Perfect for Lightroom.
For an index of all my Mac Pro articles, click here.
If still image processing is your thing and you do not need fast 4K, 8K or 100K movie capability, the old Mac Pro is perfectly adequate.
Click the video to learn more:
Hover the mouse over the video and click the rectangle at bottom right for a full screen view.
A nice 2010 dual CPU Mac Pro can be had for under $500, the faster CPUs to replace the pokey stock ones ran me $170 for two X5690 (at 3.46gHz, the fastest which will work in this chassis), the memory another $115 (you can use cheap server memory in a Mac Pro chassis) and I would recommend an RX580 GPU as it will work with Catalina (my GTX980 stops at High Sierra). Reckon on $180 for the GPU. So for under $1000 you have an industrial grade machine, as fast as anything out there, and infinitely repairable. The only modern connectivity you cannot install is Thunderbolt, so if that is important to you, this is not the right hardware solution.
For the techies out there, here’s the Geekbench data for CPU and memory performance:
Geekbench data for the computer used in the above video.
I am running High Sierra.
I am using a BENQ PD3200Q display which I recommend based on its price:performance.