I continue to use Dell desktop , my current one is 64GB ram Precision T3610 it's quite a machine but still running Windows 10, need to upgrade before long for Windows 11 but not looking forward to that.
How Much Memory (RAM)?
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alecdann
Member
64. GB ram should be sufficient for some time. The biggest issue I see my students running into is lack of Graphics memory and/or processing speed. Adobe runs all their AI processing off the graphics processor (GPU) . That includes all the new selection methods and many of the removal tools so it's important to pay attention to buying a new machine. Adobe's new machines, including the iMac, unify the memory across the CPU, GPU, and neural engine. 64 GB should be sufficient, but if you have the money I would invest in more core in the GPU.
Here is what Apple says about the new processing set up: "M-series chips include high-performance unified memory, which is more efficient than traditional RAM. This single pool of high-performance memory allows apps to efficiently share data between the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine — so everything you do is fast and fluid. This means you can do more with unified memory than you could with the same amount of traditional RAM."
Here is what Apple says about the new processing set up: "M-series chips include high-performance unified memory, which is more efficient than traditional RAM. This single pool of high-performance memory allows apps to efficiently share data between the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine — so everything you do is fast and fluid. This means you can do more with unified memory than you could with the same amount of traditional RAM."
I've purchased several future proof computers over the 40+ years that I've owned a computer. None of them really has been future proof. They've been more of an immediate future proof purchase, at best!
ccirelli
Well-known member
As others may have mentioned here, very first question is Mac or PC. The M-series Macs require much less RAM than comparable Windows PC's.
* I promise this is not a Mac vs PC reply, please no rioting
just offering basic info / my experience (which includes 20+ years in the IT world).
My primary photo apps are Lr Classic, Photoshop, and DxO PureRAW (v3). I have a newer 14" M2 MacBook Pro (16 / 1TB), and an entry-level M1 MacMini (8 / 256) that's pushing 5 years old now. The Mini still does absolutely fine processing 45mp RAW files from my Z8. Of course the MacBook Pro is faster for heavy-lifting tasks, building previews, DxO batches, etc. That said, my old no-frills Mini still remains my primary workstation for editing.
For photos only, with the M-series Macs, you're wasting money on RAM going any higher than 24gb. Some would argue 16gb, but I like to future-proof a little. At 32gb you are 110% more than covered for photo & video, 4k-8k. If you do a LOT of 8k, and like to keep a handful of heavy apps running simultaneously, then maybe a case could be made for 64gb.
Hope this is helpful in some way.
* I promise this is not a Mac vs PC reply, please no rioting
just offering basic info / my experience (which includes 20+ years in the IT world).My primary photo apps are Lr Classic, Photoshop, and DxO PureRAW (v3). I have a newer 14" M2 MacBook Pro (16 / 1TB), and an entry-level M1 MacMini (8 / 256) that's pushing 5 years old now. The Mini still does absolutely fine processing 45mp RAW files from my Z8. Of course the MacBook Pro is faster for heavy-lifting tasks, building previews, DxO batches, etc. That said, my old no-frills Mini still remains my primary workstation for editing.
For photos only, with the M-series Macs, you're wasting money on RAM going any higher than 24gb. Some would argue 16gb, but I like to future-proof a little. At 32gb you are 110% more than covered for photo & video, 4k-8k. If you do a LOT of 8k, and like to keep a handful of heavy apps running simultaneously, then maybe a case could be made for 64gb.
Hope this is helpful in some way.
Yes, it is helpful, as are the other replies. I'm a dedicated Mac user at home, but don't look down at PC users at all. My son works in the Data Science/Programming field and won't have a Mac, because the PC is what suits his needs the best.As others may have mentioned here, very first question is Mac or PC. The M-series Macs require much less RAM than comparable Windows PC's.
* I promise this is not a Mac vs PC reply, please no rioting
My primary photo apps are Lr Classic, Photoshop, and DxO PureRAW (v3). I have a newer 14" M2 MacBook Pro (16 / 1TB), and an entry-level M1 MacMini (8 / 256) that's pushing 5 years old now. The Mini still does absolutely fine processing 45mp RAW files from my Z8. Of course the MacBook Pro is faster for heavy-lifting tasks, building previews, DxO batches, etc. That said, my old no-frills Mini still remains my primary workstation for editing.
For photos only, with the M-series Macs, you're wasting money on RAM going any higher than 24gb. Some would argue 16gb, but I like to future-proof a little. At 32gb you are 110% more than covered for photo & video, 4k-8k. If you do a LOT of 8k, and like to keep a handful of heavy apps running simultaneously, then maybe a case could be made for 64gb.
Hope this is helpful in some way.
I'm using, at the moment, Lightroom Classic the most, with a bit of Photoshop, and a lot of Topaz photo applications within the first two. Photos only, but some are stitched panoramas, which can become quite large files.
Snedker1
New member
Hello CcirelliAs others may have mentioned here, very first question is Mac or PC. The M-series Macs require much less RAM than comparable Windows PC's.
* I promise this is not a Mac vs PC reply, please no rioting
My primary photo apps are Lr Classic, Photoshop, and DxO PureRAW (v3). I have a newer 14" M2 MacBook Pro (16 / 1TB), and an entry-level M1 MacMini (8 / 256) that's pushing 5 years old now. The Mini still does absolutely fine processing 45mp RAW files from my Z8. Of course the MacBook Pro is faster for heavy-lifting tasks, building previews, DxO batches, etc. That said, my old no-frills Mini still remains my primary workstation for editing.
For photos only, with the M-series Macs, you're wasting money on RAM going any higher than 24gb. Some would argue 16gb, but I like to future-proof a little. At 32gb you are 110% more than covered for photo & video, 4k-8k. If you do a LOT of 8k, and like to keep a handful of heavy apps running simultaneously, then maybe a case could be made for 64gb.
Hope this is helpful in some way.
i'm close to buy my first Macbook 14 inch M3 pro and 36 gb ram , mostly photo but if i'm doing ordinary Video editing 4k , is it ok or must i buy an M3 pro max with double encode/decode units ?
thanks in advance
jan
What you are seeking to buy is more than adequate for photo and some video.
You need to figure out how much hard drive you need. Generally the speed of the hard drive can be an issue with heavy photo editing. The internal drives on these macbooks are plenty fast enough but if you need larger capacity for your photos you will need a fast external drive. This generally means a fast SSD drive. I tried this with a RAID 5 array using spinning disks it worked but was pretty slow and tended to bog down.
A really fast external SSD drive will function close to the same as the internal drives and will give satisfactory performance.
I tried these setups with a MacBook Pro 16 m1 and I now use a Mac Studio M2. Both of those were base models with a 1TB disk. I had to buy an external drive for photo processing with the Studio to get the speed I wanted. I ended up buying a 7.62 TB high speed enterprise level G RAID SSD from B H for $900 something and am very happy with its performance. You could probably find a high speed single drive for a lot less, but I wanted a hardened enterprise level solution. The G RAID has a five year guarantee.
You of course will need to provide adequate hard drive and remote backup but you need that with any system and those don’t have to be really fast, just the photo-processing drive.
Snedker1
New member
Hello Wotan
Thank's for your response , much appreciated ! , the laptop is with 1 tb so i'm looking at a superfast Lacie ssd pro when working with files and a Lacie raid mirror ( spinning disk) for storing my photos / video
both is Thunderbolt 3 connection .....
jan
Snedker, nomenclature gets confusing. You want to begin your decision-making with MacBook Pro M3 Max with base SOC (System On Chip w/ 30 Cores) and 36 GB RAM. Price will take a jump of $500 if you opt for the 40-Core SOC, which has 48 GB RAM as its starting point.
Art at "ArtISRight" on YouTube has tested external SSDs with MacBook Pro's and found no measurable speed difference between internal Apple and external 3rd party SSDs. Apple SSD internal storage increase from 1 to 2 Tb is $400. A Samsung T7 4Tb external from B&H is less than $400.
I set my new system up a few months ago. I recall it was hard to find a fast single SSD drive bigger than 4 TB.
I ended up going with the 7.65 TB enterprise level G Drive. It is in a powered box complete with Thunderbolt hub, heat sink and internal fan. It is identified as rated for high volume use and has a five year guarantee. It cost in the $900 range. I doubt it is any faster than the 4tb Samsung T7 but i wanted the size, extra security and enterprise level quality and guarantee.
I checked and it would have cost me $2400 to upgrade to an 8 tb internal drive for the Mac Studio instead of the $900 something I spent for the external 7 something TB drive.
John Navitsky
Well-known member
ram wise, the key is to make sure you have enough ram so that everything you might commonly might have running at any given time can fit within ram
with lr and friends, i’ve found the footprint to be about 32gb, occasionally a smidge higher
so 32gb will probably be ok, but 64gb should be comfortable
yes, macs claim to be able to use less ram with the unified memory, but personally i’d stick with the formula of making sure everything fits in ram
also, i would really attempt to use nvme ssds for as much your use as possible
with lr and friends, i’ve found the footprint to be about 32gb, occasionally a smidge higher
so 32gb will probably be ok, but 64gb should be comfortable
yes, macs claim to be able to use less ram with the unified memory, but personally i’d stick with the formula of making sure everything fits in ram
also, i would really attempt to use nvme ssds for as much your use as possible
BlackRockArt
Well-known member
Yup, I always make sure my video encoding & rendering drives are NVME, the speed really kicks up a notch.
Oliver
liamtoh1
New member
Do you have a discrete video card for your PC?