Should I Get the New Mac Mini (M2 or M2 Pro)?

[OlympicGuy]

I currently have a retina 5k, 27 inch iMac; 3.3 GH Quad-Core Intel Core i5, with 32 GB...Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M395 2 GB.

Would it make sense for me to get a Mac Mini? Mostly for Lightroom, Photoshop and some video use.

So I assume that I can use my iMac as a monitor with the Mini, right?

I currently have my programs on the iMac hard drive, with two external hard disks that store photos, video, etc.

What would be the procedure for setup. I assume that I would use the new Mac Mini for programs and processing, while the iMac hard driver would be used for additional storage?

What would become of the RAM in the iMac...does it become a useless appendage?

Anyway, thanks for those of you still at DPR. Jeff

 

[wilberforce_1]

You cannot use a 5k iMac as a monitor for another computer. At least, not in the sense of a real monitor (there are some software workarounds to indirectly transmit a display, which do not make it act as a real monitor, and which will be disappointing).

 

[OlympicGuy]

Thanks. I guess I'll wait and get an entirely new setup someday.

 

[Jacques Cornell]

If your Lightroom folders are on a spinning hard drive, you can realize a substantial improvement in responsiveness by hosting them on an external USB 3.x Gen 2 SSD.

 

[bakubo]

I currently have a retina 5k, 27 inch iMac; 3.3 GH Quad-Core Intel Core i5, with 32 GB...Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M395 2 GB.

Would it make sense for me to get a Mac Mini? Mostly for Lightroom, Photoshop and some video use.

Lightroom Classic, for interactive use, does not need a very fast CPU or GPU for good performance, I think. See my recent thread comparing my old 2019 not so powerful ultrabook PC to my new 2023 Macbook Pro that has a much faster CPU with many more cores, much faster GPU, much faster RAM, and much faster SSD (both have 32gb RAM):

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66969653

Note that my simple timings of several aspects of Lightroom Classic they were basically the same.

And additional info:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66971692

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66974479

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66975745

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66978529

 

[Tom_N]

I currently have a retina 5k, 27 inch iMac; 3.3 GH Quad-Core Intel Core i5, with 32 GB...Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M395 2 GB.

MacTracker suggests that this is a Late 2015 iMac.

Some of those came with hard drives. Some came with all-flash storage. Some came with Fusion Drives. If your internal drive is either a hard drive or a Fusion Drive, then you might benefit from an external SSD.

The 27" Late 2015 Macs have an old version of Thunderbolt (Thunderbolt 2) that does not live on a USB-C connector. You can get bidirectional TB3-TB2 adapters from Apple, but that iMac does have USB 3.0 ports, and even a USB 3.0/SATA SSD should make for a faster startup drive than an internal mechanical hard drive.