Running Lightroom on a Mac (I'm a PC guy)

[1815photography]

<p>I'm making the switch from PC to Mac and I understand that Macs and PCs are different animals. I currently have a 2.8 Ghz dual core with 2 gig of RAM and a 512MB ATI video card. I'm noticing that making adjustments in Lightroom is a little sluggish even with some services stopped and un-needed applications killed. <br>

Needless to say I'm not going to Vista/PC route so what grade of Mac should I purchase? iMac? Mac Pro? MacBook? 4GB of RAM and a 512 MB video card is what I have in mind. If you are a Mac user and using Lightroom 2, what do you have and how well does it perform. I'm currently using a catalog in Lightroom that has roughly 44,000 images.<br>

Any info/insight into this would be great.<br>

Thank you!</p>

[mike_bisom]

<p>Disclaimer: I use Aperture and not Lightroom. That said, the biggest speed gain will come from keeping your Lightroom images on a separate hard drive than the OS and applications. Keeping everything (especially a database of 44,000 images) on one drive will be slow(er). In that regard, know that if you get an iMac or MacBook, you will need an external (preferably Firewire) hard drive. Whereas with a Mac Pro you can have up to 4 internal drives and the PCI slots would allow you to connect hard drive towers via eSata should that be desired (I prefer eSata to avoid the Firewire bridge). Also keep in mind that the current MacBook does NOT have a Firewire port. A serious omission IMHO. After those considerations, it all boils down to Budget and your usage. The MacBook would be the weakest computer since the only external hard drive you could connect would be USB 2. If you need the portability I would consider a MacBook Pro. If you don't need the portability, you will be better served by either the iMac or the MacPro. Obviously, the MacPro allows you to easily add a lot more RAM (and the more Ram the better), change graphics cards, add internal hard drives and gives you PCI expansion slots. Have you ever used a PCI slot on your computers? If not, and a Firewire drive is OK for you, then the iMac might be the way to go. </p>

[colin_mattson1]

<p>Unless you're already entirely committed to switching to the Mac, try uninstalling your antivirus application and see if you don't see a speed boost.</p>

<p>Norton and McAfee are both tremendous crap-fests (Norton in particular) and will suck the life out of even a brand new computer as soon as they're installed. AVG has also grown more hungry with recent versions. If you get the performance you're looking for with your antivirus software entirely uninstalled, switching to Eset's NOD32 antivirus is a good prescription.</p>

[godfrey]

<p>I'm using a Power Mac G5 2.0Ghz DP system with 8G RAM and a 1T startup volume. Lightroom 2.2/2.3RC performance is smooth and fluid, if not stunningly fast. Move to any of the Mac Pro systems with 4G RAM and it is fast. Even a Mac Book Pro is fast. Even with tons of other things going on (Mail, web browser, iTunes, etc). </p>

<p>Keep your startup drive clean 30-40% free space, and system performance overall is improved quite a lot. </p>

<p>Godfrey</p>

[Brad_]

<p>>>> I'm noticing that making adjustments in Lightroom is a little sluggish even with some services stopped and un-needed applications killed.</p>

<p>You won't experience that on a Mac. Nice and zippy whether it's my MacPro desktop or MacBookPro laptop. iMac performance will be similar. And that's usually with a half dozen other apps running along side.</p>

[wogears]

<p>Uh, Chris, have you optimized your catalogue lately?</p>

[michael_elenko]

<p>Christopher,<br>

I've been using Lightroom on a Mac Pro for the past year and a half. I have about 33,000 images. Once you have 4-6 gigs of RAM you should be good for a while. I have one TB drive devoted to images, and I back the whole thing up weekly using Superduper. Lightroom runs excellently, though I do find that I have to optimize the catalog once every two weeks or so because it gets sluggish. Les's advice is wise.</p>

<p>ME</p>

[mike w]

<p>What do you guys suggest for an old G4 MAC running OS 10.4 with a 1.2 Gig processor and I believe it will only take 2 Gigs of ram. This is my first MAC I bought it used and know more now than I did then. I have installed an extra hard drive the pictures are on it Lightroom 2.2 on the main one and it is sllllooooowwww as molasses. So what was used on these at the time? Or would be good now?</p>

<p>Thanks,<br>

Mike</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>1_try to optimized your catalogue.</p>

<p>2_then if you really need to switch just because..any mac will do if you pop 4gig of ram in it. I have a Imac24, a macbook pro un ibody and a Mac Pro..run big catalogue, and on my 3 station..all work smooth and flawless.</p>

<p>Processor and ram are really important for smooth process.</p>

[godfrey]

<p>Mike W: </p>

<p>Unfortunately, there's little you can do to get around the fact that a 1.24Ghz, single processor G4 system is simply too underpowered to be fast with Lightroom 2. I occasionally run Lightroom on my aging PowerBook G4 1.67Ghz with 1.5G RAM in it and it operates the same way: the processor is simply max'ed out 95% of the time. </p>

<p>I had a similar G4 desktop system in early 2006. At the time I was processing my work with Photoshop CS, Bridge and Camera Raw. I had my first solo exhibition in March of that year and had to prepare 20 photos for hanging in a short space of time. Between RAW processing, printing, collateral creation and printing, etc, I found that the old G4 was max'ed running 24 hours a day for a week and a half ... and I knew I needed a new system. That's when I bought my present G5 2Ghz DP, which continues to be usefully quick although it's way behind the current machines. </p>

<p>So my suggestion: save up and move to any of the current Apple systems. That's the best use of your money, rather than putting anything further into the old G4. </p>

<p>Godfrey</p>