Larry, Steve - thanks for your comments. In a way they are not very helpful because I am looking for compelling reasons why I should go with the Mac Pro and not the Mini or iMac. And you both make a good case for not going overboard. Oh well. You've given me useful strategies for making do with less. And for taking an incremental approach.
On Nov 30, 2013, at 7:56 PM, steve harley wrote: > on 2013-11-30 14:14 Stan Halpin wrote >> So, is there sufficient value added with the desktop and its option to go >> for a wide gamut display? > > you can add a second (and third) display to the iMac as well; the Thunderbolt > bus also supports Mini DisplayPort, and with cheap adapters, HDMI and DVI; i > would get the iMac and then if you discover a real need for a wide-gamut > monitor, add it later since the iMac will support it > > use the difference in price to max the RAM and consider adding Thunderbolt > SSD storage (rather than pay Apple to upgrade the internal SSD); consider > getting a VESA-mount iMac so you can put it on an arm instead of planting the > stand at a fixed height on your desk; also check the Apple refurbs (though > i've never seen the VESA models there) > > >> Am I gaining other intangible benefits from the (to me) inscrutable >> differences in processor and GPUs between the iMac and Mac Pro? Should I >> save some money on the computer system and buy a 20-40 lens? > > no doubt the Mac Pro is a lot faster, but we won't know how much until > they've shipped a few; > if you are using mainly Lightroom, then those super-GPUs won't make much > difference to your photo work This is something I have wondered about. I have seen a few references that show a rapidly diminishing gain in LR performance as one moves from 2 to 4 to 6 to 8-core processors, and I figured that LR or any other current software would be unable to fully take advantage of any new CPU or GPU. I have been looking at the Perfect Photo Suite to use as an adjunct to LR, and their set-up instructions go into modifications to settings based on available cache memory on the GPU. And so I was thinking just maybe this time bigger would be better, not only for that program but also for LR... > > we don't know how good the HD LTD 20-40mm is yet either, though i certainly > hope it is great stan -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
