Hi all, the time is coming for me to change my 2014 iMac to something a bit more up to date.
Iāve pretty much decided Iām going down the MacBook and external monitor route.
I donāt have any great need for heavy Photoshop/Affinity use like I used to have in full time work (semi-retired now). Probably the most intensive use Iād have for it is basic music editing and mixing, and the odd short Youtube video (for the band I play in).
Image editing now generally comprises of rough cutouts of dogs comped together for me to paint.
And Blocs is on this list for use also.
So the questions Iām asking are:
Would a MacBook Air be sufficient or bite the bullet for a pro?
Amount of RAM?
Amount of hd space?
Looking forward to some insights, thanks very much all.
I use Blocs with a MB Air and it works great (I also use a Mac Studio). However, I would imagine apps like Photoshop will very likely be hindered by the standard M chips, so you may need a pro chip for Photoshop.
I would also hold off until October too as M4 chips coming to various Macs.
Cheers @Norm, as I say, very little Photoshop stuff going on now, so thatās not really a deal breaker for me. Also, running a 10-year old system I reckon anything will run better than that now!
Can I ask how much RAM you have?
Also, didnāt know about the M4 chips - there may be some deals around on older models then.
Thanks.
Im using an Apple M3 8gb with monitor and everything works great, even photoshop. I really do recommend the monitor though, as it can get congested using other apps like After effects etc and its a 15" macbook. After effects works fine but iād really get 16gb minimum if you use anything as intensive as that.
I use a M1 MBP. What I would recommend, get as much RAM as you possibly can. having a Mac you will use the Mac for a very long time and having enough RAM will keep your Mac acting very smoothly for a long time!
I was in trouble with anything graphic related on the 2018 i7 intel mini when running a 4K display, so I recently switched to a base model M2 mini pro that is a big improvement.
I would suggest 16 gigs of ram is a minimum if you want some kind of future proofing and breathing room when working. Unless you are really struggling though, I would wait a month or so for the new M4 machines. You can either grab a new one or potentially pick up a bargain on an outgoing model that would still be decent.
I have an M2 MacBook Air.
I run Final Cut Pro on it occasionally, so I donāt think power will be an issue for you.
I do agree with everyone elseā¦buy as much RAM as you can afford. At least 16GB, but more if you can afford it.
Thanks everyone, Iāve narrowed things down a bit now.
Knowing that this will probably be my last BIG computer purchase, Iāve set myself a decent budget and Iām probably deciding between the following, both within about Ā£200 of each other.:
14-inch MacBook Pro Apple M3 Pro chip with 11ācore CPU, 14ācore GPU and 16ācore Neural Engine 18GB unified memory 1TB SSD storage
15-inch MacBook Air Apple M3 chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16ācore Neural Engine 24GB unified memory 2TB SSD storage (Might go 1tb and external SSDās)
They both seem like a decent, slightly future-proof spec to me, so any comments of pros and cons very much appreciated.
At the end performance wise there wonāt be much of a difference. I strongly recommend to check both side by side in an Apple Store to check the display (size) and speakers.
I would go for the 14-inch MacBook Pro from these two options.
The Air is also great (and has a bigger screen), but the Pro is pretty much better at every other aspect.
Not at an Apple Store, but just come back from my sons place where he has a last gen 13" Pro and his girlfriend has a 16" pro - Iām rather taken with the larger size, so I think Iām sorted on what I want now.
You can see Apple has lock us all in with their proprietary line of computers. All I hear from MAC user is how much they detest the way Apple control the market.
