Is the 14" M4 Pro throttling?

[Kaitlyn2004]

I'm just going through Art is Right's new youtube video:

And unless I'm reading it incorrectly, it looks like he has two "identical" m4 pro base 12/16 test devices - one as a 14" macbook pro and as a mac mini.

Looking at the 1K images export, the mac mini version is more than TWICE as fast. Is this mislabeled/mistested or something? Those numbers make zero sense to me unless the macbook is severely throttling?

 

[dmccloud]

I'm just going through Art is Right's new youtube video:

And unless I'm reading it incorrectly, it looks like he has two "identical" m4 pro base 12/16 test devices - one as a 14" macbook pro and as a mac mini.

Looking at the 1K images export, the mac mini version is more than TWICE as fast. Is this mislabeled/mistested or something? Those numbers make zero sense to me unless the macbook is severely throttling? View attachment 2450922

It's hard to say what is going on without additional context and the actual parameters being used for the tests. If the MBP was being run in low power mode or simply on battery instead of AC power, then that could easily explain the difference in the results. Also that chart is really bad for distinguishing which result belongs to each device that was tested.

 

[Kaitlyn2004]

It's hard to say what is going on without additional context and the actual parameters being used for the tests. If the MBP was being run in low power mode or simply on battery instead of AC power, then that could easily explain the difference in the results. Also that chart is really bad for distinguishing which result belongs to each device that was tested.

He mentioned it was just in Auto. Not sure if plugged in or not. I thought macbooks don't require being plugged in to use full power? I know my old Dell XPS did... annoying...

And what do you mean about the bad chart? Seems fine to me?

 

[Gnattu]

When you see the M3 Pro is faster and even the base M4 is faster you will know something is definitely off here.

 

[Alameda]

I honestly don't see how I would ever need to batch convert 1,000 RAW photos into JPEGs.
I guess it's a benchmark, but I convert at most 3 files at a time... the same file output in three resolutions.

I know that a benchmark just gives us something to compare, but if Lightroom output is fast enough with an M1, then there's no need to buy an M4.

 

[ctjack]

I honestly don't see how I would ever need to batch convert 1,000 RAW photos into JPEGs.
I guess it's a benchmark, but I convert at most 3 files at a time... the same file output in three resolutions.

I know that a benchmark just gives us something to compare, but if Lightroom output is fast enough with an M1, then there's no need to buy an M4.

Yeah wedding photographers and alikes can take advantage of time savings which will add up.

 

[smirking]

Yeah wedding photographers and alikes can take advantage of time savings which will add up.

It does, but being a (not) wedding photographer, the export part isn't nearly as big of a deal as regularly discussed. Whether the export takes 5 minutes or 10 minutes the actual impact on my productivity is low since I'd just go and do other things while the export is running. I'm more concerned about editing being snappy as that does add up in meaningful ways over the course of a thousand images.

 

[allapon]

When you see the M3 Pro is faster and even the base M4 is faster you will know something is definitely off here.

I think the reason why M3 Pro MacBook Pro is faster is the amount of RAM. His M3 Pro Machine is upgraded RAM to 36GB. This makes some test in his video show that M3 Pro has better performance than M4 Pro. Art already mentioned about this issue in this video that some application that he tested is related to amount of RAM as well.

I'm just going through Art is Right's new youtube video:

And unless I'm reading it incorrectly, it looks like he has two "identical" m4 pro base 12/16 test devices - one as a 14" macbook pro and as a mac mini.

Looking at the 1K images export, the mac mini version is more than TWICE as fast. Is this mislabeled/mistested or something? Those numbers make zero sense to me unless the macbook is severely throttling?

About Mac mini with higher score, I think that it depends on Cooling Solution as well.
Since MacBook Pro M4 series use similar chassis as MacBook Pro M3 series, there are loud fan spinning noise more often on MacBook Pro M4 (Both M4 and M4 Pro according to Luke Miani's video)
Mac mini is designed based on M4 and M4 Pro chip, It might be more optimal for M4 chip family.

I checked other benchmark on Lightroom Classic result in Art is Right's video, several benchmark show both Mac mini M4 Pro and MacBook Pro M4 Pro had very close results

Lightroom Classic HDR merge, Mac mini M4 Pro = 24s, MacBook Pro M4Pro = 25s
Lightroom Classic Panorama, Mac mini M4 Pro = 7m 33s, MacBook Pro M4Pro = 8m 15s
Lightroom Classic AI Noise reduction 1 Files, Mac mini M4 Pro = 29s, MacBook Pro M4Pro = 31s
Lightroom Classic AI Noise reduction 10 Files, Mac mini M4 Pro = 6m 12s, MacBook Pro M4Pro = 6m 21s
Lightroom Classic AI Sky and Subject Mask 10 Files, Mac mini M4 Pro = 21s, MacBook Pro M4Pro = 22s

I noticed that for longer periods of running, it seems like Mac mini will perform much better.

 

[Alameda]

Yeah wedding photographers and alikes can take advantage of time savings which will add up.

I don’t think you understand how photo editing works, which is perfectly understandable if you don’t do it. I shoot hundreds of photos at a time, all in RAW, 45 megapixel… that’s the main purpose of my computer setup. You never batch convert photos. Each one is individual. I usually cull 300 photos down to maybe 10 or so. Nobody needs 300 photographs.

Maybe there are lousy photographers out there who just open 1,000 images in Lightroom, apply the same filter and batch output them all at once, but I doubt it. In my software, at least, when I Export a RAW photo into a JPEG, it can take maybe 20 seconds with my M1 if I apply extreme noise reduction, but it does that in the background so I just click Export and then move to the next photo.

 

[juanmaasecas]

Well I’m a hobbyist photographer and after holidays I import pictures in thousands and edit and export them in batches of hundreds

Wedding photographers do thousands.

So I think it can definitely be representative of many people.

 

[Alameda]

Well I’m a hobbyist photographer and after holidays I import pictures in thousands and edit and export them in batches of hundreds

Wedding photographers do thousands.

So I think it can definitely be representative of many people.

Then why shoot RAW in the first place? Just take the JPEGs out of the camera. I can’t understand why you’d take 1,000 RAW photos from a camera and batch convert them to JPEG without doing anything to them. I guess there are some terrible wedding photographers out there…

 

[juanmaasecas]

I take thousands of raws, so time for importing is thousands, then edit and export in batches…
Wedding photographers will use their base preset depending on lighting and circumstances, they don’t just use jpgs because they put their signature imprint…

 

[smirking]

I don’t think you understand how photo editing works…

Wow. I don’t think you understand that there’s more than one way to practice photography. I very much will batch export hundreds of RAW to JPEG conversions.

Also if you’re shooting high volume product photography you very well could batch apply the same adjustments to hundreds of photos.

 

[Alameda]

Wow. I don’t think you understand that there’s more than one way to practice photography. I very much will batch export hundreds of RAW to JPEG conversions.

Also if you’re shooting high volume product photography you very well could batch apply the same adjustments to hundreds of photos.

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that great photographers spit out hundreds of photos at once without looking at them. I actually waste my time looking at photos.

 

[ctjack]

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that great photographers spit out hundreds of photos at once without looking at them. I actually waste my time looking at photos.

In lightroom, you can edit 1000s of photos each individually and only export once to save time. Otherwise what is the point of saving your word document and converting it to pdf after each edit before it is made final.

Why would someone export in 1s, 10s or hundreds? You just apply edits individually and cmd-A to select all and send for 1 export batch.