- Joined
- Jul 8, 2015
- Messages
- 67
- Lightroom Experience
- Beginner
- Lightroom Version
Hi,
I need some advice on buying a new computer, or at least planning for buying a new computer. Currently I’m using an older Mac Mini that is solely set up for use with my photography (just a hobby). I'm using Lightroom Classic (together with the iOS CC versions) and unfortunately the computers age is starting to show.
So I've started to think about how I want to work in the next 5-10 years, should I switch to some other program (not something I'm going to discuss here), in what ways can I improve my workflow (sometimes my workflow prevents me from processing the photos in a reasonable time) and in what ways can I improve my computer (not much, it's already maxed out).
And here comes my question. I prefer using a Mac but the crazy high prices of new hardware have got me to start thinking if it's a reasonable thing to switch a computer with another OS to be my "photo computer". In term of OSes my order of preference is macOS, Linux and Windows - unfortunately I haven't found a program that runs on Linux that I like/trust/works for me. So right now I'm considering building a PC and use Lightroom just for handling my photos.
Assume that I use Lightroom, what are the important hardware aspects that I should think about when putting together such a machine?
- How important is memory - the more the better? or is there some upper limit when it doesn't matter anymore?
- What are the important features of the CPU - speed vs cores, for example?
- What about the GPU - what should I think about here?
- Disk - assuming that I run the OS on a SSD, does it work well to have the original photos stored on spinning disks (cheaper)? Or is there a huge improvement to use only SSDs (my guess that have OS + Lightroom + previews on SSDs and having the original image files on spinning disks would work well)
- Any other things I should think about?
This is not something that I'm going to do tomorrow but perhaps within the next year or so. I need to think about this carefully and also see what kind of hardware Apple releases later this year.
I need some advice on buying a new computer, or at least planning for buying a new computer. Currently I’m using an older Mac Mini that is solely set up for use with my photography (just a hobby). I'm using Lightroom Classic (together with the iOS CC versions) and unfortunately the computers age is starting to show.
So I've started to think about how I want to work in the next 5-10 years, should I switch to some other program (not something I'm going to discuss here), in what ways can I improve my workflow (sometimes my workflow prevents me from processing the photos in a reasonable time) and in what ways can I improve my computer (not much, it's already maxed out).
And here comes my question. I prefer using a Mac but the crazy high prices of new hardware have got me to start thinking if it's a reasonable thing to switch a computer with another OS to be my "photo computer". In term of OSes my order of preference is macOS, Linux and Windows - unfortunately I haven't found a program that runs on Linux that I like/trust/works for me. So right now I'm considering building a PC and use Lightroom just for handling my photos.
Assume that I use Lightroom, what are the important hardware aspects that I should think about when putting together such a machine?
- How important is memory - the more the better? or is there some upper limit when it doesn't matter anymore?
- What are the important features of the CPU - speed vs cores, for example?
- What about the GPU - what should I think about here?
- Disk - assuming that I run the OS on a SSD, does it work well to have the original photos stored on spinning disks (cheaper)? Or is there a huge improvement to use only SSDs (my guess that have OS + Lightroom + previews on SSDs and having the original image files on spinning disks would work well)
- Any other things I should think about?
This is not something that I'm going to do tomorrow but perhaps within the next year or so. I need to think about this carefully and also see what kind of hardware Apple releases later this year.