Hi all!
I am planning on getting my first Apple Silicon Mac (coming from an Intel i9 16-inch MacBook Pro) and need some advice on which device I should purchase.
My primary focus is working with large files in graphic design apps such as Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. I also process numerous of heavy raw files using Capture One. Additionally, I do product design 3D modeling using Rhino and do some light video editing. In the near future, I will learn to use Blender as well, so having some extra headroom for 3d stuff is also important.
All I care about is the best possible smoothness when working within those apps intensively and the operating system itself while opening multiple apps. Render, export times are not my priority since I can working on other stuff while waiting for it. I also hope that when under heavy workload, the computer needs to be more quiet than my existing macbook pro.
Right now, my budget allow me to configure a brand-new Mac Mini M4 Pro with a 12-core CPU and a 16-core GPU + 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage (for education discount it is $1,479). But I also spotted some older M1 Max Mac Studios that are around the same price, and they often come with even more RAM (64GB) while still having 1TB of storage.
I’ve always heard that more RAM is a good thing for photoshop, illustrator, but I’m not sure if I should trade off some newer chip performance for more RAM in my situation where there are more stuff to handle than those 2 apps. My i9 macbook curre have 16 gb ram and I ran into lots of memory warnings so Im worry that maybe 24 gb of the mini might not be enough.
I am planning on getting my first Apple Silicon Mac (coming from an Intel i9 16-inch MacBook Pro) and need some advice on which device I should purchase.
My primary focus is working with large files in graphic design apps such as Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. I also process numerous of heavy raw files using Capture One. Additionally, I do product design 3D modeling using Rhino and do some light video editing. In the near future, I will learn to use Blender as well, so having some extra headroom for 3d stuff is also important.
All I care about is the best possible smoothness when working within those apps intensively and the operating system itself while opening multiple apps. Render, export times are not my priority since I can working on other stuff while waiting for it. I also hope that when under heavy workload, the computer needs to be more quiet than my existing macbook pro.
Right now, my budget allow me to configure a brand-new Mac Mini M4 Pro with a 12-core CPU and a 16-core GPU + 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage (for education discount it is $1,479). But I also spotted some older M1 Max Mac Studios that are around the same price, and they often come with even more RAM (64GB) while still having 1TB of storage.
I’ve always heard that more RAM is a good thing for photoshop, illustrator, but I’m not sure if I should trade off some newer chip performance for more RAM in my situation where there are more stuff to handle than those 2 apps. My i9 macbook curre have 16 gb ram and I ran into lots of memory warnings so Im worry that maybe 24 gb of the mini might not be enough.