bzh1949

I am in the process of of ordering a new IMAC and am concerned about the compatibility with Adobe and also Topaz studio products. Are there issues I need to consider before I purchase. I currently have a 2011 Mac and which runs High Sierra but would not accommodate Adobe upgrades.

Ourspolair

Best to check on the Adobe and Topaz sites. Lately Adobe has not been keeping pace with Apple updates, which is surprising considering the number of professional graphic artists use Macs...

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

I have a 2018 iMac and a 2020 iBook Pro (M1). While these are not quite the same as your intended purchase, I have the latest iOS operating systems installed.
There are NO problems with either Adobe Lightroom nor Photoshop. I don’t use Topaz, so I can’t comment on it.

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

There are no Apple/Adobe issues. Don’t know about Topaz. I update my IMac as soon as Apple or Adobe upgrades their products and all works perfectly. Someone here said Adobe is not keeping up. Not true. I wouldn’t worry about it at all.
...Cam

pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

The old IMac Pro is being discontinued and the new IMac with the M1 chip will be coming sometime this year. If it were me, I would wait for the new model. Adobe is reworking their software for IOS and the new M1 chip to make it more compatible to the hardware and operating system.
You should be aware also that if you do buy one of the IMacs that they have in stock now, you cannot change the components that are on it. They stopped refitting the ones in stock and are selling them as is. And they are not building anymore of them to the old design specs. But if you can get a deal on one, perhaps it would be worth while for you. Except the announcement said they weren’t going to discount any of the old build units they have now.

uhaas2009

https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords=A1418

I learned a lot from this homepage. When you lift up the foot there a lots of info what you can search in this home page

conigk

I got a new Mac Last summer and it worked with all of my software including Adobe CC. The transfer of files (including a 3Tb external) using Timemachine was perfect and so easy. I did not have to reinstall anything.

conigk

I got a new Mac Last summer and it worked with all of my software including Adobe CC. The transfer of files (including a 3Tb external) using Timemachine was perfect and so easy. I did not have to reinstall anything.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I don't use Topaz, but I can tell you that Adobe's suite works just fine with all the Intel Macs running the last two operating systems (10.15.7 Catalina and 11.2.3 Big Sur). I run the latest releases of Lightroom and Photoshop and Bridge, with no issues on 10.15.7 on my Late 2013 iMac.

I would wait for the new round of iMacs, probably coming this year. They will be Apple Silicon Powered (M1x? M2?), and kick Intel's chips to the curb. The Intel Macs should be gone, by the end of 2022, if Apple sticks to their promise made when they announced the M1 Macs.

My son has a Late 2020 M1 MacBook Air. Although many Adobe apps are not yet Apple Silicon Native, all but Adobe Dimension will run with Apple's Rosetta 2 translation. The M1 is so fast, they run as fast or faster than their Intel versions do! Among Adobe apps, Jay is running Photoshop (which is now native), Lightroom Classic (Rosetta 2), Premiere Pro (Rosetta 2), and Illustrator (Rosetta 2).

The OLD MacBook Air (any Intel-powered model) has always been an underpowered, tired old dog. The M1 version is a freaking rocket! There is no fair comparison. The M1 Air, even the $999 version, out-performs every Intel laptop in its price class (Mac, Windows, or Linux). And it is completely silent. There's no fan, and it doesn't get hot! Battery life is insane (10 hours heavy lifting to 17 hours + watching movies). The only downsides are a lack of common ports (you need a hub, or a dock, or dongles) and if you want more RAM or SSD space, you MUST buy it up front. The machine is not upgradeable. I recommend 16GB RAM and at least a 512GB SSD for all the M1 machines. DIG DEEPLY into the facts about Apple's unified RAM before you worry about not having enough. Jay runs 6-8 apps at a time with no apparent slow-downs. He has 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD internal, with several 2TB external SSDs used for storage and backup.

If you're wondering about current application compatibility with the new M1, go here: https://isapplesiliconready.com It's billed as "The complete guide for MacOS Apps Optimized for M1 Apple Silicon Macs". (It is FAR from complete.)

shirleycwalker

I just changed over from a 2013 Imac (1TB) to a new Imac (256mb) and was shocked to see the smaller capacity. I'm fine with my photos existing on my external drives. My old Adobe Photoshop Elements programs (11 & 14) did not transfer successfully but the photos in their libraries are still accessible somehow and will open in my Topaz aps. I just purchased many Topaz products without any problems. I also had to re-download Nikon Transfer/Studio again and it is causing probs- my computer is unable to backup. I will need to uninstall it, it seems.

MikeT9

I use the latest Adobe versions on my 2019 iMac running Apple Big Sur with no problems. As far as Topaz pluggins go I have no trouble at all with Denoise AI and Sharpen AI. Certainly Adjust AI has not yet been updated and although I don’t use Mask AI I’m not sure that has been updated yet. Legacy Topaz products will not run and their website details the current alternatives.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Since you said iMac rather than mac mini or new MacBooks running the m1 chipset then you will be running the intel chipset which in all cases should be fine for the latest versions of Lightroom and Photoshop as well as the Topaz products.

If you were going to buy an M1 chipset mini or MacBook you would still be able to run those using the Rosetta emulator which emulates the intel chipset. Test show most intel software runs in Rosetta at least as fast as if you were using an intel-based mac. However as the latest release of ps which has been ported to be a universal app for the m1 chipset running 50% or better than the best intel chipset. I would either wait until there is an M1 iMac or do what I am doing - buying a mac mini with 16GB ram and 512GB SSD which will be 1/2 of what a similar iMac will cost when ever it comes out.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Your question has been answered about Adobe, I use Macs and have no issues with the 4 Topaz programs I have installed.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

If you can wait a bit, Apple may announce new Apple Silicon iMacs. If they do, they'll run rings around any iMac you can buy today. And Adobe just released updates that run native on the M1 Macs that are already out there. Apple hasn't given any indication of schedule, but I've seen at least one item that said they might announce new gear this month.

Old Edmundo

I am using the Mac1 chipped laptop (pro) with the Classic LR and PS both working without any issues, much faster than my older apple laptop.