True enough. I used to build my PCs, but I've gotten lazy in my old age.
June 6, 2023
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I saw that.
I got confused with CPU cores, GPU cores, NE cores, and at the end PhotoLab is not optimized for all these different units. If you have knowledge of which cores help PL6 performance, I'd be happy to learn about it. Is the 16GB of RAM sufficient? For me 512GB SSD is fine.I also noticed that between MacBook Air and Pro I can get similar configuration with a small difference in price.
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Fortunately, I did not need service in a long time, but I agree it makes a big difference.
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That's good to know. Thanks.
For a desktop, it should be OK to consume a bit more power, especially when exporting a large number of photos. -
You will be using DxO PhotoLab? That's what I use for Raw conversion and editing. 16GB is more than enough memory for PhotoLab and a raster editor such as Affinity Photo, simultaneously. Deep PRIME uses the Apple neural engine, so more cores help, but the difference is not huge. Main advantage of Macbook Pro is the SD card reader.
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Lulz. I've been Bi-Os since 1995 and flip flop every few years depending on how the winds are blowing.
Have you checked someplace like www.pugetsystems.com/ and see if they make recommendations for your software of choice?
To me, this question comes down to money and functionality. If this is for you - PC. If this is for paid work - much more debatable topic. Currently sitting here with a very expensive PC and I can't deny those M2 chips have me drooling, and then I remember Apple is gonna want me to "spend, spend, spend," like I have no other expenses in my life and work while I poop.
Since performance seems to be your point and you make no mention of other work or duties, PC brother.
Since mobility is an issue for you, have u considered something like lightroom for your phone?
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I'd go the NUC, not necessarily Intel though. I bought an early i7 Skull Canyon NUC 5 or 6 years ago, I've got the OS & programs on a 500GB M.2 SSD, & another 1 TB M.2 SSD just for photos that I download and edit, before they get shuffled off to my NAS. It hasn't skipped a beat, it's still really snappy, I've run autoCAD on it without any trouble, it used to get chucked in a bag and dragged to work/on holidays, very impressed with it. Still going strong.
What I have just bought though, is a Beelink SER6 Pro 7735HS mini computer/NUC. It runs a Ryzen 7 7735 8 core 16 thread 3.2-4.75 GHz CPU, Gen 4 NVMe M.2 SSD, 32GB of DDR5 RAM at 4800 MHz, Radeon 680M on board graphics, USB 4, Windows 11 Pro, all for Au $825.00. It flies. It really flies. I upgraded the original 500GB SSD to a 2TB Crucial P3+ NVMe, & still came in at just under 1000 bucks Au. With room for another internal 2.5" SSD. What a steal. It's tiny. Really tiny. Roughly 12.5cm square, by 4.5cm tall. And for all intents and purposes, silent. Comes with a VESA mount bracket, I've got mine sitting on the back of my monitor. The ultimate couch computer if you sit it on the Coffee table with a Bluetooth mouse & keyboard. We'll see how it goes for longevity, they're getting faster and more affordable all the time. Check them out.
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Here's my SER6 with a Microsoft Bluetooth mouse sitting on it, just to give you a sense of scale. I ran a couple of raw files through standalone Pureraw version 1.6 on it, just out of curiosity, it spits out the image in 30-35 sec's flat. Not too shabby I thought.
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Here's one.
I have a Mac and a PC next to each other on my desk, both similar vintage. The Mac is what I usually use for day-to-day use, the PC is for SW development and photo processing. Recently we had a smart electricity meter installed, which shows current usage. My wife was worried about how much electricity we were using, and determined that it was 'your computers'. If I turn off the PC, the apparent usage goes away. I can leave the Mac on, no problem. And it's an Intel Mac, the M1 and M2 macs are much better.
The downside of Macs is that you're getting locked into a proprietary SW architecture, though it is a much better one than Windows (at least from a structural point of view), and there ire Apple Silicon versions of Linux already available, should you want a non proprietary alternative. -
For me, the Mac hardware is a more serious concern.
I have a M1 Mac Mini as my streaming device; the hardware is nearly perfect for that, small, quiet, and adequately powerful. I don't expect it to ever need a hardware upgrade in its current usage. But if it did, I'd have to sell it and buy a whole new machine.
I have a Windows PC as my main machine; if it ever needs a hardware upgrade of any kind (as its predecessor needed a new graphics card when the AI imaging programs began to arrive) I can simply replace the component that's the bottleneck with whatever new one I require, made by any one of multiple manufacturers competing with each other.
As I see it, the Mac vs. PC decision is largely one of the individual user's priorities.
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I did not read all the replies, but usually a laptop has more difficulty dispersing heat than a desktop. This means the CPU will throttle down to prevent overheating during intesive use. So just because a laptop and a desktop have the same processor will not necessarily mean they plough trough an editing session with the same speed. Likely the desktop will win.
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Yes, agreed. But much of what the M architecture can do depends on close integration which precludes the kind of upgradeability that you can have with PCs. On the other hand, PC upgradeability only goes so far, and is a pain to do. If M architecture Macs retain their value, you might find that the cost of replacement is not too high, and migration is not hard. In fact you can do it with a very limited break in streaming, while you swap from one device to another.
Sure, but it's only the space of a few years before the upgrade decision becomes less sensible. Buy a new GPU and you find that the CPU can't service it fast enough. Plus the PSU won't provide the current it uses, plus your case doesn't have the airflow necessary to keep it cool.
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I think that the point with the M architecture macs is that the heat production is low enough for this not to be a major problem. The Mac Mini enclosure might be better at shifting air than a laptop, but not so much.
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I've never seen a performance decrease of any kind from a GPU upgrade. The existing PSU and case proved entirely adequate for the new GPU, as well as both being reused for the recent 13th gen. system upgrade without any problems.
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MacOS is POSIX standard, for what that's worth. Coming from Linux, I was surprised by completeness of command utilities. Preview and iWork function as Acrobat and Microsoft Office equivalents. Linux applications are available after installation by HomeBrew.
ACDSee and Quicken are worse on MacOS than Windows, so if you need those applications it'll influence your decision.
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I do too. My PC is my personal machine and all my photo stuff is in there. My Mac is supplied by work, and where I spend most my time. I much prefer the Mac interface at this point.
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Thank you
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That's where a NUC/mini PC scores. Newer ones have the cooling very well sorted, by virtue of a bit more volume available. They're not trying to squeeze everything into a 15mm thick pancake like a lappy. My SER6 only draws around 8 or 9 watts at idle, I think 85 with CPU and GPU at 100% load. Without throttling.
I wouldn't get one if I was mostly editing 4K video, but for general computing and Photoshop work, they don't even break a sweat.
