Brian

Now what's the difference between the "Business" and "Consumer" XPS 8900? State-side support if you live in the US. When you call Dell for help with the consumer models, you get "Bob," "Abraham," or "Judy" in India or Pakistan. With the business edition, you get "Joe from Kansas" or where-ever Dell US Support is. I like the 8900 because it doesn't come with a whole lot of crapware / bloatware. It's a straight forward computer. If someone comes across this thread and hates Dell, that's fine. Choose a different brand with the specs that I listed in the above comment box.

If you are an "Official" or "On-the-Books" business, then I'd get this Dell: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-8900-desktop/pd?oc=cax8900w7ph1057&model_id=xps-8900-desktop If you are a hobbyist, then the Dell XPS 8900: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/xps-8900-desktop/pd?oc=cax8900w7ph1057&model_id=xps-8900-desktop What you are looking for is: i5 or i7 CPU 8GB RAM at a Minimum / 16GB RAM Preferred 1TB HD at a Minimum / 2TB or larger Preferred Dedicated Video Card with its own Video Memory. 2GB or 4GB of Video Memory is fine. Windows 7 Pro 64-bit at a Minimum. DO NOT get a Windows 7 "Home" edition, as it caps out at 16GB of RAM. You need the "Pro" version to go higher, i.e. 32GB of RAM. Windows 10 is "fine" at this point, as long as it comes with a new computer. Most of the issues that people have are ones that have upgraded from Windows 7 or 8. With brand new computers, the upgrade path to Windows 10 is easier. As for which one, Windows 10 Home Edition or Windows 10 Pro, I would always recommend going the "Pro" edition. But it's not a deal breaker if the computer comes with Windows 10 Home.

You are fine. Plenty of space on both drives. Bridge has a cache for the same reasons as your web browser does, when there is a lack of RAM, it looks to the HD to supplement which helps with performance and stability.

If you feel like spending $999, go ahead. Basically, the Thunderbolt Display is 1/4 of a whole Mac. You provide the CPU, HD, etc. For $700 more, you can get a whole new iMac, that has a faster CPU, faster graphics, larger and faster HD. You are paying a premium for convenience. Your MacBook will hook up just fine to it and Apple provides a cable to hook your MBP easily.

BUY IT!

Oh I know what that is. Mac has an equivalent called a Fusion Drive. Just get the one without it.

Do not fall for the marketing tech-speak. Don't spend an extra $120 on the "Special Edition." Do not spend a $120 on a 32GB SSD drive. You can always add a SSD drive at a later date.

Here, I'm gonna make this easy. If you are a legit on-the-books photography business, then buy this Business Edition Dell 8900: http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetails/xps-8900-desktop/cax8900w7ph1057 If you are a hobbyist, and can't buy the biz-edition, find the consumer version and try to match all of the tech-specs.

Neither. A Solid State Drive is like a bunch of CF cards all put together in a device that looks like a HD. The benefit to them is speed. Windows 10 can boot up fully in as little as 15 seconds. Now before you go buying stuff, in this case I WOULD NOT BUY EITHER. 256 for a main drive is microscopic by today's standards, let alone 32GB for a SSD drive!!! Please promise me you'll look for at least a 1TB HD and you'll post a screen shot of what you are going to buy before buying it. Pretty Please??

EHD on the left is the G-Drive. EHD on the right is the TM Drive. (Self-Built, has a WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM drive in a case.)

My Humble 2009 iMac:

If you are getting a new Mac, I'd use the Thunderbolt port. The nice part with that G-Drive is that it has a Thunderbolt Port AND a USB 3.0 port. I don't edit photos on a laptop. I have a Mac Desktop. My TM drive is always connected, but not always power it on. I'm more on my iPhone than computer these days. But to answer your question, you could hook up your laptop nightly for a TM backup. Of course, the benefit to TM, is if you screw up and delete something, you have a better chance of getting it back, as long as it's in the TM backup That said, nightly is fine. Hell, I go months, but I'm not shooting a bunch of sessions every week either. I do have a second HD that I clone the main drive, but it's not a G-Drive. It's just a EHD that I built myself with a old 2TB HD that I had. I just clone my photos to it. Document files, the little I have, get backed up to Dropbox. Honestly, I've been 2nd shooting lately and really haven't had my own gig in the last year or so. In fact, I'm almost ready to end this whole "Pro-Photography" thing. Don't have time for it with a day job. So I'm not the best example with how to do things. Asking me what *I* do might cause you serious issues. LMAO. But I accept if things go horribly wrong it's my own fault. I'm not going to go to a group and beg for help if something bad does happen. Now, when I do have gigs, I'm a little more paranoid. Cards get pulled out of rotation and images are copied from them, never moved. I don't reformat and use my CF cards until my Wedding / Gig is delivered to the client. The 2nd HD is used more, etc. Having multiple copies of files with at least one off-site backup is a good thing. Producing ACTUAL PRINTS is also another way to "backup."

Nope. Unless Apple releases a patch that is just meant for Safari, you can't just update the browser only. How about ditching Safari? I use Firefox.

The $79.99 Black G-Drive is probably a slower 5400 RPM drive, which is fine for TM. The one for $99 is a faster 7200RPM Drive. What I've done with my iMac is to have a 1TB TM EHD and one 4TB G-Drive for my photos and important files. I then have TM just backup the Inernal Macintosh HD. So my recommendation is to get two EHDs. One for data and one to backup the internal HD.

Any EHD can work with the Mac, it only depends on if it's partitioned and formatted with the Mac file system. Manufacturers know that people are willing to pay more for a Mac, so often you will see a "Mac Version" of a HD for $30-$50 more. It's complete and utter BS. The are banking on you spending more for "The Mac Version." LOL!! It's pure profit based on ones naiveness. I like G-Drives for the hardware that they use. They usually aren't the $79 special from a big box store. Coming Mac formatted is just a bonus. If any Windows users want to use a G-Drive, there is a process that you that takes literally 5 min to convert it over. No extra software needed. It's built into the OS. Same thing with converting a Windiws drive to the Mac file system. A good rule of thumb when it comes to time machine is the EHD should be 1.5 times the Data that you are backing up. So if you have a 1TB internal HD, that's almost full, you really should look at least a 2TB drive. Of course, if your internal HD is around 500-700MB full, you could get away with a 1TB drive. It's not a hard and fast rule. That said, the larger the TM EHD, the more wiggle-room you have in data recovery. The reason is when the TM drive starts to get full, it deletes files and folders from the oldest backup to make room. In addition, when you go to configure a TM backup, it's best to EXCLUDE ANY OTHER EXTERNAL DRIVES. Things can go really bad if you have a 3TB EHD and a 1TB TM EHD and you tell Time Machine to backup your whole Mac. So in short, just use your TM EHD to backup the internal Mac HD. Make sense? Time Machine is so friggin' easy to use. When you plug in a new EHD, the Mac OS pops up with a question, "Use this drive for Time Machine?" If it's the Drive meant for TM, tell it "Yes."

Hmm. I'm going to move this thread to the land of misfits. This is a good question.

I feel your pain. I have buyer's remorse everytime I make a large purchase. Just remember... Buy it Right...Buy it Once.

Seems to be ok.

This one seems to be the latest and greatest Dell Monitory. It's a 4K screen: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PC9HFO8/ref=twister_B014R6J7VU?tag=macrumors-20&_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Budget? Personally, I own and like G-Drives. Since you are getting a new iMac, it will have a shiny new Thunderbolt Port. So I would get a 3TB G-Drive with Thunderbolt and USB 3.0. If you can swing a $100 more, you could get a 4TB version. If that is too expensive, and you are looking at just getting a 1TB drive, then take a look at this 1TB G-Drive with USB 3.0. The cool part with G-Drives is they are already Mac Formatted. Just plug them in and go.

If Time Machine is crapping out on you, then it's probably best to get a new HD and hook it up via a USB cable and manually copy folders over. Or try to use TM with a fresh External drive.

Yeah, try setting the D810 to 24MP and see how that works.

Any luck @jsiegel?

There are lots of options out there currently. It all depends on the amount of control that you desire. Some triggers just activate the shutter. Some are mostly wireless and others are directly connected to the camera. If you want to do time-lapse photography or to program the exposure for different intervals, you'll need something like a Nikon MC-36A Remote. Of course, with it being the Nikon brand, it's a lot more expensive. For a comparison, here is a Neewer Shoot Digital Intervalometer Timer Remote Control EZA-N1 that is less than $20. What's the difference? Without holding both controllers, I'd say resale value and durability is the main difference. Of course, this should be taken with a grain of salt, as Nikon triggers are just as easy to break as 3rd party triggers. The difference is they take a little longer to break. But for less $20...it's just $20 if it breaks or is forgotten out in the field. I've gone through about 3 third-party triggers in the last 9 years at about $20-$25 a trigger. The SMDV RFN-4s that you were thinking about looks interesting, but all that trigger does is activate the shutter. So you'll just need to count out your exposure times in your head, unless you just plan on setting the shutter for a 30 sec. exposure and calling it good. Here is the Nikon Wireless Adapter Set which is the OEM version of the SMDV RFN-4s. So it really boils down to how much you are willing to spend, and what you want the trigger to do for you. Since you are looking to do more Astrophotography and Northern Light stuff, I'd look more a the Intervalometer kind.

I'm going to be away for the rest of the afternoon. Let me know of your results, and I will respond when I get back to my computer. Later!