# Mac Mini vs iMac 5K for LR use?



## camner (May 12, 2020)

My 2015 27" iMac is (more than) showing its age and is seriously misbehaving at random times resulting in loss of both work and time, so at 5 years old, it's time to consider retiring it.

My initial thought was to  replace like with like and move to a 2019 27" iMac, but another thought I had was to move to a Mac Mini and then buy a suitable external monitor (LG 5K?).  My processing needs are not extreme...Lightroom and an occasional render of a video in iMovie is all the heavy duty stuff that I do.  I have read repeatedly that at this point, LR doesn't utilize well an eGPU, so I would assume I'd be limited to the onboard GPU in the mini.

Do folks have thoughts about the feasibility of the Mini vs the 5K iMac?

If the iMac is preferred, is it worth upgrading the GPU and the CPU for use with LR?


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## Johan Elzenga (May 12, 2020)

camner said:


> I have read repeatedly that at this point, LR doesn't utilize well an eGPU, so I would assume I'd be limited to the onboard GPU in the mini.


That's old info and no longer valid. Lightroom uses the eGPU just fine and in fact I would strongly recommend an eGPU if you decide for the Mac Mini. If you use it with the internal GPU, you will find that it is slow when used with a 5K monitor.


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## camner (May 12, 2020)

Johan Elzenga said:


> That's old info and no longer valid. Lightroom uses the eGPU just fine and in fact I would strongly recommend an eGPU if you decide for the Mac Mini. If you use it with the internal GPU, you will find that it is slow when used with a 5K monitor.


Thanks, John, for the updated info. I appreciate it.


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## clee01l (May 12, 2020)

I don’t think you can beat the iMac monitors for quality. I find the iMac I replaced my 2015 27”iMac for a 2019 24” iMac and a second monitor and it meets my Lightroom needs. I like the compactness of the All-in-One iMac over a Mac mini


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## Gnits (May 12, 2020)

A friend of mine paid 3600 $ for a fully specified iMac.  2 days ago the graphics card crashed.   She is now in a world of pain.  The system will not boot, She cannot use the screen and with the lockdown cannot find anyone to repair it.  The place she bought it from is closed for the foreseeable future.  I do not know why anyone would buy an expensive computer where the components are soldered together inside a case which has the screen glued on top of it. Furthermore, Apple has made sure that she cannot use the screen as an external screen to another computer.    Looks pretty, but now it is just an expensive pile of junk on a desk.  In trying to help her trouble shoot the issue I discover there is no easy way to get the iMac to boot using just the graphics card on the motherboard.  I have discovered also a whole history of cases where Apple have installed faulty cards or did not do the install correctly.  I tracked down one possible engineer to try and fix this issue, who explained to me that the graphics card may be soldered onto the motherboard, so unsoldering and sourcing a replacement is going to be a really big deal and that he regularly finds issues where the soldering of the graphics card is shoddy and eventually fails.  He mentioned that there is a trick to cook the graphics card in an oven to reset the solder.   Personally I would never buy into such a config where the processor and the screen are contained within a single glued down cabinet.


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## clee01l (May 12, 2020)

Gnits said:


> A friend of mine paid 3600 $ for a fully specified iMac. 2 days ago the graphics card crashed. She is now in a world of pain. The system will not boot, She cannot use the screen and with the lockdown cannot find anyone to repair it. The place she bought it from is closed for the foreseeable future. I do not know why anyone would buy an expensive computer where the components are glued into the screen. Looks pretty, but now it is just an expensive pile of junk on a desk. In trying to help her trouble shoot the issue I discover there is no easy way to get the iMac to boot using just the


These are unusual times.  While a bad Graphics built into the MB can happen with Windows just as easily as a Mac.   The normal response would be to return it for a working machine.  (I would never repair a 2 day old machine) ,  But these are "unusual times".  I would have your friend contact Apple on line to see what can be done to resolve the problem in "these unusual times"

Were it not for  "these unusual times", you and I might have been lifting a glass in your local pub about now.   Three years in a row, I've had to postpone my Ireland trip.


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## Johan Elzenga (May 12, 2020)

Yes! Let’s start a Mac versus Windows flame war!


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## camner (May 12, 2020)

clee01l said:


> I don’t think you can beat the iMac monitors for quality. I find the iMac I replaced my 2015 27”iMac for a 2019 24” iMac and a second monitor and it meets my Lightroom needs. I like the compactness of the All-in-One iMac over a Mac mini


Thanks, Cletus, but I'm confused.  When I went to the Apple Store online, I saw only a 21.5" iMac and a 27" iMac, not a 24".  And, if you don't mind my asking, how did you configure your iMac?


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## Gnits (May 12, 2020)

I am not starting a Mac versus Windows war.   I am advising not to buy a computer where the screen is glued to the processor as a single device, which is the topic of this thread.  Also the reference above is not a new machine but not an old machine, with 64GB of memory and everything else maxed out.  It crashed 2 days ago, it is not 2 days old.  

I would never have bought such a config (Mac or Windows) but this is the first time I have had first hand experience of the pitfalls of a computer glued inside a good monitor.

BTW, in Ireland we do not have an Apple store.


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## clee01l (May 12, 2020)

Johan Elzenga said:


> Yes! Let’s start a Mac versus Windows flame war!


You know we don't do that here.  The OP is trying to decide between Mac machines  Some are "All-in One" some not.   There are Windows machines that are not laptops that are "All-in-One" too.


camner said:


> Thanks, Cletus, but I'm confused.  When I went to the Apple Store online, I saw only a 21.5" iMac and a 27" iMac, not a 24".  And, if you don't mind my asking, how did you configure your iMac?


You are correct My memory is off a 21.5 is what I have now.


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## Gnits (May 12, 2020)

Cletus,  I look forward to meeting you in Ireland sometime and would be delighted to show you some of the best pubs in the world.  There are lots of places suitable for landscape photography within a short distance of the centre of Dublin which I would happy to show you. Dublin is also a great location for street photography, etc...  Looking forward to better times and ...... things always go wrong at the worst possible time, especially anything with chips or software.


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## clee01l (May 12, 2020)

Gnits said:


> BTW, in Ireland we do not have an Apple store.


. Neither does anyone else atm.   They are starting to reopen slowly.   You should have Apple online service although an older 2nd hand  machine may not get the best from Apple.   Someone in Ireland is responsible for Apple repairs even though your seller might never reopen again.  Your option might be to look into a eGPU.  

In reality, this is no different from buying a laptop where every thing is soldered together. 
I can understand your desire to build your own computer and spec each component.  I used to do that but quit about the time I retired 12 years ago.


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## camner (May 12, 2020)

clee01l said:


> You are correct My memory is off a 21.5 is what I have now.


How did you configure it (processor, RAM, internal SSD)?


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## clee01l (May 13, 2020)

camner said:


> How did you configure it (processor, RAM, internal SSD)?


  Model Name:    iMac. (Retina 4K, 21.5 inch, 2017)
Model Identifier:    iMac18,2
Processor Name:    Quad-Core Intel Core i5
Processor Speed:    3.4 GHz
Number of Processors:    1
Total Number of Cores:    4
L2 Cache (per Core):    256 KB
L3 Cache:    6 MB
Memory:    32 GB
MacIntosh HD :  1TB SSD

I chose the larger RAM andSSD Disk Drive over a larger monitor size.


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## camner (May 13, 2020)

clee01l said:


> Model Name:    iMac. (Retina 4K, 21.5 inch, 2017)
> Model Identifier:    iMac18,2
> Processor Name:    Quad-Core Intel Core i5
> Processor Speed:    3.4 GHz
> ...


Thanks much for the info.  And, I believe you said that this is sufficient for your needs for Lightroom, right?  I can't imagine my needs are any greater than yours!

You also said you run a second monitor with your setup.  Is that a 24"?  Which monitor did you use? Did you choose a 4K monitor to match the resolution of the iMac?


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## clee01l (May 13, 2020)

camner said:


> Thanks much for the info. And, I believe you said that this is sufficient for your needs for Lightroom, right? I can't imagine my needs are any greater than yours!
> 
> You also said you run a second monitor with your setup. Is that a 24"? Which monitor did you use? Did you choose a 4K monitor to match the resolution of the iMac?



My biggest Lightroom Challenge is my full frame Z7 RAW NEFs at 46mp. There is nothing special about my 2nd monitor. It goes back several years and is a 27” Monitor with a Resolution of 1920 x 1080. It matched my first 27” iMac from a few years back.

For a few months now I have been importing my NEFs via Lightroom (cloudy) on my iPad Pro. These sync back to my Lightroom Classic on the iMac.  So horsepower is not such a requirement if the iPadPro can manage the same images as the Lightroom Classic on my iMac.


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## camner (May 13, 2020)

Thanks again, Cletus, for your willingness to share your experience; I appreciate it.


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