Need to buy a new iMac - which one do you recommend ?
Hello everyone;
I intend to get a new iMac this year. I use Capture One intensively and it is probably the most demanding software I use (I don't do games, very little video and no graphics). I suspect the new iMac Pro is an overkill, so am contemplating one of the three available 5K 27 inch iMacs... They come in either 3.4, 3.5 or 3.8 GHz processors. I store all my files on external drives and the cloud... I typically have between two to three Capture One catalogues open at the same time. Any recommendations?
I intend to get a new iMac this year. I use Capture One intensively and it is probably the most demanding software I use (I don't do games, very little video and no graphics). I suspect the new iMac Pro is an overkill, so am contemplating one of the three available 5K 27 inch iMacs... They come in either 3.4, 3.5 or 3.8 GHz processors. I store all my files on external drives and the cloud... I typically have between two to three Capture One catalogues open at the same time. Any recommendations?
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Which ever you get, get with the highest possible GPU, I guess now they have 580 series so get that one. 5K screen is the problem for GPUs, it requires lots of processing. Also for RAM, go for lowest and then increase to at least 32GB. 0 -
Capture One will rarely use more than 16GB of RAM (unless you're working with a large catalog).
The issue with the retina/UHD iMacs is that the GPU offerings are generally not up to snuff for that display resolution and additional processing power (they're basically souped-up mobile cards). Capture One can utilize the OpenCL pipeline of the GPUs for an additional performance boost, however with these models the screen real estate is so massive for the cards that there's little to no resources remaining for OpenCL. Typically Capture One will perform better with OpenCL disabled on these machines.
Additionally, and probably unrelated to your workflow, the connectivity ports are under-powered and tend to be flaky when it comes to tethering to a power-hungry camera, such as a Phase One back over FW800 or USB3 DSLR with several unpowered repeaters in the line.0 -
Get what you can afford.
My 27' iMac-2011 died earlier this year ( Feb) and I kept hearing that the 'new' ones would be out perhaps in March ( then April, then... ). I waited for nearly a month and 1 half, struggling daily life on an iphone. Couldn't wait any longer and pulled the trigger on what they had available in May. Ended up with a 27" Late-2015 4Ghz i7, 16Gb ram with the AMD Radeon M395X and a 1TB SSD drive.
As other have said ( and you'll read the same elsewhere), you really don't need more than 16GB of ram ( you can always add later at less cost than apple). Cores - there are very few applications that can use multiple cores ( more than 4) . If you are doing video editing, science, math , or running VM machines, from what I've read, you'll see no tangible benefits.
I always am running beta software releases of both the OS and applications, and I haven't experienced any problems. I've kept my catalogs down in size and am happy with the speed of things.
So, as everyone says, 16GB... and a SSD drive. The rest is a balance between you & your wallet. New machines won't be out until December 2017?
Also, my OpenCL prefs are 'auto' and says the CO10 is using hardware acceleration.
cheers!
dan0 -
New machines are out now, AFAIK. 0 -
The new 2017 iMac’s are being shipped and put to use. There seems to be quite a heating and fan noise issue with the 27†running with the 4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7.
Was just wondering how Capture One Pro 10.x is performing. What are the CPU recommendations (I know I will have the Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB video memory with 36Gb memory) but like to solicit some experience input regarding the 4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 or will the 3.8GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 be more than enough to run smooth in the 10.x environment, hence reducing the fan noise issue…0 -
I'm interested in getting a new mac as well. Most likely an iMac (rather than a MBP), but I'm still in doubt about the CPU and GPU.
* CPU i7 vs i5
There seems to be a problem with heath spikes on the i7 (7700K) chips (not only on mac) and possibly on the faster i5 (7600K). I haven't heard the fan noise of those iMacs, but on my old MPB15 mid 2010 the fans can get quite loud at 6000rpm (which is not exceptional when using Capture One).
* GPU 575/4GB vs 580/8GB:
I'm tempted to choose the 580, but given the fact that C1's support for OpenGL is not always "top notch", maybe the 575 will do. It makes no sense to pay the extra $ for a GPU that will not/cannot be used. And a 5K screen should pose no problem for GPUs, especially not if they 4 or 8GB on board.
So, possible configurations:
- i7 + 580/8GB
- i7 + 575/4GB
- i5@3.8GHz + 580/8GB
- i5@3.5GHz + 575/4GB
All configurations with 8GB of memory to which I'll add an extra 16GB, and the 512GB SSD.
Consensus?
Is there anyone with an i7? Is it noisy?
Is there anyone with an i5@3.8GHz? Is it noisy? Is it speedy (enough)?
Is there anyone with an i5@3.5GHz? Is it speedy (enough)?
Is there anyone with a 580? Does C1 use the GPU (without artefacts)?
Much appreciated!
Peter.0 -
I have the 3.8 GHz i5 with Radeon 580 and 8GB RAM and 512 GB SSD. I am waiting for an additional 8GB RAM. I previously had a 2006 Mac Pro with 2 x 2.66 GHZ quad cores with 20 GB Ram . I have a 4TB external G Drive and a 4TB WD My Book for Time Machine. I have the 5K screen set at max resolution and use C1 previews at5120 px.
My images look gorgeous and I do not see any artifacts. The screen is very clear with superb detail. Some may find it too bright. I ran a screen calibration using a very old Huey which has helped a little with brightness but little else was changed. If I can afford it I may get a newer screen calibrator.
The iMac is very quiet compared to the old Mac Pro. This thing whispers, the other roared. External hard drives spinning up are noisier then the iMac. Ambient noises in the house drown out the iMac. Noise is not a problem. Neither is heat.I have been sitting here for a couple of hours working with C1 and the CPU is still at 34 deg, fan at 1200 rpm.
I have my C1 Catalog on an internal 512 GB SSD and it loads and closes so much faster than it did on my Mac Pro which also had the Catalog on an SSD. C1 runs much more smoothly and quickly. All images are on the G Drive with USB 3 connection ( I could not afford the Thunderbolt model). Previously they were on a 4TB WD Black. I do occasionally get the spinning beach ball, but nothing like the finger drumming wait I had before, but I am not sure if that is because the external HD is spinning up or if I have maxed out the RAM. I will have to turn on Activity Monitor and try to find that out. I am thinking to move all my images to an external SSD but am not sure how to tell C1 catalog to find all of the new images at once. After moving them from the WD black to the G drive I built a brand new catalog and imported the images i.e. I started again from scratch and do not want to do that again. BTW that experience really showed me the value of keyboarding and culling images immediately after importing them. By culling them I have reduced my image folder size by about 40 % , boy I had a lot of duds , duplicates or sequences taken for panoramas, time lapses or HDRs that I had not gotten around to creating.
I am not a pro, just an enthusiast so my sense of what is good may be different from that of others but I am very happy with my configuration. I thought of the i7 but read of the heat and noise issues so opted for the fastest i5 and best GPU.0 -
I'm waiting for the iMac Pro before replacing my 2008 Mac Pro. I'm hoping that it'll last me 8 to 10 years, just like my Mac Pro. 0 -
[quote="Gregory_" wrote:
I'm waiting for the iMac Pro before replacing my 2008 Mac Pro. I'm hoping that it'll last me 8 to 10 years, just like my Mac Pro.
Have been following different forums to gain some more feedback. In the event there is a quality consistency problem with the current fan and cooling system in the i7 environment, some modification "might" become evident and implemented soon.
I am going to wait untill the iMac Pro is launched to do a new re-evaluation. A 20% higher investment for a iMac Pro is indeed something you cannot ignore, but with the features offered in the new iMac Pro it might well be worth investing this additional 20%...
Anyway, a purchase delay till December might be a wise decision....0 -
[quote="USAntigoon" wrote:
A 20% higher investment for a iMac Pro is indeed something you cannot ignore, but with the features offered in the new iMac Pro it might well be worth investing this additional 20%...
Anyway, a purchase delay till December might be a wise decision....
hopefully, it'll be pretty much bug-free out of the gate, but it's a new configuration, so it's hard to say. it'll be interesting to see the geek spec test results; USB3, Thunderbolt, eGPU, etc.0 -
I think if anyone looking at a high end Mac can wait, they should.
Between
- the iMac Pro in December,
- the likely updates to the regular iMac at the time of the iMacPro's release,
- the upcoming modular Mac Pro next year.
There's a lot in flux. I know that a lot of people are hoping that the video cards really do get a boost in particular. If work/patience can wait, given the lifespan and price of these machines, it's worth waiting.0
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