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Mac Mini: How much memory and processing speed do I need for photo editing?
I am thinking of upgrading my Mac Mini. Right now I have the dual core processer 1.8ghz, with 2G of memory and an 80G hard drive. I use Lightroom 2.0, NIK, and CS5 in my workflow. The new choices are 500G hard drive; 2.3 vs 2.5 dual core Intel i5 processor; or 2.7 GHz dual core Intel i7 processor; 4G vs 8G of memory. Is 8G of RAM really necessary?
Thanks for any suggestions!
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Co-Founder
What size files are you working with?
RAW / .jpg or .TIFF
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Julie,
Memory is getting really cheap. 8 Gbytes really helps things move. Also, an i7 processor makes a huge difference in my experience over I5 or previous processors. If you only do one thing at a time and don't mind waiting, 2GB and I5 processors will get the job done. But if you like to have multiple things open at once (e.g. web, photoshop, word processing, other, or you do many layers in photoshop processing) then memory and faster cpu are real nice. Even laptops are coming with 6 and 8 Gbytes of RAM. I use 12 GB on my desktop and will upgrade to 24 Gb soon. At this point I will only get i7 cpus and USB3 is another must.
Roger
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Hi James. I mostly shoot with a 5D MK II, so I am working with large RAW files up to 30MB.
Roger, thanks for that info. Yes, I would like to multi-task faster. 
I have the Mac mini1,1 which was released in September 2006. I don't know if it has an i5 processor in it or not. It came with 512 GB of RAM. At the time I was only shooting with a 20D, so the RAW files were much smaller. In July 2008 I got a 40D. When photo editing started to get bogged down, I opened the case with a putty knife and installed two 1GB sticks which helped to speed things up. With the newest models, I understand that there is an easier way to open the case! Presently, photo processing is not super slow, and using layers in Photoshop is not something I do much, but I would like to in the future. Now, the small hard drive is a problem as I add more software, and I have removed all of the non-essential files from the drive.
Last edited by Julie Brown; 11-27-2011 at 09:38 AM.
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Originally Posted by
Julie Brown
Hi James. I mostly shoot with a 5D MK II, so I am working with large RAW files up to 30MB.
Good morning Julie,
I also have a 5DII and the converted files are larger than 30 MB. Are you doind 16-bit editing (a big advantage with raw files. The 5DII files are 5616 x 3744 pixels, so an 8-bit per channel converted file (e.g. tif) is 5616 x 3744 x 3 = 62.6 megabytes, and 16 bits/pixel comes out 125 megabytes.
That starts eating up a lot of disk space. These days 4 terabyte drives are out and under $300, and 2 terabyte drives less than $150. If getting a new system, a 250 to 500 gbyte drive for the system is fine, but add on a 1 to 2 terabyte data drive and buy a minimum 2 USB external drives to back it up. Personally, I do 4 backups and keep two to three off site, alternating drives for backup.
Roger
Last edited by Roger Clark; 11-27-2011 at 04:14 PM.
Reason: fix camera model
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Hi Roger. Yes, I am editing in 16-bit in Lightroom and CS5. It is possible to go 32 or 64-bit? Is there much advantage to that? The 30MB number is the average RAW file. I usually export jpgs for web viewing, so I forgot how large finished TIFF files can be, I do want to be able to output for printing. I have a number of external drives where I store my RAW and edited files. I was just on the Apple store website, so now I am looking at an iMac quad core i7, with up to 2TB hard drive. I do have two 2TB external drives for backup as well.
Hi Julie,
I7's with 2TB sounds great. Regarding 16 versus 32 bit (or more) processing: it would be hard to tell the difference in most situations. The cameras put out 14-bits/ pixels and photoshop with 16-bit processing is 15-bit precision, so pretty good, If you went high dynamic range, then perhaps 32 bits could be beneficial, but with tone mapping to reduce the dynamic range, one can get the data squeezed to fit within 15 bits or less.
Roger
Last edited by Roger Clark; 11-27-2011 at 04:12 PM.
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Co-Founder
Is 8G of RAM really necessary?
Yes, if you don't want to get bogged down.
My I7 laptop has 16gb of RAM and my I7 desktop has 24gb of RAM.
I also set up RAID 0 arrays, and use a different hard drive/array for the scratch, file storage and system disks.
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Do your sums on buying a base level of RAM from apple and upgrading VS buying the level of ram you what from apple
Its often cheeper to buy the base model and upgrade yourself as Apple overcharge for components, I saved myself loads doing this with both hds and ram on a mac pro
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Thanks for that info, James.
Andrew, that is exactly what I did. I ordered a new Mac Mini from Apple. i7 processor with the base 4GB of RAM. Apple wants $200 for 4 more GB of RAM, and I can get that for $50 online.
Last edited by Julie Brown; 12-01-2011 at 09:18 PM.
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Originally Posted by
Julie Brown
Hi Roger. Yes, I am editing in 16-bit in Lightroom and CS5. It is possible to go 32 or 64-bit? Is there much advantage to that?
Hi Julie. (I'm sure I answered this question, but I do not see my post so I must have hit the wrong button.)
CS5 does have 32-bit capability, but I've not used it much. More than 16-bit can be useful for high dynamic range imaging, but one usually needs to compress to 16-bits and for printing even 8-bits) so I don't think for general photography 32 bits carries any advantage yet. And in high dynamic range assembly, software compresses the range (e.g. with tone mapping) so more than 16-bits shouldn't be necessary. (I do use 32 bits/channel floating point for scientific image processing, but that is custom software.)

Originally Posted by
Julie Brown
I do have two 2TB external drives for backup as well.
That's great. I strongly suggest moving to 3 backup drives and keeping at least one off site in case of disaster (theft, fire, flood, etc). I also retire backup drives after a few of years, putting them on a shelf as an archive backup and get a newer (larger) drive to be part of the backup. When disaster strikes, one can never have too many backups. I keep 4 backups of my desktop system and a 5th of the original raw files (the ones I haven't deleted). The 4 backup sets include 3 sets of USB drives, at least two of which are kept off site. The 4th backup is an old computer turned into a disk server so contains enough disk space to backup across my network. The 5th for raw files is a small portable 1.5 TB USB drive that I take on trips. When I fill it, I buy a new drive and put the old on on the shelf. With drive prices so low and that I have my base system in place, I'll now probably spend no more than about $100 per year on backup.
Roger
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Roger, you did answer that question, but somehow it was included in my post of 11-27 to you. It is good to know that I don't have to deal with working in 32bits!
I don't know if you saw my previous post to Andrew, but I got my new Mac Mini on Friday, with the i7 processor at 2.7gH, and a 750GB 7300rpm hard drive, and 4GB of RAM. Because the unit can now be easily opened, I will add more memory for a lot less than Apple charges. Thanks again-I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.