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Do I need the M2 Pro?

The.316

The.316

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 14, 2010
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25100 GR
I’m deciding between the M2 and M2 Pro. Both are 16gb/512gb. I want to replace my late 2009 27” iMac. I use Adobe cloud services, photoshop mainly, and I’m very novice at it. I might want to get into some photo editing, but nothing major at all.

Here in Greece, the Pro is 400 euros more. I might have the chance to get a Pro from States, at the price of the M2 here, but I’m worried about it passing customs.

Im sure most answers will be the same, that the M2 is more than enough, but I’d like to read some opinions.

I was even thinking the 8gb/512 model, but I think the more ram is wiser.
 
960design said:
M2 will do you fine. Drop Adobe cloud services ( Photoshop ) and go with something a little more... less.
I use Pixelmator Pro for work and play. Look into Affinity as well.

Definitely go with the 16GB model, unless you change Macs every other year.
Click to expand...

Does Pixelmator and/or Affinity work similar to Photoshop? Again, I’m just using it lightly.

The M2 with 16gb here is the same price as a M2 Pro I found in the States, that also has AppleCare on it until 2026. So Im still deciding.

Would you think an M2 16gb/256gb with a external 1tb SSD drive be ok? For $200 total I can get a 2tb Samsung 980 pro and a 40gbps enclosure that will give me the same read/write speeds.

www.acasis.com

Acasis 40Gbps M.2 NVMe USB4 SSD Enclosure Compatible with TB4/3

Lightning-Speed Data Transfer ACASIS 40Gbps Nvme Enclosure, with blazing speed up to 40Gbps has you covered, offering the ultimate combination of speed, performance, and versatility. Transfer speed up to 40Gbps (varies by host device and SSD), transferring 2.5G large file in 1 second, even...
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The price would be cheaper than the M2, with 512gb, even with the additions.
 
The.316 said:
Does Pixelmator and/or Affinity work similar to Photoshop? Again, I’m just using it lightly.
Click to expand...
Yes, Pixelmator Pro does everything MOST people need. It does have its own way of doing things that are slightly different, so there is a slight learning curve. Most questions are easily chatgpt'd as they have been asked many time before.

Pixelmator has a 7 day free trial. Check it out. If you like it, $49.99 once, no subscriptions, no silliness.
 
iStorm said:
Another consideration to keep in mind is how many displays you want/need to use. The M2 supports up to two displays, and the M2 Pro supports up to three displays.
Click to expand...

I want to get a 34” ultrawide monitor, that has picture by picture. One side for my M2, the other for my work laptop. Dual monitor is not something I’m super interested in. My understanding, picture by picture allows me to use the same keyboard and mouse for both inputs, which is fine for me.
 
960design said:
Yes, Pixelmator Pro does everything MOST people need. It does have its own way of doing things that are slightly different, so there is a slight learning curve. Most questions are easily chatgpt'd as they have been asked many time before.

Pixelmator has a 7 day free trial. Check it out. If you like it, $49.99 once, no subscriptions, no silliness.
Click to expand...

I’ll try it out and purchase it if it works similar to PS. Thanks!
 
I was in the same boat, wasn't sure which mini to get. I went for the pro in the end, refurished from Taiwan, for about 970eur. I'm glad I went for that in the end as turns out I need the extra ports especially as my Dell monitor doesn't like HDMI so is using up one of the USB slots.

I didn't have any problems with customs, I had the whole box in my suitcase.

If you can get the pro in the US then might be a good idea. If you can get it refurbished then even better.
 
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The.316 said:
Does Pixelmator and/or Affinity work similar to Photoshop? Again, I’m just using it lightly.
Click to expand...
Fully similar, and Pixelmator or Affinity products are far better values than Adobe products, and without Adobe's egregious subscription model. This from someone who owned and upgraded the pricey Adobe Design Collection for years.

The real cost in any such product is the learning curve. Today 2023 I suggest learning Affinity.

Do note that you should consider 16 GB RAM to be an absolute minimum. The Mac OS will allow any level of RAM to function, but for anything to do with imagery more is RAM better.
 
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Although I hate Adobe's subscription model, neither Pixelmator Pro nor Affinity have been replacements for me. YMMV. The only way to know is to try them out for yourself. Affinity has a very generous 30-day trial.
 
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The.316 said:
I want to get a 34” ultrawide monitor, that has picture by picture. One side for my M2, the other for my work laptop. Dual monitor is not something I’m super interested in. My understanding, picture by picture allows me to use the same keyboard and mouse for both inputs, which is fine for me.
Click to expand...

I followed a similar path... from 27" iMac to Silicon Mac with a 5K2K 40" Ultrawide from Dell. The built-in hub does in fact allow multiple computer inputs (4 if I like) and I can display multiple running computers in various ways on the same screen at the same time. One keyboard & mouse in the hub can control more than 1 computer. Once you go ultra-wide, there is no going back to the nearly square-shaped screens of Apple monitors. The extra screen R.E. is just too useful. Hopefully, Apple opts to roll out an iMac UW someday for those who are only able to consider technology with an Apple logo on it.

I'm also coming from Adobe Creative Suite history and have embraced Pixelmator Pro on Silicon. The latter is incredibly great as a substitute for Photoshop but is certainly DIFFERENT from it. If you have any intentions to do work with it at home and then bounce into an office/client office to then do more in Photoshop, it is two very different apps. If your use is solely for you and you simply want to be able to do about anything someone can do in Photoshop, Pro is quite capable.

Photo editing from a novice level is probably not demanding enough to warrant PRO. But key to your consideration is not what you are doing now but what you are wanting to do YEARS from now. This jump for you is 2023-2009 = 14 years. If you keep this next Mac for similar time- if Apple will even support Silicon Macs for that long- your computing needs could be quite evolved/different in 2036. Yes, you could replace this Mac sooner than that... but yes you could have replaced that iMac sooner than 2023. The point: just in case this is your Mac for the next 14 years, you need to take your best shot at imagining what you might want to be doing with it way out there.

Does photo editing eventually lead to video editing? That could start making a case for PRO vs. NON-PRO. Do you anticipate the photo-editing to become a very big thing, processing huge numbers of very high resolution photos like a Photoshop guru? That could start making the same case.

Your iMac had the very great advantage of FLEXIBILITY to evolve as your needs of it evolved. Silicon has no such internal flexibility. If you get to a point where it's simply not enough computer or RAM or internal SSD, you have to replace the whole computer. Thus, you need to choose the Mac you'll need maybe 7 years from now vs. the one you need today... OR assume that you may outgrow this purchase much more quickly than that iMac and be buying ANOTHER one in about that much time.
 
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HobeSoundDarryl said:
I followed a similar path... from 27" iMac to Silicon Mac with a 5K2K 40" Ultrawide from Dell. The built-in hub does in fact allow multiple computer inputs (4 if I like) and I can display multiple running computers in various ways on the same screen at the same time. One keyboard & mouse in the hub can control more than 1 computer. Once you go ultra-wide, there is no going back to the nearly square-shaped screens of Apple monitors. The extra screen R.E. is just too useful. Hopefully, Apple opts to roll out an iMac UW someday for those who are only able to consider technology with an Apple logo on it.

I'm also coming from Adobe Creative Suite history and have embraced Pixelmator Pro on Silicon. The latter is incredibly great as a substitute for Photoshop but is certainly DIFFERENT from it. If you have any intentions to do work with it at home and then bounce into an office/client office to then do more in Photoshop, it is two very different apps. If your use is solely for you and you simply want to be able to do about anything someone can do in Photoshop, Pro is quite capable.

Photo editing from a novice level is probably not demanding enough to warrant PRO. But key to your consideration is not what you are doing now but what you are wanting to do YEARS from now. This jump for you is 2023-2009 = 14 years. If you keep this next Mac for similar time- if Apple will even support Silicon Macs for that long- your computing needs could be quite evolved/different in 2036. Yes, you could have replaced this Mac sooner than that... but yes you could have replaced that iMac sooner than 2023. The point: just in case this is your Mac for the next 14 years, you need to take your best shot at imagining what you might want to be doing with it way out there.

Does photo editing eventually lead to video editing? That could start making a case for PRO vs. NON-PRO. Do you anticipate the photo-editing to become a very big thing, processing huge numbers of very high resolution photos like a Photoshop guru? That could start making the same case.

Your iMac had the very great advantage of FLEXIBILITY to evolve as your needs of it evolved. Silicon has no such internal flexibility. If you get to a point where it's simply not enough computer or RAM or internal SSD, you have to replace the whole computer. Thus, you need to choose the Mac you'll need maybe 7 years from now vs. the one you need today... OR assume that you may outgrow this purchase much more quickly than that iMac and be buying ANOTHER one in about that much time.
Click to expand...

So I bought a M2 Pro 16/512, for 1000, with AppleCare until January of 2026. The price was too good to pass up. Ill send it to my cousin, and have him send it via DHL, through his business.

Im 45, and as you said, Im going from the 09 iMac, to the M2 Pro. I do not expect to change for a LONG time. The only changes will be periodically, iphones and ipads. The Mini will be here for the long haul, which is why I am happy I got the Pro option. I like the extra ports on the back, as well as the more powerful processor. I also have a late 2012 Macbook Pro that my now wife's former roommate gave me. I updated it with ram and a new SSD, so its a good PC to have lying around. Im mostly on my iPad though.

I think I will start getting into more things over the next few months. I am waiting trying to finish our home upgrades, and have my wife fully moved in, then I will start playing with the Mini more. I want to do more video and photo editing. I have a Youtube channel that has 9k followers, and I have just various stuff on my channel. I could use that as a start to a nice little hobby.
 
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George Dawes said:
You may not need it , but do you want it ?

If it’s the latter , go for it , I did and am very happy with it .
Click to expand...

I wanted, but not for the price here in Greece.

I ended up getting the base M2 Pro for $1000 off Swappa in the States, with AC until 2026.
 
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