Which M1 Chipset / Ram for Graphic Design Use

[lostregr123]

My needs:

Programs that I use mainly Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign (not so much but they are projects that will be used a lot.).

Less Use - Lightroom - Adobe Bridge, Rarely After Effects - Premiere.

Apps using background:

Bartender - Dropzone - Paste App - Gestimer - Font Book (heavy) - Spotify - Firefox with 5-6 addons but enough instagram scrolling stories view. Mail App, Bear App

The machine will be connected to a 4K Dell 3219 Usb C 90Watt so I imagine with the heavy pro machines the charge port will be useless?

1)Which m1 is believed to be value for money? I see there are now infinite options M1 - M1 pro - m1 max - m1 studio

2)How much does the RAM affect the programs I use? Should I look at the CPU or RAM? So the main question, Are they CPU heavy or Ram heavy or GPU?

Now I am running a Macbook Pro 2018 15 "16gb ram, I do not think I have an issue with the ram but the machine hooked on the 4K display runs really hot and the fans come really often

I am definitely looking for 32GB +

I am open on all lines mac mini - macbooks - macbook pros - mac mini studios.

 

[vladi]

Most (or all) Adobe apps that are not AE or PP have used only up to 4 cours until just recently. Now they can use up to 8 cores. That's Adobe being sneaky and targeting to broad spectrum of people and that's why the top of the line Intel/AMD gaming CPUs were the best choice for graphic design due to their single core speed. CPUs like Threadripper with like 24 cores absolutely suck compared to top of the line 8 core i9 when it comes to Photoshop session.

If your graphic design is mostly for screen then you woul be just fine with M1 or basic M1 Pro. In case you use Photoshop to brush paint as your main purpose then you should do 8 or 10 core M1 Pro cause brushes is the only instance that will spread across all cores. Forget about GPU for photoshop or illustrator or indesign. Base M1 GPU will be good enough and M1 Max GPU will never be utilized to it's full capacity, probaly same goes for M1 Pro upgraded GPU as well.

When it comes to RAM you should only pay attention if you are doing large format 300dpi PSB files in Photoshop. Everything else will be fine even with 16GB due to M1 memory and ssd as scratch disk speed. Your speed in Indesign and Illustrator would come from stupid crazy fast storage.

 

[lostregr123]

thanks a lot for your well detailed answer

 

[lostregr123]

Most (or all) Adobe apps that are not AE or PP have used only up to 4 cours until just recently. Now they can use up to 8 cores. That's Adobe being sneaky and targeting to broad spectrum of people and that's why the top of the line Intel/AMD gaming CPUs were the best choice for graphic design due to their single core speed. CPUs like Threadripper with like 24 cores absolutely suck compared to top of the line 8 core i9 when it comes to Photoshop session.

If your graphic design is mostly for screen then you woul be just fine with M1 or basic M1 Pro. In case you use Photoshop to brush paint as your main purpose then you should do 8 or 10 core M1 Pro cause brushes is the only instance that will spread across all cores. Forget about GPU for photoshop or illustrator or indesign. Base M1 GPU will be good enough and M1 Max GPU will never be utilized to it's full capacity, probaly same goes for M1 Pro upgraded GPU as well.

When it comes to RAM you should only pay attention if you are doing large format 300dpi PSB files in Photoshop. Everything else will be fine even with 16GB due to M1 memory and ssd as scratch disk speed. Your speed in Indesign and Illustrator would come from stupid crazy fast storage.

thanks a lot for your well detailed answer
I mostly do Typography/logos and some Photoshop sessions with textures and layering

 

[gradi]

Most (or all) Adobe apps that are not AE or PP have used only up to 4 cours until just recently. Now they can use up to 8 cores.

I did not know that. Thank you. In the past I always heard that Lightroom Classic and Photoshop mostly depended on single core performance. I am glad that they now make good use of multiple cores.

What does AE and PP mean?

 

[MacCheetah3]

What does AE and PP mean?

I am guessing After Effects and Premiere Pro.

 

[darngooddesign]

Def 32GB Ram

Get the 10/24 M1-Max MacBook Pro or the base Studio if you want a desktop.

The 16" gives you better speakers, better cooling, and better battery life.

Don't worry about fan noise, you will rarely hear it and even then they run a medium speed and are very very quiet.

 

[Sumo999]

I say get a higher end Studio. Shoot the moon and you'll be good for years.

 

[Basic75]

The 90W from the monitor will work just fine with any MacBook Pro you run docked. It won't fast charge like with the 140W charger, but that's about the only "drawback".

Everything else will be fine even with 16GB due to M1 memory and ssd as scratch disk speed.

Strongly disagree, it might just about be enough today but will severely limit the longevity and performance in the future. And with OP wanting to run a lot of Adobe apps I highly doubt that 16GB would be enough even today. And longevity of Apple devices is now mostly determined by RAM, so my recommendation is always 16GB with M1 for casual users and at least 32GB for everything else. The M1 family was a quantum leap that doesn't come along very often, these devices will be fast enough for a very long time - if they aren't hampered by too little RAM.

 

[Beavix]

I am a graphic designer. I use Adobe and Affinity apps for everything from logo design to print stuff like brochures and signage. Also Sketch and Figma for web stuff, and occasionally Motion or After Effects for animation. I’ve been using a M1 Mac Mini with 16 GB RAM and I’ve never felt the need for something more powerful.

You’ll want more RAM if you work with huge multilayer files in Photoshop, otherwise 16 GB is enough.

You’ll want a more powerful M1 CPU if you have to render something frequently, like video or 3D.

And if you frequently do complex illustrations with a lot of effects using Adobe Illustrator, you’ll want the most powerful CPU that exists, because that software is slow as molasses.

 

[gradi]

And with OP wanting to run a lot of Adobe apps I highly doubt that 16GB would be enough even today. And longevity of Apple devices is now mostly determined by RAM, so my recommendation is always 16GB with M1 for casual users and at least 32GB for everything else.

I thought the M1 could only go up to 16gb. Awhile back I bought an M1 iMac 16gb/512gb. I ultimately returned it, but my recollection is that 16gb was the most memory I could choose.

I hadn't heard that people are having so much trouble using the 16gb M1 iMac, M1 Mac Mini, etc. using Adobe.

 

[vladi]

thanks a lot for your well detailed answer
I mostly do Typography/logos and some Photoshop sessions with textures and layering

No problem. I got my 512GB Mac Mini on day one it was released just to give it a try with new hardware. Big Sur was completely useless back then for anything i would use macOS so little Mini was collecting dust for a very long time. Now i use it only for completely native Apple Silicone apps such as Logic and it flies.

My point is if basic vanilla Mac Mini is good enough for my audio production in Logic and ProTools it should be more than good enough for stilll graphics in any Adobe app. Remember that Adobe is no where near 100% native for M1 including Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign. Kind of weird to explain this but some processes are still being run through emulation/translation even though Adobe claims Photoshop is now M1 native app. Once PS AI ID become hundred percent native to Apple Silicone they will be even faster in every single application.

if portability is not your priority get a Mac Mini and use the rest of the money to buy a proper big calibrated display that displays accurate colors. Once you make money please invest into X-Rite display calibrator so you could switch between daytime and nighttime calibrations. If you do print design (even of its for billboards) also invest into some proper inkjet printer. If portability is a necessity to you then pick some MBP.

But whatever you do DO NOT waste your money on Mac Studio. You don't need it. If you decide to move up to motion graphics in apps such as After Effects or Cinema4D or BMD Fusion then you should think about Studio but only after you are comfortable with these apps first. They can still run pretty fine on basic M1 as long as you don't go wild with resolution and plug-ins.

Be smart. Equipment doesn't make your work better. It just makes it tad bit faster. Take it from someone who is OK to render a frame for ten minutes even if i could do it in two minutes as well on a GPU. Those 8 minutes don't make a difference to me that much unless im running late and delivering my work 5 minutes before deadline. I was already used to CPU rendering long times before i switched to GPU two years ago that at this point i don't care because i do not fiddle with material and light settings much. In other words i learned my trade and i can setup render scene blindfolded so to me few minutes don't make a decision difference in product rendering.

 

[Beavix]

Remember that Adobe is no where near 100% native for M1 including Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign. Kind of weird to explain this but some processes are still being run through emulation/translation even though Adobe claims Photoshop is now M1 native app.

Not true. Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign run in native mode on Apple Silicon.

 

[Beavix]

I hadn't heard that people are having so much trouble using the 16gb M1 iMac, M1 Mac Mini, etc. using Adobe.

That's because we don't have any troubles running Adobe apps on 16 GB or RAM. I've been doing this for years. Unless you do video stuff, or work with big multilayered Photoshop files, 16 GB is fine.

 

[gradi]

That's because we don't have any troubles running Adobe apps on 16 GB or RAM. I've been doing this for years. Unless you do video stuff, or work with big multilayered Photoshop files, 16 GB is fine.

Yeah, I hadn't heard it either, but the person I replied to said you need at least 32gb for everything other than casual users (I guess that means email, websurfing, etc.).

 

[Chancha]

Adobe CC users who need 32GB should already know it. If you don’t, then your workflow and your assets just happen to not need it.

For CPU usage the M1 variants scale pretty linearly in number of CPU cores, but the diminishing return is probably at the M1 Pro unbinned.

GPU cores hardly help 2D pre-press apps.

Therefore I would advise going with M1 Pro at 16GB, or 32GB if you know you do need that.

(For the curious, large RAM amount task I am referring to large Photoshop file (.psb), Illustrations that involve a lot of path and points or placed raster images, InDesign projects that are hundreds of pages filled with images, Distiller pagination of hundreds to thousands of pages, Lightroom Classic doing HDR / panorama merge)

 

[decksnap]

16gb has always been plenty for me but it’s amazing how this is no longer the case. Newer versions of Ai, Ps and Sketch simply gobble it. Maybe something is off with my system, but these apps give me low memory warnings weekly, to where I’m forced to quit them to free up ram for other tasks.

 

[Bodhitree]

Yeah, I hadn't heard it either, but the person I replied to said you need at least 32gb for everything other than casual users (I guess that means email, websurfing, etc.).

Honestly I think that’s over the top cautious. Casual users are fine with 8 GB (and I define casual as email, surfing, light office work, doing your taxes), and you can do a lot with 16 GB that nudges into pro workflows.

I have a 16/512 M1 iMac and I’ve not yet encountered any problems with memory pressure, and I mostly do dev work on it and my personal stuff.

 

[Basic75]

I thought the M1 could only go up to 16gb. Awhile back I bought an M1 iMac 16gb/512gb. I ultimately returned it, but my recollection is that 16gb was the most memory I could choose.

I hadn't heard that people are having so much trouble using the 16gb M1 iMac, M1 Mac Mini, etc. using Adobe.

The M1 can only go to 16GB RAM, but the M1 Pro goes to 32 and the Max to 64.

 

[Roykor]

I am a professional illustrator making all kind of illustrations. Vector and pixel. Small / simpel illustrations with a logo, to wall sized high detailed vector drawings with thousands of objects, effects etc. In Photoshop i do simple edits to giant manipulations, merging 10+ photo’s and matte paint on top of this.

My 6-core i7 with 32gb mem is really lagging when things are piling up. Moving objects in illustrator gives me loadings, lag in brushes, laggy machine in overal. You simply feel it. It is not snappy anymore.

The M1 base model is in overall on paper 2x faster than my custom PC with an GTX1070 inside. On top of that works Ram different than in the X86. I guess in this area the M1 gains a lot of speed + fast single cores.

Reading and watching a lot of reviews the last weeks, specially with the Mac Studio.. i come to this conclusion:

If you need an machine right now, and Graphic Design is your workflow.. The Mac Mini M1 with 16GB will be a awesome partner that will help you a lot. It is cheap, it is quiet and it sips power.

The Mac line-up is missing a headless M1 Pro with acces to 32gb RAM. If your Graphic Designs can end up a bit heavy like i do, 32GB is the way to go. But that is not what you can buy. Or you go for the Studio. But i think that one is overkill and grabs 4 / 500 extra green out of your wallet you could spend on other things.

If you can wait, keep an eye on the M2. I hope there will be a Mac Mine M1 Pro, for all the other users that want some extra kick, but not are not into video editing.

Anyway.. i want to switch back to Macs after being away for like 5 years. And very interested in the M1 chips. But without having acces to 32gb i just wait for Apple adds the sweetspot for most of us. But i am afraid they will push us to the Studio for that.

 

[orionquest]

Processor speed isn't so much an issue anymore. RAM or workspace is, especially if you run most of these apps at once. I would go with something with 32 gigs or more.
I use all these apps an more with a i7 haswell (32 gigs) without much issue. Any modern system won't have a problem.

 

[tmoerel]

Not true. Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign run in native mode on Apple Silicon.

Yes they run in native mode but they have not been properly optimised yet. It is not too hard to recompile your code to run on M1. But to use all built in hardware accelerators you need to do a bit more work. And Adobe is notoriously lazy on the work front. They have their subscribers by the balls so they don't really care.
A good example is Premiere Pro compared to Davinci Resolve. The first M1 native versions of these programs were still miles behind the speed of Apple's Final Cut Pro. But quite quickly Davinci was optimised and now is up to par with Final Cut Pro on M1. Premiere on the other hand is not and still way too slow.
So yes Adobe picks the low hanging fruits with a quick M1 recompile, but they are slow making sure their software uses the most of these new SOCs.

 

[Beavix]

Yes they run in native mode but they have not been properly optimised yet. It is not too hard to recompile your code to run on M1. But to use all built in hardware accelerators you need to do a bit more work.

Oh, optimization for the Mac platform... Adobe doesn't care much about that.

 

[MrGunny94]

M1 Pro for me at least is the sweet spot

 

[dieselm]

The machine will be connected to a 4K Dell 3219 Usb C 90Watt so I imagine with the heavy pro machines the charge port will be useless?

1)Which m1 is believed to be value for money? I see there are now infinite options M1 - M1 pro - m1 max - m1 studio

Now I am running a Macbook Pro 2018 15 "16gb ram, I do not think I have an issue with the ram but the machine hooked on the 4K display runs really hot and the fans come really often

Overall, the Macbook Air 16GB is an unbeatable value for money. It's runs cool, is dead silent, and you'll notice and feel a huge jump in performance, even more so if you didn't have the discrete GPU option on your old machine. The battery life is fantastic. It'll feel better than the 2018 Macbook pro in every way.

If you want 32GB or need a 16" screen, get an M1 Pro machine. The 90W charge port will work fine.
You do get a nicer screen, more ports, and all the headroom you could need.
You'll be more than happy for a long time, if you're okay with the big jump in price.