Computing Suggestions Aimed at Photographers and Videographers— Macs, Storage, Connectivity
Some brief comments and notes below with each category.
Be sure to check out OWC holiday deals on all things computing and iPhone/iPad, and see OWC early Black Friday Deals...
Hard drives | External SSD | Internal SSD | Docks and Ports | Pre-Owned Macs
See also: B&H Photo Black Friday deals page.
Macs
We are in a transition time to the Apple M1 Macs. I expect to receive the Apple MacBook Pro M1 Max for review around December 20.
Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max: a Few Things To Note for Photographers
Bang for the Buck: $2899 for a Loaded iMac 5K with Gorgeous Display, or $5K for an Apple MacBook Pro M1X?
Please buy Macs through any link on this site—thanks! And SAVE the sales tax at B&H too!
If you need a powerful Mac now, get the iMac 5K, specifically one of these configurations. Buy it with 8GB memory, then add 128GB of OWC memory. 128GB will serve you exceptionally well for many years to come.
Memory
Load up your iMac with 128GB as 4 X 32GB, or your Mac Pro up to 1536GB!
$1980 SAVE $180 = 8.0% OWC 768GB (12 x 64GB) OWC Brand PC23400 DDR4 ECC 2933MHz 288-pin… in All Other Categories
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$999 SAVE $189 = 15.0% OWC 384GB (12 x 32GB) PC23400 DDR4 ECC 2933MHz 288-pin RDIMM Mem… in All Other Categories
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$540 SAVE $54 = 9.0% OWC 192GB (6 x 32GB) PC23400 DDR4 ECC 2933MHz 288-pin RDIMM Memo… in All Other Categories
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$250 SAVE $30 = 10.0% OWC 128.0GB (4 x 32GB) OWC 2666MHz DDR4 PC4-21300 260-Pin SO-DIM… in All Other Categories
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Big and fast SSDs
Eliminate the 'spinners' for a silent environment where disk speed disappears as a factor.
With high-capacity SSDs, you are bascially paying for the flash modules as the primary cost-driver. While expensive compared to hard drives, they are silent and should deliver years of trouble-free use.
I use one 16TB OWC Accelsior 4M2 as my primary storage on my 2019 Mac Pro.
$880 SAVE $100 = 10.0% OWC 8.0TB OWC Accelsior 4M2 PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 SSD Storage Soluti… in Storage: PCI
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$1600 SAVE $7400 = 82.0% OWC 16.0TB OWC Accelsior 4M2 PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 SSD Storage Solut… in Storage: PCI
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$4680 SAVE $300 = 6.0% OWC 32.0TB OWC Accelsior 8M2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD Storage Solut… in Storage: PCI
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$3800 SAVE $5200 = 57.0% OWC 32.0TB OWC Accelsior 4M2 PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 SSD Storage Solut… in Storage: PCI
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$9800 SAVE $180 = 1.0% OWC 64.0TB OWC Accelsior 8M2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD Storage Solut… in Storage: PCI
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I have two of the 8TB OWC Thunderblades. Outstanding for external fast storag that can be carried to/from job sites or just used daily!
$280 SAVE $20 = 6.0% OWC 2.0TB OWC Envoy Pro FX Thunderbolt + USB-C Portable NVMe SSD in All Other Categories
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$2280 SAVE $100 = 4.0% OWC 16.0TB OWC ThunderBlade Thunderbolt External NVMe SSD Storag… in All Other Categories
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$5000 SAVE $300 = 5.0% OWC 32.0TB OWC ThunderBlade Thunderbolt External NVMe SSD Storag… in All Other Categories
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Hard drives
I use 14TB and 18TB Toshiba drives. They are fast, quiet, and I’ve never had a failure.
See: Big and Fast Hard Drive for Photography and Videography
$250 SAVE $199 = 44.0% Toshiba 12.0TB Toshiba MG07ACA Series 3.5-inch SATA 6.0Gb/s 7200… in Storage: Hard Drives
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$260 SAVE $215 = 45.0% Toshiba 14.0TB Toshiba MG07ACA Series 3.5-inch SATA 6.0Gb/s 7200… in Storage: Hard Drives
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$280 SAVE $419 = 59.0% Toshiba 16.0TB Toshiba MG08ACA Series 3.5-inch SATA 6.0Gb/s 7200… in Storage: Hard Drives
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$320 SAVE $479 = 59.0% Western Digital 18.0TB Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 3.5-in… in Storage: Hard Drives
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$2280 SAVE $100 = 4.0% OWC 16.0TB OWC ThunderBlade Thunderbolt External NVMe SSD Storag… in All Other Categories
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$375 SAVE $45 = 10.0% OWC 18.0TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro External Storage Solution with… in All Other Categories
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I use five OWC Thunderbay 4 units for backups (now that my main storage is all SSD). Cost aside, no photographer need evert be concered with storage capacity!
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$2200 SAVE $200 = 8.0% OWC 72.0TB OWC ThunderBay 4 Four-Drive Thunderbolt External Stor… in All Other Categories
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$4300 SAVE $400 = 8.0% OWC 144.0TB OWC ThunderBay 8 Eight-Drive Thunderbolt External St… in All Other Categories
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