Mac Desktop Computers For Photographers

Among Apple’s latest taglines is, “Power to the pro” and, if you are looking for the ultimate photo editing experience, you can get on a Mac platform—the desktop models are where you are going to want to look. There are currently three main series to check out if you want a Mac workstation: the iMac Pro, iMac, and Mac Pro.

iMac Pro

I think many people would be surprised if, a couple of years ago, you told them an iMac would be the most powerful machine Apple makes. Well, that is certainly the case since the release of the iMac Pro. Let’s just get straight to the most absurd spec of these models: the fact that you can equip one with an 18-core Intel® Xeon W™ processor. This is straight-up ridiculous, but it should make short work of any processing a photographer could ever need to handle.

To be fair, the top-end iMac Pro isn’t for the everyday photographer, or even most professionals—it’s for the ultra-power users. This is for shooters who are working with 100MP medium-format backs and creating elaborate compositions that require exceptional detail and processing to get just perfect, and any tiny bit of lag will slow them down. One great example would be individuals creating ultra-high-res panoramas that total hundreds, if not thousands, of megapixels. But the iMac Pro can handle that if need be.

Getting back to us regular folk, a base 8-core iMac Pro can get most heavy work done without any issue, and it will likely future-proof you for the next few years of camera tech. Even if you dabble in video on the side, the Intel processor and AMD Radeon Pro Vega graphics will make short work of any clips you may need to make. For further improved performance, the iMac Pro has a completely flash-based setup with a minimum of 32GB 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory and a 1TB SSD that will let you load up the largest files without any delay.

The internals will deliver outstanding performance for photos, though it is the beautiful 5K Retina display with its 5120 x 2880 resolution and P3 wide color gamut that will make it a dream to work with. It is bright, at 500 nits, and will be a brilliant place to work on photos and watch videos. Behind the screen, you will find all the connections, including four Thunderbolt™ 3 (USB Type-C) ports, four USB 3.0 ports, a UHS-II SDXC card reader, 10Gb Ethernet, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. This array of connectivity will support nearly every modern piece of computing equipment, including 5K displays, ultra-fast RAID arrays, expansion boxes, and more.

If you want the best editing experience you can get, the iMac Pro is the complete package.

iMac

The core of Apple’s desktop is the venerable iMac, which went from being an everyday machine to an impressive powerhouse of technology that can compete and beat some powerful workstations. This is where most photographers will find a sweet spot of price to performance, because even the baseline configurations are powerful enough to handle many modern workflows. It also features Apple’s classic all-in-one design, which manages to keep getting slimmer and slimmer, even though more and more advanced technology is finding its way inside.

There are two main versions of the iMac, a 21.5" with a Retina 4K display and a 27" with a Retina 5K display. Another Full HD variant of the 21.5" model is available, but, for photographers, it’s an easy choice to bump up to the Retina models since these displays offer higher resolutions, P3 wide color support, and 500-nit brightness, all of which make it much better suited to creative applications. The Retina options all come with quad-core Intel Core™ i5 or i7 processors and discrete AMD Radeon Pro graphics cards for speedy performance. This combination should be plenty for many photographers looking to use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom for all types of editing purposes, even advanced retouching.

Also available is between 8-32GB or 2400MHz DDR4 RAM and a choice of storage options. For photographers in need of a lot of affordable storage, the 1TB Fusion Drive is standard, which combines the benefits of SSDs and HDDs to give you affordable storage with some boost to speed for the OS and applications. For the ultimate performance, you can upgrade to SSDs up to 1TB. And, like the iMac Pro, it has an array of connections on the back for expansion, including two Thunderbolt 3 (USB Type-C) ports, three USB 3.0 ports, an SDXC card slot, headphone jack, and Gigabit Ethernet.

For all-around stellar performance that can handle most photo-editing needs, the iMac is a great place to look.

Mac Pro

Originally designed as the flagship Mac product, the Mac Pro is getting a bit long in the tooth nowadays, while Apple prepares its next major redesign. There is still a lot to like about the product, especially if you prefer to use your own displays. The “trashcan” design, as it became to be widely known, is very compact and can fit easily on a desk alongside various accessories and tools—my RAID setup is somehow larger than this computer! It also features some more classic ports, so if you are still rocking plenty of Thunderbolt 2 accessories and an HDMI monitor, you may find it nicer to not worry about adapters and dongles.

In terms of specs, we see many similar advantages as the more recent models. Though obviously not the absolute latest and greatest, it can offer notable savings if you are looking for certain advantages like having an Intel Xeon™ CPU with a greater number of cores, such as if you need to occasionally render some video content. It also features dual AMD FirePro graphics cards to help streamline performance and allow for better multi-tasking during processor-intensive tasks. A redesigned thermal core and fan help by keeping the computer cool through the heaviest processes.

One of the biggest reasons to choose the Mac Pro is if you want a computer to which you can hook up your own peripherals, instead of having to use an integrated display or supplied keyboards and mice. The Mac Pro features six Thunderbolt 2 ports, an HDMI port, two RJ45 connectors, and four USB 3.0 ports. This setup can even support multiple 4K or 5K displays at a time. And, of course, it features fast DDR3 ECC RAM and uses PCIe-based flash storage.

For some photographers, the Mac Pro may be a great, if odd, option for their setup and workflow.