27"iMac for photoshop / lightroom / Illustrator

[graeme]

I suspect my mac pro is dying. I'm considering a mac mini or more likely a 27" iMac as a replacement.

I'd like to use a second display with it ( an NEC PA231W ). This display has Displayport, DVI & D-Sub connections: From what I can tell the displayport connection will work with the iMac's thunderbolt connection. What I'd like to know is will the iMac support rotatation for the second display: I often use the NEC in portrait mode.

I'd also be interested to know if there's any way to connect 2 displays to a mac mini.

Thanks for any advice offered.

Graeme

[Czornyj]

Problem with iMac is that AFAIK it plagued by dreaded dirt issues, so I recommend getting Apple Care for as long as it gets. It also does't have height adjustment, and relatively wide frame isn't optimal for multiple monitor setup.

On the other hand you can buy a mini, and connect two (there's DP and HDMI) NEC displays - NEC EA274WMi is supported by excellent SVII profiler, and after hardware calibration offers better accuracy than an iMac screen. Another option is a mighty NEC PA272W, which is as good as possible for a LCD. I'd only wait a couple of days for WWDC 2014 - there's a chance they will present a new version of mini.

[graeme]

Czornyj

Thanks for your reply. Very useful info about the iMac dirt issues & the possible mini update.

I guess that a problem with the mini would be that using the single thunderbolt connection for a display would mean that it couldn't be used for other thunderbolt peripherals.

The displays you mention sound great but are higher spec than I need. ( I'm using a PA231W & an old 20" cinema display & am quite happy with this setup ).

I'm not surprised that there are issues reported re the imac: I can see why a laptop computer would be designed to be as compact as possible but there seems to be little sense in cramming all those hot components into such a small space on a desktop computer. I occasionally used to use a 2007 imac and was always surprised at how hot cd's were when I ejected them from the computer. I wish Apple would make a midrange tower with the power of a higher end iMac ( ie. a real computer not a lifestyle accessory ).

I saw one of the new Mac Pros a few days ago: Silly.

Rant over - time to do some work.

Graeme

[mediumcool]

The mini suffers from integrated video (Intel HD Graphics 4000) which steals RAM—standard 27" iMacs have the NVIDIA GeForce GT755M with 1 or 2GB of video memory (depending on the model); it can be upgraded at purchase to the 780M w/4GB. Max RAM for the iMac is 32GB, twice that of the mini. iMac is tough to open; mini quite easy.

Why not check out the pre-purchase configuration options for the mini and for the iMac?

You can daisy-chain devices on the Thunderbolt interface. Also, look up *imac* and *dirt* online.

Wish I had such problems.  

[Morris Taub]

Problem with iMac is that AFAIK it plagued by dreaded dirt issues, so I recommend getting Apple Care for as long as it gets. It also does't have height adjustment, and relatively wide frame isn't optimal for multiple monitor setup.

On the other hand you can buy a mini, and connect two (there's DP and HDMI) NEC displays - NEC EA274WMi is supported by excellent SVII profiler, and after hardware calibration offers better accuracy than an iMac screen. Another option is a mighty NEC PA272W, which is as good as possible for a LCD. I'd only wait a couple of days for WWDC 2014 - there's a chance they will present a new version of mini.

This is a nice solution, Marcin. I need to upgrade my computer and might go this way if they release a new mini. I'd buy the smaller nec monitor, the ea224wmi cause I'd just use it for tool palettes, email, web browsing...for the moment i still have an old 2690wuxi that i use for image work...

a current mini, maxed at about 1300 dollars/euros, the monitor is 218 euros, so maybe 1500 euros instead of the imac and i choose my components, monitor comes with three year warranty...it's a cool minimum setup for the kind of work i do...

note; verified mini price here in france, 1329 euros and a slightly larger monitor, the ea244wmi 1920x1200 is 365 euros...not a bad set up for an ok price...

[Czornyj]

EA224WMi is the least linear and smallest gamut from EAxx4WMi gang, it also has heavy matted surface. EA234WMi is more linear, but also not matte finished. EA244WMi is the nicest from the above mentioned with satin diffuser, and quite a bit more gamut. All are relatively uniform, and feature ~200Hz PWM dimmer, so some can see a slight flickering on dark background. EA274WMi is similar to EA244WMi, but larger, with higher resolution and with higher frequency PWM - it's visually not as uniform as smaller EA's, but also not tragic. EA294WMi has proportions I didn't like at all, so I didn't investigate it all that much.

A nice new mini with a couple of TB and USB3 ports would be welcomed - right now I'm using rMBP13 which has 2xTB + HDMI, so I can work with 2x30".

[graeme]

The mini suffers from integrated video (Intel HD Graphics 4000) which steals RAM—standard 27" iMacs have the NVIDIA GeForce GT755M with 1 or 2GB of video memory (depending on the model); it can be upgraded at purchase to the 780M w/4GB. Max RAM for the iMac is 32GB, twice that of the mini. iMac is tough to open; mini quite easy.

Why not check out the pre-purchase configuration options for the mini and for the iMac?

You can daisy-chain devices on the Thunderbolt interface. Also, look up *imac* and *dirt* online.

Wish I had such problems.  

I need to learn more about Thunderbolt.

I'm basically happy with the speed of my old  ( 1st generation ) mac pro which has 12 GB RAM installed - Lightroom is a bit sluggish but workable - so I'm guessing that I'll be satisfied with a brand new upgraded Mac mini with about 16GB Ram. I'd regard it as a short to medium term purchase anyway and wouldn't expect to be using it for 7 years as I have the pro. ( I also used its' predecessor, a powermac G4 for 7 years ).

It's probably time for me to learn to use Windows so that I have some saner hardware choices.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Graeme

[Morris Taub]

EA224WMi is the least linear and smallest gamut from EAxx4WMi gang, it also has heavy matted surface. EA234WMi is more linear, but also not matte finished. EA244WMi is the nicest from the above mentioned with satin diffuser, and quite a bit more gamut. All are relatively uniform, and feature ~200Hz PWM dimmer, so some can see a slight flickering on dark background. EA274WMi is similar to EA244WMi, but larger, with higher resolution and with higher frequency PWM - it's visually not as uniform as smaller EA's, but also not tragic. EA294WMi has proportions I didn't like at all, so I didn't investigate it all that much.

A nice new mini with a couple of TB and USB3 ports would be welcomed - right now I'm using rMBP13 which has 2xTB + HDMI, so I can work with 2x30".

thanks for this additional info, Marcin. Would go with the 244. Haven't checked gamut at all yet. Still, the nec monitors offer things i really would prefer, matte screen, tilt and height adjustment...will check gamut compared to the imac, but the inherent problems that seem to come with the imac aren't a selling point...and i prefer to work in an un-air-conditioned environment when possible, so heat build up is a concern.

One reason I'm also considering buying a used mac pro version 5,1 (westmere?)...around 2000 euros here in france...but still waiting on mac mini upgrade, see if it happens and what it is...i do like the slightly older ports of the 2010-12 mac pro, and for photography it seems like it'll run all my software just fine...I'm currently on an early 2008 macbook pro with only 4gb of ram...i need a speed fix...

[graeme]

thanks for this additional info, Marcin. Would go with the 244. Haven't checked gamut at all yet. Still, the nec monitors offer things i really would prefer, matte screen, tilt and height adjustment...will check gamut compared to the imac, but the inherent problems that seem to come with the imac aren't a selling point...and i prefer to work in an un-air-conditioned environment when possible, so heat build up is a concern.

One reason I'm also considering buying a used mac pro version 5,1 (westmere?)...around 2000 euros here in france...but still waiting on mac mini upgrade, see if it happens and what it is...i do like the slightly older ports of the 2010-12 mac pro, and for photography it seems like it'll run all my software just fine...I'm currently on an early 2008 macbook pro with only 4gb of ram...i need a speed fix...

If you're worried about heat build up a mac pro may not be the way to go: Ours is the best fan heater we've ever owned 

[Morris Taub]

A nice new mini with a couple of TB and USB3 ports would be welcomed - right now I'm using rMBP13 which has 2xTB + HDMI, so I can work with 2x30".

wondering about your computer Marcin...how it's configured, are you happy with speed for photoshop and lightroom if you use those programs?...

I need to update my old macbook pro, but was thinking of a 15", the standard one apple sells for about $2550...i7, 16gb of ram, 512gb ssd drive...is this overkill?...also, the 13" seems a bit better if i want to travel with it and not use it only as a desktop computer...

I was going to wait until november/december and the possibility of new, better processors, but I think I'm just gonna get what I need now...plus a thunderbolt to esata connection for my esata tower of external drives, etc...

thanks for any advice...oh, and i do think I'll do what you did, sort of, 244 monitor for palettes etc. and keep using my 2690 until it needs to be replaced...

M

[Czornyj]

This is the basic rMBP13 late 2012, so nothing spectacular - i5, 8GB, 128SSD - but it's good enough for my work - mostly graphic design in InDesign and Illustrator, photo editing + LF printing in PS and LR.

[Morris Taub]

This is the basic rMBP13 late 2012, so nothing spectacular - i5, 8GB, 128SSD - but it's good enough for my work - mostly graphic design in InDesign and Illustrator, photo editing + LF printing in PS and LR.

thanks, Marcin...i'm sorta wanting the beefed up version cause i tend to hold onto my computers a long time...my current macbook pro is a bit over six years old...chugging along with 4gb of ram, and relatively slow processor, throughput...still, it was a big step up in speed compared to my g4...

i wonder, did you need adapters for your screen connections? my nec is dvi-i I think? so dvi-i to thunderbolt adapter...

[Czornyj]

Yes - I'm using active Apple miniDP to Dual-link DVI adapter, but in case of 2690WUXi you only need standard mDP to DVI adapter.

I didn't beef up my rMBP, as I didn't plan to use it as a main computer, but after a while I liked it so much that I quit using my desktop PC workstation - it's very convenient to have my recent projects always at hand. I'm going to replace SSD to a bigger one, but the CPU and RAM is not replaceable in rMBP, so now I regret that I didn't order 16GB RAM.