Macbook pro M4 pro or Macbook pro M1 Max

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Sachinr

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Hi All,

I have been a Windows user till date, but now looking to move to Mac instead for photo editing and video rendering. I use Lightroom Classic, Da Vinci, and Topaz software for most of our work. I have two options that I am getting:
1. A refurbished 14-inch Macbook Pro with M1 Max with 2TB SSD, 64 GB Memory and 32 GB GPU for £1800
2. A new 14-inch Macbook Pro with M4 Pro with 1TB SSD, 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU, and 16‑core Neural Engine for £2100

What would you suggest, given that I have never used a Mac and the main purpose is still photo editing?

Thanks
Sachin
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/_sachinrastogi_/
 
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Sachinr said:
Hi All,

I have been a Windows user till date, but now looking to move to Mac instead for photo editing and video rendering. I use Lightroom Classic, Da Vinci, and Topaz software for most of our work. I have two options that I am getting:
1. A refurbished 14-inch Macbook Pro with M1 Max with 2TB SSD, 64 GB Memory and 32 GB GPU for £1800
2. A new 14-inch Macbook Pro with M4 Pro with 1TB SSD, 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU, and 16‑core Neural Engine for £2100

What would you suggest, given that I have never used a Mac and the main purpose is still photo editing?

Thanks
Sachin
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/_sachinrastogi_/
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You don’t mention how much RAM your M4 option would have. One thing that has been widely recommended is to boost the RAM specified when purchasing as the best way to enhance Apple Silicon performance. Strongly suggest you review this - https://bythom.com/reviews--books/recommended-mac-hardware.html - and note the emphasis on RAM which cannot be added later.
 
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I have the following comments.

I went from PC to MAC recently and I can say I was blown away by a reconditioned M1. It completely blew away the PC the silicone chips on the MAC are amazing and even M1 is effective.

But you mention video rendering. I don't do video but I would be cautious because video demands more. For that reason I would go for the M4 and try to boost the specs.

Be aware that you will not want to do a lot of editing with the 14 inch screen. You will want external monitors. I ended up getting the Apple Studio monitor which is wonderful for processing with 27 inches in size and 5k resolution. I assume you must have some monitors already.

You will want external high speed SSD drives and you are also going to need backup drives as well if you don't already have them.

I would seek more advice on the video work.
 
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Sachinr said:
Hi All,

I have been a Windows user till date, but now looking to move to Mac instead for photo editing and video rendering. I use Lightroom Classic, Da Vinci, and Topaz software for most of our work. I have two options that I am getting:
1. A refurbished 14-inch Macbook Pro with M1 Max with 2TB SSD, 64 GB Memory and 32 GB GPU for £1800
2. A new 14-inch Macbook Pro with M4 Pro with 1TB SSD, 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU, and 16‑core Neural Engine for £2100

What would you suggest, given that I have never used a Mac and the main purpose is still photo editing?

Thanks
Sachin
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/_sachinrastogi_/
Click to expand...
Look at Thom’s site and Matt K as well…they have some comparisons and also ArtIsRight on YouTube. All of them recommend upgrading RAM first and then cores, particularly the graphics cores. Generally speaking…most of them find the extra cost of the Max over the Pro isn’t worth the improvement within a single M series…but I can’t remember what they said about across M families, but I would guess the M4 jump from M1 will win.
 
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Sachinr said:
Hi All,

I have been a Windows user till date, but now looking to move to Mac instead for photo editing and video rendering. I use Lightroom Classic, Da Vinci, and Topaz software for most of our work. I have two options that I am getting:
1. A refurbished 14-inch Macbook Pro with M1 Max with 2TB SSD, 64 GB Memory and 32 GB GPU for £1800
2. A new 14-inch Macbook Pro with M4 Pro with 1TB SSD, 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU, and 16‑core Neural Engine for £2100

What would you suggest, given that I have never used a Mac and the main purpose is still photo editing?

Thanks
Sachin
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/_sachinrastogi_/
Click to expand...
When I recently went to the Apple Store to upgrade my post-processing stuff, the rep that I talked to suggested that I did not need to upgrade my M1 Max MacBook Pro, as the chip is just about as fast as the newer chips. I did upgrade to a studio display, and I am quite happy with that, as the display is outstanding.
 
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cr_wildlife said:
When I recently went to the Apple Store to upgrade my post-processing stuff, the rep that I talked to suggested that I did not need to upgrade my M1 Max MacBook Pro, as the chip is just about as fast as the newer chips. I did upgrade to a studio display, and I am quite happy with that, as the display is outstanding.
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I agree the M1 is more than adequate for photo processing.

Thom Hogan suggests the higher M chips mainly help with mathematical computations and are not needed with photo processing.

What does matter is the speed of hard drives and the speed of data transfer. Because of the expense of internal drives in the MAC and the large amount of data we handle, the smart move is to use external fast SSD;s for processing and loading images.

Data transfer speeds are increasing with later iterations of Thunderbolt and USB connections. I believe the M4 units will support Thunderbolt 5. While devices capable of exploiting those speeds are not yet on the market, they will be. ITehre is some value in future proofing your setup.
 
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Sachinr said:
Hi All,

I have been a Windows user till date, but now looking to move to Mac instead for photo editing and video rendering. I use Lightroom Classic, Da Vinci, and Topaz software for most of our work. I have two options that I am getting:
1. A refurbished 14-inch Macbook Pro with M1 Max with 2TB SSD, 64 GB Memory and 32 GB GPU for £1800
2. A new 14-inch Macbook Pro with M4 Pro with 1TB SSD, 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU, and 16‑core Neural Engine for £2100

What would you suggest, given that I have never used a Mac and the main purpose is still photo editing?

Thanks
Sachin
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/_sachinrastogi_/
Click to expand...
Buying a refurbished macbook on m1 makes no sense now. Soon it will stop supporting the operating system and programs. No one knows what Apple will come up with in the new update and what will be added. But I can say for sure, the appetite for RAM consumption is growing every year. The M1 chip may be considered obsolete. It's gone three generations. In case of need, it will be impossible to sell it or can be sold, only at the price of scrap metal. If you shoot video with a camera, the computer will cope with this task. But if you have RED or ARRI cameras, forget it. There mac studio with 128 gb of RAM does not take out RAW in 4K. One last thing. It is better to take RAM with reserve and large.
 
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wotan1 said:
I believe the M4 units will support Thunderbolt 5.
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the base m4 is still tb4, but the m4 pro and up are tb5

wotan1 said:
While devices capable of exploiting those speeds are not yet on the market, they will be.
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owc and sabrent have demoed tb5 ssd drives and have them available for pre-order. they put up big numbers, 6000MB/s writes iirc

wotan1 said:
ITehre is some value in future proofing your setup.
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i basically wouldn’t buy a system these days w/o tb
 
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John Navitsky said:
another plug for ArtIsRight on youtube. he’s doing photo workflow specific comparisons
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True…but he’s comparing things like 1,000 exports. That allows him to show what he calls significant differences in performance, but most of us aren’t doing that. We are sending a dozen images to DxO or doing a pano merge…and for most LR operations I’m not convinced there is actually significant time savings. I’m still on the fence but need to hone in on the percentage gain and then time some standard workflow ops to see. But I agree with. R. Fox…buying a refurb or even new M1 today isn’t recommended, md personally I would not get an Air unless weight is the most important criteria…better screen, more ports, a fan, and better specs make it a no go rec unless budget or weight are the top criteria. As for TB 5…sure, it’s nice but peripherals with it will remain scarce for a year at least and very expensive for longer than that IMO…and it….while admittedly faster…will make little actual performance improvement for the vast majority of users.
 
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For context with respect to recommending the M4 Pro earlier, with 48 GB of RAM, I currently use a 2021 M1 Pro MBP with 16 GB of RAM, running LR/LRc/Photoshop, Narrative and Topaz Photo AI.

I’m shooting, culling and processing about 1000-1500 RAW images from a D850/Z8/Z7ii kit each month, with the expectation to double or triple that number over the coming year. My workflow at times gets a bit laggy when culling in Narrative and applying denoise, sharpening, etc. to images in Topaz.

I shoot for both personal enjoyment and a nascent wedding/event photography business. Occasionally, I’ll print to my Canon Pro 1000 for home use. I rarely shoot video, other than with a GoPro or Insta360 on my motorcycle, strictly for viewing/sharing clips without editing.

I plan to upgrade to either an M4 Pro MacBook Pro or M4 Pro Studio, with 32 to 48 GB of RAM, in early 2025.
 
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Anjin San said:
True…but he’s comparing things like 1,000 exports. That allows him to show what he calls significant differences in performance, but most of us aren’t doing that. We are sending a dozen images to DxO or doing a pano merge…and for most LR operations I’m not convinced there is actually significant time savings. I’m still on the fence but need to hone in on the percentage gain and then time some standard workflow ops to see. But I agree with. R. Fox…buying a refurb or even new M1 today isn’t recommended, md personally I would not get an Air unless weight is the most important criteria…better screen, more ports, a fan, and better specs make it a no go rec unless budget or weight are the top criteria. As for TB 5…sure, it’s nice but peripherals with it will remain scarce for a year at least and very expensive for longer than that IMO…and it….while admittedly faster…will make little actual performance improvement for the vast majority of users.
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Fair. That said, preview building is a big problem for a lot of us. In my case, I do handle thousands of files, and preview builds totally kick my butt on my current system.

But the other thing I'd say, is the jump from the base to the pro isn't a huge price increase, and considering the performance bump, I wouldn't recommend anyone doing a photo workflow go with the base.

It's going to last you longer and your workflow snappier, even if you aren't handling large numbers of images.

The other thing is... remember these are totally non expandable, non upgradable units. What you get is what you get, so you have to also think about what performance is going to look like down the road.
 
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