Which Mac to upgrade to

<p>Want to upgrade my 8 year old Mac book (13") to a newer machine, at least 15". Considering either Mac Book Pro 15" or iMac 21" - mostly because I use Apple products - iPhone, iPad. Not adverse to PC, but prefer Mac environment. <br>

Relatively novice photographer. Would be using Lightroom, I believe, to digitally develop photos. <br>

Thanks for inputs</p>

<p>The screen size on laptops is a struggle between utility for editing and sheer transportability of the machine.<br>

I'd suggest you consider a 27" iMac, a wonderful desktop all-in-one. Keep your old laptop in the interim, and then get a MacBook Air later on for when you do need portability. Desktops will typically give you more for your buck than portables.<br>

As with all systems of any brand, pump as large memory and drives as you can into any machine. It will pay off in the long and intermediate term.</p>

<p>Hi Jackson<br>

I upgraded my 2008 MacBook Pro last year and you will be delighted with the improved performance no mater what you pick.<br>

Key question is if you want portability or not. If you want portability then there are two options<br>

1) iMac and another either a MacBook Pro or Mac Air<br>

2) Get a MacBook Pro and for large screen usage you just tether a larger screen into the thunderbolt port.<br>

I went with option #2 and got a MacBook Pro with both the 16G memory and the 1TB SSD drive. There are many good large displays to choose from and they don't have to be from Apple. No regrets on my end.</p>

<p>We should be seeing a new MacBook Pro any day now. I've got a 2013 Retina maxed out, love it but would love to upgrade to whatever is coming out presumably within the next 30 days or so. </p>

<p>+1 for the 27" iMac. I bought one last year and have been very happy with it for Photoshop work.</p>

Thanks for the helpful info

<p>That 21" iMac has a slow laptop grade i5 cpu from 2013...I wouldn't. Or at least wait for the refresh that is just around the corner. The current 27" iMac has been updated and is a bit faster but it's still an "all in one" laptop at the end of the day. IMO, if you're going with laptop grade hardware, I'd get the MacBook Pro and then add a nice monitor like a Dell Ultrasharp. I have a 2013 i7 MBP with 16gb of ram and 500Gb Samsung ssd but it's too slow for serious photography so I'd try to avoid the laptop hardware if you can afford it. <br /><br />You can run Windows on your Mac and have the best of both worlds. I put bootcamp and Windows 10 on my MBP so I can run Quickbooks 2016 (not available on Mac). For some reason, Ps and Lr CC run faster on Windows 10 on the MacBook Pro than under El Capitan. Strange. </p>

<p>I'd go with a MB Pro 15", and probably makes sense to wait a couple of weeks. Or if you want to save a little cache, you can get a current model refurbished. But would get the 15" Retina model, and max the ram. Using a mid-2014 model and it runs very well. </p>

<p>If you get a mac ensure you have a mimimum of 16gb RAM For flexibilty (if you can afford it) a macbook Pro with external monitor. I used to have a 2011 15"MBP quad core i7, with 16 GB Ram which worked well. I bought a 2013, 13" Retina MBP which had 8GB Ram and 500GB SSD for travel. Its not so fast as I expected and cannot upgrade.</p>

<p>I just did this when my 8 year old iMac died. I do have lots of Apple gear including an old Apple Xserve. I also have both a MacBook pro and an small screen Air. I'm with those suggesting an iMac. Look at the refurbished on the Apple site and you can save a couple of hundred dollars. Get one made after October 2015. It is the video card that is most important for photo processing. i5 or i7 processors are both fine.Get one with an AMD Radeon R9 M380 2048 MB video card or equivalent. Get the 4K Retina screen. 8GB of RAM is OK. I previously had 16GB and now find 8GB fine. With the new iMacs you can easily upgrade it yourself later if you find the need.</p>

 

<p>You should consider waiting for the new MacBook Pro to come out and the rumored new 27" Thunderbolt display (either 4 or 5K). You get portability with an option for a large monitor. BUT, neither of these choices are available today.</p>

<p>Well, what a disappointment the new MBP is. We waited four years and this latest one has a weaker gpu, slower cpu, and slower ram than the one it is replacing...along with no sd card reader, no usb3, no hdmi...How are the final cut pro people going to use that Touch Bar? I don't get it. A good read:<br>

<a href="https://medium.com/charged-tech/apple-just-told-the-world-it-has-no-idea-who-the-mac-is-for-722a2438389b#.vtv6zod7p">Apple just told the world it has no idea who the Mac is for</a></p>

<p>But kudos MS for listening to the creative markets. That Surface Studio sure looks like a winner.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Well, what a disappointment the new MBP is.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Can't wait for mine to arrive. Based on that opinion, I know I will not be disappointed!</p>

<h1>Apple’s new MacBook Pro may be the world’s fastest stock laptop</h1>

<p>http://www.macworld.com/article/3137179/storage/apples-new-macbook-pro-may-be-the-worlds-fastest-stock-laptop.html</p>

<p>Mac World...where fanboys write reviews? I'm sure you'll get the straight goods there. But report back and let us know how much you spend on dongles, cables and adaptors in order to swap out your older and more powerful MBP. </p>

 

<h1 id="a808" ><a href="https://medium.com/charged-tech/apple-just-told-the-world-it-has-no-idea-who-the-mac-is-for-722a2438389b#.qg9zzfbi2">Apple just told the world it has no idea who the Mac is for</a> </h1>

<p>"For a company that prides itself on ecosystem, and thinking of the ‘end to end’ experience, Apple has utterly lost its way. Yesterday, the world got an iteration on something the company’s been doing all along, rather than something that’s a vision for the future. Apple spent the entire event comparing itself to its own past, rather than showing us the future, and even then painted a very clear picture: it has no idea who the Mac is for."</p>

<h1 id="a808" > </h1>

<p>https://medium.com/charged-tech/apple-just-told-the-world-it-has-no-idea-who-the-mac-is-for-722a2438389b#.qg9zzfbi2</p>

<p> </p>

<h1><a href="/bboard/arstechnica.com/apple/2016/11/review-cheapest-2016-macbook-pro-is-good-but-its-missing-all-the-cool-stuff/4/">Review: The $1,499 2016 MacBook Pro is an expensive MacBook Air on the inside</a></h1>

<p> "But when you dig down to find the root cause of most people's angst, it’s less about the new MacBook Pros individually and more about the way Apple has been treating the Mac lineup in general for the last two or three years. Even if you consider the MacBook and MacBook Pros to be solid computers—and they are, in most respects for most users—these refreshes by themselves don’t really right the Good Ship Macintosh. The Mac Mini is two years old, the Mac Pro is three years old, and the iMac just missed out on a yearly refresh for the first time since the 2012 models came out. The company is serving its entry-level Mac customers by selling them 2015’s laptops virtually unchanged for the same price as it sold them for last year. And Apple being Apple, we never hear about future products before they’re ready, which does nothing to ease the minds of longtime Mac customers who are uncertain about the platform’s future in a time where iOS is clearly (and rightfully, based on Apple's earnings) the top priority." arstechnica.com/apple/2016/11/review-cheapest-2016-macbook-pro-is-good-but-its-missing-all-the-cool-stuff/4/</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Mac World...where fanboys write reviews?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Well over on MacWorld (different site you googled Eric?) same site that called the new MBP the worlds fastest stock laptop above:</p>

<p><em>Hands-on: The MacBook Pro's innovative Touch Bar will grab you</em><br /> <em>Apple's newest Mac packs a strip of iOS-style contextual controls into the Touch Bar. There's also a new keyboard and four Thunderbolt 3 ports. </em><br /> <em>It’s thinner, lighter, and smaller all around, but <a href="http://aos.prf.hn/click/camref:1100laKZ/destination:http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro">the new MacBook Pro</a> makes a big impression. The trackpad on the 15-inch version is downright ridiculous—twice as large as the trackpad on the previous generation—but I didn’t look down and say, “Holy cow, that is a seriously huge trackpad,” until I’d been using it for a couple of minute</em>s.<br /> <em>Because it’s really all about that gorgeous Touch Bar.</em><br /> <br /> More rave reviews. Spin this FUD anyway you wish Eric. I've got one on order, so do others. Don't like it? Don't order one. Stick with your virus inflected windows box.<br /> I only need one so called <em>dongle</em> and it cost me a whooping $19.</p>

<p>Monoprice has USB C to USB A adapters for $8.99.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/AUKEY-Adapter-MacBook-Google-OnePlus/dp/B01AUKU1OO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1478189662&sr=8-3&keywords=aukey+usb+c+to+usb+a">How about two adapters for $7.99?</a> Tiny and inline. You'll be seeing more peripherals with with USB C, with included cables, now that Apple's moving the market.</p>

<p>And how about that DCI-P3 display. Nice!</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Stick with your virus inflected windows box.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I just want to go on record and state this wasn't a slam of the Windows OS (I own such a system along with four other Mac's) but an indictment of Eric's specific infected Windows machine by his own admission to members here:<br>

http://www.photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00cPFM</p>

<blockquote>

<p><a href="/photodb/user?user_id=788985"><strong>Eric ~</strong></a><strong> , Feb 27, 2014; 10:16 a.m.</strong></p>

<p>Allan, the marketing claim is that they are. But my cheap 700mb cd's purchased from Costco in 2003 still worked when <strong>I had to restore from a nasty virus that went through all my internal and external hard drives...flash drives and memory cards all went into the bin.</strong> Eventually we deterined<strong> the virus was on/in the ram or bios of the computer and infected everything I plugged into the computer.</strong></p>

</blockquote>

<p>So when you examine his text on computers, Mac or otherwise, take that above admission as a data point. And of course, Mac or Windows, do practice safe and sound computing, unlike you know who.... ;-)</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I've got one on order, so do others.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Seems others have!<br /> <em>The Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro may be about the most popular MacBook Pro to date.</em><br /> <em>In a recent interview, Apple Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller noted that the new model is the most popular notebook that Apple has ever shipped. </em><br /> <em>“Our online store has had more orders for the new MacBook Pro than any other pro notebook before,” said Schiller.</em><br /> <em><br /></em>Of course, McDonalds sells the most Hamburgers....</p>

<p>http://www.macworld.com/article/3138930/macbook-accessories/apple-reduces-prices-on-usb-c-adapters.html<br>

Apple reduces prices on USB-C adapters</p>

<p>Listen to the complaints. The dongle doesn't even work<br>

<a href="http://www.apple.com/shop/reviews/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av-multiport-adapter?page=0" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.apple.com/shop/reviews/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av-multiport-adapter?page%3D0&source=gmail&ust=1478900701956000&usg=AFQjCNHV9qpUjiV9vSNYTG0WCCJqnT91ZA">http://www.apple.com/shop/reviews/MJ1K2AM/A/usb-c-digital-av-multiport-adapter?page=0</a><br /><br /></p>

<blockquote>

<p>The dongle doesn't even work.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>For some no, for some it does. What's your point with more FUD?<br /> 5.0out of 5stars</p>

<h2>Very good</h2>

<p>5.0out of 5stars</p>

<h2>Works well</h2>

<p>5.0out of 5stars</p>

<h2>Is exactly what is claims to be</h2>

<p>5.0out of 5stars</p>

<h2>Works well with my LG 2560 x 1080 display</h2>

<p>5.0out of 5stars</p>

<h2>Perfect</h2>

<p>4.0out of 5stars</p>

<h2>Expensive, but highly practical</h2>

<p>4.0out of 5stars</p>

<h2>Necessity for Apple MacBook 12"</h2>

<p>Over on Amazon, 102 reviews. 57% 5 stars! 13% 4 stars. Do you understand statistics any better than you understand about DNG Camera profiles or how to protect against getting a computer virus Eric?</p>

<p>I'd love to update my mid 2013 MBP to a newer cpu, gpu and more than my 16gb of ram. But it isn't possible. Who's going to spend $3500 for a slower machine with less functionality? The armchair Strarbucks photographer? Even the wifi is half as fast as the MBP it is replacing. Unbelievable. </p>

<p>The new Touch Bar just killed the new MBP for two of its distinct markets, video and DJ. I don't know anyone that uses Lr and is looking forward to trying to the touch bar.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.slrlounge.com/an-open-letter-to-apple-from-the-actual-working-pros/">"an open letter to apple from the actual working-pros"</a></p>

<p>https://www.slrlounge.com/an-open-letter-to-apple-from-the-actual-working-pros/</p>

<p>"We have to deliver results based on client expectations and to do that all our equipment has to work seamlessly. While I appreciate that technologies like USB-C are the way forward, this is a case where a gradual approach isn’t just recommended, it’s necessary. As professionals we could care one bit if dropping the port has made the laptop 2mm thinner or slightly lighter. Not to mention that I’ve not once heard a single professional complain that their <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/871860-REG/Apple_MC975LL_A_15_4_MacBook_Pro_Notebook.html/BI/5982/KBID/6868" rel="nofollow external" target="_blank">MBP</a> is just too big and bulky. What we covet is flexibility, performance, and stability. Sure, we can buy a bunch of adapters and go on with our lives, but things just aren’t that simple. Adapters create an extra point of failure and when you look at something like camera tethering–which is often problematic enough–it’s just a recipe for errors at times when we need our gear to work. Furthermore, adapters are yet another item that we need to remember to bring with us in an already mile long list of tools."</p>

<p>"Typical everyday scenario: You have a new 2017 Apple laptop, and a person hands you a USB stick to copy files, or an SD card, or ask you to plug in an HDMI cable in for a large screen presentation. You take the USB stick, SD card, and HDMI cable and throw it out the f%^*ing window, as they are now deemed useless without having to carry around an adapter. So the simplicity of having an Apple computer with a few different ports built in the side of it for different applications is now gone. You now have to purchase yet another gizmo to make it work. You’ve just lost yet another loyal customer."<br /><br />"It seams that in the search to innovate, you’ve inconvenienced and alienated the actual working pros that use your devices and depend on your computers to make a living and streamline efficiency. In the quest to make things thinner, lighter, and faster we’ve made it harder to shoot tethered, too expensive to fit into an existing ecosystem, and full of features that pro’s don’t really want. I think it’s time to address that these computers aren’t built for pros but for the audience aspiring to <em>be</em> a pro, with the dreams that they can one day have a <a href="https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Apple/Ntt/Apple+MacBook+Pro+with+Touch+Bar/N/0/view/GRID/BI/5982/KBID/6868" target="_blank">MacBook Pro</a> hooked up to two matte screen monitors and a RED Dragon on their workstation. My suggestion to you is to actually solicit advice from the pros and provide computers with solutions that make our jobs easier.'<br /><br /><br /></p>

<blockquote>

<p>Who's going to spend $3500 for a slower machine with less functionality?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>According to Apple lots and lots and lots of customers!<br>

Again, don't want one, don't buy one. Stick with your infected Windows box. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>The new Touch Bar just killed the new MBP for two of its distinct markets, video and DJ.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>And yet, during the Apple release of the product, the MBP WAS demo'd by a DJ (and someone running FinalCut Pro) with beta builds that actually support the Touch bar. Photoshop too. On <em>Planet Eric</em>, the main life form there speaks FUD for entire industries about a product neither he, nor anyone else in said industries have tried. <br>

<br>

On this planet, the new MPB and the one it replaces is vastly faster than the mid 2013 MPB on <em>Planet Eric</em> in virtually every respect. On <em>Planet Eric</em>, the life form there acts as if his <strong>only</strong> choice is to buy the new 2016 MBP. On this planet, the previous unit Eric feels is so much superior can still be purchased for less than the $3500 of the new MBP which isn't the price for the MPB on <em>Planet Eric</em> (unless you go out of your way to get a custom build with a much larger drive, faster processor etc). On this planet, people who run Lightroom who've <strong>never</strong> had a chance to try the Touch Bar with a version built for it probably shouldn’t be listened to. On <em>Planet Eric</em>, they unanimously dislike it. On this planet, one isn't offended by a lighter MacBook with a longer battery life who <em>might</em> need to buy a couple of adaptors. On <em>Planet Eric,</em> it's a deal breaker. Which is fine; on <em>Planet Eric</em>, the 2013 MBP or an infected windows box are the only options. On this planet, sales of the new MBP are through the roof:<br>

https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/09/2016-macbook-pro-sales/<br>

<em>New MacBook Pro outsold every competing laptop in just five days </em><br>

<em> </em><br>

On <em>Planet Eric, </em>it's an unbelievable failure in every respect.</p>

<p>I thankfully live on planet Earth, not <em>Planet Eric</em> and I can't wait for my MBP to arrive, hopefully next week! Unlike on <em>Planet Eric</em>, I've got no agenda to praise a product I have never used, <strong>nor</strong> slam it. That <em>might</em> come when, unlike how opinions are formed on <em>Planet Eric</em>, I have <strong>actual hands on experience</strong> with this new product. </p>