Moving from 2017 Retina 5K to Mac Mini. Recommendation/Suggestions?

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Level 1

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Moving from 2017 Retina 5K to Mac Mini. Recommendation/Suggestions?

It's time to upgrade my late 2014 iMac Retina 5k, 27" and am considering recommendations for the move to a new system.

I primarily use Lightroom and Photoshop as an advanced hobbyist for image processing (not particularly video). All my work is done on a desktop and not mobile. I'm happy with the current 27" display but would consider an upgrade to a 32” monitor. I currently use about 3TB for all my images and my total system storage is 6.12TB.

Current configuration:

Running macOS Big Sur

iMac Retina 5K, 27 inch (3840 x 2160), Late 2014

Processor 3.5 GHz Quad Core Intel Core i5

Memory 24 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2 GB

Storage 6.12 TB Fusion Drive (2.45 TB available)

External 8 TB USB disk for Time Machine

Considering

Mac Mini Pro (12‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine) with 1TB and storing large libraries on an external SSD.

Total LR storage is 100GB (size of LR folder) whereas the catalog itself is 1.5GB.

SSD that was recommended to me was OWC Express 1M2 NVMe SSD - 8.0TB

I’d store the LR catalog on the 1TB SSD and the images on the external 8TB SSD.

Apple Studio Display 27” - speaker quality and built in camera approx. $1500

Open to other ideas on monitors but do enjoy the built in camera, excellent sound system and minimal cables from my Retina 5K. Apple’s Pro Display is more than I want to pay for my needs.

If other monitors don’t have integrated sound/camera, I’d need to purchase.

Thanks for your ideas,

Gary

Posted on Nov 8, 2025 5:48 PM

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Answer 1

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woodmeister50

Level 7

20,961 points

Nov 9, 2025 5:00 AM in response to gmarcos

Using Lightroom and Photoshop you are obviously aware of the high demands on RAM so I would suggest getting more than the 24GB of RAM because you cannot add more later unlike your iMac. With those apps and macOS, the future will only demand more and more RAM. I have used both apps over the years and have only seen them get more and more RAM hungry.

With the speeds of the OWC 1M2, I would move all photo stuff to the OWC drive including Lightroom catalogs, caches, and scratch and the same with Photoshop. I have a plain M4 chip and OWC 1M2 runs at the same speed as the internal. Actually, you could move nearly all of your stuff to the external drive and run a "bare minimum" 512GB internal saving you some bucks.

Personally, being what I would consider an advanced amateur photographer myself, if I could afford it, I would get a base MacStudio.

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Answer 2

Nov 9, 2025 3:20 AM in response to gmarcos

I have a 27" 2017 iMac and 2 years ago bought a base model M2 mini which did everything twice as fast as my iMac.

Earlier this year I bought an M4 mini which is three times faster than the old 27 inch iMac. Once again I bought the base model which cost me £530 new. The only problem with the base model is that it has a very small hard drive or SSD. However this is not really a problem because I use an external SSD.

What is more I have installed the operating system on the external SSD and boot the mini from that. It is a 2TB NVME drive in a thunderbolt enclosure which cost around £170 in total.

What I am suggesting is that even the base model together with external SSDs would probably be more than enough for your requirements. I use mine mainly for video editing with Final Cut Pro and da Vinci Resolve. The old iMac was fine even with 4K but of course the M2 and M4 minis just blow it out of the water.

I use cheap Phillips 27 inch monitors one is a 1080p and the other 4K. They cost £110 and £170 respectively. You can of course plug the mini into any television using on HDMI cable and use that as a massive monitor.

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Answer 3

Nov 9, 2025 3:25 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

I forgot to mention WebCams. The Logitech 270 which costs less than £20 is better than the built-in 2017 iMac WebCam. It gives a much sharper image.

Most monitors have very poor speakers but for £20 you can buy Creative Pebble speakers which are roughly as good as the old iMac.

You don't need to start spending thousands in order to get a good set up.

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