Mac Mini 2012 photo editing with Dell U2410

[blackthorn]

I am considering purchasing the Mac Mini 2012 i7 1TB version.

I have a couple of questions

Do i need a special connector to attach my Dell U2410 or can I use the HDMI port and get 1920x1200 resolution.

Also how will the Mac Mini handle photo editing and Lightroom V5?

Thanks

 

[JHWJR]

The Mac Mini 2012 i7 1TB version with drive the Dell 24" fine with nothing extra. Well within its capabilities. I'm using mine to drive a 30" HP monitor to 2560x1600 (though mine required a special $99) cable and an HP 24" LP2465 next to it with the connection that came with the Mac Mini (Late 2012).

The Mac Mini 2012 i7 1TB handles photo editing very well for me, but I'm using Capture NX2, rather than Lightroom, and I'm working on D800 files (36 MP). For what it's worth, there's lots of great things to say about CNX2, but it's notoriously pig slow.* Yet it's OK on the mini. I think you'll be very happy.

*CNX2 does not "import" images like Outlook "imports" appointments. It makes use of images like Word makes use of Word documents and leave them in their directories. That means each file must be actually opened, manipulated, re-encoded and re-saved. This Mac Mini still does a very nice job of this laborious task. Lightroom imports the files and manipulates them in a more efficient manner (if you don't mind that they were imported, which I do.)

And the computer looks great.

 

[blackthorn]

JHWJR wrote:

The Mac Mini 2012 i7 1TB version with drive the Dell 24" fine with nothing extra. Well within its capabilities. I'm using mine to drive a 30" HP monitor to 2560x1600 (though mine required a special $99) cable and an HP 24" LP2465 next to it with the connection that came with the Mac Mini (Late 2012).

The Mac Mini 2012 i7 1TB handles photo editing very well for me, but I'm using Capture NX2, rather than Lightroom, and I'm working on D800 files (36 MP). For what it's worth, there's lots of great things to say about CNX2, but it's notoriously pig slow.* Yet it's OK on the mini. I think you'll be very happy.

*CNX2 does not "import" images like Outlook "imports" appointments. It makes use of images like Word makes use of Word documents and leave them in their directories. That means each file must be actually opened, manipulated, re-encoded and re-saved. This Mac Mini still does a very nice job of this laborious task. Lightroom imports the files and manipulates them in a more efficient manner (if you don't mind that they were imported, which I do.)

And the computer looks great.

Thanks that is very helpful information.

I might just take the plunge.

 

[Basalite]

blackthorn wrote:

JHWJR wrote:

The Mac Mini 2012 i7 1TB version with drive the Dell 24" fine with nothing extra. Well within its capabilities. I'm using mine to drive a 30" HP monitor to 2560x1600 (though mine required a special $99) cable and an HP 24" LP2465 next to it with the connection that came with the Mac Mini (Late 2012).

The Mac Mini 2012 i7 1TB handles photo editing very well for me, but I'm using Capture NX2, rather than Lightroom, and I'm working on D800 files (36 MP). For what it's worth, there's lots of great things to say about CNX2, but it's notoriously pig slow.* Yet it's OK on the mini. I think you'll be very happy.

*CNX2 does not "import" images like Outlook "imports" appointments. It makes use of images like Word makes use of Word documents and leave them in their directories. That means each file must be actually opened, manipulated, re-encoded and re-saved. This Mac Mini still does a very nice job of this laborious task. Lightroom imports the files and manipulates them in a more efficient manner (if you don't mind that they were imported, which I do.)

And the computer looks great.

Thanks that is very helpful information.

I might just take the plunge.

Before I ended up exchanging it for the 27" iMac I had the current Mac mini for almost two weeks and it ran Lightroom like it was nothing. The one thing I would strongly recommend though is for you to at least get the Fusion Drive option or the 256GB SSD. I would never recommend buying a new computer anymore that has a standard magnetic hard drive. It makes a huge difference.

 

[hjr13]

I have a new mac mini with the 2.6ghz, 16 gb memory and 1tb fusion hard drive. I use the dell u2410 with it. I'm happy with the monitor, and it handles everything ( photoshop cs5, LR 5, Capture 1 ) with ease.

 

[Corkcampbell]

no text

 

[blackthorn]

hjr13 wrote:

I have a new mac mini with the 2.6ghz, 16 gb memory and 1tb fusion hard drive. I use the dell u2410 with it. I'm happy with the monitor, and it handles everything ( photoshop cs5, LR 5, Capture 1 ) with ease.

Its good to see I can connect the U2410 with the mac mini, do you use the HDMI output?

 

[hjr13]

blackthorn wrote:

hjr13 wrote:

I have a new mac mini with the 2.6ghz, 16 gb memory and 1tb fusion hard drive. I use the dell u2410 with it. I'm happy with the monitor, and it handles everything ( photoshop cs5, LR 5, Capture 1 ) with ease.

Its good to see I can connect the U2410 with the mac mini, do you use the HDMI output?

Yes I used the hdmi output, as I said, I like the setup.

 

[blackthorn]

Thanks for the feedback

 

[piet debuysscher]

my i7 16G 2012 MacMini is always put in sleep mode and not powered down when not at work, booting time is irrelevant for me.

Applications (Capture One, DxO, ...) are always kept in memory.

I copy my image files from external HD onto the the local HD when starting an editing session which may last for a couple of days. Run backups overnight and move the whole bunch back to external drives when completing the editing session.

Is it correct to believe that the Fusion drive would not make sense in such an environment?

thanks.

 

[blackthorn]

Is the 2.3 good enough or should I pay the £80 extra for the 2.6 version?

 

[hjr13]

blackthorn wrote:

Is the 2.3 good enough or should I pay the £80 extra for the 2.6 version?

I just paid the extra for the 2.6, but I can't see that there would be that much of a difference. Throw in 16gb of memory, that is where you get the biggest difference in speed.

 

[blackthorn]

hjr13 wrote:

blackthorn wrote:

Is the 2.3 good enough or should I pay the £80 extra for the 2.6 version?

I just paid the extra for the 2.6, but I can't see that there would be that much of a difference. Throw in 16gb of memory, that is where you get the biggest difference in speed.

Thanks I will upgrade the memory, I have just placed my order.

 

[Basalite]

Corkcampbell wrote:

no text

The 2012 mini is the current mini so it can obviously be bought new or used.

 

[blackthorn]

Thats correct it is the current mini I am purchasing, I did see a refurb but that went whilst I was trying to decide so I purchased a new mini 2.6 i7 yesterday. Its just a shame the lead time is a week.