# Buying new iMac: Technical requirements to run LR5?



## Peter Kiaerbye (Jul 15, 2013)

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of buying a new 27" iMac; primarily for working with LR5. Can anyone advise me, whether the following specs should suffice for serious editing (lots of filters and adjustment brushes etc.) without to much lag in the working process:

2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB memory
1TB hard drive (7200 rpm)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M with 512MB

All of the above can be upgraded from the start. But what should I prioritize, if anything (funds are limited)?

All input will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Peter.


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## Denis Pagé (Jul 15, 2013)

Welcome to the Lightroom Forums Peter!

I would go with a fusion drive first. Then memory as a second choice. As for graphic cards, they are not much stressed by Lightroom.


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## Peter Kiaerbye (Jul 15, 2013)

Hi Denis,

Thanks a lot for your answer. That is exactly what I was after - to know what has the highest priority for Lightroom to run smoothly.

I will consider the fusion drive, then.

Should anyone have further comments on the matter, please feel free to join the debate 

Best regards,
Peter.


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## clee01l (Jul 15, 2013)

I wish that my 2011 iMac had a fusion drive. That would be my first check-off.  I think  16GB RAM important too.  I agree with Denis, Graphic cards are not as critical.  I happen to think that a Second monitor more important than anything else on your list.  It does not need to be a 27" Cinema Display, but you can purchase a 2560X 1440 IPA monitor for ~$500USD.


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## Denis Pagé (Jul 15, 2013)

clee01l said:


> ... but you can purchase a 2560X 1440 IPA monitor for ~$500USD.



At that price, those units are probably in ounces... :mrgreen:


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## Peter Kiaerbye (Jul 15, 2013)

Thanks again to both of you for your input. It's much appreciated!

Do you know, if a 1TB fusion drive will improve the speed when working in LR? Or will it 'only' minimize the startup-time for the program? I can't quite figure out, how it works.

Regards,
Peter.


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## Denis Pagé (Jul 15, 2013)

The trick is that the most used/recent files go to the SSD part of the drive while old _sleeping _files go to the spinning disk.


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## sizzlingbadger (Jul 15, 2013)

Fusion drives are not great. My friend has one in his mac and he is quite disappointed. You have no control over what goes on the SSD and he is forever waiting in Lightroom for the drive to move stuff about. After seeing his machine in action I would not buy one, it seemed worse than my standard HD. I would get an SSD for the system drive and put the catalog on that too. Put the masters on an external FW800 / Thunderbolt drive.


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## Denis Pagé (Jul 15, 2013)

Thanks Nik. I don't have a fusion drive myself but tought they were very promising for fresh files...


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## sizzlingbadger (Jul 15, 2013)

I was expecting it to be good too but I don't think the LRU type algorithm they use is a good match for real life photography use. Unless his is faulty of course, I only have one example to base my observation on.

I was going to put a fusion drive in my Macbook but decided against it after seeing one in action. I put a 250G SSD in my Macbook and moved the original 750G HD to the DVD compartment using a kit from OWC. It flies now with LR and D800 files 

I have OSX, Apps and the LR catalog on SSD and the masters on the 750G HD  along with Music and Video etc.

The kits to move HD's to the DVD slot are available for iMac too so I may do that at some point as well.


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