Upgrading my MacBookPro 13"

[HenryGordillo]

Lightroom Version Number

10.2

Operating System

1. macOS 10.15 Catalina

Hi folks!

A consultation before I buy. I thought to ask you my trusted comrades for your opinions.

I have read good things about the Apple M1 chip on the Forum. Further thoughts?

The M1 chip is currently available on the 13" only. Should I wait until the 16" MacBook Pro is upgraded to the M1 chip?

I currently have 16gb of memory and 512gb of SSD storage on my 13" McBook Pro.

Reasons for adding SSD storage? Worth it?

Reasons for going beyond 16gb of memory (not yet available on the 13" model)? Worth it?

Thank you!

 

[clee01l]

Apple has also introduced a 24" M1 iMac. I would recommend an iMac for a Lightroom classic catalog and as a Home computer. This new iMac sits between the older 21" and 27" iMacs and might be the replacement for both.

I have abandoned 13"MBPs in favor of the 21" iMac. I thin purchased a 13"(12.9") iPadPro and Lightroom (cloudy) for a portable interface to my master catalog at home and in the cloud.

I do think the M1 chip is the only practical avenue forward if you are upgrading your Mac.

 

[HenryGordillo]

Apple has also introduced a 24" M1 iMac. I would recommend an iMac for a Lightroom classic catalog and as a Home computer. This new iMac sits between the older 21" and 27" iMacs and might be the replacement for both.

I have abandoned 13"MBPs in favor of the 21" iMac. I thin purchased a 13"(12.9") iPadPro and Lightroom (cloudy) for a portable interface to my master catalog at home and in the cloud.

I do think the M1 chip is the only practical avenue forward if you are upgrading your Mac.

Hi Cletus!
Thank you very much for your detailed response.
I was used to thinking of the MacBook as the multipurpose tool. I will have to look into the iPadPro especially since it is smaller/lighter than the MacBook and with the additional safety net of having to work with the Cloud. And it has the M1 chip!
And thanks for reinforcing my decision to go M1 chip.
Cheers!

 

[clee01l]

An M1 Chip on the iPadPro AND the 13”MBP really starts to blur the playing field. I can see a future merging of the iPadOS and MacOS in terms of the same apps that might run on either platform. I still see the importance of a desktop base workstation that for image processing purposes has a much larger viewing area and IMO is essential for LrC. I have two iPadPros and am tempted to get an M1 iPadPro to replace one. I think I will wait until Adobe gets an M1 version of Lightroom Classic before I replace my 3 y.o. iMac


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[HenryGordillo]

An M1 Chip on the iPadPro AND the 13”MBP really starts to blur the playing field. I can see a future merging of the iPadOS and MacOS in terms of the same apps that might run on either platform. I still see the importance of a desktop base workstation that for image processing purposes has a much larger viewing area and IMO is essential for LrC. I have two iPadPros and am tempted to get an M1 iPadPro to replace one. I think I will wait until Adobe gets an M1 version of Lightroom Classic before I replace my 3 y.o. iMac


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks again Cletus!
According to this Adobe page, LR Classic has gone native:
Taking your observations to heart, I am considering waiting for the MacBook Pro 16" with M1 chip (or M2 or ???) later this year. And until then continue to use my MacBook Pro 13" as the desktop with my BenQ 271. Once I upgrade then the MacBook 13" becomes the traveling computer in lieu of an iPad Pro.
Your thoughts? (And I hope I have not overstayed my welcome.)
Cheers!

 

[Conrad Chavez]

Thanks again Cletus!
According to this Adobe page, LR Classic has gone native:

No, as of today (26 May 2021) that page says that Lightroom (cloud-based) is Apple Silicon native (it has been for a while), but Lightroom Classic is still an Intel app that runs through Rosetta 2 translation (see picture below). The only public announcement Adobe has made about Apple Silicon-native Lightroom Classic is that it would be released this year — that is, some time in 2021 which still has 7 months left. Because of that, we don’t yet know how well it will perform or what complications there might be.

I also currently use a 13" Intel MacBook Pro. I am waiting for the next wave of Apple Silicon Macs before upgrading because the current M1 Macs have certain limitations that I don’t want to have, such as the maximum amount of RAM and number of supported external displays.

The conventional wisdom right now is to hold off on any major Mac purchase decisions until the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on Tuesday, June 7. Apple is expected to announce the next major versions of macOS and iOS, and some speculate that new, more powerful Apple Silicon Macs might also be announced. If new Macs are announced on June 7, they might change our answers here.

Reasons for adding SSD storage? Worth it?

That entirely depends on how much you plan to store on the laptop itself. If you store everything on it, or often store large projects on it temporarily, those are reasons to add more (I ordered my last two MacBook Pros with 1TB storage). Also, it is important to make sure at least roughly 100GB is free at all times for various large cache and temp files that macOS and pro applications work with, so if your free space is often below 100GB that would be a reason to add more next time.

But if you edit photos and other projects that you always keep on external storage, and you always have over 100GB of free space on your current Mac, then you would not need to buy more storage next time.

Reasons for going beyond 16gb of memory (not yet available on the 13" model)? Worth it?

16GB is a good baseline for Lightroom Classic, because it uses available RAM above 12GB for caching previews of nearby images for faster navigation. If you like to also run multiple RAM-hungry applications at the same time such as Photoshop, a web browser with 47 tabs open, or a virtual machine, you should order up to 32GB RAM if that option is available. Most people will not benefit from having more than 32GB RAM.