Should I buy macbook or pc for photo-editing (and a bit of gaming)?

So my old non-retina 2012 macbook pro is becoming really slow these days. PS en LR are not working fast enough anymore (I did upgrade to SSD in the past) but less heavy programs are still doing fine.

Since I would like to take my photography and editing to a higher level, I am in need of a better one. I do plan working for clients in the future. Now it is just hoby.

So my first though was buying a new macbook pro. The 2019 "15 inch seems the best choice but is expensive. Also I am not sure how well apple represents true colours when printing photo's for clients, even after calibration? I could always combine this with an external screen (also I don't know which one).

Also I'd like to game now and then. However many games (such as planet coaster and planet zoo) are not suited for mac, only for windows/pc.

As I am not a technically grounded person, all those specs are acracadabra for me. A (very) good colour screen is most important to me, but I do like to game. What would be a good option for me to buy? Stick with mac for editing? Or are there pc options in similar quality?Or should I buy a non mac desktop with great screen? I really don't have enough money to buy iMac pro.

There are rumors of a new 16" pro macbook about to be released. Maybe it will fix some of the existing issues with the butterfly keyboards apple appears to be having constant trouble with.

But Macbook's won't be the best for gaming b/c they use AMD GPUs, whereas many laptops use nvidia GpUs and have more robust cooling solutions.

Ma_n0n said:

So my old non-retina 2012 macbook pro is becoming really slow these days. PS en LR are not working fast enough anymore (I did upgrade to SSD in the past) but less heavy programs are still doing fine.

Since I would like to take my photography and editing to a higher level, I am in need of a better one. I do plan working for clients in the future. Now it is just hoby.

So my first though was buying a new macbook pro. The 2019 "15 inch seems the best choice but is expensive. Also I am not sure how well apple represents true colours when printing photo's for clients, even after calibration? I could always combine this with an external screen (also I don't know which one).

Click to expand...

You need to calibrate any monitor. Macs calibrate pretty well.

As far as I'm concerned, there aren't any true colors. I copy artwork and I generate profiles with an x-rite Passport, calibrate my monitors and profile my printers. Something's always off. I can get it down but can't eliminate it.

I use a 13" MacBook Pro which is way too small to run Lightroom or Photoshop comfortably. I got an Eizo CS2420 monitor and it's great. Comes with its own calibration software. Very good agreement with print colors.

My wife was able to use Photoshop on a 15" MacBook Pro without a separate monitor but boy was she happy when we added one.

Ma_n0n said:

Also I'd like to game now and then. However many games (such as planet coaster and planet zoo) are not suited for mac, only for windows/pc.

Click to expand...

I don't do games. I hear that Macs are not popular for such things.

Ma_n0n said:

As I am not a technically grounded person, all those specs are acracadabra for me. A (very) good colour screen is most important to me, but I do like to game. What would be a good option for me to buy? Stick with mac for editing? Or are there pc options in similar quality?Or should I buy a non mac desktop with great screen? I really don't have enough money to buy iMac pro.

Click to expand...

A couple of years ago I bought a Lenovo 15" ideapad with an nVidia Geforce graphics system (it was for a work project using machine vision and I needed a laptop with some horsepower to debug the hardware). When I was done I put Lightroom and Photoshop on it for kicks. It's really good. The screen calibrates quite well and once you're running Adobe software you can't tell if it's a Mac or Windows. I suspect that current Lenovo laptops with equivalent specs would work as well and they're way cheaper than MacBook Pros.

Fregoli said:

There are rumors of a new 16" pro macbook about to be released. Maybe it will fix some of the existing issues with the butterfly keyboards apple appears to be having constant trouble with.

But Macbook's won't be the best for gaming b/c they use AMD GPUs, whereas many laptops use nvidia GpUs and have more robust cooling solutions.

Click to expand...

Well having AMD GPU dose not mean it isn't capable of running games what is the problem is the MAC OS himself. MAC OS is not really that good with games and it really struggles in this special aspect of usage!

Ma_n0n said:

So my old non-retina 2012 macbook pro is becoming really slow these days. PS en LR are not working fast enough anymore (I did upgrade to SSD in the past) but less heavy programs are still doing fine.

Since I would like to take my photography and editing to a higher level, I am in need of a better one. I do plan working for clients in the future. Now it is just hoby.

So my first though was buying a new macbook pro. The 2019 "15 inch seems the best choice but is expensive. Also I am not sure how well apple represents true colours when printing photo's for clients, even after calibration? I could always combine this with an external screen (also I don't know which one).

Also I'd like to game now and then. However many games (such as planet coaster and planet zoo) are not suited for mac, only for windows/pc.

As I am not a technically grounded person, all those specs are acracadabra for me. A (very) good colour screen is most important to me, but I do like to game. What would be a good option for me to buy? Stick with mac for editing? Or are there pc options in similar quality?Or should I buy a non mac desktop with great screen? I really don't have enough money to buy iMac pro.

Click to expand...

If you are going for laptop there are some nice one from ASUS and DELL which in some cases they support DCI-3 color space which with delta E of less than 2 would be grate.(it means it can show colors as they really look)

You can go with alienware which is one of DELL high performance brands that have desktop CPU/GPU in laptop form and it really packs a punch with them!

If you are going for desktop i recommend going PC cause with the help of virtualization you can have MAC OS almost without performance degradation(it need a little bit of work but when you done everything necessary it is as like you have iMac pro!)

Been using it for a few days and it's very fast. Raw photo writes to JPG are exactly twice as fast as my top spec iMac 2014 which it is replacing. Yep, it finishes 100 shots in the time the iMac takes for 50.

I was also using the iMac 2014 with Adobe Premier. Never could get a fluid timeline playback unless using 1/8th resolution view, and even then it jiggy jags. So I just switched to DaVinci Resolve 16 Beta with the MBP, and it's lighting fast and buttery smooth. Render times at least 10X faster than the iMac 2014. The combination of Davinci and new MBP will allow me to dump Adobe full creative suite and use cheaper Photoshop only plan. Looking forward to that. Not a fan of Premier. And the Davinci 16 Color controls are magnificent... High learning curve if you don't have good color experience. But well worth it.

So, the new MBP may not be fastest on planet, but it's notably faster than what I came from, and that's all that matters to me. In the three to five months it will take for a new rumored 16" to be released and tested, I'll get a lot of use out of this one.

Config is MBP 2019 2.4 i9 8core 32GB 2T SSD. Pushing to Samsung 32" 4K is no problem. No tax B&H and free shipping.

I'll revisit 16" MBP and the new Invidia PC laptops come late fall when they arrive. Otherwise I'll keep this little monster busy. Can't beat that MBP track pad, and I'm even beginning to like the touchbar. But I swear I'll switch in a heartbeat if one of the upcoming Invidia PC's has a built in card reader. I want my card reader! And preferably one that inserts all the way like my Sony Vaio convertible. Instant backup with nothing protruding. Yes Apple, do that!

--
Here to help. Here to learn.

Well, I am running a MacBook Pro mid 2010 with Sierra. Using it just for picture editing. I bought it used like 3 months ago. I maxed out the memory and installed an SSD drive and it does what I wanted. I don't do video editing or play games on it. Its just picture editing with photoshop and Nikon duo software.

In regards to playing games if high end just get a playstation or xbox. They cost less than a computer or laptop for that matter.

StarPortraits said:

In regards to playing games if high end just get a playstation or xbox. They cost less than a computer or laptop for that matter.

Click to expand...

Often available as refurbs for a great price, too.

I have an older but more recent than yours MBP and a newer MS Surface Book (I believe this is how it is called): 15" 3240x2160 screen with really good color accuracy. They are both great.

Thanks for your answers!

But what would be a good non-apple alternative?

Ma_n0n said:

So my old non-retina 2012 macbook pro is becoming really slow these days. PS en LR are not working fast enough anymore (I did upgrade to SSD in the past) but less heavy programs are still doing fine.

Since I would like to take my photography and editing to a higher level, I am in need of a better one. I do plan working for clients in the future. Now it is just hoby.

So my first though was buying a new macbook pro. The 2019 "15 inch seems the best choice but is expensive. Also I am not sure how well apple represents true colours when printing photo's for clients, even after calibration? I could always combine this with an external screen (also I don't know which one).

Also I'd like to game now and then. However many games (such as planet coaster and planet zoo) are not suited for mac, only for windows/pc.

As I am not a technically grounded person, all those specs are acracadabra for me. A (very) good colour screen is most important to me, but I do like to game. What would be a good option for me to buy? Stick with mac for editing? Or are there pc options in similar quality?Or should I buy a non mac desktop with great screen? I really don't have enough money to buy iMac pro.

Click to expand...

Have a look at Dell G Series gaming laptops. If you are serious about gaming you can always add an external (and larger) monitor later. Great for serious image editing too. But ultimately, no-one else can tell you what you should get. You really just have to bite the bullet and start reading and getting your head around computer specs and terminology. Personally I dislike laptops. My wife and sons use them but I love my big desktop PC with lots of grunt.

I'm amazed there are so many Apple fans here. Then again probably hardly surprising really when Apple is the "all-American" company. (Personally I wouldn't use one if you gave it to me, but that's just me).

--
Mike McEnaney.

Ma_n0n said:

Thanks for your answers!

But what would be a good non-apple alternative?

Click to expand...

I use a MacBook Pro at work, and a Dell XPS 15 at home. I won’t compare power (the MBP is quite a bit older), but the Dell is a quality build and a really great machine. It cuts through heavy plugins (like Topaz A.I. plugs) in a small fraction of the time that the MBP does, and runs X-Plane very well when I’m not doing photo work. Just spec the best you can justify.

I think the OS is a big consideration though. I personally dislike MacOS and it’s enough to stop me buying a Mac for home use. Lots of people feel the opposite, and would avoid Windows. Which are you? On some level, you’ll probably need to use at least file management within the OS, so choosing the one that makes most sense to you is a good move.

It’s really not about Mac vs PC, it’s about OSX vs Windows 10.

I’ve been primarily Mac now for 12 years, bought our first PC laptop in ages back in February, everyone raves on and on about Windows 10, but really Windows is still a heap of garbage. It’s slow, until you dump the antivirus software that strangles the machine, it needs rebooting when software gets annoyed, the interface is just a mess, the Finder equivalent is straight up over the top, things that should just work - don’t. It’s just frustrating as anything to use.

After all these years, I really did expect Windows to be much better. Instead, it’s the same old same old, but in black.

I replaced a 2008 MacBook(notPro) with a 2018 MBP in May, could not be happier. Wonderful machine.

IR1234 said:

It’s really not about Mac vs PC, it’s about OSX vs Windows 10.

I’ve been primarily Mac now for 12 years, bought our first PC laptop in ages back in February, everyone raves on and on about Windows 10, but really Windows is still a heap of garbage. It’s slow, until you dump the antivirus software that strangles the machine, it needs rebooting when software gets annoyed, the interface is just a mess, the Finder equivalent is straight up over the top, things that should just work - don’t. It’s just frustrating as anything to use.

Click to expand...

I am a dual system user and I strongly disagree. The Mac updates as well, and the Finder is rather primitive compared to the Windows Explorer. I even run Win and mac OS on the same machine, and no, windows is not slower. The Apple boot camp drivers are poor and the battery live is a bit shorter with Windows but that does not hurt the speed. My Surface Book 15" just flies.

I had to choose recently between MBP and MS Surface 15". Both configurations were around $3K. It was not an easy choice. There were a bit too many annoyances with the MBP and the Surface won. Also, I like the touch screen and the tablet functionality.

Ma_n0n said:

So my old non-retina 2012 macbook pro is becoming really slow these days. PS en LR are not working fast enough anymore (I did upgrade to SSD in the past) but less heavy programs are still doing fine.

Since I would like to take my photography and editing to a higher level, I am in need of a better one. I do plan working for clients in the future. Now it is just hoby.

So my first though was buying a new macbook pro. The 2019 "15 inch seems the best choice but is expensive. Also I am not sure how well apple represents true colours when printing photo's for clients, even after calibration? I could always combine this with an external screen (also I don't know which one).

Also I'd like to game now and then. However many games (such as planet coaster and planet zoo) are not suited for mac, only for windows/pc.

As I am not a technically grounded person, all those specs are acracadabra for me. A (very) good colour screen is most important to me, but I do like to game. What would be a good option for me to buy? Stick with mac for editing? Or are there pc options in similar quality?Or should I buy a non mac desktop with great screen? I really don't have enough money to buy iMac pro.

Click to expand...

If you want to game, this is a no-brainer. There are far less games available for Macs than for Windows. You can game on some macs but they were developped for gaming and lots of pcs were developped for gaming.

As for photography, the Adobe programmes are the same so it won't make that much of a difference.

No life without a camera.

You can install a separately-purchased copy of WIndows 10 on a Mac, using Boot Camp. Then you can boot the Mac either into Windows or into Mac OS X. That might be a solution for Windows-only games that aren't too resource-intensive.

Another possibility is to install Windows inside of a virtual machine. Then you can run Windows and Mac OS X at the same time. The disadvantages of that approach are that it puts more strain on RAM, and Windows applications may not run as fast as with the dual boot approach. For this reason, people tend to use virtual machines to run productivity applications, and dual booting to run more "heavyweight" games.

Ma_n0n said:

I really don't have enough money to buy iMac pro.

Click to expand...

The iMac Pro is a nice machine – but most people are better off with a regular 27" iMac. You can configure a very nice 27" iMac system for under $3500, if you go with 512 GB of SSD space, get external storage, and install third-party RAM. With the iMac Pro, even the low-end configuration is $5000.

Ma_n0n said:

So my old non-retina 2012 macbook pro is becoming really slow these days. PS en LR are not working fast enough anymore (I did upgrade to SSD in the past) but less heavy programs are still doing fine.

Since I would like to take my photography and editing to a higher level, I am in need of a better one. I do plan working for clients in the future. Now it is just hoby.

So my first though was buying a new macbook pro. The 2019 "15 inch seems the best choice but is expensive. Also I am not sure how well apple represents true colours when printing photo's for clients, even after calibration? I could always combine this with an external screen (also I don't know which one).

Also I'd like to game now and then. However many games (such as planet coaster and planet zoo) are not suited for mac, only for windows/pc.

As I am not a technically grounded person, all those specs are acracadabra for me. A (very) good colour screen is most important to me, but I do like to game. What would be a good option for me to buy? Stick with mac for editing? Or are there pc options in similar quality?Or should I buy a non mac desktop with great screen? I really don't have enough money to buy iMac pro.

Click to expand...

If you want to game, get a PC (or a game console for TV). End of story.

For photo editing, Macs and PCs both use the same hardware platforms (intel chips, etc) so it just comes down to finding good hardware.

IR1234 said:

It’s really not about Mac vs PC, it’s about OSX vs Windows 10.

I’ve been primarily Mac now for 12 years, bought our first PC laptop in ages back in February, everyone raves on and on about Windows 10, but really Windows is still a heap of garbage. It’s slow, until you dump the antivirus software that strangles the machine, it needs rebooting when software gets annoyed, the interface is just a mess, the Finder equivalent is straight up over the top, things that should just work - don’t. It’s just frustrating as anything to use.

Click to expand...

Like most things, you need to learn the system and where potential bottlenecks are. And yes, some antivirus software can slow the system down - but that's hardly the fault of Windows and is easily corrected. And I couldn't tell you the last time I had to reboot my computer because a piece of software froze the system. In fact I generally only reboot about once a week. And with Windows 10, the interface is fairly malleable and generally what you make it.

IR1234 said:

After all these years, I really did expect Windows to be much better. Instead, it’s the same old same old, but in black.

I replaced a 2008 MacBook(notPro) with a 2018 MBP in May, could not be happier. Wonderful machine.

Click to expand...

Well that's the main thing. To each his own.

Ok I think I will go for a desktop and keep my current macbook for on the go things.

But I don't know what desktop and screen is OK. As already said I am not technically grounded, so I don't know how to assemble a great desktop myself. Are there any desktops which will perform fine without adding or changing stuff?

Ma_n0n said:

Ok I think I will go for a desktop and keep my current macbook for on the go things.

But I don't know what desktop and screen is OK. As already said I am not technically grounded, so I don't know how to assemble a great desktop myself. Are there any desktops which will perform fine without adding or changing stuff?

Click to expand...

How about an iMac?