Which Apple MacPro configuration to purchase to speed up Lightroom & Photoshop CC?

As a photographer I use a number of "plugins" to Photoshop CC such as Nik Filters, Imagenomics Portraiture, OnOne Suite, and Portrait Professional and they run slow! I also use Lightroom CC with these same plugins.
I'm considering upgrading my old (MacPro Early 2008) to the new MacPro with the following configuration:
3.5GHz 6-core with 12MB of L3 cache
32GB of 1866MHz DDR3
1TB PCIe-based flash storage
Dual AMD FirePro D500 GPUs with 3GB of GDDR5 VRAM each
Any help on a new MacPro configuration would be very helpful!
Thanks, Joel

If it were possible to remove one of the AMD GPUs, that would probably be a good choice, seeing that Photoshop and Lightroom do not make any use of it. Nor are all the cores optimally used in Photoshop, thus further limiting the 6-core MacPro.
The 27" iMac is faster than a MacPro in daily Photoshop tasks and general application use due to its 4ghz CPU (while the MacPro tops out at 3.5ghz):
(http://macperformanceguide.com/iMac5K_2014-createImageSeries.html)
But you would be stuck with a screen that is less than ideal for serious photo editing and design work (mirror, no wide gamut), and a slower SSD. And maxing out a 5K iMac will enter MacPro territory in terms of pricing - although you do get that 5k screen for "free".
You could always hook up a better screen, and use the one that is built-in as a second monitor for other uses.
It's too bad neither model offers the perfect configuration for a Photoshop workstation.
Another alternative is to build your own Hackintosh: it comes in at about half or two thirds the price as a MacPro, and delivers faster or equal performance. But you would have to invest some time and effort in it, and that solution is probably not the one you had in mind :-P
Btw, Apple Care is another couple of hundreds of dollars on top of your purchase - with all that soldered-on ram and other components being non-user serviceable, getting any Mac without Apple Care is a bad idea.

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Upgrades to boost speed for Lightroom/Photoshop

I have a Mac Pro from early 2008 running OS 10.7.x. I want to add whatever upgrades that might boost the speed working in Lightroom 4 and Photoshop and inDesign CS6. In particular Lightroom seems to bog down quite a bit when using Adjustment Brush to adjust numerous locations on my large NEF files. And of course we all would like loading and rendering to go faster. I'm going to be going back and forth between Lightroom, Photoshop, and InDesign to create coffee table size photo books with much text. I already have nearly 30,000 images and also will be digitizing hundreds of 35mm negs/slides, so anything that will make my work faster and my data safely and redundantly backed up is important.
I have a couple specific questions as well:
1.     Is there a graphics card that would noticably speed up image processing on my model Mac Pro?
2.     Mercury Accelsior_E2 PCI Express SSD 960GB make my image editing work go much faster?
3.     Would adding a card to give me USB 3.0 ports make my external backing up go much faster, or is there even a card available for my early 2008 Mac Pro?
4.     I want to change from my 1T data drives to 4T. The Westerm Digital (5 year warranty) drives have dual processors, does that significantly speed up working on large raw photo files? Their drives are much less expensive than the Toshiba 7200 RPM SATA enterprise drives (5 year warranty) and I wonder if spending the extra money on enterprise quality is worth it for my Mac Pro?
5.     Would adding an SSD drive as my boot drive and to hold my applications etc speed things up much?
6.     Any ideas on a fast reliable backup strategy?
Sincerely,
Greg

Mac Pro FBDIMM 2 x 4GB $80
http://www.amazon.com/Certified-Memory-2006-2007-MA356LL-BUFFERED/dp/B0085MH238/
Someone with same situation it sounded like you:
Mac Pro 3,1 question
Lightroom 4/5 on nMP runs very smoothly while on a MAXED OUT 4,1 using PCIe SSDs it was lagging.
And that to me shows the limitations of upgrades, even how old PCIe 2.0 and 2.1 do not keep up and provide the same - even the 800/900MB/sec of an SSD array on PCIe
WD has a Thunderbolt WD 10K VelociRaptor 2TB dual-drive that is only $400 but 400MB/sec that can be a nice storage array for catalogues or scratch. Traditional 10K drives have their uses, and unlike an SSD, the writes are right up with read IO. One of those add-on costs possible that I am looking into.
http://www.amazon.com/VelociRaptor-External-Drive-Storage-Thunderbolt/dp/B008R7E WF2/
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFALO-DriveStation-Ultra-Drive-Cache/dp/B00C0NWAPS/ref=p sdc12_t3_B008R7EWF2_B00C0NWAPS

HT2404 my hard drive crashed and nothing recoverable. Apple installed a new drive. How can I go back and download the apps I had purchased for my previous configuration, for instance Lion 10.7, and Photoshop Elements 10?

My hard drive crashed and nothing recoverable, local Apple Store installed a new drive. How can I go back and download the apps I had purchased for my previous configuration, for instance Lion 10.7, and Photoshop Elements 10?

A blank drive needs to be formatted first, you do that hold c boot (or hold option key boot) from the 10.6 install disk (or Lion USB)
Read how to format the drive in Disk Utility here
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3044
How to install OS X
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3251
Software Update fully,
Hold the option key and click on Purchases when in MAS to download your 10.7 etc.

We are trying to reinstall Lion but cannot remember which apple ID we purchased it under - mine or my husband's. We have tried both. Can you help me?

After unsuccessfully trying to upgrade to Mountain Lion on a Macbook Pro 2007, we need to reinstall Lion. Can't remember which apple ID we used when we purchased Lion at an Apple Store. We have tried both my husband's ID and mine. How can we get this information from Apple so that we can proceed with the reinstall?

Go here - http://www.apple.com/support/mac/app-store/ - and try contacting support. While I still show Lion in my purchases, I can't seem to download it again as I am currently running 10.8. But I made a backup of the install app so that I have both Lion and Mountain Lion installers. If you are able to download it again, make certain that you quit the install app and make a USB flash drive installer or DVD using Lion DiskMaker (which also works with Mountain Lion).
I'm curious as to what sort of problems you encountered when installing ML? Did you make the install? Or did it quit or something?
Clinton

Mac application purchased by which apple id

I desire to find out which Apple Id purchased/downloaded a certain application.

iTunes Store & Mac App Store: Seeing your purchase history and order numbers
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2727

How can i find out which of my apple devices made a purchase from the app store?

How can i find out which of my apple devices made a purchase from the app store?

Not possible as purchases can be downloaded to all devices using the same Apple ID.

Apple ID to App purchase, how many?

Ok...So currently with our elementary school we have 50 iPads in use. Since it is an elementary level the students DO NOT have their own Apple ID's for use with the iPads and we have all 50 iPads hooked into the same account regarding the app store and such. Since we only use one Apple ID across all the iPads for student use the apps we purchase download across them all without need for more than one purchase. So far we haven't had any issuesHowever, looking into it I can't seem to get a straight answer if this is proper or not. Some places say only 5 devices per download, others 10, and the Terms of Service from Apple itself isn't much clearer.
I don't even know how to interpret that because it says that you can only have 10 devices, but then ( i) and ( iv) don't apply?
Elsewhere I found this description:
(ii) If You are a commercial enterprise or educational institution, You may download and sync a Product for use by either (a) a single individual on one or more devices You own or control or (b) multiple individuals, on a single shared device You own or control. For example, a single employee may use the Product on both the employee's iPhone and iPad, or multiple students may serially use the Product on a single iPad located at a resource center or library.
By this I was under the impression that since it was a resource used by multiple students but under one user license we only need to buy the one user code.
TL;DR:
Can I use one ID across multiple devices in a school and only buy 1 copy of the app we need to sync across them all?
Any help or clarification would be great.

Hi klamarre,
I work for a school district and am in charge of managing our fleet of 2,600 iPads. Legally, for multiple users using multiple iPads (like in schools) you need to use VPP to purchase a separate license for each iPad (can't share one Apple ID for 10 devices used by 10 students). You can accomplish this with an MDM or with Apple Configurator. Here's some of Apple's verbiage that talks about App Store licensing on iOS devices:
APP STORE PRODUCT USAGE RULES
( i )If you are an individual acting in your personal capacity, you may download and sync an App Store Product for personal, noncommercial use on any iOS Device you own or control.
( ii ) If you are a commercial enterprise or educational institution, you may download and sync an App Store Product for use by either (a) a single individual on one or more iOS Devices used by that individual that you own or control or (b) multiple individuals, on a single shared iOS Device you own or control. For example, a single employee may use an App Store Product on both the employee's iPhone and iPad, or multiple students may serially use an App Store Product on a single iPad located at a resource center or library. For the sake of clarity, each iOS Device used serially by multiple users requires a separate license.
As an educational institution you will want to enroll in Apple's Volume Purchase Program (VPP) which allows a single Apple ID to purchase multiple licenses of an app. Most developers will offer a 50% discount on their app when 20 or more VPP licenses are purchased in a single transaction.
There is a free OS X program called Apple Configurator that you can use to distribute the VPP codes to your fleet of iPads. Apple Configurator uses a single Apple ID to install apps on your iPads. Configurator will also allow you to install free apps on multiple iPads using a single enterprise Apple ID. See http://help.apple.com/configurator/mac/1.0/ for details.
For elementary students, if you are using them in a 1-to-1 scenario, you can give Apple IDs to each student using Apple's U13 program (scroll down about halfway down this page to read about Apple IDs for students under 13).
Hope this answers your question!
~Joe

Which Macbook Pro should I purchase? I'm thinking the non-Retina 13" with 2.9GHZ and 128GB SSD...

I am looking to purchase a new laptop in the near future but I am not sure which configurations--specifically relating to speed and memory--I should choose. As of now I am thinking about this:
13" non Retina Macbook Pro
2.9GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM — 2x4GB
128GB Solid State Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
the total cost for this package is $1,599 which is just about my total budget-- it don't want to go over $1,800.
At this point, I have sort of ruled out the Retina display because I'm not really sure if it is worth it. Instead, I would like to buy a Macbook Pro that is very fast, durable, and spacious (in terms of memory).
In the past, I have opted for the standard specs but I have learned the hard way that configurations matter.
I plan to use this laptop for my last two years of college in hopes that it will last me at least 3 years after that (My current Macbook is in its 5th year but has seen two different hard drives....). I have a large music collection (100 gigs or so) stored on a variety of different drives as well as some movies that I would love to (for the first time since I downloaded Napster) have on the same device without losing computing power or processing speed. Also I am a beginner/intermediate programmer who likes to spend very extended time periods jumping between programs and just messing around on the Internet (but honestly, who doesn't? haha).
One thing I'm not entirely sure about is the eminent release of Mountain Lion OS X. Should I be waiting for this to be the standard on all laptops or does it not matter all the much?
If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears...

Hey Mitch,
i've had the same decission, the same budget and the Mac was for the same purposes (a little bit of coding and the rest just for normal work at university). So what do you think i ordered yesterday? Exactly the same configuration you posted above! Why? The Retina Macbook Pro was too expensive, the other 15'' models haven't got SSDs and when you choose the buy to order option with SSD you can just go and buy the Retina Macbook. So there's only the 13'' MacBook Pro left (if you want a Macbook Pro - i wanted one because the configuration of an MB Air with the 1,8GHz Prozessor and 8GB of Ram is more expansive than the Macbook pro Configuration you posted above, plus u have less of processor power. And i don't mind carrying around 800g more, for mobile working i have an iPad). Then i had to go with the i7 MBP because on the long runs you will definetly need his power. And in a few years you would regret if you chose less power.... and SSD is a must have just like 8GB of ram.
And when you think about the future you always have the possibilty to upgrade your Mac to 16gb of ram or to an 512 gb ssd (when they are cheaper :P) cause the "thick" macbooks have those parts not directly on the mainboard so that they can be changed by yourself in just a few minutes. And if your missing a dedicated graphic card the future will bring thunderbold graphic cards.
For OSX Mountain Lion you don't have to wait. If you buy your mac now the upgrade is free so it is does not matter that much. You can always wait for better times but waiting for ever shouldn't be the goal.
I hope i could help you,
greetings from Europe

Hi, I got a big problem. I restored my mac and after I erased everything and started to restall the system, it showed I need to give the apple ID that was purchased the lion. The problem is that I lost my CD, and I don't have an ID with lion purchased

Hi, I got a big problem. I restored my macbook pro and after I erased everything and started to restall the system, it showed I need to give the apple ID that was purchased the lion. The problem is that I lost my installing CD, and I don't have an ID with lion purchased, so what should I do? Do you sell the system software?

This is a user forum; we're not  Apple.
Please contact the Apple Support folks directly for issues related to hardware and software purchases.
The particular model of MacBook Pro is a key detail here, as the Mac model will determine the oldest version it can boot, as well as whether it'll boot more current software.
AFAIK there is and was no Lion installer DVD available. It was a download. AFAIK, the last DVDs commonly available were for Snow Leopard 10.6. Snow Leopard DVDs are still available in the Apple online store in various countries, if your MacBook Pro is old enough to be able to boot that version.
If your MacBook Pro purchase with Lion wasn't registered with Apple, then you'll have to discuss this directly with the Apple Support folks, or repurchase Lion from the Mac App Store (which will usually involve a call to Apple for a redemption code as it's old software), or you'll "purchase" (it's free) Mavericks OS X 10.9 and wipe and install that assuming your MacBook Pro supports Mavericks. If you didn't purchase the MacBook Pro from Apple (and it was shipped with an older release), then you'll end up acquiring a redemption code from Apple for Lion, or installing Mavericks.
For completeness and given you're probably already aware of this, the usual approach for restoration with recent OS X versions is via the recovery boot (more details). If the disk is wiped and you can't get Lion, then you'll probably end up reinstalling with Target Disk Mode using another Mac with a compatible FireWire or Thunderbolt port and a cable. Or visit the local Apple Store.
sputniki: Once OS X 10.7 or 10.9 has been reinstalled, yes, getting Time Machine configured and going is undoubtedly on the agenda. But had there been a viable backup here, I expect jianghua would have used it.

Which Mac Pro? More cores=slower speeds? And most of us know the speed matters or FPU for music and I don't understand the faster is for the least amount of procs. And while I get the whole rendering thing and why it makes sense.

Which Mac Pro? More cores=slower speeds? And most of us know the speed matters or FPU for music and I don't understand the faster is for the least amount of procs. And while I get the whole rendering thing and why it makes sense.
The above is what the bar says. It's been a while and wondered, maybe Apple changed the format for forums. Then got this nice big blank canvas to air my concerns. Went to school for Computer Science, BSEE, even worked at Analog Devices in Newton Massachusetts, where they make something for apple.
The bottom line is fast CPU = more FPU = more headroom and still can't figure out why the more cores= the slower it gets unless it's to get us in to a 6 core then come out with faster cores down the road or a newer Mac that uses the GPU. Also. Few. I'm the guy who said a few years ago Mac has an FCP that looks like iMovie on Steroids. Having said that I called the campus one day to ask them something and while I used to work for Apple, I think she thought I still did as she asked me, "HOW ARE THE 32 CORES/1DYE COMING ALONG? Not wanting to embarrass her I said fine, fine and then hung up. Makes the most sense as I never quite got the 2,6,12 cores when for years everything from memory to CPU's have been, in sets of 2 to the 2nd power. 2,4,8,16,32,64,120,256,512, 1024, 2048,4196,8192, 72,768. Wow. W-O-W and will be using whatever I get with Apollo Quad.
Peace to all and hope someone can point us in THE RIGHT DIRECTION. THANK YOU

Thanks for your reply via email/msg. He wrote:
If you are interested in the actual design data for the Xeon processor, go to the Intel site and the actual CPU part numbers are:
Xeon 4 core - E5.1620v2
Xeon 6 core - E5.1650v2
Xeon 8 core - E5.1680v2
Xeon 12 core - E5.2697v2
I read that the CPU is easy to swap out but am sure something goes wrong at a certain point - even if solderedon they make material to absorb the solder, making your work area VERY clean.
My Question now is this, get an 8 core, then replace with 2 3.7 QUAD CHIPS, what would happen?
I also noticed that the 8 core Mac Pro is 3.0 when in fact they do have a 3.4 8 core chip, so 2 =16? Or if correct, wouldn't you be able to replace a QUAD CHIP WITH THAT? I;M SURE THEY ARE UO TO SOMETHING AS 1) WE HAVE SEEN NO AUDIO FPU OR PERHAPS I SHOULD CHECK OUT PC MAKERS WINDOWS machines for Sisoft Sandra "B-E-N-C-H-M-A-R-K-S" -
SOMETHINGS UP AND AM SURE WE'LL ALL BE PLEASED, AS the mac pro was announced Last year, barely made the December mark, then pushed to January, then February and now April.
Would rather wait and have it done correct than released to early only to have it benchmarked in audio and found to be slower in a few areas- - - the logical part of my brain is wondering what else I would have to swap out as I am sure it would run, and fine for a while, then, poof....
PEACE===AM SURE APPLE WILL BLOW US AWAY - they have to figure out how to increase the power for 150 watts or make the GPU work which in regard to FPU, I thought was NVIDIA?

After some advice, I am new to Apple and looking to purchase either the MacBook Air 13inch with 256GB and 8GB mem or the MacBook Pro 13inch with retina 256Gb and 8GB mem. I am an assistant principal in a primary school and also studying my masters

After some advice, I am new to Apple and looking to purchase either the MacBook Air 13inch with 256GB and 8GB mem or the MacBook Pro 13inch with retina 256Gb and 8GB mem. I am an assistant principal in a primary school and also studying my masters at university. I don't play computer games and I don't watch movies. I do store photos and videos of my kids and music on iTunes. I also like browsing the net with numerous windows open, check email etc. I am really wanting long battery life as I do a lot of my work on the couch - not close to a PowerPoint. Would the air do the trick or will it soon be outdated as Apple move towards retina display? Both air and pro seem very thin - almost the same? And not much difference in weight either so both very portable which is also a necessary requirement. Just can't help dreaming about that 12 hour claimed battery life. Any helpful advice/opinions, very much appreciated. Thanks

It's not likely that you'll get 12 hours in reql life. Those benchmarks are set under very strict controlled conditions. Kind of like mileage per gallon claims on cars. If 16GB of ram is an option at all I'd highly recommend you get that. As far as storage 256GB isn't alot, consider storing some things on an external thunderbolt real

Our family has multiple apple ids and we are setting up a new apple tv. Does it matter which apple id we use if we have home sharing enabled?

I have an apple id from my mobile me account; I also have the apple id from my itunes account (with which I purchase content for my powerbook); and my husband has an apple id for itunes which he purchases content for his itunes library on his PC.
Does it matter which apple id we use to set up our new apple tv?
what issues are caused by my multiple apple ids?

You cannot merge apple ids, but you can sign out of the apple id and sign in under the other one either on your phone or your mac. On your phone, go to settings, itunes and appstore, tap your apple id, tap sign out, then go back to home screen, then back into itunes an appstore and sign in with the apple id you want to use.

I recently had to get a new windows computer, old one crashed. My tech guy got all my itunes library over to the new one, and all my songs are there. However, some won't play and ask me for the password for the apple id they were purchased under. 2 of the

I recently had to get a new windows computer, old one crashed. My tech guy got all my itunes library over to the new one, and all my songs are there. However, some won't play and ask me for the password for the apple id they were purchased under. 2 of these ids are obsolete and I have no access to those accts. The songs all played on my old computer without prompting me for a password.
Any ideas how I can get around this hassle and get them all to play? We're talking about 800 songs that are being obstinate. The new computer is authorized under my "new" Apple id, which I have used for years.

Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519 - enabled with iTunes 10.3 and newer; not available in all countries; apps, books (not audiobooks), music, t.v. shows, and movies (some - not all studios have permitted this). Movies currently available in the USA only. Downloading previously purchased movies and TV shows requires iTunes 10.6 or later. Discontinued items not available. For items not included in the iCloud list, or locations or computer systems where iCloud is not (yet?) available, you only get one download per fee paid. Apple notes it is your responsibility to back up your purchases.
Select the store on the left side of iTunes.
Click on Purchased on the right side under Quick Links.
You can re-download your available previous purchases.

My purchased TV shows are on Apple TV, but my purchased Movies and Music is not, what gives?

My purchased TV shows are visible on Apple TV, but my purchased Movies and Music are not, what gives?
From Apple TV menu, I used to click on "Computer" and choose my laptop and I could watch TV, Movies, Photos, Music, whatever....
but now the "Computer" button incorrectly tells me that Home Sharing is turned off (which it isn't) and I can't find my purchased movies anywhere. Plus, it appears that I can't listen to music without iTunes Match which costs $25 a year... any advice out there?

I don't believe Apple is currently listing purchased movie content, like they do with TV episodes because of licensing restrictions. Big Movies views that as a streaming service, and not purchased content, so it is licensed differently.
As to your Home Sharing, there has been no change there. You can still Home Share your videos, photos, music from your computer that has Home Sharing turned on. Keep in mind iTunes needs to be running on that computer at the same time.
Also, one in awhile my computer is on, but it does not show under Home Sharing on Apple TV. When this happens, I do a hard boot (unplug from power and plug back in) of the Apple TV, and also restart my computer. Something happens once in awhile that it loses that connection. I haven't troubleshooted more than just doing a reboot. Obviously there is a root cause, but it doesn't happen to me enough to worry about tracking it down.

HT1338 when my apple macpro ret sc conneted to tv by hd cable its not showing, why?

when my apple macpro ret sc conneted to tv by hd cable its not showing, why?

Ok thank you so much, for your timely response.
RESPONSES:
1)   When I set up my iMac, I did not transfer any data directly from my windows PC. I simply used the same iTunes login and account. I have access to all of the files via the "Purchased" section of the iTunes store. If I click "Download Previous Purchases" text, I can download ALL of the purchases I have ever made.
2)   I have the Apple TV 2, so good news, question answered. I thought maybe it was the Apple TV 1, but it is the Black model, so bam. Good response for you. Well the whole damned reply is an awesome response, just pointing out that one piece of awesome. I stated that it was an Apple TV 2, and yet you were still good enough to figure I could be mistaken, and provide me with knowleedge just incase.
QUESTIONS:
3)   So can my iMac not stream the data directly from itunes, without download? Apple TV can, but perhaps that is something among many things that maker it unique, and awesome.
SERIOUSLY.... THANK YOU...
I work in the computer support section for the Military. The only problem is we use Windows , lol. Well that and i've been gone for nearly 6 months on recover. I go back next month though I hope. But working in that field gives me the abilty to judge responses that run inside the same vein. Your response was so awesome that I half thought I might have written it myself.

Which Apple MacPro configuration to purchase to speed up Lightroom & Photoshop CC?

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