I’m currently using a Mac desktop for all of my workflow- it’s a Retina 4k, 21.5 inch, 2017, 3.6 GHz Intel Core i7 processor. I’ve had it since 2018, so it is right at about 4 years old. It’s been good, but it unfortunately only has 8 GB of RAM. This model is more difficult to add RAM to, so it would require a few days at the Apple store and I believe I was quoted about $300 total to upgrade to 16 GB (I need to double check, but it wasn’t a huge amount of money).
Since I upgraded my camera in 2019, this Mac has been veryyyyy slow. My RAW images with my upgraded camera are around 50-60 MB and my computer has a difficult time keeping up with my workload. I often have to sit for 20 seconds at a time to wait for it to catch up to me. I know the RAM is the huge issue.
My question is: would it be wiser to just upgrade my entire computer at this point? Or just upgrade the RAM? I don’t know realistically how much time I can expect to get out of this iMac. I don’t want to upgrade the RAM for it to just die in a year. This was the first purchase I made when I started photography and I’ve never known any different.
Any advice would be so helpful and appreciated!
