2019 iMac configuration advice

[lesnicole]

Hi all, I’ve read the FAQS about minimum requirements for Photoshop, but would love any feedback on the spec’s for the new iMac I’ll be ordering this week.

Background:

my mid 2011 iMac just bit the dust. Yeah, I know that’s old, but she held up pretty well. I had i7, 3.4 GB GHZ processor, 256 SSD with 2 TB HDD and 2GB graphics card. I also have a 4 TB LaCie External.

2019 Specs

The iMac Pro is out of my price range at this time, so I’m going with the iMac 3.8 Processor with i7, 512 SSD drive (for system, apps, and scratch disc. Adobe FAQs says this is best) The graphics card is a Radeon Pro 580 with 8 GB VRAM.

External Hard Drives

My old 2nd internal drive of 2TB is almost completely full and my external 4 TB has about 2 or more TB. I have an online graphics store and I‘m about to start doing video classes, so I need a lot of space to grow. I’m thinking of ordering a 10 TB LaCie Thunderbolt 3 with an 8 TB LaCie Porche USB drive for Back ups, plus I have Back Blaze for Cloud storage and I’ll keep backups on a few extra externals.

I’ve been reading a lot of articles, but the tech stuff isn’t my forté. Does all of this sound about right? The Apple Service guy I went to when my iMac died is trying to sell me on NAS drives, but I don’t think this would be sufficient for Photoshop performance, right?

Thanks so much for your input before I order.

[D Fosse]

Sounds good to me.

The critical part for Photoshop is the scratch disk, and with an SSD system drive you want to put it there. 512GB should be fine - but if you want to be future-proof 1TB is better. The Photoshop scratch files can be huge.

If that system drive is a PCIe M.2 (aka NVMe) drive - which it almost certainly is - then the amount of RAM isn't as critical as it used to be. These drives are so fast that the old scratch bottleneck is gone. 16 or 32GB RAM will do fine.

As for external storage and backup, the 8 or 10TB drives are coming down in price now, so that's a sensible investment. When I got mine they were terribly expensive, and starting to fill up by now

[lesnicole]

Thank you for your comment. Would love to get the 1 TB SSD, but I’m already pushing my budget and that would increase it another $500. Maybe eventually an extra SSD?

Yeah, I’m going with the 10TB HD as already outgrowing my drives. It‘s only an additional 60 euros from the 8TB.

Any knowledge on NAS? I’m thinking that Thunderbolt 3 is the best option for my files.

Appreciate your time and input.

[italosan]

Hi lesnicole,
the configuration you selected for your iMac is perfect for your purposes. But my advice is to keep your working files and the OS on your main drive (the 500gb SSD in this case). But I know in many cases this will not be sufficient but, as D Fosse said before, in cases like yours there are 2 main factors who will affect your PS performances, ram and scratch disk. But lets say you are going to open a PSD file on an external drive the main part of the job will be still done on your RAM and SSD (if you have enough resources) and just when you will save your file you will face some slowness. Of course the best choice, as said before, is having your working file on your local SSD. In this case you can consider starting with the smallest SSD available on the Apple Store and then change it. (after market upgrades are easy, reliable and waaaaay cheaper than the original on the Apple Store).

[Lumigraphics]

You aren't going to have any performance problems and you don't need a NAS. Stick with your planned system.

[DaveJCummings]

Your planned system should do fine with the RAM you selected.  Personally, I would beef up the RAM more, to future proof things a bit. Then again,  my MacBook Pro have been running with 8Gigs of RAM for over the past 5 years and its still runs Photoshop with no issue

[lesnicole]

Thank you all for your input. I feel validated in my choices. Would love to have a bigger SSD drive and even more RAM, but won’t be able to afford it this time around. Really appreciate your time and advice.

[Brad_Trent]

Dunno if you've already made your purchase...and I know you have already said a few times that you can't afford bumping up to the 1TB SSD...but I was able to test Photoshop files on the latest model iMac (4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7, 64GB 2400MHz DDR4, Radeon Pro 580) using the 512, 1TB and 2TD SSD's and I can safely state that the bigger the drive, the happier you're gonna be, especially if you're working on BIG files.

I tested all three configs using GB+ sized TIFFs and the results were eye-opening. With a 3GB TIFF, the 1TB SSD was almost twice as fast as the 512 on tasks like Content Aware Fill, most Transform functions (rotate, warp, perspective) and filters like Blur, Render and Stylize. Moving to the 2TB SSD showed another speed increase of around 20-25%.

I never bothered testing if these speed increases were consistent using smaller, sub-GB sized files, since 95% of my workflow involves huge, layered 16bit TIFFs processed from LEAF RAW files, but having that extra onboard scratch disc space certainly convinced me to buy the biggest SSD available, even though it's stupidly priced.

[lesnicole]

Hi Brad, thanks for weighing in.

I'm actually going to make my purchase today or tomorrow. Your post makes me hesitate to rethink if I have any wiggle room to afford upping the SSD drive to the 1TB. I don't think I can though as it's an extra 500 euros and my allotted budget is already putting a major dent in my available funds. Would it make sense to think of either swapping the SSD drive in the future or getting an external SSD drive that is only for Photoshop Scratch disk?

Another place I have wiggle room on the price is if I install 3rd party RAM myself instead of getting the 32 RAM installed by Apple. I've done this in the past and the videos look simple, but I've also read that it's possible to mess up and void your warranty. If I messed this up, I would have no funds left to purchase another computer, so I'm hesitant!

[lesnicole]

Oh Wow! I just priced this out - the savings of my installing RAM myself is exactly the cost of getting a 1TB SSD instead!

[Brad_Trent]

Never buy your RAM from Apple! A 64GB upgrade from OWC is only $495 vs. the $1400 Apple charges!!! And installing RAM is as easy as opening a door and sliding in into a slot! It’s impossible to screw up! However...you mentioned earlier that you thought you might swap the internal SSD at a later date...as far as I know, that’s not possible on the current iMacs. That’s why it’s critical to get the drive you think you’ll need when you buy, cuz you’re gonna be stuck with it.  And while an external SSD is an option, they never have the transfer speed of an onboard drive.

Oh yeah...one more thing...you should really pop for the 4.2Ghz processor upgrade. It’s only $200 and give a sizable speed upgrade!

[lesnicole]

Thanks, Brad

I'm going to do the RAM myself. I've done it before and it seems like the change of screwing it up are extremely small.

I'm also getting the 4.2 Ghz processor. (i7)

I'm torn on the 1TB SSD. I know it would be great, but I'm also seeing articles geared to photographers saying the 512 would be fine for system and applications and then an external SSD for working files. For me, that's a $544.00 difference. Times are lean right now. I'm kind of thinking buying the 512 now and hopefully my biz will pick up and in a year or so I'll buy an iMac Pro. My husband needs a new iMac, so he could inherit this one.

Was your testing of the 1TB internal system and apps only or did it hold the files as well?

Decisions, Decisions!

[Brad_Trent]

I did all of my testing on Photoshop and Capture One Pro, since those are the two programs I use that are the most processor intensive. Again...I found the bigger the SSD the better...for my use...since both my RAW processing (60mb Leaf files) and Photoshop work (3+ GB 16 bit TIFFs) involve extremely large files. I don’t know you’re workflow, but I suspect your RAW processing and Photoshop work is not like mine. That could mean a 512 SSD would be OK. But the idea that you might buy an iMac Pro in the future shouldn’t impact what you hafta do now. And honestly, the iMac Pro is massive overkill unless you do tons of video. Sure, an 8-core Pro is ‘faster‘ than the fastest regular iMac, but it’s also double (or more) the price, a power hog, and for 95% of still photography it’s just sort of unnessesary.

EDIT: I’m not quite sure what you mean when you asked about holding the files....maybe you could explain?

[lesnicole]

By holding the files I mean are you using your internal SSD for just System and Apps or do you also have your working files (Photoshop, etc.) on that drive as well? I'll only be putting the system and apps on the SSD.

Right now, I seldom have files bigger than 1GB and I've never had one that goes up to 2TB. As a digital graphics store owner though, I do have need of lots of storage, so I need to also invest in an external 10 TB Thunderbolt and 10TB backup hard drive, so that has to figure into my budget.

You have really good points, just trying to juggle all my considerations. Appreciate your time and perspective.

[Brad_Trent]

That’s kinda what I figured. I process everything on the onboard SSD, then transfer completed files to external hard drives.

I currently have multiple RAID boxes going that I use as digital file cabinets...two 4-bay boxes with 16TB each that back each other up, and another two with older jobs holding an additional 16TB each. In addition to those, I have maybe 12TB more stored on single hard drives. But when the current RAIDs fill up (prolly in a few months) I’m switching to just storing everything on two sets of redundant drives and I’m gonna move to a disc dock reader...

OWC Drive Dock: Thunderbolt 2 Dual Drive Bay Solution

I have almost zero need for a RAID system where the drives are constantly spinning...and therefore wearing out quicker...since I have no need to get instant access to files I shot previously. A dock setup let’s me keep everything backed up, then I simply store the drives until I need to access the files. Drives last WAY longer and my desk isn’t filled with hardware.

[lesnicole]

Thanks for sharing your set up. For me, Except for my original RAW archive, I'm constantly scanning things and re-combining images so I need access to most of my files. Gives me something to think about though.