Am I good to go for a Mac?

<p>I am considering trading in my PC and buying an Apple (my first). I would appreciate hearing from those with similar set-ups of any compatibility issues -- and/or what changes that you would recommend to my shopping list. My primary usage for this setup is photo-editing.<br>

Existing equipment: Nikon D3s - use NEF file format; download to PC using Nikon Transfer (1.5.1) /ViewNX (1.5.0); editing - Photoshop CS3/Bridge (will need the Mac version); Epson 3880 printer<br>

Here is what I am considering purchasing -- do you see any pitfalls? I am aware that the older versions of the Mac OS did not have compatibility issues, so I would like to, respectfully, only get responses from those of you that have the Lion operating system. Thank you! </p>

<ul>

<li>Mac Mini - Lion OS X Lion (2.5 i5 processor; 8GB;720GB at 7200)</li>

<li>NEC 2490WUXi2-BK24 monitor (DVI connection between mini and monitor)</li>

</ul>

<p>Other things to consider:</p>

<ul>

<li>I presume I will need to upgrade my Nikon software: ViewNX2? and update Transfer to the latest version?</li>

<li>do you have any issues opening/editing NEF on a Mac?</li>

<li>will the Mac support the monitor -- if uncertain, what questions should I be asking</li>

<li>are there any interfacing issues between the Epson 3880 and the Mini?</li>

<li>what calibration type do you recommend that I use on the NEC?</li>

</ul>

<p>I have read on reviews that some people have had trouble with the Mac version of CS3 with Lion, but they did not seem to provide enough evidence to me that it wasn't 'user error' -- I have always trusted the judgment and experience level of the posters on this site, so I am looking to you guys for your expert advise before I 'rob the bank'. :-) Thanks, again!</p>

<p>I have a two month old Mac Mini running Lion and an Epson 4900.</p>

 

<ul>

<li>No issues what-so-ever editing NEF's on a Mac.</li>

<li>Yes, it will support the monitor, the mini is the most universal of Mac computer with regard screens, it can be hooked up to almost any monitor that is digitally interfaced (DVI, HDMI etc etc)</li>

<li>No issues with 3880. Epson have the 10.7 driver on their site.</li>

<li>I use the <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/798928-REG/X_Rite_CMUNDIS_ColorMunki_Display.html">X-Rite Color Munki Display</a>, if you have just one monitor it is fine, if you are trig to match two monitors the<a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/798930-REG/X_Rite_EODIS3_i1Display_Pro.html"> i1Display Pro</a> has better software options.</li>

</ul>

<p>I am running CS 5 on it but previously ran CS 4 with no issues. </p>

<p>Curious as to why you don't just go for the Mac 27" display (which admitted is a little more expensive) or else an iMac with its built-in display.<br>

As for CS3, I've heard that Adobe will let you transfer your license from Windows to Mac if you jump through a few hoops (phone calls, faxes). Have not tried it yet myself, but I'm about to.</p>

<p>Bear in mind that by going Mac Mini you limit yourself regarding storage. There is no USB 3 and no way to put a desktop 3.5" hard drive in so you are stuck with pokey slow laptop hard drives and your external storage options are FW800 (not massively fast) or Thunderbolt (expensive currently).</p>

<p>If you bought an iMac you at least can have a decent hard drive in it</p>

<p>Thunderbird drives won't be expensive forever. But personally, I think the iMac is a better deal with a quad core processor much more computer and better for the long run, though it would be about $5 or 600 more than your current plan. But I know Scott does a fair amount of photography and it sounds like the mini works quite well.</p>

<p>I recently upgrade my Apple G5 and went with a pimped (mid 2011) Mac Mini - i7 processor, SSD and 16GB of RAM. I went this path as I already had an NEC 2690WUXi2 monitor - and the monitor with the Spectraview kit is worth it. As for storage, I keep only apps and Lightroom catalogues on the internal drive (256GB). All data is offloaded onto the NAS via a GigEth link, which really isnt an issue with performance; at least that way I can manage it better and independently of a specific computer. As for performance, Ive been working 4000dpi, 16-bit, 6x7 scans, which are 550MB when in RGB and it doesn't miss a beat.</p>

<p>Interesting setup Craig. If Apple doesn’t release a new MacPro (rumors are they will not), I may have to visit this idea of using a Mac Mini. </p>

<p>D Ponce, spend the extra $100 and upgrade the Mac Mini processor to the i7. You won't regret it. Then go to Other World Computing (macsales.com) and order 16GB RAM. My wife has this setup (with the 750MB 7200 RPM internal drive) and I have tested it using drum-scanned 4x5 files at 750MB to 1GB. The Mini has no trouble with them.<br>

Don't spend the money on Apple's overpriced internal SSD. If you are comfortable mucking around the internals you can get a faster SSD from Other World Computing. Be forewarned: replacing the Mac Mini hard drive is not a beginner operation. Replacing the RAM is trivial. Even a technophobe can accomplish the task is a couple of minutes.<br>

Most PhotoShop operations are processor and RAM intensive. The 7200 RPM drive is not the bottleneck, and even external Firewire 800 drives are fast enough for daily use. If you are batch processing a lot of photos you can always move them onto the internal drive temporarily.</p>

<p>I've always used Apple computers, and have recently gone from a Mac tower to the new MacBook Pro with an external Apple monitor. However, I don't consider myself an Apple expert, and I still rely on extensive research involving other experts as well as my son who is an Apple technical expert as well as a photographer/videographer.</p>

<p>It's my understanding that the Mac Mini is one of the best Apple products for photographers. If I wanted a desktop system today, the Mac Mini is the system I'd be getting. It's just that I also need portability and cannot afford two systems. The iMac has been widely described as not the best Apple computer for photographers. While I have an Apple monitor, I think other monitors, particularly those from NEC with Spectraview hardware/software calibration, are in the long run a better monitor. They are reportedly very similar to the top-rated Eizo line but at far better prices. Such a monitor will replace my Apple monitor when I finally give up on my current display. My $0.02 but largely derived from my own research of the opinions of other experts.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"Bear in mind that by going Mac Mini you limit yourself regarding storage. "</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Well I don't find myself limited! FW800 is very cheap and daisychainable. Here is a picture of what I am running today. I also have only the OS and apps on the internal drive, all images are on externals via FW800, it woks fine with many layered big files, not as fast as ethernet, buit plenty fast enough of a normal person. I got an SSD from OWC and I have a 25GB partition on it for a scratch disc for Photoshop, I wish Lightroom could be told to use it too though.</p>

<p>I actually got the Mini because I needed work done on my main computer, a MacBook Pro, and didn't want the down time. I got the cheapest i5 and have been impressed with it performance, but when I got it I had in mind my future use for it, I will put a second drive in there, yes they can all take two internal 2.5" drives, up the RAM and turn it into a server. But they are very capable little computers.</p><div></div>

2012 is the year Thunderbolt goes mainstream and down in price. When that happens, all sorts of

interesting things become possible.

 

I'm looking forward to low-cost Thunderbolt enclosures. SSD for working files, HD for backup and other

uses. With zero interface speed penalty.

 

Newer minis are an awesome choice, particularly with SSD internal drive and Sandy Bridge CPUs.

 

My home desktop is a 2008 MacPro and am anxiously waiting to see what Apples plans are (or are not)

for future updates.

<p>Scott F. answers the questions of the limitations of storage, really. I looked at a Mac mini to replace my G5 PPC, but opted for a Mac Pro, with the 27" monitor, for the internal storage (4 HD's) and more inputs since I run two scanners and two printers along with three external HD's for backups. I have no regrets except the cost but over the years it will pay off as long as Apple still supports them, which it is rumored they will and be upgradeable with new chips, but it's only a rumor as with the one they won't support Pros. The Mac Pro market is declining as the profit from it, it's a numbers game now.</p>

<p>As for Adobe, only CS2 was lost with Lion, everything afterward still runs and works, including GoLive 9, one of the first post-CS2 app, but I can't promise I've checked all the apps with CS3 (still have all versions of CS 3 to 5.5), but you should consider upgrading to CS5+ as Adobe will likely focus on CS5 and later applications with OS-X 10.8 and leave everything else to the proverbial bit bucket.</p>

<p>In the end, it's not a matter of how good you are but everything you want to do with a Mac of any flavor and the size of your checkbook.</p>

<p>Why are you even considering buying a Mac? Photoshop is photoshop. I don't find anything particularly mind blowing about macs or Windows 7. They are just tools. I was curious about the whole Mac phenomenon so I hackintoshed by Windows 7 PC. It is dual boot now and runs Lion and SL just fine along with Win 7. Only certain PCs will give you a smooth hackintosh experience. If you want to build one from the ground up check out one of several hackintosh forums. They will recommend the most compatible motherboards. I basically got a Mac with an i7 CPU and nine gigs of ram for $30 and a few hours worth of research and work. It's in PC case so I can connect several HDs no problem.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?act=idx">InsanelyMac</a> is a good forum to start with.</p>

<p><a href="http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/search/label/CustoMac">Tonymac </a>has some hardware recommendations. I would check out tonymac's motherboard and graphics card recommendations and then see what other people's experiences have been with the hardware you pick from the tonymac rec list. If people are generally happy and getting it to work out of the box or with few tweaks then pull the trigger. Otherwise move one. I hackintoshed what I had on hand and was very lucky. But if I had it to do all over again I would learn from others mistakes and build by system from the ground up.</p>

<p>SL can be purchased on a DVD from any Apple store or online. The problem with Lion is you need to have a working install of SL in order to download it from the App Store. SL costs $30 and Lion costs $30. So that is $60. There is a Lion USB installer that you can buy from apple. It costs $69. I don't know if there is a hack to do an install without SL. I think you still need a working Mac to do the prep work even if you have the Lion USB installer. Could be wrong. Anyway I did the SL install and then when lion came out I installed it on a separate partition.</p>

<p>One Word: iMac Build to Order...well 4 words.<br /><br />Why? Max Ram capability 16GB vs 8GB on Mini.<br /><br />CS3??...Upgrade quick. Why waste your time with it and use superior, and memory hungry, CS5 and LR4 </p>

<p>First, THANKS so much for all of your responses. I am feeling much more comfortable now!<br>

Second -- I mis-typed -- and threw off some of you. I am running CS5 -- not 3 (not sure what my fingers were thinking then :-)<br>

Storage: I don't think storage will be an issue for me, since currently I do not keep much on my HD -- I have several external HDs (USB connection -- I presume they will still be ok?) that I store all my original image files on (several identical HDs in case of failure). When I need to work on an image, I make a copy of the file(s) onto the PC. Pretty cool setup, Scott! <br>

Monitor: Although I think the Apple monitors are incredible, I have heard many complaints that they are too glossy and that can bother some people's eyes when working with them for extended periods of time. I decided rather than take the chance that I am one of them, I am going with the NEC which has a matte finish.<br>

Processor: I will consider the i7 -- thanks, Darron!<br>

James, I admit that was a bit over my head regarding the 'hackintoshing' details. :-) But I agree -- Photoshop is Photoshop. My actual problem is that I bought a Win7 laptop a year or so ago before I really gave printing much consideration. When I bought the 3880, I realized that the laptop's monitor just wasn't going to cut it. Resesarching for a good monitor was no easy task, but the NEC seemed to have what I was looking for in my price range. However, then I found out that my laptop's video card (and display port) would never support the NEC or any half-way decent digital monitor -- or at least to its optimum capabilities. To be honest, I was never crazy about Win7 anyway, so the decision to buy the Mac seemed the way to go, as long as I would not have compatibiliy issues, which -- based on ALL of your excellent responses, I think I will be a happy convert. :-) Thanks again you guys -- I knew this was the place to go!</p>

And...<P>

 

When I bought a new 13" MacBook Pro last year I opted for the i7 cpu option based on <a href= "http://www.computer-darkroom.com/blog/will-an-ssd-improve-adobe-lightroom-performance/">this paper</a> about

Lightroom performance and SSDs. It was one of the best decisions I've made. Lightroom performance is

much faster than on my MacPro. <P>

 

Highly recommend you spend the extra $100 for the similar MacMini i7 upgrade.

<p>D,</p>

<p> I am running CS5.5 on my bog stock i5 Mini with zero issues. I strongly recommend upgrading your USB externals to FW800's though. My casings are Lacie D2 Quadro's, they have USB, FW400, 2x FW800 so you can daisy chain, and ESATA, in the back of my image you can see an express card that I use on the laptop to make two drives ESATA, I put my main image folder on one and Time Machine on the other, backups and other stuff is taken care of via FW800 to other drives, obviously the Mini can't do that via ESATA though. I get the casings off eBay for $35 a pop, and swap out the drives, they come apart with a couple of screws, and go back together perfectly.</p>

<p>I went for the Mac 27" screen, but mainly because it interfaces with the laptop so well. The glossiness is a factor but I am used to them so am happy, I can well understand people hating them though.</p>

<p>I actually spent the afternoon converting the laptop back to main duties, the Mini is awaiting it's upgrade kits and it on temporary retirement.</p>

<p>John: iMac with 16gb sounds good but then I have the monitor issue (super cool looking, but too glossy).<br>

Craig mentioned he has 16gb on your mini and Darron said I could purchase additional memory -- what is the max that the mini :-) can support? thx again!</p>

<p><a href="http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_Mac_mini/DDR3_1333">OWC</a> does 16GB kits for current Mini's. <a href="http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/Mac-Mini-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit/IF171-005-1">iFxit </a>does the second drive kit.</p>

<p>Apple often under spec the total RAM compatible with their computers, aftermarket firms often step in and find out what will actually work in there.</p>

<p>cool! Thanks, Scott!</p>

<p>I have a Mac 27 in. quad core and an Epson 3880. When I made the switch to Lion I was unable to print because Epson had not upgraded the driver to work with that OS. This problem is now solved and should not be a problem in the future but I will check before I make a future switch to Mountain Lion<br>

Now that this problem is solved I can say that the combination of Mac plus CS5 and the the 3880 is a dream come through.<br>

Good luck, I think you will love it.</p>

<p>-Owen</p>

<p>This is good news, Owen, and a good point about ML -- but I think I'll hold off on that for awhile! I've been on a PC since the early 90s -- going to a Mac, I've been told, may take some getting used to. We'll see! :-) <br>

Thank you, again, everyone, for all of your excellent responses -- I'll be re-reading all of your suggestions to make sure I have not missed anything before I hit the 'buy it' button! :-)</p>

<p>I moved from a PC to a Mac 2 years ago and Adobe agreed that I could upgrade from win CS3 to MacOS CS5, provided I had the win copy registered at their site. <br>

Usually Adobe software looks for a previous installation to accept the upgrade, but here I introduced the win CS3 key and it installed with no problem.<br>

By the time CS3 were no more the current version, so I don't know about their policy if you just change platforms for the current version of the application. However, and if you want to continue with CS, as they must be about to release version 6 and there are changes of their upgrade policy I'd suggest you look at their deadlines and conditions for future upgrades from CS3. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>My actual problem is that I bought a Win7 laptop a year or so ago before I really gave printing much consideration. When I bought the 3880, I realized that the laptop's monitor just wasn't going to cut it. Resesarching for a good monitor was no easy task, but the NEC seemed to have what I was looking for in my price range. However, then I found out that <strong>my laptop's video card (and display port) would never support the NEC or any half-way decent digital monitor</strong> -- or at least to its optimum capabilities.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Well this isn't a PC vs Mac issue. This is a laptop vs desktop issue. Or at very minimum a wrong laptop vs right laptop for the job issue. If you google you will find people have color calibration issues with Macbook Pros. People settle on using Win 7 or Lion for a variety of personal reasons... the inability to calibrate and profile a monitor connected to a laptop picked at random is not one of them. If you go with a desktop PC there is a much wider universe of display cards to choose from and a lot of them have a dizzying amount of settings you can tweak to get a perfect picture on you NEC monitor.</p>

<p>I would highly recommend you do some reading about color calibration and profiling for your entire work flow. Then I would look into a tool like i1display or the Spyder calibration tools. I haven't kept up with recent developments in the field so you will have to read up on which one of their current models is best for your price range and purposes.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>I admit that was a bit over my head regarding the 'hackintoshing' details. :-)</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Well I admit the "hackintoshing" thing was just a shot in the dark. If I mention it to 10,000 people maybe one of them will actually stand there and hear me out before politely saying, "no." I was lucky that my hardware was hackintosh friendly. If you are a little computer savvy and want to try before you buy its a nice way of doing it. Unfortunately I would not attempt it on a laptop. As with your monitor issue laptops are too limited and unique to expect much success with funky projects like that.</p>

<p>Anyway my suggestion is do an apples to apples comparison. A couple of years ago for less than a grand I got a i7 PC with 9 gigs of ram and a solid Nvidia video card with multiple monitor outputs. I even got a Dell IPS monitor with that setup without breaking the $1000 mark. The thing currently runs Win 7, SL, and Lion just fine. I don't use SL and Lion that much so there may be some hidden glitches I haven't discovered yet, but for the web development I've done there haven't been any issues.</p>

<p><strong>Comparing a specific feature on a Win 7 laptop picked at random to a cherry picked Mac Mini is not an evaluation of operating systems.</strong></p>

<p><em>are there any interfacing issues between the Epson 3880 and the Mini?</em></p>

<p>The only problem I have with my 3880 is that if I let Apple update the driver then I lose access to all the Epson specific printer settings. I have to delete the printer then re-download and install Epson's driver package to restore everything. This ends up destroying my saved settings.</p>

<p>I won't let Apple's updater touch the driver for this reason, but it can't be helped with major OS upgrades. It doesn't stop me from using the printer, it's just annoying. I've never heard anyone else complain about this so I don't know if it's just something quirky with my OS install.</p>