MacBook Air or Pro for editing?

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I have a big chuck of John Lewis vouchers and was looking as either a MacBook Pro or air.

The best one I can get for money available is the pro with M3 pro processor, 18gb ram.

Any tips on ram required etc?

It’s only for my personal use and running photos through LR filters and photoshop editing.

Or would you recommend a laptop over a Mac. But not sure what I can get for the money on JL.
 
I think if you have the money then the Pro is the one to go for. It has a better screen than the Air, and it has a fan so can sustain higher performance for longer than the Air. It also has way more ports. 18GB RAM should be fine for LR use.
 
I agree with Richard, although fwiw I have a M2 Air 15in with 24Gb RAM and it is very happy doing LR/PS, nice and quick.
 
This was also on my radar

Zenbook Pro 14 Laptop, Intel Core i9 Processor, 16GB RAM, RTX 3050Ti, 1TB SSD, 14.5" OLED 2.8K, Black​

 
I have both M1 MBA (work) and M1Pro MBP (personal), both with 16GB RAM and if I was buying again, I would get the M2 Air. The performance difference is negligible, I have only had the fans kick in once on the MBP, and that was when I was doing ,multiple LR denoise images at the same time - trying to get the fans to kick in. Day to day, there is no difference. The redesigned, M2 onwards, MBA adds a lot of the things from the new 14"/16" MBP design e.g better webcam and MagSafe.
 
Thanks. Will see if the air is available in 16gb where I am getting it from.
 
Agree with what’s already been said , I’m also on M1 Pro it easily copes with my R5 45 mp files
I have never had the fan come on even with image stacking multiple files
Only thing I would add is that the Pro version comes with 3 usb ports which for photos is perfect as can plug in card reader and external drives without using a hub for me the convenience of that is worth the extra cost
I would also check out the screen I’m not sure if the pro and air screen is the same my pro has a really nice screen
 
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Another M1 MBP 16mb / 1tb owner, i use a Sony A7R2 42mp and A9 24mp and DXO Photolabs 6 processes the files / exports to jpeg speedily with no issues.
The only time i managed to get the fans to spin up was when i batch exported 680 files at the same time.
And even then it was using 12gb ram and 90% cpu and i was still browsing the web while it exported the files.
 
A friend of mine uses Air and he always talks about wanting to switch to Pro because of the screen and Air heating issues.
 
Annet said:
A friend of mine uses Air and he always talks about wanting to switch to Pro because of the screen and Air heating issues.
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Which version of MacBook Air though?
 
Craikeybaby said:
Which version of MacBook Air though?
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Ohh, it's definitey an older one, mid 2011 or 2012, can't remember correctly. Last time he mentioned it he said it worked fine, but some programs like Audacity or Photoworks could have been a litter faster, and he tried to get rid of the heating issue which came back eventually.
 
The new M2 Air is all the laptop most people need, unless you are doing really heavy work, e.g. 3D rendering etc.
 
I would also consider screen size as well as the memory and chipset. My brother had a 14" one I hated it, way to small for my liking.

If you can get a 16" M1 Pro I would definitely go for that version, the difference in chips from the 1 to the 3 is negligible in real time use, doubt you would hardly notice the difference unless doing video encoding where the M3 would be a better option.

you can pick up an M1 16" pro for way under the original selling price, I saved £600 on mine.
 
It depends on what you want from a laptop though - personally, I like mine to be portable. And you can get a good monitor for £500 or so, if you go for one with a USB-C connection it will act like a docking station and also power the laptop, so you have the best of both worlds.
 
Today I picked up a 2023 MacBook Pro 14" 16gb ram 1tb ssd, m2 pro chipset. It’s only going to have PS and LR on it.
 
JJ! said:
I have a big chuck of John Lewis vouchers and was looking as either a MacBook Pro or air.

The best one I can get for money available is the pro with M3 pro processor, 18gb ram.

Any tips on ram required etc?

It’s only for my personal use and running photos through LR filters and photoshop editing.

Or would you recommend a laptop over a Mac. But not sure what I can get for the money on JL.


But from what I've already read, the MacBook is one of the best options because it has everything to work with photographs and different apps and tools. And there are a lot of useful information and tips on using it, and doing something. For example, here is one article https://setapp.com/how-to/convert-png-to-jpg-on-a-mac which was so helpful for me, and now I know how to convert photos fast and without losing quality. And it's something very crucial for each person who is connected to photography.
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I've been a Mac user for many years, so I have no recommendations for other laptops.
I had a 2020 MacBook Air Laptop M1 Chip, and it was working totally fine for me, but when I got a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 chip, the difference was visible. It's definitely worth all the money, so if you have a chance to get a pro version, then it's definitely a good idea to do it.
 
What differences? Speed or quality of the screen?

I have got same generation M1 Air and M1 Pro 14" and speed wise there is very little in it, but the screen and general features of the Pro are better. However, a lot of these points were addressed with the M2 Air.
 
kaylarichs said:
I've been a Mac user for many years, so I have no recommendations for other laptops.
I had a 2020 MacBook Air Laptop M1 Chip, and it was working totally fine for me, but when I got a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 chip, the difference was visible. It's definitely worth all the money, so if you have a chance to get a pro version, then it's definitely a good idea to do it.
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I bought a MacBook Air 13" M2 (8GB, 512GB SSD) in February and it's been fine for LrC and PS. imports files quickly and processes like AI noise reduction takes just a few seconds. The screen and keyboard are excellent and it's slim, light, with very good battery life. Had I known the M3 version was coming out, I would have waited for that or taken advantage of the reduced cost of the M2 version. But I'm not in any way disappointed with what I have, it's a very good laptop.

I looked at the 15" version and decided I didn't need the bigger screen and preferred the more compact 13".

I also considered the MBP 14" M3 and almost went for that, but decided not too. It was a very close call, the MBP is clearly the better machine with more ports including an SD card slot, but I just didn't want to spend more.
 
For the very limited editing I do on images, (cropping, resizing, brightness and contrast adjustments) Preview on my 2012 MacBook Air is still adequate.
 
I have a M1 16" MacBook Pro, and frequently rather wish I'd bought the 14"! It's a big beast to pack when going away...
 
ChrisR said:
I have a M1 16" MacBook Pro, and frequently rather wish I'd bought the 14"! It's a big beast to pack when going away...
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Agreed. I’ve got the M2 Max 16 and it’s epic, but a pain to travel with. That said, the screen is spectacular hence going for the 16
 
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