has outdated
connectability (no USB 3 or Thunderbolt). That leaves top of the line Mac Mini. My only hesitation with it is that it is limited to 16 GB of RAM. That should be enough for now, but might not be enough in a few years. I'll most likely go with the Mac Mini.
Discussion
4 repliesGiven that you're just using PS and LR, the last version of the Mac-Pro should be more than adequate. First, I would buy a new SSD for your main drive and do a clean install of the latest Mac OS, device drivers, and your programs. Second, if 16GB RAM is working for you, aim for that level in the new box. Third: move one of your 3 TB drives to the new box, leaving the old Primary drive and 2-3TB drives in the old machine. Why? Here's my thought...
Set up the old machine as a network computer. You could use it for storage of archived files, and always use it for other tasks, as well.
Going this route will save you a ton of money, and you'll have a second computer to use if the new one needs to go down for maintenance, or fixes.
Those are just my thoughts. Since I am a PC person who doesn't really keep up with the Mac world, I hope others will chime in.
--P
One piece of advice - check the prices on drive and memory upgrades. Most typical Apple sellers (or Apple themselves) mark these up a lot, compared to what you could do yourself if you're willing/able to install things. For instance, MacMall charges $351 to go to 16GB of memory. You could by 16GB yourself from Crucial.com (or other retailers) and install it yourself for about $220. The same situation exists with hard drives or other peripherals.
connectability (no USB 3 or Thunderbolt). That leaves top of the line Mac Mini. My only hesitation with it is that it is limited to 16 GB of RAM. That should be enough for now, but might not be enough in a few years. I'll most likely go with the Mac Mini.