Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I've never owned a mac nor used one and don't have any knowledge of the hardware. My original goal was to start iOS software development and figured let's get my raw workflow involved using a mac.

Currently my raw workflow involves a PC, using DPP/lightroom and Photoshop.

I was wondering what kind of mac would be recommended? I currently already have 24" IPS screens so it's not necessary that I get an apple screen but I still don't mind getting one - I think those are iMacs?

I would appreciate any advice on a mac (desktop) that can handle raw conversion and editing where I don't have to sit too long waiting for a conversion but at the same time I don't need the best.

No idea of the budget, but I would like to start at under $1000 used as a starting point.

Thanks

Edit: Currently I am comfortable with my Windows 7, Intel Core 2 Duo 3ghz 4gigs memory. Not sure how well OS X handles with a similiar hardware spec?

The first question is ... why a mac when you are already used to the PC world. How is the Mac going to improve your RAW workflow? You might want to stick to what you are used to, and just get a better machine?

But if you are looking at mac's -- they just updates the entire lineup - and now the Mac mini's are smoking fast compared to previous models. Load it up with 8gig of ram on an i5 mac mini - and you'd have a pretty powerful little machine. This is actually my plan - but I am getting a Mac for projection and video purposes sometime in the next month. That is my plan.

For most of my processing and workflow, I am currently using a quad core i3 Sony Viao with 4gig of ram - it works just fine for me.

If you stick with the Adobe suite in your workflow, you shouldn't see much difference at all.

Spec-wise all of the hardware is pretty comparable. The only thing I wanted to mention is the more seamless transition from 32 to 64bit and access to more RAM. I'm not even sure if Adobe software takes full advantage of that.

ditto, once set up with proper calibration a RAW to print workflow should be platform independant.

This year due to a new job I was recently forced to use Macs (the last time I used one was back in the 80's), because my employer used to work for Apple.

Despite what Mac fanboys say, there's very little difference between Mac & PC once you start using the third party software (Photoshop, Lightroom, Mac, etc.), other than key sequences (Command instead of Control for instance), and location of menu items.

PCs are just as reliable as Macs, or should I say that Macs are just as unreliable as PCs! Don't know how many times I see the "Steve Jobs Pinwheel of Death" on the Macs I use. I hate the way Macs hide problems from users. Recently I had a hard drive failing on a Mac, and SMART knew about it...on the PCs whenever I had hard drive issues they would let me know, but the Mac just kept trying to chug along until *I* took the initiative to try and find out what was suddenly making it so slow.

If you're happy using PCs keep using them. If your PCs are working well keep using them.

When I get home from work I can't wait to switch to my Vista machine.

And on my Macbook I have Windows 7 installed accessible via Parallels and Bootcamp.

Thanks for the input guys,

So what I'm hearing is there isn't much difference between the mac and pc then I should keep my PC for what I do already today in terms of my photography and just pick up a mac for pure iOS software development.

I always thought the mac had a slight up advantage on the post processing that's why I thought I might spend a bit more on the mac for post processing. But I love my PC

Apple and I have a love hate relationship... I hate Apple but I seem to own just about all of their iOS devices

The thing is, when you use the same applications on both platforms, and both use the same CPUs (now), what's the difference?

Unless you need to use an Apple only product like Aperture.

mac, pc... nikon, canon... prime, zoom... SLR, point & shoot...

I just love how can I configure my PC set up however I want to, for much less than MAC; Plus, the upgrading possibilities are broader too.
Other than that I have no problem using either MAC or PC.