submitted by HelpMe0biWan
For anyone considering an upgrade from an M1, just thought I’d share my experience. It’s easy to let GAS get the better of you so hopefully this helps! *Your mileage may vary!
My M1 Pro recently met its end following a silly tethering cable incident at the end of a very long day. Insurance paid out in cash and the screen repair cost made no sense so I picked up the M4 Pro instead. Both models are the variant up from the base pro chip. So increased cores and storage etc etc
Prior to purchase I watched ‘ArtIsRight’ on YouTube to make sure the M4 Pro still made sense over the new base M5 chip as well as do a general comparison of the various options within my budget.
Performance - The good news, if you’re considering a transition from M1 Pro to M4 Pro, you can probably save your money! They honestly feel near identical in LrC. If you did a blind test on me on a 1000 photo edit, I doubt I’d spot the difference. It’s ever so slightly faster in AI Denoise but if that’s a big part of your workflow, the Max chip is where you’ll see the true gains. This lines up with ArtIsRights upgrade chart. If you need a performance upgrade, you’ll really want to consider splurging on the Max. A linear upgrade from M1 Pro to M4 Pro is almost indistinguishable from a photo editing perspective in real life. It really goes to show how impressive the M1 chip was/is.
Notes - I went from the 16 inch to the 14 as I primarily have it connected to the Studio Display. The fans kick in a lot more on the 14!
ElderberryCareful479
100% agree here with the same experience. I upgraded to an M4 pro and was disappointed to find that I could've just kept my previous computer.
igor_star
M1 pro is good, but it struggles with 100MP raw files from a GFX. Even switching between previews in Lightroom requires patience. And merging panoramas or focus bracketing develops perseverance.
Theoderic8586
I still edit on a MacBook pro 2016 retina display haha. I get by just fine.
SoftAncient2753
Thank you for sharing your experience - I have a M1 Max/32 and have been wondering about upgrading for ages - that will now go on the back burner.
lol7338
For you it is better an M1 max with 64GB or an M4Pro 48GB knowing that the M4 Pro is double the price of the M1...
lol7338
I'm full. Doubt when reading the posts. Do you think the best for Lightroom Classic is an M1 Max/pro 64GB or an M4 Pro 48GB?
Sygnul
I’ve had my M1 Max for a while, and it’s either age or lightroom classic getting so bloated that I’ve noticed a lot of performance drop. Glad to see it’s not worth the upgrade. Thanks for that!
drywallbmb
Thanks for this!
treymurray
I’ll definitely want some improvement in AI workflows eventually, but glad to hear there’s no need to upgrade from a M1 Pro just yet. Thanks for the datapoint!
Underratedpremed
Boutta get an M4 soon. That upgrade is going to be so noticeable. 2017 MacBook Air that’s still handling all my photography projects 😭 sounds like a jet engine when I’m running PS or LrC
mostlyharmless71
M1pro is still a really good rig. I moved from an M1pro to an M3max with a ton more ram (16->64), and the combo yielded significant improvements, but from M1pro->M3pro is pretty incremental. Overall the entire M1 family of computers/ipads seems likely to hang around for a long long time, they’re more than powerful enough for basic computing tasks and even modest power user stuff still today, and that seems likely to continue for several years. We have several M1 variants around the house and they’re all going strong.
mi-nombre-es-el-jefe
This is great real-world feedback. Thank you for taking the time to let us know.
RudeBear992
I can definitely state that M4 pro is a dream comparing to the 2019 intel chip on a Mac Pro . And as mentioned above, it all depends on how large your batch jobs are for Denoise (700 plus). I also believe that as software develops with additional AI features, the M4Pro chip would be crucial. I keep my macs about 5 yrs and the studio is a dream. I have given up and work from both a Studio at home and 16 inch for travel. I would overheat a 14 inch, since some of my travel editing is so times extensive. ArtsRight has great you tube videos. It is all what you need and how you strategize your purchases.
Jesustoastytoes
I had to use my 2019 (maxed out specs) while my 2023 (maxed out) was in for repair. I almost went insane trying to edit a few photos. I just gave up eventually and told my clients turnaround times will be pushed back.
jaredcwood
Thanks. I've thought about upgrading my M1 Max Mac Studio but with 4TB SSD and 64GB of ram it's holding up really well after... 3+ years? At this rate I was considering just using it until they no longer offer AppleCare on it.
Gruner_Jager Lightroom Classic (desktop) comment score below threshold
Can't imagine spending that money on a Mac
seckarr
Depends on your needs. Heavy editing in lightroom is one ofnthe few use cases where a mac is mathematically vastly superior.
Problem is that adobe apps are very badly optimized so they need a metric ton of VIDEO ram specifically.
Now even expensive graphics chips come with 10-12 gb.
Macs have a shared memory pool of ram so if you get a 32gb ram macbook, the gpu basically has 32gb of ram.
In windows PCs that isnt really viable unless you get a specialty GPU and spend way more than you would on a mac.
Dont think of mac as a windows alternative, think of it as an alternative for a tablet, with the addition that specific apps like Lr happen to run much better on them than on a windows of equivalent price.
BringBackApollo2023
I recently built a PC because it sounded like fun. Probably not an ideal system, but over engineered to be sure.
It rips through DeNoise and other processes and paired with a 32” monitor I’m in heaven.
I love Apple for my phone and tablet, but no way I’d pay their prices for a computer.
seckarr
Doesnt matter. When you work with large quantities of photos Adobe's shitty optimization will make your Lr run like shit after a while. Its not apparent unless you do photo shoots with large quantities of photos over and over. And denosie is probably the least of your worries.
If windows does it for you then all the better, but for a lot of us pros... you literally have to spend more to get the same performance if you want windows
Gruner_Jager Lightroom Classic (desktop)
Just because you're a pro doesn't mean you need to get ripped off. I 100 percent know you'd never notice the performance difference on a similar priced PC. With all the added benefits of it.
I know to many people that just assume if you're not using apple you're not professional or you look cheap. It's a horrible mindset.
seckarr
No. You do not know.
I do. Because i actually DO have a similar priced PC. I have a $3000 gaming laptop (im a gamer and a programmer) and it drives me crazy sometimes. A $2k macbook, for lightroom specifically, will perform much better for large quantities of photos.
Im not talking about ANYTHING ELSE. I am talking about exclusively Lr on large collections and many small adjustments over all the photos.
This is because Lr care alot more about VRAM than processing speed. And macs have unified memory. If you have a 32gb ram mac, then the entire 32gb acts as both normal ram and vram. Go find me a regular gpu with 32gb of vram that i dont have to sell a kidney for.
BringBackApollo2023
I think that's part of the reason I built my own tower. Didn't have to pay Dell's or whoever's markup to get a better machine. Built a tower with an Intel i914900k, GeForce graphics card, 64gb memory, 2TB on board memory plus my NAS with 8TB via ethernet, etc. etc.
I'm really happy with it and don't see much yet that is slower than I'd like unless I'm scanning and keeping a number of other apps up at the same time.
And, of course, it was just cool to build my own computer. I love that hands on stuff.
seckarr
Different equipment for different jobs. A mac of equivalent price WILL run adobe apps faster and better. And will be portable as hell. However it will be outclassed at everything else.
cupsandpills
Post your specs
jaciviridae
Been a windows guy my whole life, and planned to stay that way, but when looking at the price to performance of anything vs an M1 max nothing else made sense. Ive had my MBP M1 Max with 64gb ram and its nothing short of incredible, especially for the price
deeper-diver
RAM (and lots of it) is more important for LrC than the CPU level.
benitoaramando
I'm always a bit sceptical of this claim. My M3 Pro runs LrC perfectly fine with 18GB of memory. Admittedly I'm generally processing 24MP files, but I've had no problems with stitched panos either. And it makes sense, because a 50MP 16bit RGB image only occupies 300MB of RAM, so even allowing for processing calculations, the OS and LrC application itself, it's hard to see how claims that you should get 64GB of memory or whatever can be justified.
TiredButEnthusiastic
Apple already thought of that - ram is constrained on the “lesser” chips. You can get more and faster ram on the pro and max chips, even if you don’t need the cores.
deeper-diver
Yep. Which is why I have an M2 Max w/64GB RAM MBP. LrC handles my 45MP photos and workflows with zero issues.
TiredButEnthusiastic
Yeah, it’s annoying that they figured that out with the later chips and capped the non-pro chips at 32gb. If you want 64gb or more, you need the top end Max chips - looking at a 6000 euro laptop here!
deeper-diver
It's a real shame how Apple prices RAM (and SSD) prices. If Apple was competitive with PC's in that regard, sales would skyrocket.
For what it's worth, my M2 MBP is going on almost three years and have zero need to upgrade it as it's still so fast for my LrC work.
Skycbs
Helpful. I have an M2Pro Mac mini and was wondering. I shall save my $$$ for lenses!
uzi
I went from an M1 Pro to the M4 Max and it’s a noticeable difference with Lightroom. Not that I was suffering before, but things are definitely smoother and quicker.
noodle-run
Your reason for upgrading is why I now tether to an ipad.
BroViejo
I’ve started tto ether to my iPhone 17 pro. Kind of a game changer as far as portability goes. Mbp just stays in clamshell at home.
abram77
Real estate and headshot photographer here chiming in, in support of CamRanger as well. It’s been crucial for the past decade of my work.
Budget-Number7905
How? What in your experience works best?
noodle-run
This will greatly depend on your camera and workflow needs, but I mostly shoot on Sony where I can tether wireless or wired to the Creators app however I just bought the Camranger 2 for better/faster/longer range connection. Capture One has an ipad app that you can tether to as well but I have not used it.
edit: I'm also using the base a16 ipad that I got for ~$300 so it's an easier to pill to swallow if that becomes a loss on a job.
HelpMe0biWan [ ]
How’s the camranger working for you? Always been tempted by wireless solutions
noodle-run
biggest advantage for what I do (90% architecture and interior photo) is wireless range and reliability - being able to leave the room my camera is in and still have a solid and fast connection. I was hesitant to have yet another device to charge and manage but since it can also be powered via a power bank it's not too bad. Everything else is a nice to have. Being able to quickly toggle a grid overlay, fire off a bracket from a single button press, as well as have clients be able to review images from their own devices.
altitudearts
Camrangers are wonderful. Clients love them too. MUCH better (despite the additional box) than built-in solutions, at least any I’ve tried. Feel free to DM me if you’d like to see a demo of how I use mine. Big fan.
noodle-run
Appreciate this post! Current M1Pro user (only 16gb ram) and every new release I wonder if it might be worth it. Only things that really slow me down is saving PSB comps.
Interesting to hear about the fan noise as I do not think I've ever heard the fan sound from my 16"
lewisfrancis
Same, never hear the fan on my M1 Pro MBP 32/1T Sequoia 15.7.2.
NegativeKitchen4098
Moved from an 2017 iMac to the m4 max. For a single image editing, I didn’t notice a difference, both equally snappy on 60MP raw files.
But a huge difference on denoising and ai operations (denoising went from over a minute to 15s). I do a lot of pasting of develop edits and the iMac was unbearably slow for that. Old iMac was also dog slow for panos to the point where I’d edit them primarily in PS instead.
If you do a lot of ai operations, I could see even the ultra being helpful, even though that is commonly recommended against by many photographers
KristnSchaalisahorse
My 2020 Intel Mac takes over 3min per denoise. It’s a serious drag.
Panthera_014
I have an 2020 iMac Intel as well and am surprised at 3min as well
Mine is 15sec each time
I did upgrade the ram to 96Gb because this is the last iMac you can do the upgrade yourself
If you are going to stick with that machine for longer, I would suggest you do the ram upgrade
Next year we won’t get the new OS, so I will be buying a 4k or 5k monitor and using my M2 MBP as the computer going forward
NegativeKitchen4098
Interesting, I think I got the fastest graphics option available at the time. 3 minutes is brutal.
frozen_north801
It makes total sense that for a single image that the difference is negligible. It would also make sense that for larger batch jobs it is not (though those are also done less frequently and something you can walk away from, though still might be really important for pros).
Still glad you are posting, many people chase perceived performance gains that are not in fact meaningful.
I actually bought an air after watching artisright, he was pushing for pro but all the gains were in batch jobs which I didn't care about and it was clear from his video that most of my gains I wanted in individual photo editing vs my old PC could be achieved through an air and with a form factor I preferred.
OT_fiddler
Thanks for this. I'm still on my M1 Max Macbook Pro 14 in from 2021, and I admit to having the occasional GAS about a new machine. Lightroom is the only app I have that uses any real horsepower, so this post is helpful.
fafasinho
How is the battery life on the M1 Max 14” on Lightroom ? I have the M1 Pro and that’s the only thing that makes me want to switch for a newer gen
OT_fiddler
My battery health is 84%, on a 4 year old computer. With that said, battery life running Lr isn't great. But usually I'm plugged in as I have an external monitor for serious editing.
DiegoTexera Lightroom Classic (desktop)
I’ve had every Mac since the G4 450 with the SuperDrive and I love this new edition of machines. They’re the best they’ve ever been. I have an M4 max with the matte screen, 2 mb air and an old 2009 Mac Pro classic 4,1 with 3.47 xeons.
DiegoTexera Lightroom Classic (desktop)
I’ve got my M4 Max and couldn’t be happier with it. 2tb internal and maxed out ram….this baby flies!!
Creative_Choice4862
I’m very happy with my MacBook M1 Pro the only thing I regret is not adding more RaM since I do a lot of composition and end up with up to GB files in PS I assume that more RAM would help but I may be wrong 😑
AThing2ThinkAbout
I have been rowing the Mac Mini since M1. Based on my current PC performance listed below, which configuration would match or exceed my current system speed measured with stop watch (not system estimation time)?
Windows 11 Pro on the same "unsupported hardware" CPU PC 64GB DDR4 3200MHz CLS 17 RAM 1000W ATX 3.1 PSU w PCIE 5.1 32" 4K WOLED monitor Lightroom Classic 15.0
-RTX 5090 OC 32GB GDDR7: 1-pic: 6.4s 10-pic: 75.47s
momo1083
Nice! I love Artisright as he has all the chips as his test systems. I have an M2 Max and every chip generation I wait to see what his numbers on AI denoise are as that really is the only thing where I’m waiting a long time in LR. Lo and behold, there really isn’t much of a difference. The Max chip was a great choice for me. However…Adobe pegs the GPU for these things. There was an update a while back that moved to the neural engine and that sped things up, however adobe moved back to the gpu because users complained about the result quality. If they go back to using the neural engine then 100% the newer chips will start to run away with it as you’re not brute forcing GPU. Either way, I’m good until the redesign they say is coming with the M6. Even then, it might not be for performance reasons but that it’s simply time.
disgruntledempanada
The image quality with the neural engine was indeed horrific and I think the chip itself might be bugged for that kind of workflow. Every image I'd get weird grain patterns, looked really bad.
I feel like they've been making subtle improvements to the GPU algorithm. It takes longer but performs better.
SwampYankee
I recently did a 500+ photo NR job with DXO Pro on an M3 Pro Max and it took over an hour. Tried the same thing in an M1 and killed it after 2 hours. It was kind a a dumb thing to do e an on the M3 Pro Max but at least I know the fans work. Anyway, in big photo imports with Lightroom noise reduction and full size previews I find the M3 Pro Max massively faster than the regular M1. As for editing single photos? Not really an issue on the M1. Maybe in Photoshop, but not Lightroom. Honestly, after a day of shooting hundreds of RAW photos it’s all I can do to plus the camera in and start the important. I’m not in the headspace to sit down and start culling/editing until the next day at best.
Panthera_014
I do the same When I get home from a job, I pull and get the batteries charging and pull and import the photos from all cards - that is it
I don’t even attempt culling until the next day
DaveVdE
OP is not comparing to the M1, but to the M1 Pro.
SwampYankee
Thanks
Lightroom_Help
The 16” would always have slightly better performance than the 14” (everything else being equal) because it would rarely had to throttle due to thermal issues.
Which version of macOS did you use on your older MBP and the newer one? Sequoia / Tahoe perhaps? Also did you do a clean install of your apps or used the Apple migration assistant to move everything from a backup to the new Mac?
Traditional-Grade789
Great, just what I needed to read. I'm going to be upgrading from a 2015 15" MacBook pro as someone who also uses Lightroom but as a hobbyist, and the M1 pro seems like the best value on the used market.