# MacBook Pro with M1 Max



## HenryGordillo (Nov 30, 2021)

Getting a new 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, and 16-core neural engine 

This will be a machine dedicated to Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop and printing.

How much RAM or Unified Memory? 32gb or 64gb?

Thanks.
 Henry


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## clee01l (Nov 30, 2021)

HenryGordillo said:


> Getting a new 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, and 16-core neural engine
> 
> This will be a machine dedicated to Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop and printing.
> 
> ...



I have an M1 iMac and at the time it was only available with 8 or 16 GB of RAM, I got the 16GB RAM and find it more responsive than my old 32GB intel iMac. If you are planning to keep there MBP for a while, get the max RAM that fits your pocketbook.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## HenryGordillo (Nov 30, 2021)

clee01l said:


> I have an M1 iMac and at the time it was only available with 8 or 16 GB of RAM, I got the 16GB RAM and find it more responsive than my old 32GB intel iMac. If you are planning to keep there MBP for a while, get the max RAM that fits your pocketbook.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk





clee01l said:


> I have an M1 iMac and at the time it was only available with 8 or 16 GB of RAM, I got the 16GB RAM and find it more responsive than my old 32GB intel iMac. If you are planning to keep there MBP for a while, get the max RAM that fits your pocketbook.
> 
> 
> clee01l said:
> ...


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## Johan Elzenga (Nov 30, 2021)

I have the 16” M1 Max with 32 GB. Of course I can’t compare it with a 64 GB machine, but it is really fast.


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## HenryGordillo (Dec 1, 2021)

Thanks Johan!  I appreciate the response and information. We should have a section in the forum to compare members' experiences with the new Apple setups. Cheers!


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 3, 2021)

HenryGordillo said:


> We should have a section in the forum to compare members' experiences with the new Apple setups. Cheers!



The Lounge is probably a good spot. Feel free to start a thread there for all things M1.


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## HenryGordillo (Dec 3, 2021)

Hi Victoria!  Thanks for the suggestion. I will follow up.


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## Y.K (Dec 5, 2021)

This guy has made a series of tests on his YouTube Chanel with the new MacBooks and how LrC, Lr and PS run on it: 

https://youtu.be/5ESZDAeZ9vo

https://youtu.be/Nx6cJkJzvhA


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## stephenkeep (Dec 9, 2021)

HenryGordillo said:


> Thanks Johan!  I appreciate the response and information. We should have a section in the forum to compare members' experiences with the new Apple setups. Cheers!


Henry  - I have the exact M1 set up you mention and it works quite well with LRC and PS so far.  Quick question - will you be adding an external monitor to your set up with the MBP - probably via USBc.  Just curious if so, what you might have selected?  Ive been trying out some from Benq and Asus but no final call yet.  thx


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## HenryGordillo (Dec 9, 2021)

stephenkeep said:


> Henry  - I have the exact M1 set up you mention and it works quite well with LRC and PS so far.  Quick question - will you be adding an external monitor to your set up with the MBP - probably via USBc.  Just curious if so, what you might have selected?  Ive been trying out some from Benq and Asus but no final call yet.  thx


 
I have not yet received my order. I  ordered the 14 inch MacBook Pro with Apple M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine and 64GB unified memory and 1TB SSD storage. I use external 4TB hard drives to store photo files.

I have a BenQ SW 271 which I have been using with my late-2013 MacBook Retina.

I love, love, love my SW 271. I bought it because of this review by Matt Kloskowski:  https://mattk.com/your-questions-answered-on-the-benq-sw271-4k-monitor/.  He indicates that he suggests it for photographers whose final product will be a print. That's me! I like the BenQ's monitor calibration software, Palette Master Element, which I use with my i1 DisplayPro dongle.

I appreciate the 271's muted tones. I also watch movies on it.

In the past, I have used Apple Cinema Displays and liked them.  Also have used a low end Samsung which didn't have enough resolution for me. I have not tried other monitors.

I don't enjoy bright website colors for my printing and movie viewing screen.

I work with my MacBook open in front of the BenQ which functions as my desktop screen.

Hope that is not too much information. I simply wanted to give you context for my decision.

Have fun shopping! Cheers!


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## Selwin (Mar 23, 2022)

@HenryGordillo : now that you have used your new MacBook Pro for a couple of months, could you report back how you like it? I am considering the M1 Max w/ 64GB and 2TB storage.


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## stephenkeep (Mar 24, 2022)

I continue to like my new MBP w/M1max and 32g    I only picked up 1T of storage but amy finding the external SSD of 4T to have been a good way to keep my images and gives me plenty of room to grow my catalogue externally.  Overall - very pleased as it seems to handle all my LRC and PS needs as an amateur.  For what its worth - I was eager to see what Apple would release in their new Studio Monitor and while its a cool 27" panel - its pretty pricey and probably no better than the  32" ASUS PA329C that I ended up getting from B&H for less money.


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## clee01l (Mar 24, 2022)

stephenkeep said:


> I continue to like my new MBP w/M1max and 32g I only picked up 1T of storage but amy finding the external SSD of 4T to have been a good way to keep my images and gives me plenty of room to grow my catalogue externally. Overall - very pleased as it seems to handle all my LRC and PS needs as an amateur. For what its worth - I was eager to see what Apple would release in their new Studio Monitor and while its a cool 27" panel - its pretty pricey and probably no better than the 32" ASUS PA329C that I ended up getting from B&H for less money.



I’ve never understood the reason for Apple’s pricing of monitors. I have a 32”BENQ for the same reason. I use it with my 24” M1 iMac.


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## Conrad Chavez (Mar 24, 2022)

clee01l said:


> I’ve never understood the reason for Apple’s pricing of monitors. I have a 32”BENQ for the same reason. I use it with my 24” M1 iMac.


There was a time, maybe 15+ years ago, when it was worth paying more for an Apple display. At that time, most displays were designed for office work. They only had to be good enough to show a Word or Excel document. You couldn’t count on their color gamut or color accuracy. In the beginning the switch from CRT to flat panel LCDs actually made image quality worse than CRTs, because so many flat panels were non-IPS displays lit by CCFL bulbs. But the Apple displays then were a known quantity for designers and photographers, as far as quality control. Apple sold a lot of Cinema Displays to photographers and designers during that era.

Around 15 years ago, displays started getting better across the board. Color-accurate IPS and other similar LCD tech started to become standard, and LED backlighting made color more stable. The cost started coming down for the high-end color-accurate displays, and there were more choices at the high end. It no longer made sense to pay extra for an Apple display, especially when no Apple display could compete with the advanced color features in Eizo and NEC SpectraView displays. At the low end, displays became a low-margin commodity, so Apple got out of the display business.

Today, for photographers, affordable displays from Dell and others can be profiled to be “close enough” especially for hobbyists. For serious pros who want the most accurate color and the most control, instead of the two expensive choices of the last 15 years (NEC PA series and Eizo), we can also choose from almost as good models from BenQ (SW series), Asus (PA series), and others. These displays support hardware level calibration and other options you probably won’t find on any display on the shelf at Office Depot. BenQ and Asus in particular have really driven down the price of high-quality wide gamut displays.

Why did Apple get back into the market with the $6000 Pro Display XDR? They probably wanted to set a benchmark, like they did in the 1990s. The features that sort of justify the price are the specs for HDR video editors, not photographers, but it is the first Apple display to allow hardware-level calibration.

The speculation is that Apple released the Studio Display because, having discontinued the 27" iMac, they wanted a 27" display to go with the new Mac Studio desktop. But like the Pro Display XDR, they loaded it up to keep it a high-margin item.

The new Studio Display doesn’t seem to have any features or specs that would make it stand out for photography compared to what you can get elsewhere. It’s a wide gamut non-HDR display, which you can get anywhere for a fraction of the cost. The $1599 price is because there are very few 5K displays on the market, plus its ultrawide webcam, high-quality speaker array, and USB hub which are legitimately worth a few hundred dollars together, if you want them. So when you compare it to the $1299 LG Ultrafine 5K display which uses the same panel, the Apple markup for the Studio Display sort of makes sense...but only if you need exactly what it has. If what you want is accurate color and you don’t need the 5K or the built-in gadgets, the $1599 of the Studio Display would buy you a much more color-capable Eizo, NEC SpectraView, or BenQ SW.


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## Selwin (Apr 1, 2022)

Conrad Chavez said:


> There was a time, maybe 15+ years ago, when it was worth paying more for an Apple display.


That is funny. Exactly 15 years ago, in 2007, I purchased an HD Cinema 30", along with my first ever Macbook Pro: a 17"model with hideous LCD screen. But the 30" display made up for that in many ways.
It's that same 30" HD cinema display that I use today for all of my high screen size real estate work, such as Lightroom, but also for my 9-5 job when working from home as I can view two letter size documents side by side and read them comfortably.

To be honest I am contemplating on retiring this old lady. I notice some colour shift when dragging a photo from the left half of the screen to the right. And the screen consumes a dazzling 150W of energy when set to max brightness (50W at minimum brightness). During the covid-19 years I've been working from home every day for 2 years and our energy energy consumption has risen from 4000 to 4800 kWh and this screen may account for a substantial part of that. The 4 laptops my wife and kids have been using probably account for most of the rest.

So I'm reading your display suggestions carefully, thanks for that.


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## Conrad Chavez (Apr 2, 2022)

My secondary display is still the 20" Apple Cinema Display I bought in 2006; it doesn’t profile well any more, but it’s fine for showing the Lightroom Classic grid or Photoshop panels. I switched my primary display to a much more more capable and accurate NEC SpectraView.


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