M1 MBA / MBP vs M1 Pro MBP

[krishnandusarkar]

Hello, I'm planning to buy a Macbook, however with the current line-up I'm a bit confused on which one - M1 MBA / MBP or shall I go with M1 Pro MBP. Can you please guide and help?

My primary requirements are heavy Lightroom and Photoshop uses and light video editing uses. I generally work with somewhere in between 15-20 layers in Photoshop with stacking, various local adjustments, liquify etc. Regarding the video editing, I mostly edit 4K videos (basic editing though) on DaVinci Resolve for YouTube (in terms of vlogging).

I'll be travelling with my laptop, but not much. Mostly planning to use it as primary workstation in home as well.

Considering the reviews over internet and YouTube, I understand that M1 MBP might fit my needs (considering the light video editing), however I'm not sure about using it regularly for 20+ layers in Photoshop (stacking).

Do you think it's better to go with M1 Pro MBP instead?

 

[wilberforce]

What machine do you have now, and how much RAM do you typically use when running LR and PS? (Note: actually use, not have. You need to look at Activity Monitor to see how much memory is actually being used).

This is an important question, because LR and PS use significantly more RAM on Apple Silicon than on Intel (I know, I have both). The reason they use more is because LR and PS take some of the shared RAM on M1 for their graphical acceleration, which is not the case for an Intel machine with separate GPU VRAM.
Although RAM is used much more efficiently on Apple Silicon than Intel, it cannot work miracles. LR and PS are notorious memory hogs on M1.
If you already use more than 16GB RAM on Intel, you should probably get 32GB on Apple Silicon, which means you would need to get M1 Pro. If you use less than 16GB on Intel, you can probably get by with 16GB on Apple Silicon for LR and PS.

I have a 16GB M1 Pro, and when running LR and PS I am often in yellow memory pressure, and although it works OK because the swap is very fast, if I were to buy it again I would get 32GB RAM. Sometimes my swap size goes up to 20GB.

btw, for LR and PS you do not need any extra GPU cores. LR and PS barely use the GPU.

 

[krishnandusarkar]

What machine do you have now, and how much RAM do you typically use when running LR and PS? (Note: actually use, not have. You need to look at Activity Monitor to see how much memory is actually being used).

This is an important question, because LR and PS use significantly more RAM on Apple Silicon than on Intel (I know, I have both). The reason they use more is because LR and PS take some of the shared RAM on M1 for their graphical acceleration, which is not the case for an Intel machine with separate GPU VRAM.
Although RAM is used much more efficiently on Apple Silicon than Intel, it cannot work miracles. LR and PS are notorious memory hogs on M1.
If you already use more than 16GB RAM on Intel, you should probably get 32GB on Apple Silicon, which means you would need to get M1 Pro. If you use less than 16GB on Intel, you can probably get by with 16GB on Apple Silicon for LR and PS.

I have a 16GB M1 Pro, and when running LR and PS I am often in yellow memory pressure, and although it works OK because the swap is very fast, if I were to buy it again I would get 32GB RAM. Sometimes my swap size goes up to 20GB.

btw, for LR and PS you do not need any extra GPU cores. LR and PS barely use the GPU.

Thanks a lot @wilberforce for the guidance. Presently, I have 32GB RAM installed on my PC, however as you have already stated above, I'll check the Activity Monitor and try to get how much of the RAM is actually being used when I use any of these applications.

Based on the findings, I'll proceed with your suggestion. Thanks a lot again for the detailed clarification.

 

[Basic75]

For your use cases I would recommend going for 32GB RAM anyhow so that you can be reasonably sure to get many years of use out of your machine.

 

[You’re not me]

Remember, you have 14 days to return whatever you buy. You could try the lower spec’d 13” Pro M1 and if it’s not working for you, return it and go with the M1 Pro 14” or 16”.