Looking into options for photography

[slitherjef]

Right now I have just started a build for a new pc. As I wait for the crucial parts to become available, it gives me a bit to do more research and possibly change direction on the build. My only computer right now is a 2011 mpb.

The PC build I am looking at is an i7 7700k clocked at 4.2ghz.

I figured this build would cost about as much as an iMac anyway.

If I do the iMac route, which for some reason seems a bit safer and more reliable for my data, I'd go the 27" model, possibly 256gb SSD and external storage for data (which is very similar to what I had on my PC build (aside from an internal drive).

Ram I could upgrade later. I doubt I'd game on the thing, so suggestions on the video card and CPU? I could probably max those out since I would not be doing bto ram and storage drive upgrades.

Thoughts and input from iMac photographers and videographers?

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If I do the iMac route, I could still build a PC for tinkering and gaming

 

[Chancha]

I would say it largely depends on how much you like using OS X, and also how you managed your photgraphy workflow on the MBP. An iMac 5k is going to be so much more powerful than that so even the base model is a huge upgrade. Normally with a budget limit it is easier to just pick the lower model and then add SSD BTO to the max that you can justify, since photography benefits the most from faster reading and writing speed of RAWs and catalogue/cache files.

But you said you can afford both a PC and an iMac at the same time it seems you are good either way. Why not consider maxing out just the iMac then? Gaming is not the best on a RX580 but it is respectably doable (in terms of history of Mac gaming). May be pick the 8GB option, buy 2 sticks of 16GB outside for a total of 40GB for now.