Finally, chose a Pro

[colonelbutt]

Have been deciding for ages between the 24gb 12/16, 24gb 14/20 and 36gb 14/32.

I use Lightroom for hobby purposes only, so typically 30-100 photos per session. I use alot of adjustments including AI and AI noise. So I am just looking to make these sessions more speedy. Otherwise its a few games and standard office and browsing and very occasionally video editing.

The hole that Apple sucks you into is to offer a tantalisingly cool machine at the bottom end which just misses the mark in terms of what you really want. The amount of time I tried to convince myself that 512gb is ok, but for editing on the go whilst travelling, and storing backups to pictures on cfexpress cards and travelling netflix and prime videos, it falls short. And I really dont want to rely constantly on external drives when travelling. And then there is performance. What is the real difference between 10, 16, 20 and 32 GPUs ?

I watched some very good youtube videos comparing performance. It seems that with lightroom, 10 gpus is noticeably slower then 16 and 20 which are very similar. Interestingly 32 doesn't make much difference as lightroom is more memory constrained. 24gb seems to be the lower memory that maximises speed, with a graduation up to 48gb. So 48gb and 20 gpus is actually better then having 36gb and 32 gpus.

At the end - cost vs performance, I chose the 24gb 14/20. I really could have got away with the 12/16, but Apple sucked me into the extra £370 for more cpus and storage, which I convinced myself was cheap considering I was already near £2k.

looking forward to its delivery and cutting down my old i5-13 desktop development time in a much smaller and portable package!

 

[raythompsontn]

I use Lightroom for hobby purposes only, so typically 30-100 photos per session

I do 1,500 to 2,000 images per session. I photograph sporting events. I need to narrow those images down to about 100. I can process those images in about an hour, including color correction, exposure correction, and cropping of the final 100 images.

I was able to do this on my prior MacBook M2 Air. My current M4 Pro is not significantly faster in doing that process. The real advantage is the ability to use the SDXC card slot on the Pro, the same memory cards my camera uses. Importing is faster, rendering thumbnails is faster. However, that time is when I went to the bathroom so the speed increase was not really applicable.

 

[TheRealAlex]

I would probably wait for the M5 Pro, new CPU Architecture new WiFi 7 and better GPUs

 

[JamesMay82]

Have been deciding for ages between the 24gb 12/16, 24gb 14/20 and 36gb 14/32.

I use Lightroom for hobby purposes only, so typically 30-100 photos per session. I use alot of adjustments including AI and AI noise. So I am just looking to make these sessions more speedy. Otherwise its a few games and standard office and browsing and very occasionally video editing.

The hole that Apple sucks you into is to offer a tantalisingly cool machine at the bottom end which just misses the mark in terms of what you really want. The amount of time I tried to convince myself that 512gb is ok, but for editing on the go whilst travelling, and storing backups to pictures on cfexpress cards and travelling netflix and prime videos, it falls short. And I really dont want to rely constantly on external drives when travelling. And then there is performance. What is the real difference between 10, 16, 20 and 32 GPUs ?

I watched some very good youtube videos comparing performance. It seems that with lightroom, 10 gpus is noticeably slower then 16 and 20 which are very similar. Interestingly 32 doesn't make much difference as lightroom is more memory constrained. 24gb seems to be the lower memory that maximises speed, with a graduation up to 48gb. So 48gb and 20 gpus is actually better then having 36gb and 32 gpus.

At the end - cost vs performance, I chose the 24gb 14/20. I really could have got away with the 12/16, but Apple sucked me into the extra £370 for more cpus and storage, which I convinced myself was cheap considering I was already near £2k.

looking forward to its delivery and cutting down my old i5-13 desktop development time in a much smaller and portable package!

did it arrive? I was in your position and similar use case.. I nearly got an M1 Pro Max 4TB for £2,500 this summer but it sold last minute!

I ended up getting the 15 inch air with 32 gigs and 2 TB which is good but part of me does wish I went pro for screen and speakers

 

[raythompsontn]

wish I went pro for screen and speakers

For many people the difference in screen is not a deal breaker. Unless brightness is critical, 120HZ refresh is critical, it is just an added cost. Even watching regular TV the refresh rate is not a big deal. Gamers may benefit from higher refresh rates.

As for speakers, those are only used for short videos. Any time I watch a movie it is with noise cancelling headphones. Either my Bose over ear or the AirPods Pro 2. The speakers on a laptop are not good for long term listening.

Your 15" Air with 32 Gigs and 2TB will be a very useful and well performing machine for many years. I think you made a good decision. Do not ever 2nd guess your decision. Your machine has more memory and more storage than mine and I have never wished I had more, for my needs.

 

[colonelbutt]

did it arrive? I was in your position and similar use case.. I nearly got an M1 Pro Max 4TB for £2,500 this summer but it sold last minute!

I ended up getting the 15 inch air with 32 gigs and 2 TB which is good but part of me does wish I went pro for screen and speakers

I did
It’s awesome
I plug it into my 32” monitor on a stand. I was editing in lightroom on the monitor, with a browser on the right showing my email and running cyberpunk on the inbuilt monitor. All going at max speed. I can also use my UGREEN NAS as the repository for photos with no editing lag. This is the first time I have been able to do this over WiFi, as my other laptops have unacceptable dropouts.

 

[G5isAlive]

I do 1,500 to 2,000 images per session. I photograph sporting events. I need to narrow those images down to about 100. I can process those images in about an hour, including color correction, exposure correction, and cropping of the final 100 images.

I was able to do this on my prior MacBook M2 Air. My current M4 Pro is not significantly faster in doing that process. The real advantage is the ability to use the SDXC card slot on the Pro, the same memory cards my camera uses. Importing is faster, rendering thumbnails is faster. However, that time is when I went to the bathroom so the speed increase was not really applicable.

I shoot mainly landscapes, I can't even imagine looking at 2000 images (61 megapixels) in an hour much less process them. Any tips on workflow?

Like you, for general operations that take less than a second in Lightroom classic I perceive no difference between my MacBook Air (M4) and MacBook Pro (M3 Max. But there is as much as a 5x difference when I do panorama stitching or reflection removal or other computer intensive tasks light that, and those times are measured in minutes not seconds so 5x makes a difference for me. I dont go to the bathroom that often

 

[raythompsontn]

Any tips on workflow?

What works for me may not work for others. But here goes. Not really tips, but how I process the images.

I first load all the images into LR. While that is happening I go to the bathroom. LR building the previews takes the longest.

I then select all the images and assign a title and description to all the images, exactly the same on all of the images. It takes seconds.

I then go through the images with the keyboard arrows one at a time. I select each image I do not like. Various reasons, focus, content, etc. I don't really count, just eliminate as I have a general feeling for how many I have not selected.

I then have LR delete all the images I have selected.

I then crop, and color balance the first image. I then apply that (sync) to all the remaining images, 100 or so.

I then go through each image in develop mode, modify each crop, maybe change the exposure, tweak the white balance, and move on. It only takes a few seconds for each image. During that process I may rethink an image and delete that image.

I then go into WEB mode and upload the images to my website, in a private page that is not searchable by Google or accessed easily by anyone. That link is then sent to the media outlet that uses the images in their publications. The media outlet selects the image(s) they want to use.

I archive the images on my desktop and then immediately create a backup of the files onto an external backup device.

It sounds longer than it actually takes. I am usually done within an hour, or slightly more. Sometimes I do the entire process, except backups, on the team bus on the way home.

5x difference when I do panorama stitching or reflection removal or other computer intensive tasks light that

Yes, there was a significant difference between the AIR and the PRO when LR was building previews. Maybe three minutes versus five minutes. The tradeoff in portability and weight. LR will max the CPU on my PRO for five minutes when building the previews. The fans come on during that process. The battery level will drop several percentage points.