A New Mac and Closure of the Circle

**AggieDad** · 07-16-2017, 06:08 PM - **1 Like**

I finally did it. I bought an iMac 27with the 5K Retina display. It has a 3.8GB processor, 3TB fusion drive and 16GB of RAM. The display is magnificent (and big), but I worry about how it may bring out all the flaws of my humble pictures - talk about the ability to pixel peep!

This also means the end of Windows in our house. The iMac is replacing an aging HP all-in-one that my wife used. With tomorrow's purchase of an iPhone, my whole tech eco-system will be Apple. At my age the new iMac is likely to be my last desktop computer; this will close the circle as my first computer was an Apple //e back in 1983. It was fully loaded and had 128K of RAM, 128 character video card, and 2-128K floppy drives. There was a bouncing ball printer (sort of an IBM Electric without the keyboard). The package cost about $500 more than the new iMac.

While I am a subscriber to the Adobe Creative Cloud, on the new machine I am first going to try Photos using Affinity, Luminar, and the MacPhun Creative Kit as plug-ins. We'll see how this works for me. It is worth noting that Photos is supposed to become more powerful in its own right come fall with the new MacOS update. Well, we'll see on that also.

Steve Beswick · 07-16-2017, 08:52 PM

You might want to try out Darktable, which is a free, open source Lightroom alternative.

ldj4549 · 07-16-2017, 08:57 PM

Originally posted by AggieDad

I finally did it. I bought an iMac 27with the 5K Retina display. It has a 3.8GB processor, 3TB fusion drive and 16GB of RAM. The display is magnificent (and big), but I worry about how it may bring out all the flaws of my humble pictures - talk about the ability to pixel peep!

This also means the end of Windows in our house. The iMac is replacing an aging HP all-in-one that my wife used. With tomorrow's purchase of an iPhone, my whole tech eco-system will be Apple. At my age the new iMac is likely to be my last desktop computer; this will close the circle as my first computer was an Apple //e back in 1983. It was fully loaded and had 128K of RAM, 128 character video card, and 2-128K floppy drives. There was a bouncing ball printer (sort of an IBM Electric without the keyboard). The package cost about $500 more than the new iMac.

While I am a subscriber to the Adobe Creative Cloud, on the new machine I am first going to try Photos using Affinity, Luminar, and the MacPhun Creative Kit as plug-ins. We'll see how this works for me. It is worth noting that Photos is supposed to become more powerful in its own right come fall with the new MacOS update. Well, we'll see on that also.

Well, welcome back to the Mac! My dad got an Apple II+ when I was a kid back around '83 or '84. The next year for X-max got an INTERNAL modem for probably about as much as a new Mac and it required a Kensington fan to cool down the raw power (before there was an internet, as we know it)! I thinks your pics will only be better...

jddwoods · 07-17-2017, 03:21 AM

Originally posted by AggieDad

I finally did it. I bought an iMac 27with the 5K Retina display. It has a 3.8GB processor, 3TB fusion drive and 16GB of RAM. The display is magnificent (and big), but I worry about how it may bring out all the flaws of my humble pictures - talk about the ability to pixel peep!

This also means the end of Windows in our house. The iMac is replacing an aging HP all-in-one that my wife used. With tomorrow's purchase of an iPhone, my whole tech eco-system will be Apple. At my age the new iMac is likely to be my last desktop computer; this will close the circle as my first computer was an Apple //e back in 1983. It was fully loaded and had 128K of RAM, 128 character video card, and 2-128K floppy drives. There was a bouncing ball printer (sort of an IBM Electric without the keyboard). The package cost about $500 more than the new iMac.

While I am a subscriber to the Adobe Creative Cloud, on the new machine I am first going to try Photos using Affinity, Luminar, and the MacPhun Creative Kit as plug-ins. We'll see how this works for me. It is worth noting that Photos is supposed to become more powerful in its own right come fall with the new MacOS update. Well, we'll see on that also.

Congratulations, that is a great computer and will last you for years. My 2010 iMac still is current and meets all of my needs. I use Affinity photo as an add in to iPhoto and that works for me. I do recall that besides downloading Affinity ($49) I needed to load an add in app that linked the two programs. It was only one or two dollars at most. Good luck and enjoy your new computer.

**RobA_Oz** · 07-17-2017, 03:31 AM

Another long-time Mac user here, though I've also used Windows machines for about the same length of time. Once you get used to the GUI differences, like most people who've made the change, you'll probably find them just as easy to use, if not easier, although I have to say that there are a few things that Windows does better, mainly if you like to tinker behind the scenes, though.

I use a 2010 iMac which is on the current MacOS version, though I don't think the forthcoming High Sierra will run on it. Nonetheless, it still runs fast (I've maxxed the RAM) and the monitor is still very good for my purposes. I'm hoping not to have to retire it for a long time to come.

Although I mainly use CS5 for photo editing, I also bought Affinity Photo to see where it might eventually replace Photoshop, and I've downloaded Topaz Studio, which runs all the Topaz plug-ins that I bought for CS5. Both are showing great promise.

Sandy Hancock · 07-17-2017, 03:45 AM

There hasn't been a DOS box in my house for at least 15 years. Enjoy your new processor.

Every image I have captured in the digital era has been processed on a Mac, and all of them in recent years via Lightroom.

I still use an old copy of iPhoto as my catalogue for exported jpegs, because the current iteration of Photos absolutely BLOWS.

reeftool · 07-17-2017, 06:54 AM

I'm pretty much all Apple now since last year. It was time for a computer upgrade and I didn't want to deal with all the issues that were going on with Windows 10 at the time. No regrets whatsoever. I was already using an iPad and iPhone after buggy experiences with Android products. My wife still likes her Windows 7 computer so we still have Windows in the house. The switch has been mostly painless, with no more hassle than one would expect replacing any desktop.

We also had an Apple //e back in the early 80's and it's still down in the cellar. I moved on to Windows with a hand me down running Windows 95 and then getting a new computer running Win 98 not long after. I spent the next few years cussing at it. Things looked up when XP came out and I held on to that one for nearly 8 years before building the Windows 7 tower. I was actually pretty happy with Win 7 but all the forced update crap, pop up's, etc ticked me off. I was also reading Win 10 update horror stories here in the forum, thus the decision to switch to Mac.

I subscribe to CC and moved my catalog over to the new Mac. That was a little bit of work but mostly due to my own sloppy file setup on my Windows box. I spent a few days getting things organized. I also made the decision to keep all my photos on external drives so future computer replacements will be painless.

**boriscleto** · 07-17-2017, 07:14 AM

Originally posted by RobA_Oz

I use a 2010 iMac which is on the current MacOS version, though I don't think the forthcoming High Sierra will run on it. Nonetheless, it still runs fast (I've maxxed the RAM) and the monitor is still very good for my purposes. I'm hoping not to have to retire it for a long time to come.

I'm pretty sure that any computer that can run Sierra will run High Sierra. But I'm waiting to see, my 2009 mini is on its last legs and it doesn't run Sierra...

link81 · 07-17-2017, 11:31 AM

Originally posted by RobA_Oz

I use a 2010 iMac which is on the current MacOS version, though I don't think the forthcoming High Sierra will run on it. Nonetheless, it still runs fast (I've maxxed the RAM) and the monitor is still very good for my purposes. I'm hoping not to have to retire it for a long time to come.

i'm running the high sierra beta on my late 2009 imac 27". Runs fine.
i really do need to install a ssd and upgrade the ram to 16gb though. the original hard drive and 8gb ram are definitely showing their age.

cmohr · 07-17-2017, 02:41 PM

You can dual boot the latest mac's, I run both windows10 and OS on mine, each has its own strengths, and it means you can still use PC software that you already have and own.

**RobA_Oz** · 07-17-2017, 03:53 PM

Originally posted by boriscleto

I'm pretty sure that any computer that can run Sierra will run High Sierra. But I'm waiting to see, my 2009 mini is on its last legs and it doesn't run Sierra...

Originally posted by link81

i'm running the high sierra beta on my late 2009 imac 27". Runs fine.
i really do need to install a ssd and upgrade the ram to 16gb though. the original hard drive and 8gb ram are definitely showing their age.

Thanks. I did a bit of digging, and it seems the cutoff point for iMacs is late 2009, so I'm OK.

**AggieDad** · 07-18-2017, 07:32 PM

Originally posted by link81

i'm running the high sierra beta on my late 2009 imac 27". Runs fine.
i really do need to install a ssd and upgrade the ram to 16gb though. the original hard drive and 8gb ram are definitely showing their age.

That is also my plan for my 2012 MacBook Pro. It's age started showing when Sierra was installed. But for now, with the new iMac and a new iPhone 7+, I will have to lie low until the checkbook cools off and AggieMom isn't watching too closely.

**Oakland Rob** · 07-21-2017, 12:41 PM

Congrats. I would not buy Macphun's Creative Kit plugins. As far as I can tell, they're not gonna get new features. Looks like Macphun is rolling all that stuff into either Luminar or Aurora. I am an owner, BTW, and like them, but have been rather left in the lurch.

And good luck with Photos. If you use a managed rather than referenced library with Photos, it can be hard to migrate out of that if you find you don't like it. It's very doubtful Photos will improve much organizationally (i.e. it's gonna remain kinda iOSish compared to say Aperture, Lr, Capture One, etc)(it's getting like an "edit in..." so you can see it's kinda still very basic). But there are some good extensions for at least the image adjustment parts. But again, those images can be hard to manage outside of Photos if you change your mind later.

**jpzk** · 07-21-2017, 12:50 PM

Happy for you !

I have tried this iMac recently, my son-in-law's, and I was amazed how the details show on that screen!
I had few bird shots to view and we did that on his "machine" ... impressed!
OTOH ... all the bad stuff also shows immediately ... so be prepared for a show down in details! (or lack thereof).
Cheers!

07-16-2017, 06:08 PM - 1 Like	#1
AggieDad Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Houston, TX Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,456	A New Mac and Closure of the Circle I finally did it. I bought an iMac 27with the 5K Retina display. It has a 3.8GB processor, 3TB fusion drive and 16GB of RAM. The display is magnificent (and big), but I worry about how it may bring out all the flaws of my humble pictures - talk about the ability to pixel peep! This also means the end of Windows in our house. The iMac is replacing an aging HP all-in-one that my wife used. With tomorrow's purchase of an iPhone, my whole tech eco-system will be Apple. At my age the new iMac is likely to be my last desktop computer; this will close the circle as my first computer was an Apple //e back in 1983. It was fully loaded and had 128K of RAM, 128 character video card, and 2-128K floppy drives. There was a bouncing ball printer (sort of an IBM Electric without the keyboard). The package cost about $500 more than the new iMac. While I am a subscriber to the Adobe Creative Cloud, on the new machine I am first going to try Photos using Affinity, Luminar, and the MacPhun Creative Kit as plug-ins. We'll see how this works for me. It is worth noting that Photos is supposed to become more powerful in its own right come fall with the new MacOS update. Well, we'll see on that also.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Abstract Circle, circle, square, square	LensBeginner	Post Your Photos!	2	11-19-2014 05:44 PM
Mini Mac or a Old Mac Pro.	layfsphoto	Digital Processing, Software, and Printing	48	12-06-2011 03:43 PM
Getting my first Mac - PSPX2 & SILKYPIX & MAC??	vievetrick	Digital Processing, Software, and Printing	17	03-25-2009 09:59 AM
K10D photo series - mac / aperture / .mac	Tom M	Photographic Technique	7	12-29-2007 03:13 PM

07-16-2017, 08:52 PM	#2
Steve Beswick Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Ontario, California Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,736	You might want to try out Darktable, which is a free, open source Lightroom alternative.

07-16-2017, 08:57 PM	#3
ldj4549 Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Minneapolis Photos: Gallery Posts: 58	Originally posted by AggieDad I finally did it. I bought an iMac 27with the 5K Retina display. It has a 3.8GB processor, 3TB fusion drive and 16GB of RAM. The display is magnificent (and big), but I worry about how it may bring out all the flaws of my humble pictures - talk about the ability to pixel peep! This also means the end of Windows in our house. The iMac is replacing an aging HP all-in-one that my wife used. With tomorrow's purchase of an iPhone, my whole tech eco-system will be Apple. At my age the new iMac is likely to be my last desktop computer; this will close the circle as my first computer was an Apple //e back in 1983. It was fully loaded and had 128K of RAM, 128 character video card, and 2-128K floppy drives. There was a bouncing ball printer (sort of an IBM Electric without the keyboard). The package cost about $500 more than the new iMac. While I am a subscriber to the Adobe Creative Cloud, on the new machine I am first going to try Photos using Affinity, Luminar, and the MacPhun Creative Kit as plug-ins. We'll see how this works for me. It is worth noting that Photos is supposed to become more powerful in its own right come fall with the new MacOS update. Well, we'll see on that also. Well, welcome back to the Mac! My dad got an Apple II+ when I was a kid back around '83 or '84. The next year for X-max got an INTERNAL modem for probably about as much as a new Mac and it required a Kensington fan to cool down the raw power (before there was an internet, as we know it)! I thinks your pics will only be better...

07-17-2017, 03:21 AM	#4
jddwoods Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Newark, Delaware Posts: 1,035	Originally posted by AggieDad I finally did it. I bought an iMac 27with the 5K Retina display. It has a 3.8GB processor, 3TB fusion drive and 16GB of RAM. The display is magnificent (and big), but I worry about how it may bring out all the flaws of my humble pictures - talk about the ability to pixel peep! This also means the end of Windows in our house. The iMac is replacing an aging HP all-in-one that my wife used. With tomorrow's purchase of an iPhone, my whole tech eco-system will be Apple. At my age the new iMac is likely to be my last desktop computer; this will close the circle as my first computer was an Apple //e back in 1983. It was fully loaded and had 128K of RAM, 128 character video card, and 2-128K floppy drives. There was a bouncing ball printer (sort of an IBM Electric without the keyboard). The package cost about $500 more than the new iMac. While I am a subscriber to the Adobe Creative Cloud, on the new machine I am first going to try Photos using Affinity, Luminar, and the MacPhun Creative Kit as plug-ins. We'll see how this works for me. It is worth noting that Photos is supposed to become more powerful in its own right come fall with the new MacOS update. Well, we'll see on that also. Congratulations, that is a great computer and will last you for years. My 2010 iMac still is current and meets all of my needs. I use Affinity photo as an add in to iPhoto and that works for me. I do recall that besides downloading Affinity ($49) I needed to load an add in app that linked the two programs. It was only one or two dollars at most. Good luck and enjoy your new computer.

07-17-2017, 03:31 AM	#5
RobA_Oz Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Tasmania, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 8,209	Another long-time Mac user here, though I've also used Windows machines for about the same length of time. Once you get used to the GUI differences, like most people who've made the change, you'll probably find them just as easy to use, if not easier, although I have to say that there are a few things that Windows does better, mainly if you like to tinker behind the scenes, though. I use a 2010 iMac which is on the current MacOS version, though I don't think the forthcoming High Sierra will run on it. Nonetheless, it still runs fast (I've maxxed the RAM) and the monitor is still very good for my purposes. I'm hoping not to have to retire it for a long time to come. Although I mainly use CS5 for photo editing, I also bought Affinity Photo to see where it might eventually replace Photoshop, and I've downloaded Topaz Studio, which runs all the Topaz plug-ins that I bought for CS5. Both are showing great promise.

07-17-2017, 03:45 AM	#6
Sandy Hancock Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Adelaide Hills, South Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,275	There hasn't been a DOS box in my house for at least 15 years. Enjoy your new processor. Every image I have captured in the digital era has been processed on a Mac, and all of them in recent years via Lightroom. I still use an old copy of iPhoto as my catalogue for exported jpegs, because the current iteration of Photos absolutely BLOWS.

07-17-2017, 06:54 AM	#7
reeftool Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Upstate New York Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 9,555	I'm pretty much all Apple now since last year. It was time for a computer upgrade and I didn't want to deal with all the issues that were going on with Windows 10 at the time. No regrets whatsoever. I was already using an iPad and iPhone after buggy experiences with Android products. My wife still likes her Windows 7 computer so we still have Windows in the house. The switch has been mostly painless, with no more hassle than one would expect replacing any desktop. We also had an Apple //e back in the early 80's and it's still down in the cellar. I moved on to Windows with a hand me down running Windows 95 and then getting a new computer running Win 98 not long after. I spent the next few years cussing at it. Things looked up when XP came out and I held on to that one for nearly 8 years before building the Windows 7 tower. I was actually pretty happy with Win 7 but all the forced update crap, pop up's, etc ticked me off. I was also reading Win 10 update horror stories here in the forum, thus the decision to switch to Mac. I subscribe to CC and moved my catalog over to the new Mac. That was a little bit of work but mostly due to my own sloppy file setup on my Windows box. I spent a few days getting things organized. I also made the decision to keep all my photos on external drives so future computer replacements will be painless.

07-17-2017, 07:14 AM	#8
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,476	Originally posted by RobA_Oz I use a 2010 iMac which is on the current MacOS version, though I don't think the forthcoming High Sierra will run on it. Nonetheless, it still runs fast (I've maxxed the RAM) and the monitor is still very good for my purposes. I'm hoping not to have to retire it for a long time to come. I'm pretty sure that any computer that can run Sierra will run High Sierra. But I'm waiting to see, my 2009 mini is on its last legs and it doesn't run Sierra...

07-17-2017, 11:31 AM	#9
link81 Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: 12822 Photos: Albums Posts: 459	Originally posted by RobA_Oz I use a 2010 iMac which is on the current MacOS version, though I don't think the forthcoming High Sierra will run on it. Nonetheless, it still runs fast (I've maxxed the RAM) and the monitor is still very good for my purposes. I'm hoping not to have to retire it for a long time to come. i'm running the high sierra beta on my late 2009 imac 27". Runs fine. i really do need to install a ssd and upgrade the ram to 16gb though. the original hard drive and 8gb ram are definitely showing their age.

07-17-2017, 02:41 PM	#10
cmohr Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Brisbane. Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,824	You can dual boot the latest mac's, I run both windows10 and OS on mine, each has its own strengths, and it means you can still use PC software that you already have and own.

07-17-2017, 03:53 PM	#11
RobA_Oz Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Tasmania, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 8,209	Originally posted by boriscleto I'm pretty sure that any computer that can run Sierra will run High Sierra. But I'm waiting to see, my 2009 mini is on its last legs and it doesn't run Sierra... Originally posted by link81 i'm running the high sierra beta on my late 2009 imac 27". Runs fine. i really do need to install a ssd and upgrade the ram to 16gb though. the original hard drive and 8gb ram are definitely showing their age. Thanks. I did a bit of digging, and it seems the cutoff point for iMacs is late 2009, so I'm OK.

07-18-2017, 07:32 PM	#12
AggieDad Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Houston, TX Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,456 Original Poster	Originally posted by link81 i'm running the high sierra beta on my late 2009 imac 27". Runs fine. i really do need to install a ssd and upgrade the ram to 16gb though. the original hard drive and 8gb ram are definitely showing their age. That is also my plan for my 2012 MacBook Pro. It's age started showing when Sierra was installed. But for now, with the new iMac and a new iPhone 7+, I will have to lie low until the checkbook cools off and AggieMom isn't watching too closely.

07-21-2017, 12:41 PM	#13
Oakland Rob Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Bay Area California Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 798	Congrats. I would not buy Macphun's Creative Kit plugins. As far as I can tell, they're not gonna get new features. Looks like Macphun is rolling all that stuff into either Luminar or Aurora. I am an owner, BTW, and like them, but have been rather left in the lurch. And good luck with Photos. If you use a managed rather than referenced library with Photos, it can be hard to migrate out of that if you find you don't like it. It's very doubtful Photos will improve much organizationally (i.e. it's gonna remain kinda iOSish compared to say Aperture, Lr, Capture One, etc)(it's getting like an "edit in..." so you can see it's kinda still very basic). But there are some good extensions for at least the image adjustment parts. But again, those images can be hard to manage outside of Photos if you change your mind later.

07-21-2017, 12:50 PM	#14
jpzk Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Québec Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 8,251	Happy for you ! I have tried this iMac recently, my son-in-law's, and I was amazed how the details show on that screen! I had few bird shots to view and we did that on his "machine" ... impressed! OTOH ... all the bad stuff also shows immediately ... so be prepared for a show down in details! (or lack thereof). Cheers!