iphoto hogging space?

[simple_chi]

I am getting a new Mac for Valentine's Day from DH!!

I found that on my old Mac, iphoto was putting all my photos into new folders each time I uploaded and for vertical (portrait) photos, it was storing the original and creating a copy and storing it in the 'Modified' set of folders. This was in iphoto'08.

This meant that many of my photos were taking up 2x the space. And having some photos in 'Originals' and some in 'Modified' made it more difficult to copy photos to other places because I had to search for them (when it wasn't an approved iphoto export location).
While I've been using an interium PC, I used Lightroom and loved it. My thought was to not use iphoto on the new Mac, but I wondered what you all were doing and what I'd give up not using iphoto?

I know I would give up facial recognition, but as my kids are little (1, 3, 5) so they change quickly and look a lot alike, I've found the recognition doesn't work for the bulk of my photos.

Also, any advice on which Mac, would be great - I want lots of storage and while I'll use it to travel, that won't be too often, so it doesn't have to be too lightweight.

Thanks,
Lynn

[Amy L]

I love my Mac, but I've never been a fan of iPhoto. So I'd say you won't miss it!

Are you getting a laptop or a desktop?

[iUma]

YOu say you want to travel with it....so laptop, right? 17" MacBookPro....biggest hard drive and most ram you can afford!! I love mine, Merr loves hers and I don't know who else has one. I have mine set up with an external monitor and Keyboard and wacom Bamboo tablet and I just undo all that to go...which I do a lot.

HAppy Valentines Day, honey. You are gonna be SO happy!!

[jazzmatazz]

Another non-fan of iphoto here. The way it uploads and organizes photos is cumbersome. I'm new to Lightroom and don't use it yet to organize but know that there was a thread about it here, perhaps in the photography forum. I know that I don't miss iphoto at all ...

[anxela]

I use iphoto for one thing only - making photo books. I use lightroom, and i love it. But in iPhoto there is an option to not store photos in iphoto, just organize. If you decide to use it, that's the way to cut on the space it uses.

I second what is said above. But check out what extra RAM would cost if buying from another place than the Apple Store. You can save quite a lot buying the RAM elsewhere. Same RAM, from same manufacturer, just a lot less expensive. At least this was true when I bought my mac before Christmas.

[LauraBean]

If you opt for Aperture, you won't need to give up face recognition. Aperture has all the features of iPhoto without the messy file organization. The editing and photo organization tools are terrific, and the newest version--just out--has some fabulous features.