upgrading from imac 21.5 for photographer ?

[davidfrench]

Hello,
I'm about to upgrade from an iMac 21.5 (basic, 3.06 and 4G) to a 27
I'm using intensively LR2 (lightroom) and it's slow... (when Safari/mail/skype are open too... hem...)
I was in between buying an i5 or i7 but from what I read, it look like LR2 won't use the advantage of the 4 cores.
so I wonder if it might be better to go for a 27 at 3.33 and ad 8G of Ram instead of an i7 ?
any photographers around here to help ?
thanks !

 

[EndlessMac]

I don't own those computers you are talking about but I don't think you will see a huge speed increase by going to a 3.33. It's not much faster than your current computer. If your computer is only slow when multitasking with other applications opened then you probably just need more RAM and don't necessarily need a faster processor. Try increasing your RAM before investing in a new computer.

You are right there are many applications that don't use all the cores but there should be more software in the future that will benefit from it. Also the new Intel processors have a turbo boost mode so the speeds are faster than what you think they are.

I still think your problem is more of a RAM issue though. Open up Activity Monitor and see if you have any free RAM left when multitasking. Also see how much Page out and Swap use you have. If you have zero then you are not using up your RAM meaning you won't benefit much but adding more.

 

[blackmac11]

Also, it never hurts to clean up your system a little to make sure it's running in tip top shape. OnyX is a great little app that will take care of all that stuff for you: OnyX

 

[davidfrench]

thanks for these leads.
I believe I'll forget about the i5 or i7 and buying a cheap 27" but adding 2x4G of Ram instead...
;D