It’s Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend here and I’ve been getting a lot of questions from people on which computer, laptop, or monitor they should get. So I thought I’d write down a few general thoughts. Keep in mind there is no way to spec out the perfect computer and tell you exact specs on what you should get. But hopefully this helps point you in the right direction or maybe keep you from getting something you may regret in a year.
DISCLAIMER: Please Please Please…. do not message me asking for more details on this topic. Because of the subjective nature around computers and specs, and because there are literally hundreds of thousands of combinations of computers, screens and monitors I won’t be able to respond to any questions on “Should I buy this…”, or “Can you elaborate on this…”. Thanks in advance! 🙂
Laptop vs. Desktop (or Tablet)
Okay, the first thing to ask yourself is laptop or desktop? Remember, no matter which photo editing app you use (Adobe, ON1, Luminar, Capture One, Topaz, etc…), you are involved in one of the most intensive things you can put a computer through. Your normal web browser or email app is nothing compared to the resources a photo editing app requires.
A laptop is portable and I’d ONLY go with this option if you absolutely need portability. If not, my recommendation would be to get a Desktop computer. A max’d out laptop (in most cases), will never be as fast as a desktop. And in a few years, your laptop will start to feel very slow, and is typically not as upgradable as a desktop.
Me personally, I do all of my editing on an Apple iMac (2017 version). I do have an Apple MacBook Pro (2016 version) and it holds up okay. But remember, I need to be portable. Running an online business is 100% my livelihood, and I need a laptop because I do teach on the road, travel, work remotely, etc… I need to have a computer with me all the time.
What about a tablet? We just aren’t there yet and don’t think you’re going to get the same experience from a tablet. I know there’s those tablet/laptop hybrids and again… buy at your own risk. You’ll never get the performance you’re looking for.
Apple or Windows?
I won’t go in to this other than to say it just doesn’t matter. Don’t think either one will be faster than the other, or better for photographers or anything like that. Many will disagree, but you wanted my opinion so there it is 🙂 I will say that on average, you can get a better spec’d out PC for the same money vs. an Apple product. But for me personally, I’m an Apple user and I don’t see myself switching in the future. For me, the extra money is worth the experience I get, but I know many great photographers that are PC based. When that photo gets shown on Social Media, a website, or printed on the wall NOBODY can tell you which operating system it came from. Like I said… it just doesn’t matter. And if you think it does matter then there’s probably a website you can argue that on – but this ain’t it 😉
PS: Yes, I know Apple has some new fancy technology coming out. I hear it’s great, and super fast – but just remember… if you buy one now you’re a beta tester. You’re an early adopter and be prepared for hassles in the near term. Just sayin’ 😉
Onto the Specs…
Okay, onto the specs. Keep in mind I am as un-tech-savvy as any person out there. As I mentioned, please don’t send me questions asking me to elaborate because I won’t be able to. But here’s what I know:
Processor: Your main computer processor is one of the biggest things that will get you speed. Get the best one you can get. I can’t give you a number because there are too many with all of the i7s and i-this and multi-core-that’s. Just get the best one you can configure or afford. You won’t regret splurging on this choice.
RAM: Right now for most applications the minimum specs are 8GB of RAM. That means that’s the absolute minimum for the software to operate. And when you buy the absolute minimum of anything be prepared for the absolute minimal performance. Most companies recommend 16 GB of RAM. I would suggest at least 32GB so you have room to grow. On my 2017 iMac at home, I ordered it with 8GB of RAM cheap option, and then went to Crucial.com and ordered the 64GB Upgrade kit and upgraded it on my own (it was super easy to do – took about 3 minutes and again… I’m not tech savvy at all).
Hard Drive: I’d recommend at least a 1 TB Internal SSD drive. They are fast and they are what you’ll put your applications on so they can be accessed very quickly. Plus, 1 TB gives you room for extra stuff. But don’t plan on putting your photos on your internal drive. I believe the costs get too high for that. You can store your photos on external hard drives no problem (see my Gear page for more info).
Graphics Card: This is a really tough one to write about. There are just too many options and every program uses the graphics card in different ways. I would say get at least 4GB of RAM (or VRAM or whatever they call it) for your graphics card. My best suggestion is to do a Google search for “Minimum Specs for Lightroom (or Photoshop or whatever software you use)”. It will take you to Adobe’s website and under “Graphics Card” there are typically recommended specs and even a “Read More / GPU FAQ” or something similar.
But if it’s me, and I went to Apple’s site to configure a new iMac, I saw I had an option for + $300 for a better card and + $500 (a 16GB graphic memory) for an ever better card. I’d get the best card. If you can afford it, do it. If you can’t get the best one you can that’s at least 4GB – but go with 8GB if you can.
What About Monitors?
Okay, this is another really tough area. 99.99999% of your photography will be seen on a device of some sort when you share it (phone or tablet). So get used to the fact that you have ZERO control over how your photos are seen to everyone else in the world. You can get the best screen in the world and it won’t do any good. The best you can do is just edit consistently. You’ll read a ton about sRGB and Adobe RGB, etc… So my suggestion is decide if you are printing A LOT or not and how important this is. If it’s important you’re going to spend more money. If you think you’re going to print at least every week or two (lab or at home), then you may want to spring for a more expensive monitor that comes close to supporting the Adobe RGB color space. If not, go with the cheapest thing you can find.
I use an iMac so it comes with a nice glossy bright screen, and that’s what I edit on primarily. If I’m going to print, I proof the photo on my BenQ screen. But I hate the way my photography looks on the BenQ screen for the most part (photos always look better on bright glossy screens), because it’s not how the rest of the world sees it on their devices, so I try not to use it much unless I’m printing.
I know that all sounds vague, but I think my advice is that most of you reading this aren’t printing often. So don’t buy a screen that is made for printing. Even if you don’t have a screen made for printing, you can easily dial in your settings and develop a workflow to get a good print with any screen.
Finally, if you need something a little more concrete here’s some suggestions:
- At least a 23″ screen. I’d actually recommend nothing smaller than 27″ if your eyesight is as bad as mine 🙂
- What about 4K? Personally I don’t want more resolution. But if you’re editing video go for it. For just photos, you don’t really need 4K? For many monitors, higher resolution just means smaller / harder-to-see interfaces.
- Remember the larger the screen the more strain you put on your graphics card and computer overall – which in turn translates to your photo apps running slower. And if you add a second screen you’ll want to make sure you have a great graphics card that can handle it.
- Dell Ultrasharp monitors are good. Honestly, all Dell’s are good. I’d buy the cheapest one in a heartbeat if I needed one.
- BenQ makes good photo monitors if you want to spend more and print a lot. Don’t get one if you don’t print.
- Eizo also makes good screens and they fall in to the same category as BenQ – don’t get one if you’re not printing a lot.
Finally… Try It Out
My last piece of advice is to buy something you can try out. That may be harder with a computer, but with a monitor it should be easy. Make sure you get something that you can return. And make sure you watch the return policy. I’ll personally never buy anything from that “Blue/Yellow” electronics store because I hate their 14-day return policy. I’m just so used to 30 days that I inevitably forget and get stuck with something I didn’t want. But this time of year, most places will give you until January to return things. And if it’s shipped to you, pay attention to the return policy shipping fees. You don’t want to get stuck spending $100 just to return something that you don’t want.
DISCLAIMER ONCE AGAIN… I know I probably sound like I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but I just know how this works. So I’m asking again nicely… please don’t write in asking me to elaborate on a topic. I won’t be able to. I have a very “10,000 foot level” understanding of technology, so if you need more info, I’m probably not the guy to come to 🙂 I buy a new computer every 4-5 years and when I buy it, I typically get the best I can configure at the time so it lasts me. Thanks!
Final Thoughts…
One final thought and it’s more of a way to think about this. Whatever computer you get will feel fast for a total of about 24 hours. After that, you settle into working on it and it will feel slower again. It’s just the way it works. No computer speed ever consistently exceeds our expectations for a long period of time. It may sound harsh, but you know I’m right 😉 Good luck!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
I was just discussing buying a new desktop. I have been working off a laptop, and have now realized it does not have the computing power I need for editing. Was okay when I was just using PS Elements, but it often struggles with LR and PS Thanks so much for your insight, this is just what I needed.
Matt, excellent article. Thank you. I will archive the article for future reference.
Thank you Matt, this is vert timely! I have a 10 year old IMAC 27IN 2010 16G RAM with High Sierra, Ive dead ended on the operating system and can no longer get upgrades from Adobe on Photoshop and Lightroom past 2020.
I need to make a decision in the next few months. I want to stay with the IMAC 27 in. I also have a 24 in Apple monitor. I buy all my photography gear and IMACs through B&H Photo in NYC.
Thanks for this article!
Jim
I have a pristine IMac 27″ from 2012 and just discovered the new IOS push is limited to machines from 2014 and newer.
It forced me to push the button from Apple for a new 27″ IMac. I understand Adobe is working thru betas to have their tools work on their new chips.
Costco has them, but I had a hard time getting Apple to agree to Apple Care. If you use the Apple card it is no interest for 12 months and 3% back. Not trying to sell anything…. just trying to get the best deal
Although the actions are (almost) over: one thing that is not mentioned is to store a backup of your photos and of the Lightroom Library and other important (photoediting) software on an external harddisk that you only use to store these items and afterwards disconnect from the computer. If something bad happens (e.g. powersurges, computermalfunction, ransomware) your precious items are safely stored.
Hi Matt,
Let me echo all of the wonderful comments that you are receiving.
I purchased a new laptop (Dell XPS 15, 32GB, 1T, I7, FHD) on Black Friday and was pleased to learn that my purchase aligned nicely with your recommendations.
All of the above recommended suggestions you make are just about what I was going to write on here. You beat me to it… again. 🙂 Thank you for all you have given me for the past 20 years.. Youtube tutorials – Ps and Lr TIPS all my passion for photography and post editing has been because of your way of explaining things that at first seem very complex yet you make them very simple and easy to understand kind of like your courses purchased thru mattk.com online store. Love them. Stay safe.
Thank you so much. Nice to know I am not the only person who finds Photo editing laptops only last two years. Anyone know why manufacturers seem encourage us to 3rd party RAM if we want 32 + GB of RAM
Hi Philip – you’re welcome. I don’t know of any manufacturers that “encourage” it. From anywhere I’ve ever shopped they seem to really want you to upgrade on their site so they get the money.
I started my photo editing in the 90’s on a Compaq PC, however when Windows Vista came out with all its bugs and crashes, I switched to an Apple Mac Pro workstation in 2007.
In 2013, I bought a newly refurbished Mac Pro workstation at a considerable discount from Apple (with full warranty), when the processor became too old on my 2007 model to run the new 64bit architecture. It could no longer be upgraded.
Eight years later, my 2012 Mac Pro is still running fine on the Mojave OS. The thing about the Mac Pro (which is a tower), you can install up to 4 HD’s internally inside it! I’m running with 1 x 1T which has all the OS, docs etc; and 3 x 2T which has all my photo & video files. It’s easy to add or change HD’s as your archive grows. Unlatch the side panels, undo two screws, and pull out the shelf holding the HD. I have about 50,000 images and a growing video archive, as I start editing video using Final Cut Pro X.
Yes Mac Pro’s are expensive (especially the latest incarnation), but it’s what you would expect for top-of-the-line gear that can last in my case, 8 years and counting! MacPro’s are used in universities, science labs, and even in recording studios running Avid Pro Tools. They are durable, rugged, reliable and very stable. No crashes or blue screens on my device, plus excellent technical support when needed from the Apple techs.
One last suggestion – protect your investment with a UPS – an Uninterrupted Power Supply. APC – The American Power Corp makes excellent units which have surge protection and an internal battery, so if the power suddenly flickers and goes out (especially during winter storms or lightning tempests), you can safely keep on operating for about 10 to 15 minutes then safely shut down your computer. No lost files or work! I also have my monitor, phone, printer and wifi switch plugged into it too. Here’s a similar model to what I use:
https://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/products/Back-UPS-PRO-BR-1500VA-SineWave-10-Outlets-2-USB-Charging-Ports-AVR-LCD-interface/P-BR1500MS
Consider a UPS as insurance, and to prevent zero downtime or damage from an electrical line surge or brownout, especially during the hot summer months. I have had my unit 13 years, and had to replace the battery just once. And it has cut in many times when the power went off, and saved my work.
Hope this helps!
Cheers from Montréal
Update to what I wrote above:
I started out with 8gb of RAM/memory on my Mac Pro workstation, but upgraded it myself to16gb with new memory cards from MacSales.com. The RAM cards are mounted on a pullout tray, (like the HD’s) and can be easily changed by anyone in a three-step process. I will probably upgrade them to 32gb for my increasing video editing work.
You can buy memory cards, batteries, peripherals and HD upgrades for your iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro workstation, including refurbished units at a discount from MacSales.com. They have instructional videos online on how to do it, and sell the tools to open MacBook Pro laptops too!
https://eshop.macsales.com/configure-my-mac/macbook-pro
Hope this helps!
Frederic in Montréal
Regarding disk drives & desktops – I would suggest you add an additional SSD for swap / scratch / cache / lr backup / temp type files and where possible another to act as a ‘under development’ drive, leaving the main drive for the O/S, programmes.
On the alphabet soup that is CPUs and laptops – people need to be aware that laptop cpus are normally low power consumption versions, so a laptop intel i7 is NOT the same as a desktop i7 – https://www.cpubenchmark.net/ – is a good comparison site.
Finally, tune the heck out of it – processing software, O/S, gpu cards – all have preferences or configurations which can be tuned.
For me its Windows, 64GB of RAM, 10TB of RAID 10 Hard Drives and yes 4GB of VRAM on the Graphics card. 2 off BenQ Monitors 24 inch.
I find using a dedicated SSD 512GB for Photoshop’s Scratch Disk and an overflow for Lightroom also speeds things up. Photoshop is a memory hungry application RAM is so important.
Great timing, thank you. I need an new computer to handle PS and have researched all kinds of resources and here you are with all the answers.
I also ordered texture brushes from you but have not added them to my old computer. When I am ready I assume I can go to your website and figure out what to do from there. Obviously I am not a techie.
Dear,
I am presently working with a 6 years old Toshiba P870, with an i7 processor. I ‘ve just been seeking for possibilities to give it a second youth and my conclusions are rather different than yours.
Invest for a TOO long term in hardware is a nonsense since prices are always decreasing.
First of all, we suppose the computer is an x-64.
OK for the motherboard and the processor, specifically for a laptop, because they cannot be updated, and update these sole components in a desktop is not easy. Then, for a new computer chose at least a new top performing i5 ( even fast as my old i7 ), an i7 would be better for the long term. Faster would be luxury.
RAM: I read on web sites for gaming that 2x 4Gb is better than 1x 8Gb, some new photographic programs prefer 16Gb ( also better 2x 8Gb ) they accord that more than 16Gb is not useful, but I think it is better is the POSSIBILITY exists to upgrade it later to 32Gb when the RAM will be cheaper — DDR4 is better than DDR3 and you cannot interchange it later — “L” is for “low voltage” what allows a longer battery autonomy — pay also attention to the “CL” of the RAM; the lower the faster it works.
GRAPHIC CARD: mine was originally ruled with an “open GL 3.2” pilot if I remember well, anyway unable to support the new versions of Luminar 4 and ON1-2021 ( those require at least “open GL 3.3” and ON1-2021 even recommend <> ) — fortunately the computer technician could upgrade my pilot on last July to OpenGL 4.2.
HDD: rather than minimum 1To in the laptop as Matt says, prefer a SSD, that will allow the computer to work faster. Last year I changed my “normal” HDD for a 250Gb SSD and used my old HDD as second embedded HDD. If you have only one slot, I think a 500 SSD is sufficient, provided you have a fast connection to connect a larger external (portable) HDD ( 4Tb is cheaper than 100€, you can buy several ones, and larger SSD will be less expensive in a few years ).
Connections: Then pay attention to have at least one fast connection ( USB3.1 or faster ) for an external HDD.
About the capacity of the HDD. My personal needs are these:
– one shot in 24Mp RAW + native JPG = +/- 30Mb => 30 shots = 1Gb /// I am taking +/- 20 shots/day => I need 1 CD-Rom/day or +/- 250Gb/year on my HDD
– if you use the side-files of your development pgm, you won’t need very much additional space
– one TIF file with 24Mp can take more than 150Mb => 6 TIF files = 1Gb.
Backups:
I use the second embedded HDD to store the files I do not process. I have 2 HDD for daily/weekly backups and a third HDD for monthly backups. I do not discard my original SD-card before having checked the 3 copies. When on holiday, I take one set SD-cards + one set of USB-sticks of sufficient capacity + 1 SSD of 250Gb ( 40€ ) to make 1 daily backup + 1 backup of the backup. I check the second new backup daily ( if the 2nd backup is good, the first one is also good ).
Hoping these thoughts will be useful to some of you …
I have a 2018 Mac Mini with the 16 GB RAM and 1 TB HDD you recommend. I agree with your analysis of the situation. I do photo editing and HDR as well as Video editing and thought 2018 Mini would last me a long time. If graphics performance turned out to be too slow I knew I could add an eGPU. Now Apple has brought out the M1 which costs about the same as the eGPU. I’m not complaining! In retrospect I should have seen that depending on Intel graphics was a mistake. Better your Intel iMac and Macbook pro with their graphics cards. Because I am in the middle of cataract operations I decided to treat myself to a good 4K monitor. I might be able to actually see what my geeky son is talking about in the photos we discuss. I have the Dell 27″ ultrasharp in transit at a nice Black Friday discount. We’ll see how I go with the smaller details with my new eyes on the 4K Dell compared to peering through my glasses dimly at the 24 inch HD Dell I have. So thanks, a really helpful article that gives an overall perspective without getting into the weeds
Further information.
It was late in the Belgian night when I wrote my post.
First of all thanks to Matt for his thoughts.
SSD: write/read velocity goes from +/- 300 to above 500 Mb/sec – velocity is important if you use the SSD as first drive in your computer
USB-sticks: write/read velocity goes from +/- 30 to above 400 Mb/sec – pay attention to this factor according to your needs
For both material, velocity and price are not directly proportional.
Pay attention to the quality of the screen ( I mean the hardware: contrast, nb. of pixels, refreshment rate, etc. ), and don’t forget you cannot change it on a laptop.
Further information I forgot when I wrote my most late in the Belgian night.
First of all, I forgot to thank Matt for its thoughts.
SSD: read/write velocity goes from < 250Mo/sec ( generally +/- 500Mo/sec to above 2500Mo/sec — it is important if you use it as first hard disk in your computer ( typically “C local drive” with windows )
USB sticks: read/write velocity goes for +/- 30Mo/sec to above 300Mo/sec — choose it according to your needs
For both material, price and velocity are not linked.
Pay also attention to the quality of your screen ( hardware: contrast, brightness, nb. of pixels, refreshment rate, etc. ), especially for laptops because it is not possible to change it separately afterwards.
Excellent article Matt. For a ”non-techie” guy, you knocked it out of the park!
Only one additional comment I would make is if someone should need a laptop for mobility, it is a great idea to consider purchasing a dock with a keyboard, mouse (or other pointing device) and larger external monitor to use when they are at home. Gives one a bit of the best of both worlds (desktop/laptop).
I sort of agree with the general principal of buy the best you can afford for a lot of this. But as an accountant, it is not always the best idea from a cost per year of useful life perspective.
Over the years I have found that often the better answer is wait until they announce the latest new model and buy the 6 months ago model instead which is usually 20-30% cheaper than the latest model. Upgrade the heck out of that (faster graphics card, more memory etc. which will also be way cheaper than upgrading the latest model. Yes I might get 6 months less life out of it before it becomes too slow / not supported, but if you are getting say 5-6 years+ life, reducing to to 4.5-5.5 +years but saving 20-30% is still a very good deal.
Brilliant idea to buy an iMac with minimum 8GB RAM and immediately upgrade with Crucial RAM. I will definitely do this when I upgrade my iMac next year. It will save me $300+ to have 64GB. Thanks!
I agree that the new direction for Macs are interesting. I am apprehensive due to Apple’s history moving to other silicon bases and the support from the software community. The Mac Pro is really my ideal system and what I have used for the pas 11 years.
Unfortunately, they are now priced out of the realm of reality and the technology base is older generation which cannot take advantage of new 3rd party hardware.
As for the M1 silicon, it is an interesting design concept, but it is not the only innovation, Both AMD and Nvidia are pushing the envelope with multicore CPUs/GPUs. Of course none of these are usable in a Mac environment unless you go the Hackintosh route.
The performance of the Adobe suite and Davinci Resolve in these new environments far outweigh what is a achievable in the comparable Mac. They also offer the advantages of being up gradable.
I really prefer the MacOS to Windows (I’ve used both for nearly 30 years). I’m a computer engineer who does nature photography and videography on the side. It’s my passion. I was burned buying the Trash can Mac Pro and find I that having to add storage and peripherals externals was costly and now hard to migrate to anything else. Thunderbolt is moving along and I now would have to buy an TB2 to TB3 adapter for my editing storage Not a good idea for maintaining performance.
My goal is to have a flexible system where I don’t need to worry about relying on external devices for everything (this is what any Mac would require except for the Mac Pro). So WIndows is my only recourse. I know with proper backup of the system disk and maintaining it without trying lots of different software all the time, I can keep WIndows running efficiently. Image backups using Acronis or other backup utilities keeps me safe with a bootable backup of the system. If I want MacOS capabilities (Facetime, Message, etc…) I can run MacOS in a VM and use those features with my iPhone, AppleTV and 13″ Macbook Pro (yes, I have that to take into the field when travel to go on a shoot).
IMHO on the state of things Mac vs. PC
Hi Lee,
Like you, I have a Mac Pro too, two in fact. I started with a a new unit in 2007, then bought a 2012 refurb unit with full warranty from Apple when my older unit would no longer support OS software updates. I changed my ram/memory from 8gb to 16gb with parts from MacSales.com. They sell a full range of parts, if you need to upgrade your MacPro.
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Frederic in Montréal
I had my windows computer built a few years ago with two graphic cards, one for each of my monitors. This has worked great for me and allows independent color calibration of each monitor
Two video cards – one for each of your two monitors is a great idea! Think I will do that too!
Cheer and thanks!
Thanks Matt..it is one thing to come up with the funds to purchase “the dream machine” which will meet todays and future needs. I see us in a catch 20 cycle…the new mirrorless sensors (not all) but most are 45 meg. pixil…transulation more storage space! Are we all going to be printing bill-boards for New York Time Squart…not likley. Cloud storage is another bill to pay. When you get older and have a wee bit of flex funds to spend, the older mind sometime can’t quite keep up and know the “best system”. As always you have given your trusting readers great information and much to think about. Happy Thanksgiving to our Americal friends! From Canada with love, lets all do our part to get Covid numbers under control…as soon as possible. God Bless
Thanks for the article. I just purchased a Dell Ultrasharp so good to know you find them favorable. Won’t ask any tech questions but I am curious as to why printing is a factor when considering a monitor. I don’t share my photos online so printing (lab) is the only way I display. Challenging process at best.
Printing requires a calibrated monitor (and frankly a calibrated printer) if you want your printed images to look the same on paper as they do on your monitor. Hence spend more on a high quality printer that can match the color gamut of your edited photo. If you’re only posting images online in the sRGB color space, any monitor should be sufficient and no matter how precise your editing, it’s going to look different on everyone else’s devices anyway.
Hi Larry. Because the print is a very different surface than the screen. You need to get a screen that matches the surface of a print better and a bright glossy screen is not it. For me, they are the best to look at and fun to edit on, but they don’t give as good a representation of the print. That said, if you have a workflow and it works… don’t change it. Nothing else matters than you’re happy with the output.
Matt, here’s something to consider for desktops: two SSDs. I have one for the C: drive and all software and the other as a fast working store for the pictures during my initial development. After I’m happy with the initial development, I move them (using LR CC) onto my server. As processing tools get better, I will revisit old RAW images and re-process them, sometimes that moves them back to the fast local store to speed things up.
I built my current box in 2010 with as you say, the fastest processor (6 core!! woo woo) and the most memory the motherboard would hold. By adding large SSDs and upgrading video cards, I still have an acceptable performing computer with current tools.
I won’t build another box until I can get 2X higher performance and that’s not available yet in my price range.
Matt, Can you tell me what I can do to get the latest PS and LR update on my 2013 iMac? I cannot upgrade it from High Sierra to get the latest updates.
Thanks.
Mickey.
Hi Mickey – I cannot… but a quick Google search on your specs, OS, etc.. should be able to 🙂
My girlfriend has an older iMac too, which cannot be upgraded to the latest OS like Mojave or later, so you may have to buy a new iMac. With Black Friday sales on, now is the time to do it!
That said, you can still use your old iMac it to watch Netflicks movies, which is what we do together!
Hope this helps. Stay safe and be well.
Cheers from Montréal
Matt, thank you for this very timely and helpful article. You have answered many of my questions and concerns when ordering a new computer. The comments section is also very useful. Thanks
Huge thanks for this advice, Matt. I was on the point of replacing my 2011 iMac with the new MacBook With the ARM chip. Having no need for a portable, I will wait for the new iMacs with the M1 chips. And buy an affordable dell monitor because I prefer a non-reflective screen.
If people really want a PC that is built for LR & PS go to Puget Systems https://www.pugetsystems.com/ they will build you a PC that is hands down the fastest and most efficient for photo editing. I am saving for one now and can’t wait to be editing on one of their systems!
Very good advice if you don’t want to get in trouble assembling by yourself.
Even better, build one yourself. I did it last year and maxed out the specs for about half the price of a puget system.
Thanks for the article. I’ve been thinking about a new computer for a while (a 10yo iMac). When PS2021 came out, I knew I had to bite the bullet and get a new iMac (I hardly ever use Lightroom or video) Your article confirmed what I ordered was a good choice. Display is 27” 5K, 32G RAM, 1T SSD, 3.8GHz i7 8core 10th gen processor. I waffled on what video card because I don’t know that much about them and even the sales person I talked to would have gone with the one I picked, Radeon Pro 5700 8GB. I’m happy with my purchase.
I basically agree with what you’ve said.
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The important thing to do is first define what you want to do with the computer. Since this is an article in a photo mag, photo/video editing is the natural assumption. Don’t let a store clerk sell you the top of the line, most expense computer in the catalog. You probably don’t need all that “horsepower” and you really don’t need to pay the price premium.
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Desktop vs Laptopp/tablet is as you say. Only if you absolutely need to be portable go with a laptop. But the price will be 50% or more for similar specs, with little option of upgrading the hardware in the future.
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I like your description of the CPU’s. Yes, they are a collection of alphabet soup and numbers. I recommend that the “average” user stay away from the “BLEEDING EDGE” hardware. You pay a significant premium for the top of the line CPU. Right now that is a “i9” and “10th generation” (Comet Lake) (11th generation, “Rocket Lake” is supposed to come out spring 2021). So taking a step down to “i7” and at least a couple of numbers down from the top “best/fastest” model they have will save you big bucks.
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RAM, 8GB is absolute Min, 16GB or more is better. Buying RAM upgrades from the builder is expensive. You probably could buy a 32GB upgrade for the same price as upgrading to 16GB from the builder.
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An Addon Video card is a must for for photo/video editing. While the built in video support on the intel chip is getting really good, the addon card is the way to go. Again, more RAM is better. And this is a place where it is harder to DIY the ram, so just buy the video card with the most ram you can afford.
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One option you didn’t mention is dual monitors. With the addon video card, dual monitor support is trivial to do, basically plug and play. Many photo/video editing programs actually support dual monitors, putting the tools on one monitor and the image on the other. Personally, I like to set one monitor in the default “landscape” orientation and the other rotated 90 degrees in “Portrait” orientation. I don’t do photo editing, so I like having a 40-50″ 4K monitor plugged into my 13″ 1080P laptop.
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Monitor Video “resolution” is another good question.
8K, while there are a few (ridiculously priced) TV’s at 8K, very few computers support it, and you really don’t need it.
4K, is a good place. You can get good monitors are reasonable prices. But what are you going to be doing with your Photo’s/Videos. 4K video is still just catching on, most TV’s are still 1080P. Photos, if your photos are being produced for Pinterest or other online display, 4K resolution will give you nothing extra in image quality, just bloated file sizes and hence slower download speeds. Ultra high resolution photos are only useful if you have a high end photo-real printer that is larger than 8.5*11, or you plan to use only a small portion of the image.
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“4K resolution will give you nothing extra in image quality, just bloated file sizes and hence slower download speeds.”
Your monitor has absolutely no effect on the file size of your image. That is entirely dependent on your camera sensor and the editing that you do (i.e. do you edit in raw, do you save your files as a psb or tiff, with or without layers, etc.). As Matt mentioned, a high resolution 4k monitor is overkill for basic photo editing and for a number of reasons could actually make your editing more difficult.
After running a Windows software business from roughly 1990-2015 I switched to Mac when I retired and the biggest difference has been doing much less tech support for my wife, although there were also many other differences and I still regard Windows as a dinosaur. I use a Macbook Pro and a 27″ iMac with two 27″ monitors. 16GB of main memory is enough and I don’t know why I would need a video card upgrade because I’m not doing much video or gaming. My hybrid drive is 3TB. For serious work, I hate trackpads. I have used trackballs in the past but now use just an Apple Magic Mouse. I do a lot of nature photography but also do a huge amount of restoration and even some hand coloring of 19th and early 20th century photos. That requires a lot of image enlargement and very fine mouse control. Some of my images start at 500MB to 750MB in size or more, because they are scans of 8×10″ glass negatives and in a few cases even scans done in pieces of 12×20″ glass negatives from the VLF (very large format) days of photography. My current photo project is a book of 125+ local history stereoviews and I have restored and enhanced all of them. That’s a different kind of photo processing from what people do with their own new photos.
Oops. Can’t edit. The Windows business was 1990-2005, not 2015.
Matt I am with you all the way on this one. You are so very correct. I use a PC and always buy the most I can afford so that I am in the game a bit longer. I love how you tell it like it is.
Thanks for a great overview. You are the best!
Thank you very very much for this excellent article. Filled with valuable insight. I will refer to this when ready for my next iMac.
Deciding on a computer build is not easy. I am not technically proficient either. But I have configured on Dell’s website multiple times, had a computer built for me after that, then upgraded components several times after that. This is very possible with a desktop PC. The main thing I have learned is that it pays to study the requirements needed, looking at various websites. My decisions follow what you have written fairly closely.
There are a few significant differences. I learned that 1TB was not big enough for all my photos and documents. And 2TB external hard drives for backups were filling up too fast. As a result, during my last upgrade, I went with two 4TB internal HDD hard drives, not consumer grade – both have a 5 year warranty. I already had a 500GB SSD drive, so use that exclusively for running Windows 10 and a few other programs that only want to live in the same place as Windows 10 [“C” Drive]. Other memory-intensive programs live on one 4TB drive [“D” Drive], and all photos, documents, and internet functions are on the other 4 TB drive.
Another consideration when configuring a computer is to know how much space the components are going to require. My first custom build was fine at the time, and also for upgrading some components. But the last time, it was necessary to buy a larger tower. [The person doing the build for me found that the old tower was too small for what I wanted inside it. The new one has more room inside so was able to add extra fans, there is also space for more internal drives!]
One thing I am curious about – why a glossy screen? I have an older 27″ Dell Ultrasharp and the screen is not glossy. It shows off the colors beautifully. My laptop has a glossy screen and the reflections make it less user-friendly for photo editing.
One website that I found helpful was pugetsystems.com. They build computers, and their website lists the specifications they use for different purposes. Plus there is a lot of information on their website. For my first custom build, I used their specs as a guideline only. Checked them again more recently, but chose to use some different types of components because wanted to stay with those with which I felt comfortable. Of course, I also know people through some photography forums that were very helpful as well.
My PC, now running Windows 10, is over 8 years old. It has an Intel i7-3770K 4-core processor overclocked to 4.2 Ghz, 32 GB RAM, and an NVIDIA Quadro P2000 5 GB graphics card driving two 4K BenQ monitors. The system runs pretty smooth for most things. However, I do see a slowdown doing a few things in Lightroom and Photoshop. And it can’t handle certain effects, such as Adjustment Layers, in Premiere Pro without first rendering the clip. I’m pretty sure some of the speed issues could be taken care of with a newer computer with the newer processors and perhaps a better graphics card, but I am hesitant to spent the money not knowing this in advance. I’ve asked a number of people, but no one seems to know.
I have a similar configuration with a far modest graphics card and after increasing RAM to 32 Gb it keeps running smoothly in Lightroom and Photoshop; I’m also able to keep Photo Mechanic open in the background.
In the last couple of years the AMD Ryzen CPUs became faster than Intel’s; that’s what all gamers comment and they should know because their requirements are far more serious than those of creators.
The new AMDs 5000 series will launch in a few days meaning that the present models 3700 to 3900 (super fast for editing) will become very affordable. I just purchased the 3800x version with a 30% discount.
Regarding motherboards, as gamers switched massively to AMD, all manufacturers are offering a wide diversity of options. The 450 chipset very affordable, the 550 mid of the road and the new 570 rather expensive.
Check Asus, Gigabyte and MSI, I preferred Asus for decades but the other two enjoy also very good reviews.
For the graphic card follow Matt’s advise and check with Adobe, if you are not editing video you don’t need more than 4 to 6 Gb in the graphics card itself.
The most important component to consider for the new motherboards is the M2 hard drive (actually they are a tiny circuit board) . The NVME type (not the SATA); with speeds of at least 6 to 10 times faster than SSDs. They are becoming affordable and most motherboards accept two of them, freeing regular sata ports for extra drives.
These new technologies brought also much higher temperatures, paying attention to case ventilation became important.
Thanks, Matt. Another great article filled with logic and common sense. What more could we ask for?
Could you explain the BenQ comment ? I’m looking for a 2nd monitor for my iMac. I was thinking of the new 32inch dell (roughly$800) but there are BenQ and Samsung and Eizo options that are cheaper.
What’s special about BenQ and printing ? If I’m not printing would you suggest that dell is better ?
This just for you to look at and through. Not plugging, I am curious also and this could be an entry.
Benq has a line of photo editing monitors that are fairly pricey. For example, I have a Benq SW271, which retails for almost $1100. It is a 4k monitor, which covers 99% of the Adobe RGB color spectrum and allows for hardware calibration. My images look great on this monitor.
BenQ has a line of less expensive photography models that come color-calibrated and are extremely consistent with little color drift over time. In fact, they are so consistent I’ve gotten sloppy with using my color calibration tool because it just never drifts. The PD2500q is what I’m using, it’s only $300 for a 25″ model (there’s larger models available), their are also 27″ and 32″ versions available. Nice set of inputs, I use the DisplayPort to daisychain two of them together.
The BenQ precalibrated monitors that are NOT 4K are very affordable and enjoy excellent reviews. I’m planning to upgrade to a 32″ to replace my pretty old Samsung.
For a while now I was using iMacs but after my second one gave the ghost I decided to go with a non- all-in-one Windows based expandable desktop. What I realized is that a gaming machine (which I like to do) is also a perfect photo editing machine. Fast CPU, a lot of memory, large SSD, Extremely powerful video card with much memory. The bottom line is that with one computer I satisfy both my computer needs. Also the good thing is that most if not all photo software usually has both a Mac and a Windows version so no new software needs to be purchased, just transferring the license.
Any PC good enough for games will be the best possible for editing. Gamers have outrageous (and expensive) hardware requirements. If you don’t use it for games, step down a few notches, save a lot of money and get a very suitable system.
Still, follow gamers reviews just for some guidance, whatever is good for them will be far than enough for editing.
Only video could be very demanding but photo editing doesn’t put much strain on present available hardware.
Perfect timing, Matt. My HP pc is windows 7 and needs to be replaced with windows 10. I agree with you that in configuring buy as much as you can afford without going overboard. Your suggestions are very welcome. Thanks!
I bought an Eizo CS2420 a year and a half ago, and I cannot get it calibrated to get good prints. Their customer service is horrible! I’ve talked to people at Eizo, Nvidia, Adobe forums, professional photographers, Eizo in the UK, an Eizo related group in Australia, and I still cannot get good prints. Right now I am working with X-Rite. I was able to calibrate my 10 year old NEC without a problem and won some awards locally.
What I also found out is that there are a lot of people in computer related customer service that don’t have a clue about calibration, and calibration related issues. This includes Eizo, and Nvidia. If you are going to calibrate a monitor, do a lot of research before doing so. The biggest difference I’ve seen between my old NEC, Eizo CS2420, and other current monitor manufacturers is that they have taken away the Contrast Slider. I personally think this is a mistake. So far, the only other company that still offers the Contrast Slider in addition to Black Level and Brightness is ASUS.
Thank you Matt for that honest and simple explanation. My computer seems to tick all the boxes so I am ok for awhile. I wish you would also help us with external hard drives. I have about 6 of them and I cannot open 2 of them. Very frustrating. I did not back up my photos a few years ago so I have lost a lot of photos. They say it is not if you will lose your backups, but when.
I backup daily all to a small portable 4tb drive that I keep out of the house when I’m out. These drives are unexpensive and pocket size. Daily backups are fast and can be set to launch automatically every day or even several times a day if you do professional work.
Frequent backups and keeping its drive safe is the only defense against Murphy’s law.
Wish I would live close enough to your place of business and attend on site workshops.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I just sent out a request to my camera club for which Macbook Pro to buy, for Photoshop intensive work. Maybe it’s time to go back to the desktop, though I do have a great Ben Q monitor.
Thank you Matt! I am stuck with a laptop as we are on the road most of the time. But all that is on my laptop are the programs to run the software. I keep everything on external hard drives. Sometime give us your take on external hard drives and their value/use/saftey. I’m always afraid that one will die!
Don’t need to be afraid because for sure drives die at some point. Just keep everything duplicated, small portable drives are unexpensive, pretty fast and easy to manage.
I love your practicality, Matt. Most of us are not printing much and instead share our images downsized in online albums, websites, or competitions. So as you write, no need to spend a lot on a monitor as almost any 23 inch and above will do the job nicely. Of course RAM is important but as long as one has 16 GB or above, I find getting a better graphics card most important for post-processing speed. So we agree.
Thanks for this, Matt. It’s good information at the level I can handle. I’m not ready for a new computer quite yet so will print this out and consult it when I’m ready. Best wishes to you, Diana and the boys. Joan
Thanks Matt, great advice. Especially for those of us who area also at the 10,000 foot level or higher! I love all of your classes that I have taken. You’re a terrific teacher. Thanks
Wow Matt, this is a great article! Perfect timing for me as my 2007 iMac is on it’s last legs & I’m fast thinking of a replacement. Thank you so much for your informative opinions.
Have a wonderful Christmas with your family & be well.
Matt, I used to do all my editing on a maxed out Desktop MacPro (2010). When I was looking to finally replace it, I thought long a hard about another desktop vs a laptop. I spend a fair amount of time at our cottage, so portability was important. I used to keep my images/catalog on a portable G-drive and used my desktop at home and a laptop on the road. Here is what I replaced it with… I purchased a new 16″ MacBook Pro (64GB Ram) with the added 8GB Radeon 5500M video card and 4TB hard drive, but then added a 32″ 4K Monitor and a Razor eGPU with an 8GB Radeon RX 5700 to drive the graphics. The eGPU performs significantly better for all the heavy editing. Best of both worlds… Desktop like performance at home yet still portable. The Thunderbolt framework gives the ability for excellent high speed additions to a Laptop.
Thanks, very sensible horses for courses. I especially like your comments on monitors.
1. You say don’t get a laptop due to performance constraints. Know this: MacBook GPU chips are held down with solder and can get _really_ hot. I overloaded the workload and it *UNSOLDERED* itself. The repair cost was the same as replacement cost.
2. Windows was designed from the get-go to be easily maintained by an IT department. That means they have a lot of hooks for remote maintenance. That’s another way of saying it’s designed to be manipulated from over the net. They keep working on it, but it is a fundamental design issue.
3. Linux is safe and secure, but photo software companies refuse to re-compile their products for it, so forget it.
4. get an iMac (mine is a 2017 w/ 48GB RAM + 12 TB storage)
This is a timely article with all the Black Friday ads, pick me, pick me! I really appreciate your response about the BenQ monitor and printing needs. I had no idea about that. I have a Dell 4K monitor that I use with my Macbook Pro and that works well. Thanks.
What a coincidence you wrote this right now. I’ve bought my very first Mac after 35 years with PC. On Monday I will get my iMac27 2020. With all the extras available. I’ve always said: I want a really powerful machine when I retire from work. And now I’m there. Thanks for making me feel I made the right decision when I chose to pay all that money for the extra powerful options. All the best for the coming seasons.
How about the Wacom tablet vs mouse for PP?
Definitely! Once I started using a tablet, I wouldn’t go back. Now I use a laptop, so unless I am doing *serious* PS/LR work on the road, I’m just use an external mouse.
But the Wacom tablets for sure.
Wacoms are great but a mid of the road alternative are trackballs. They can be very precise and easy on your wrist.
Thank you for the insights. They were very helpful and, no, I won’t ask for any more specific info 🤣. This was just right!
I actually run a 7,1 Mac Pro. With 96 Ram. I tried running a PC with Windows 10, I had four disks on it, system, photo, video and my junk disk. One day came into my office to work only to find the PC down. I had to put a new system disk in and reload Windows 10, only to find other disks were not there. A little more research on the computer revealed the disks were there but not available because they had no drive letter. Windows 10 had done this all on its own. Once I have the drives a letter they were back. But I could not have this as a work computer. So I bought a new Mac. Thankfully I am tech savvy as I was a Unix systems administrator for Intel Corporation
Just to throw a wrench into your thinking process it seems Apple is moving over to their own in-house M1 chips.with integrated processors and RAM that will revolutionize the way system and graphic memory is accessed and allocated. So far independent reviews have the early models outperforming comparable PC and Mac machines, even in emulation mode. One of the bottom lines is that large amounts of RAM may not be necessary to achieve great performance as is conventionally believed. 2021 should be an interesting year for Macs…