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Posted on 12/01/21 11:41:41 PM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply  |
Is my Mac coming to it's EOL?
I love my iMac 27", but it has cashed quite a few times lately, probably asking too much of it. I obviously want to stay with Mac. What do I need, for now and to future proof it. I realise it won't be cheap, but I also want to avoid spending more than I need. This computer has a 2 TB fusion drive. It has been enough. It has 500GB free. I usually keep 3 years of photos on the computer, raw and edited, I copy my photos to external drives at the end of each month. Those drives are backed up to the cloud. The programs I use most are Lightroom Classic, Photoshop and Skylum's Luminar. I use Chrome as my browser, did try Safari for awhile but couldn't warm to it. It actually seemed slower than Chrome. I run TimeMachine, but hope I won't ever have to restore from it. I have an extra monitor attached and a Wacom tablet which I use for everything, don't own a mouse. I do have a Mac Trackpad, but only use that when I have problems with the Wacom. I did a clean install of the OS about a year ago. Sorry for rambling on, but I hope someone can give me some ideas of what I need. At my age, my next computer is likely to be my last. Cheers from DownUnder.  _________________ Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. |
Posted on 13/01/21 09:19:24 AM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5522 Reply  |
Re: Is my Mac coming to it's EOL?
Crashes aren't necessarily caused by the machine. More often by software. That's a good pretty high end spec that should cope with most things. Try and think back to what you were doing when the crashes occurred. They could relate to a particular app or a particular peripheral. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 13/01/21 1:36:36 PM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 6987 Reply  |
Re: Is my Mac coming to it's EOL?
Your Mac should be fine for a good few years yet. Your best bet, if you have the energy to do it, would be to back up everything and then reinstall the system from scratch as a new Mac. Tedious, but it should sort out any problems you're having. Having said that, it looks like you did just that a year ago. Can you explain when these crashes are occurring? |
Posted on 13/01/21 4:59:45 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5522 Reply |
Re: Is my Mac coming to it's EOL?
If you go the re-install route you have a number of options. In all cases create a bootable duplicate of your startup drive first. There is a very good app for doing this called SuperDuper. It's basic version, which is all you need to make a single backup, is free . If you have lots of stuff on your disk this can take several hours to copy. Once you have a safety backup you can do one of three things. 1) Re-install using only the repair option. This will re-install just the core system leaving user settings untouched. If the problem lies only in the core system this should be all you need. Depending on your internet connection and primary drive speed, it's very quick. Under an hour if I remember correctly. 2) Do a clean full re-install and then restore from Time Machine. This takes longer but is more thorough. It will get rid of a lot of unwanted 'widowed' files and configs that could be causing problems. The catch is that when you then restore from Time Machine it may restore whatever was causing the problem. This method also takes quite a bit longer, especially if you have a lot that needs to be copied back from Time Machine. 3) Do a total primary drive re-format and fresh install the OS from scratch. Then re-install your apps one by one. This takes for ever if you have a lot of apps (but may help you finally get rid of the ones you weren't really using anyway). You will need all your serial numbers and it's a good idea to make a note of any personalised settings and screen layout before you delete. You will need to restore these by hand. I have only been this desperate once. I did it on my old 2008 MacPro when it was eight years old. It took two whole days but it was like having a brand new machine. (The only reason I am not still using it is incompatibility with the newer OS and some apps.) However tempted you may be ......... DON'T skip the bootable backup first. Many a slip twixt cup and lip ....... 
Good luck! EDIT: As far as I know, this applies to OS's up to 10:14:6 Mojave. I can't speak for later as I haven't tried. But my guess would be that it still all holds true. EDIT: Don't forget if you are going to be re-installing apps that are 'activated' online with the issuer, to de activate them first. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 13/01/21 5:07:05 PM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply |
Re: Is my Mac coming to it's EOL?
Thanks David and Steve. Crashes usually occur when I have a lot happening. You are both quite right, a clean install will be the way to go. Off for a weeks holiday tomorrow so I will start when I get back. _________________ Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. |
Posted on 13/01/21 5:27:40 PM |
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michael sinclair
Off-Topic Opportunist Posts: 1848 Reply  |
Re: Is my Mac coming to it's EOL?
Hi Vibeke, my PC computer has just had a £1500 major overhaul which included a 4 terabyte SSD and a 2 Terabyte SSD Hard drive. In order for Photoshop 2021 to be fully functional I had to update and upgrade the Graphics card Nvidia 1660 (dual--to match the 30 inch pro Dell screen). Because it's 6 GB, I can play amazing games (including going through totally virtual realistic forests) without any frame rate problems at all, and, oh if you have SSD drives you will notice "total" silence!, and oh it's so dammed quick. The weak link in your system is the 2gb graphics card! However if it makes you feel any better I only have a paltry 16 gigabytes of RAM. Therefore, my solution is to bin the the Mac and get yourself a PC like me! 
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Posted on 13/01/21 9:20:18 PM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply |
Re: Is my Mac coming to it's EOL?
Thanks Michel, But NEVER. I love my Macs. I will look at upgrading my graphics card. Only thing I miss from my PC days was the easy way to get inside and change things. _________________ Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. |