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I still prefer using a laptop for most things but I'm considering something stationary for photo work. Using an older laptop on the couch, and with external drive dangling around, hasn't been a good fit for getting semi-serious about this.
I have a small desk I use for working from home, and a large (for me) 27" monitor I use a second monitor there. It's not pro-grade by any means, but then again I am not a pro.
My idea is to put a new mini on the desk and connect the monitor to it on weekends or at night. I'd have to buy a keyboard and mouse or trackpad. Even if I upgrade my laptop later this year I'd still have a separate "photo workstation," which to me makes sense. I think I need the discipline of the separate setup.
What was the question again?
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... or I could just hook up my old laptop at the desk, or upgrade it, use the bigger monitor and skip the mini.
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GAS is a real thing haha...
ps: Love my iCurve, I’ve had it for 15 years or so.
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Both workable ideas. The mini is obviously very attractive since you know it will provide a powerful, quiet and stable desktop solution for many years for not much $.
I've toyed with the idea of two machines since the beginning of time. Mainly, I like the idea of a fixed workstation for photo/video and other long term projects. But when I replaced an aging iMac many years ago (I gave it to my parents), I went all in on a MBP. At the time I really needed mobility, and I didn't want to be managing two systems. At first this was really liberating, but over the years I reverted to many of my old ways. I mainly use the MBP tethered to a desktop setup with monitor, RAID and some other externals.
It works pretty well, but it has its tradeoffs. It's easy to do photo imports and initial edits on the SSD before transferring to external or LT storage. But at times it's a bit disjointed, and it doesn't feel like the best of either world. Fortunately, there should be some great upgrade choices in my future.
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You can always use a laptop like a desktop, but...
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Buy both. Help my AAPL out.
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Briefly connected my MBP to the monitor. Colors off and a bit garish. I went thru the monitor's menu adjustments, eyeballing it vs my Mac's screen and got it looking better but never as sharp or as accurate for skin tone and well, everything else. Maybe this idea should be put on hold.
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seems to me that investing in a nice external monitor, external drive(s), keyboard and mouse/trackpad to connect to your laptop is the next obvious step.
I think adding a second device in your workflow is going be disappointing without adding a nice monitor first.
