What Apple device to choose to edit photos

[Moath]

I have 2018 MBPro and considering upgrading to edit photos, mainly on LRc.

I want your opinions and recommendations on what to buy since there are multiple options. I’m looking for something that will last for years. What would you recommend to get? MBPro M2? Mac Studio? What specs should look for?

Looking forward to hearing from you

 

[Bucolic Old Sir Henry]

I have a 2022 M1 Max Mac Studio (the 32 core GPU version, with 32 GB RAM), and a Studio display - bought because I was intending to upgrade my old iMac 21" to an Apple Silicon 27" iMac, a model Apple decided not to produce. I use LRC, and can say that compared to my old i7 iMac this thing screams along. About the only thing that makes it pause for thought is focus stacking, but even that is much, much faster than my old machine. I used to be able to set a stack going, then go into the kitchen and make a cup of tea, search for a biscuit, stare out of the window, drink the tea and then still have to find something to do while it finished. Now I barely have time to put the kettle on.

I tend to run my Macs for 4-5 years, and I can't see the Studio feeling slow any time soon. The Studio Display is excellent, though expensive, but will probably last me through a few CPU upgrades.

For photo editing, although the current MB Pros have really good displays, you might find the extra screen area available with an iMac or Mac Studio/display combo useful. I certainly do - and if I want to edit while travelling, I can always use my iPad.

In terms of what chip to get, any M2 series Mac is going to be a lot faster than your MB Pro. You can get a bit of future proofing by buying the higher RAM versions, and larger numbers of graphics cores, but even a base M2 chip will handle Lightroom and Photoshop with ease. If the iMac appeals, it might be worth waiting a month or two, because the rumour mill suggests a new model using a new M3 chip might be out soon.

Hope that helps.

 

[MrSparks999]

Glad you mentioned possibility of new iMac, am considering getting one but will hang on to see if new one gets released this month as the rumours suggest may happen.

 

[David Berry]

MacBook Pro or Desktop?​

This is the first decision to be made — in my opinion, anyway!​

​

Will the new computer be kept in one place, just like a television, and only be moved when it's time to move house? Unless this is the case, choose a MacBook Pro.​

Screen…​

Compared with a typical desktop setup, the MacBook Pro's screen is small. It is also high resolution, making the text in LrC's panels — and on the screen as I type this — difficult to read.​

​

It is probably a good idea to factor in the cost of a new external monitor. I have my eye on the BenQ SW272U photographer's monitor. (AU$ in that link, so don't be too alarmed.)​

How much memory and storage?​

Plan on needing a lot more memory (gigabytes, GB) and storage (terabytes, TB) than before.​

​

Whatever seems adequate, double it. This is a computer for the next five years!​

My Experience…​

I held onto my 2013 MacBook Pro for far too long, replacing it at the beginning of this year with the current model MBP.​

​

Choosing maximum memory and storage automatically upgraded the configuration to the fastest processor option, and the price to considerably more than I had intended.​

​

What I paid Apple for a 2023 MBP 16 (96 GB memory + 8 TB storage) was roughly the same as the combined cost of my R5 and RF100–500.​

​

I have had no regrets; however, the cost was so high that I have delayed the purchase of an external monitor and more appropriate backup drives.​

… David

 

[Only RF]

I also use LrC and Adobe came out with Denoise AI in April. All AI eats VRAM including Topaz, DXO DeepPrime, etc.

For my 2019 iMac I made sure to get 8GB VRAM because I knew more AI would be coming. My older iMac struggled with just Topaz DeNoise AI alone. I have 64GB memory on 500GB SSD which is about ½ full. Denoise took about 43 seconds but now about 33. I guess there were some improvements along the way somewhere.

I have a 2020 MacBook Air with the M1 chip I use for travel. 250GB SSD (also half full) and 16GB memory. Basically it is faster than my iMac for everything expect Denoise. Denoise takes about 115 seconds. Currently Ventura/Sonoma and LrC is not taking advantage of the unified memory. Perhaps LrC 13 may correct that but I don't know for sure. Apparently this is an Apple issue. LrC 13 is just around the corner (LrC 12 on Oct 18 last year) so we will see. Even if I could get Denoise down to 30 to 40 seconds for a travel laptop I'd be fine with it.

I use external storage so I save my money on the SSD and put it into other things. LrC requires 20% of free hard drive space. Unofficial rule of thumb is 100GB.

More AI will come so for me a priority is future proofing memory. Beefing up M1 or M2. Also get the fastest processor you can afford.

 

[Only RF]

I also say I got my 2019 27" iMac with 8GB RAM and added the rest myself. From the days when you could do that.

 

[Moath]

I have a 2022 M1 Max Mac Studio (the 32 core GPU version, with 32 GB RAM), and a Studio display - bought because I was intending to upgrade my old iMac 21" to an Apple Silicon 27" iMac, a model Apple decided not to produce. I use LRC, and can say that compared to my old i7 iMac this thing screams along. About the only thing that makes it pause for thought is focus stacking, but even that is much, much faster than my old machine. I used to be able to set a stack going, then go into the kitchen and make a cup of tea, search for a biscuit, stare out of the window, drink the tea and then still have to find something to do while it finished. Now I barely have time to put the kettle on.

I tend to run my Macs for 4-5 years, and I can't see the Studio feeling slow any time soon. The Studio Display is excellent, though expensive, but will probably last me through a few CPU upgrades.

For photo editing, although the current MB Pros have really good displays, you might find the extra screen area available with an iMac or Mac Studio/display combo useful. I certainly do - and if I want to edit while travelling, I can always use my iPad.

In terms of what chip to get, any M2 series Mac is going to be a lot faster than your MB Pro. You can get a bit of future proofing by buying the higher RAM versions, and larger numbers of graphics cores, but even a base M2 chip will handle Lightroom and Photoshop with ease. If the iMac appeals, it might be worth waiting a month or two, because the rumour mill suggests a new model using a new M3 chip might be out soon.

Hope that helps.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with your current M1 Studio. This is exactly what I was looking for. I have the same concept of using the product for 5 years, and that's why I decided to upgrade, as my current MB Pro is overheating, and fans go crazy with simple tasks.

Based on your experience with the M1, it would be sufficient to get. However, considering the future and the long-term usability of the device, I think I'll wait till November and see if they're launching the iMac, and if it's better than the Studio (cost-wise) or not.

Thanks again; this was very helpful. Much appreciated.

 

[Moath]

Glad you mentioned possibility of new iMac, am considering getting one but will hang on to see if new one gets released this month as the rumours suggest may happen.

Exactly, it would be an advantage over the Studio since you need to get the Studio Display as well.

 

[Moath]

MacBook Pro or Desktop?​

This is the first decision to be made — in my opinion, anyway!​

​

Will the new computer be kept in one place, just like a television, and only be moved when it's time to move house? Unless this is the case, choose a MacBook Pro.​

Screen…​

Compared with a typical desktop setup, the MacBook Pro's screen is small. It is also high resolution, making the text in LrC's panels — and on the screen as I type this — difficult to read.​

​

It is probably a good idea to factor in the cost of a new external monitor. I have my eye on the BenQ SW272U photographer's monitor. (AU$ in that link, so don't be too alarmed.)​

How much memory and storage?​

Plan on needing a lot more memory (gigabytes, GB) and storage (terabytes, TB) than before.​

​

Whatever seems adequate, double it. This is a computer for the next five years!​

My Experience…​

I held onto my 2013 MacBook Pro for far too long, replacing it at the beginning of this year with the current model MBP.​

​

Choosing maximum memory and storage automatically upgraded the configuration to the fastest processor option, and the price to considerably more than I had intended.​

​

What I paid Apple for a 2023 MBP 16 (96 GB memory + 8 TB storage) was roughly the same as the combined cost of my R5 and RF100–500.​

​

I have had no regrets; however, the cost was so high that I have delayed the purchase of an external monitor and more appropriate backup drives.​

… David

MacBook Pro or Desktop?​

This is the first decision to be made — in my opinion, anyway!​

​

Will the new computer be kept in one place, just like a television, and only be moved when it's time to move house? Unless this is the case, choose a MacBook Pro.​

I agree with you. This is the first (logical) question to answer to know which to choose. However, It doesn't matter to me since I have my iPad Pro in case I need to do something on the go. I care more about the performance, and what was concerning me about MBPro are 2 things:
1. The display, as you mentioned.
2. the fans when working heavy operations.

Screen…​

Compared with a typical desktop setup, the MacBook Pro's screen is small. It is also high resolution, making the text in LrC's panels — and on the screen as I type this — difficult to read.​

​

It is probably a good idea to factor in the cost of a new external monitor. I have my eye on the BenQ SW272U photographer's monitor. (AU$ in that link, so don't be too alarmed.)​

That's a very interesting choice. If I may ask, why would you consider this display over Apple's Studio Display?

My Experience…​

I held onto my 2013 MacBook Pro for far too long, replacing it at the beginning of this year with the current model MBP.​

​

Choosing maximum memory and storage automatically upgraded the configuration to the fastest processor option, and the price to considerably more than I had intended.​

​

What I paid Apple for a 2023 MBP 16 (96 GB memory + 8 TB storage) was roughly the same as the combined cost of my R5 and RF100–500.​

​

I have had no regrets; however, the cost was so high that I have delayed the purchase of an external monitor and more appropriate backup drives.​

Thank you so much, David, for sharing your experience. This is very helpful. I'm curious though, if the Studio was available at the time you decided to get your MBPro, would you still have chosen the MBPro over the Studio?

I think I'm going to go with the Studio M2 Ultra, 128GB RAM, 4TB SSD

 

[Moath]

I also use LrC and Adobe came out with Denoise AI in April. All AI eats VRAM including Topaz, DXO DeepPrime, etc.

For my 2019 iMac I made sure to get 8GB VRAM because I knew more AI would be coming. My older iMac struggled with just Topaz DeNoise AI alone. I have 64GB memory on 500GB SSD which is about ½ full. Denoise took about 43 seconds but now about 33. I guess there were some improvements along the way somewhere.

I have a 2020 MacBook Air with the M1 chip I use for travel. 250GB SSD (also half full) and 16GB memory. Basically it is faster than my iMac for everything expect Denoise. Denoise takes about 115 seconds. Currently Ventura/Sonoma and LrC is not taking advantage of the unified memory. Perhaps LrC 13 may correct that but I don't know for sure. Apparently this is an Apple issue. LrC 13 is just around the corner (LrC 12 on Oct 18 last year) so we will see. Even if I could get Denoise down to 30 to 40 seconds for a travel laptop I'd be fine with it.

I use external storage so I save my money on the SSD and put it into other things. LrC requires 20% of free hard drive space. Unofficial rule of thumb is 100GB.

More AI will come so for me a priority is future proofing memory. Beefing up M1 or M2. Also get the fastest processor you can afford.

This is very interesting! If I may ask, how's the fan performance? is it noisy when you use the LrC?

 

[Only RF]

This is very interesting! If I may ask, how's the fan performance? is it noisy when you use the LrC?

I just ran Denoise and it didn't speed up. I did have it cleaned a few months ago so it doesn't kick in often. Sometimes building 1:1 previews for larger imports.

 

[Bucolic Old Sir Henry]

I think I'm going to go with the Studio M2 Ultra, 128GB RAM, 4TB SSD

I suspect that would be overkill if you're only working with still images. The Ultra comes at a considerable price premium to the M2 Max, and would only be stretched by lots of video editing, or 3D modelling. The money you save would cover a good display!

Apple SSD prices tend to be high, so you could also save more money by getting 1TB internal, and buying more affordable external SSDs. I keep the current year's images on the internal SSD for speed, and previous year's files on external drives.

One advantage the Studio has over any iMac is loads of connections. I was able to get rid of a USB hub and plug everything into the Studio. I find the SD card slot on the front really useful too...

 

[Moath]

I suspect that would be overkill if you're only working with still images. The Ultra comes at a considerable price premium to the M2 Max, and would only be stretched by lots of video editing, or 3D modelling. The money you save would cover a good display!

Apple SSD prices tend to be high, so you could also save more money by getting 1TB internal, and buying more affordable external SSDs. I keep the current year's images on the internal SSD for speed, and previous year's files on external drives.

One advantage the Studio has over any iMac is loads of connections. I was able to get rid of a USB hub and plug everything into the Studio. I find the SD card slot on the front really useful too...

Thanks for the tip. I agree with you on the SSD memory since I also need to consider the display (which is not cheap by any means ).
That was very helpful! I'm grateful for your tips and recommendations!