Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/03/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I don?t expect this reply to be of too much help, but I feel like venting. I bought a new iMac late last year, a model that does not have a built-in DVD/CD drive. The drive from Apple was only about $65, lies flat on the desk behind the computer, works fine and is not really significantly inconvenient. I expected to pay much more because years ago I had a Mac with a Superdrive that on ejecting a disk would fling it across the room. The people at the Mac shop said replacing it would be $400. I raised such a stink that they relented and said they would replace it under warrantee. The new iMac was running the latest ?cat? OS and I was perfectly happy with it. Then I made the mistake of upgrading to Mavericks. Suddenly everything got very non-intuitive and very complex. I think Steve Jobs must be spinning in his grave. Herbert Kanner kanner at acm.org 650-326-8204 Question authority and the authorities will question you. On Mar 9, 2014, at 7:05 PM, Dante Stella <dstella1 at ameritech.net> wrote: > Hi all - > > Some questions for the hive mind: > > 1. For people who have actually used it, how is the new (late 2013) Mac > Pro? I need to upgrade my model 1,1 - not in the least because it is 7 > years old, draws a ton of power and is not capable of upgrading to 10.8 or > 10.9. For context, I edit a ton of 500mb scans using Photoshop and > Lightroom, and some of these renders are now taking 5-10 seconds (as in > enlarging from LR preview to 100% to dust spot). M240 (DNG) renders are > faster, but it still takes a while to do previews for a whole card. > > 2. What of mass storage? - I have 8Tb of internal storage right now, > and that much SSD capacity would cost as much as a HAL9000 and the > Discovery spaceship it came in. I have looked at Drobo 5D and the > Sinology equivalent. It seems that the Sy has some issues with > sleep/waking. Are these units reliable enough to omit Time Machine/NAS > backups? Is a 5T with the mCard fast enough to use in real time? > > 3. For photo editing, there any limitation in the system that would > make a 27" iMac an equally good choice? I'm willing to drop $3-4K for the > pro model - but what I don't want to do is find out that Lightroom or PS > is bottlenecked at a software level such that an i7 machine would do. > > 4. Any issues with Firewire devices via the Thunderbolt adapter? I'm > thinking of a Nikon LS-8000 or a Sprintscan 120. > > 5. How annoying is it to have an external DVD drive? Where else do you > get nickel and dimed with the Pro? > > 6. If my 1.25-year-old daughter likes putting things in the trash > (notably small toys, car keys, USB drives and SD card readers), does the > Mac Pro look sufficiently like a trash can to act as a decoy receptacle? > > Now two questions about whisk[e]y: > > 1. If I like McGill (I inherited a few bottles from my grandfather), > where can I get some more? If it is defunct, what's the closest Canadian > whiskey? > > 2. As to this bottle of Johnny Walker Green whisky (no e) that has been > staring at me from the bar ever since my birthday, is this something you > drink straight? Rocks? I do know that Red has to be mixed and that Black > is drinkable with ice. I would have to imagine that 15-year blended whisky > has to be drinkable as-is. > > Thanks! > Dante > > NO ARCHIVE > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information