Alright finally saved enough money to replace my macbook pro from early 2007 ( 2.4gz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB 667mz DDR2 SDRAM, 160GB 7200rpm hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 256 MB) currently running Mavericks. I have fallen so behind on computer technology I'm not really sure what I NEED. I've saved $5000, but dont want to spend it all if I dont have to. What I want is all my daily tasks to just be quick. I do graphic design, photography, and film editing and waiting is the thing that kills me the most. Also, I want to 'future proof' myself for at least another 4 years assuming my work remains the same below, so take that into consideration. Typical tasks that are kiling me right now.

-Large format print documents in Photoshop CS6 (300 ppi, 100'x40') the program all but shuts down on me. -Editing 1080p (4k soon im sure ) video in Premier Pro & After Effects CS6 (Scrubbing is a joke, RAM previews take way too long, and can generally only preview once when the program opens, once I start working, my RAM seems to disappear. Word count footnotes in word for mac 2011. Also, would love to be able to render films faster, but not nessacary as I usually lets this happen while I sleep anyways.) -Movie format conversions (again, just take forever) Overall, I use quite a few of the CS6 programs and dont want them lagging AT ALL. Will a current gen. IMac ( 3.5 i7, 32GB RAM, 3TB fusion drive, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5) cut it for a while?

And are there any known issues I should take into consideration with this generation? (image retention, screen issues, etc.?) Or should I go with Mac Pro, and can you reccomend specs for me? I appreciate the wisom of hese forums so much, thank you all! You may (or may not) see the difference in editing videos depending on which GPU option you go with for nMP, but I don't think extra performance will be enough to justify the extra cost since you aren't a video editor but a graphic designer as you put it. IMac would probably be sufficient enough for what you are doing.

Model, which we now consider the leading candidate for a first-time Mac buyer. Which makes it a good choice for photographers and graphic designers. Best Free Graphic Design Software – Graphic Design is the field, which is growing as fast as technology is growing. It is one of the fastest evolving fields. Graphic designers designs most of the digital pictures, logos, banners, posters, visiting cards etc.

But with that said, I would warn you about iMac's display. While it's great when you get a flawless unit, It's been noted by many that most of them have yellow tint issue towards the bottom half of the display. I've heard people going through 3,4 or even 5 units before settling or simply giving up on getting a unit without the tint. I personally have went through this and simply gave up due to getting them replaced took at least two weeks at a time. (I don't have enough budget to order two at a time, so I had to wait for my return to be processed and re-order, and repeat. It drove me crazy.) So in the end, if you need (and I am pretty sure you will) perfect display, going with nMP might just be worth it. I am also a designer, but it drives me crazy during my work.

I try to block it out of my brain when I am not working. As for future proofing the system.(I'm sure you know, but there isn't such thing as future proofing by the way) If you go with an iMac, it probably won't see any major update until mid or late 2015 or even early 2016 when Skylake chipset hits the market with DDR4 RAM and hopefully higher PPI display. Parallels for mac increase disk size. If you do go with nMP, you are looking at DDR4 sometime late this year when Haswell-E platform launches. Choice is yours, but I'd go with an iMac with plan of replacing in about two or three years depending on when Skylake comes. Click to expand.No. I've tried to get this across to as many people as possible.