BEST NEW APPLE M4 EQUIPMENT FOR LIGHTROOM CLASSIC UNDER BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS

[Klaus Ressmann]

Hi,

I have to replace an old iMac and intend to buy a M4 MacMini in order to use it mainly for photography, mostly LightroomClassic (LRC). Other programs used in connection with LRC, mainly dxoPhotoLab and Nik Collection (latest versions), occasionally Photoshop, Affinity.

My camera: Sony Ilce 7RM5, 61MegaPixels, ARW raw file size: 9.504 x 6.336 pixels

I do not practice videos.

I would appreciate it very much if you could advise me which of the following options would you choose having in mind future developments of LRC, Photoshop, …

Mac Mini 4 M Pro

Option 1			Option 2		Option 3
4 M Pro			4 M Pro		4 M Pro
CPU 12, GPU 16 NE 16			CPU 14, GPU 20 NE 16		CPU 14, GPU 20 NE 16
SSD 1 TO			SSD 1 TO		SSD 1 TO
64 Go UM / Ram			48 Go UM / Ram		64 Go UM / Ram
Price Euros 2. 569			Price Euros 2. 569		Price Euros 2. 799

As you can see I do not understand the trade off regarding processor performance (CPU, GPU, etc) and Unified Memory (old Ram). Which is more important for my needs?

I also do not know if the option of 10 Gigabit Ethernet is of any use for me. I do not use iCloud nor any other net storage system (my LRC catalogues and photos files are all running on a fast external SSD, including separate backup SSDs).

Finally, would you advice a 14” macBook Pro instead of the Mac Mini (up to EUR +- 3.500 ), if yes with which configuration.

Currently I use an old MacBook Pro M1 Pro 16 Go UM/ Ram and an EIZO 27” screen.


Thank you very much for your attention


Sincerely Klaus

 

[clee01l]

Based upon the performance of my 64GB M2 Ultra Mac Studio, I would recommend M4 Pro with 14‑core CPU and 20‑core GPU and 64GB of unified memory.


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[Klaus Ressmann]

Based upon the performance of my 64GB M2 Ultra Mac Studio, I would recommend M4 Pro with 14‑core CPU and 20‑core GPU and 64GB of unified memory.


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THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your kind advice.
alternatively there is the temptation of a
A) MacBook 14" M4 Pro with 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU with 48GB unified memory, 1TO SSD
or
B) a MacBook 14" M4 Max with 14-core CPU and 32-core GPU with limited 36 GB unified memory, 1TO SSD

both in reasonable price range, which one would you prefer

Please kindly advise what you would consider the minimum Unified Memory for future security
thank you very much for your attention
Klaus

 

[clee01l]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your kind advice.
alternatively there is the temptation of a
A) MacBook 14" M4 Pro with 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU with 48GB unified memory, 1TO SSD
or
B) a MacBook 14" M4 Max with 14-core CPU and 32-core GPU with limited 36 GB unified memory, 1TO SSD

both in reasonable price range, which one would you prefer

Please kindly advise what you would consider the minimum Unified Memory for future security
thank you very much for your attention
Klaus

I would have to say I am not a fan of laptops as a main at home computer. I would buy the Mac Mini over a MBP any day. A 14” monitor is marginally useful as a display for working in LrC.


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[Klaus Ressmann]

I would have to say I am not a fan of laptops as a main at home computer. I would buy the Mac Mini over a MBP any day. A 14” monitor is marginally useful as a display for working in LrC.


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Dear Clee01l,
I fully agree with you regarding the limits of 14" monitor, having also an old MacBook Pro M1 with 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU and 16Go memory. It is useful for travelling and at home I just connect it to my EIZO 27" calibrated photo monitor. However the MacBook Pro M1 starts being slow, obviously to much with several programs and large files, in particular since LRC 13. Therefore and for the travelling benefit I considered to buy another MacBook Pro, M4.

With the M4 book models Apple is shamelessly forcing you to go to M4Max 40-core GPU if you want more than 36 or 48 Go memory, applying prohibiting extra costs.
THEREFORE MY FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION ABOUT MEMORY SIZE for LRC, dxoLab, Nik-collection, Photoshop.

Would 36 GB U-Memory enough wit a 14-core CPU and 32-core GPU M4 Max chip,
or better: 48 GB U-Memory enough wit a 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU M4 Pro chip,
OR is 64MB U-Memory a strongly advisable minimal Memory for the future takin into account recent program developments?

Thank you very much for your patience and attention
Klaus

 

[clee01l]

Dear Clee01l,
I fully agree with you regarding the limits of 14" monitor, having also an old MacBook Pro M1 with 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU and 16Go memory. It is useful for travelling and at home I just connect it to my EIZO 27" calibrated photo monitor. However the MacBook Pro M1 starts being slow, obviously to much with several programs and large files, in particular since LRC 13. Therefore and for the travelling benefit I considered to buy another MacBook Pro, M4.

With the M4 book models Apple is shamelessly forcing you to go to M4Max 40-core GPU if you want more than 36 or 48 Go memory, applying prohibiting extra costs.
THEREFORE MY FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION ABOUT MEMORY SIZE for LRC, dxoLab, Nik-collection, Photoshop.

Would 36 GB U-Memory enough wit a 14-core CPU and 32-core GPU M4 Max chip,
or better: 48 GB U-Memory enough wit a 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU M4 Pro chip,
OR is 64MB U-Memory a strongly advisable minimal Memory for the future takin into account recent program developments?

Thank you very much for your patience and attention
Klaus

As for LrC, Others have suggested that 32GB Universal memory is sufficient, The issue with Silicon Chips is that CPU, GPU and Memory are all included on a single chip. For performance reasons, Apple determined the M4 series specs to be what they are.

 

[Klaus Ressmann]

As for LrC, Others have suggested that 32GB Universal memory is sufficient, The issue with Silicon Chips is that CPU, GPU and Memory are all included on a single chip. For performance reasons, Apple determined the M4 series specs to be what they are.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Have a nice day !!!
Klaus

 

[Conrad Chavez]

Please kindly advise what you would consider the minimum Unified Memory for future security

32GB has been working very well for my M1 Pro MacBook Pro, which is also my desktop computer (in closed lid mode plugged into a dock) because it runs as cool and quiet as a desktop. However, at this time it is good to aim a little higher for memory. It might be safer to go with 48GB if we anticipate that more features will be using GPU acceleration and AI in the next few years. Both features add to memory requirements.

Keep in mind that in the latest M4 and M3 Air base models, Apple finally raised the base Unified Memory from 8GB to 16GB. Many have speculated that Apple did this because the release of Apple Intelligence will soon raise the memory usage of macOS. Some also interpret this as a signal that our existing expectations for memory should also be bumped up a level. For that reason, Option 2 with 48GB should be enough for most things. 64GB might be better if you frequently edit high-megapixel images (maybe over 36MP), but most people do not need 64GB.

Your options range from 16 to 32 GPU cores. If you are trying to save money, 16 GPU cores is fine for most tasks. If you place a very high priority on processing large batches of images with AI Denoise it might be worth paying extra for the 32 GPU cores, which will run AI Denoise in half the time as 16 GPU cores.

 

[repro_Glenn]

CPU speeds up everything so roughly the number of cores is directly related to performance, GPU is the same and I guess Neural Engine the same too, the difference is that whereas CPU is general tasks, GPU and NE are designed to handle specific tasks faster than CPU.
BUT CPU is really really fast almost all tasks are done in fractions of a second so you won't notice any difference unless your task is long and really difficult. GPU and NE are now being given more to do and tasks like DeNoise ARE long and difficult BUT you probably won't be doing these tasks all the time so might be worth putting up with 20seconds instead of 10seconds for a DeNoise.
RAM feeds and caches the CPU the data like really quick, the more tasks going on the more RAM you need, the speed doesn't really change so adding more RAM only speeds things up if the amount of simultaneous tasks gets too much. Apple's lowest 16GB config shows that 8GB is no longer enough.
When the RAM is full it has to swop data to and from the HDD or SSD, which is massively slower than the RAM. Its at this point things can really slow SSD is way faster than HDD but if you can avoid the situation by having enough RAM then that's the best way.

For me I went with 36GB to future proof Last Year, but if I had had the choice of 24MB might of thought that was enough, I think 48MB would definitely be ok.
I know its really expensive but I went for 2TB SSD, the 2025 Photoshop recommends 100GB free space, that's a tenth gone from 1TB before you even count the Apps and OS.

 

[clee01l]

I know its really expensive but I went for 2TB SSD, the 2025 Photoshop recommends 100GB free space, that's a tenth gone from 1TB before you even count the Apps and OS.

I went with the 1TB with the intention of only keeping the OS apps and limited users data on the Primary disk drive. I have 176 GB Freespace for working storage. In attached external drives I have ~50TB for User data (images), Backups etc. and another 36TB on a NAS

Apple wants $400 USD for and extra TB on their MBPs. You can pick up 4TB NVMe SSD at Amazon for less than $300.