Post Processing Hardware

[jfindley]

I'd like to start a thread on post processing hardware. What setups do people have....CPU and specs, monitors, etc. I have an old macbook pro and it is just to slow and weak to me. I've maxed out what I can upgrade on it and am considering a new piece of equip. Still undecided on desktop vs laptop. I run Aperture 3, so nothing too power hungry, but it's enough that I get tired of waiting for my files to process.

[Kayaker72]

I built my own machine in 2011. I will probably do some upgrades soon, but it works well enough. It is Windows based, so it may not be what you are thinking. One thing that may be relevant across the different machines is that I've noticed that processing is much faster when I am working off my SSD card rather then my hard drive. The read/write speeds are supposed to be faster and it is noticeable.

But my machine has:

• AMD Quad Core Athlon 3.0 GHZ
• 8 GB RAM
• 2 x 1.5 TB Western Digital Black
• 128 GB OCZ SSD

[Joel Eade]

I use a 15" MacBook Pro purchased in 2011
-Intel 2.66 ghz i7 processor
-6g RAM
-256gb SSD (installed last year)
-Lacie external drive for Time Machine back up

I have not noticed processing to be much faster or battery life to be longer with the SSD but boot up time from a cold start is amazing. I put in the SSD because the computer was dropped onto a hard surface and the original hard drive was damaged.

[Busted Knuckles]

I built my own machine in 2011. I will probably do some upgrades soon, but it works well enough. It is Windows based, so it may not be what you are thinking. One thing that may be relevant across the different machines is that I've noticed that processing is much faster when I am working off my SSD card rather then my hard drive. The read/write speeds are supposed to be faster and it is noticeable.
[/LIST]

Thanks, was wondering if the SSD drives provided a speed benefit.

[neuroanatomist]

17" MacBook Pro (wish they still made them!)
2.53 GHz Core i5
8 GB RAM
960 GB SSD

I was running out of room on my 500 GB HDD last year, replaced it with the 960 GB SSD. I did notice a speed boost, and boots and backups are blazing fast. I don't use Time Machine, but do SuperDuper clones to LaCie Rugged 1 TB FW800 drives (both at home and at work).

[peety3]

I use a 2013 Mac Mini, base model (4GB RAM, 500GB HDD), upgraded to 16GB RAM, with two 27" Apple Displays. It replaced a 3-4 year old MacBook Pro 13" (base model) that was really struggling with LR2.6 - I'd quit all other applications before opening LR. Now with the Mac Mini, it's doing quite well: I can leave iTunes, Firefox, Thunderbird, Terminal, and Preview open while running LR5.2, and I think it's even been decent while also running Parallels so I can use Windows on the Mac. I wanted an SSD but wasn't willing to pay the difference to get it preinstalled from Apple; I'll swap one in later.

[Photog82]

Custom built machine, Intel i7 CPU, 8GB RAM, 2TB HDD, 24" LED IPS Monitor.