rjrbigdog Loc: New York

Do people really use iPads too?

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

Yup.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Some do.

Myself I am DONE with iPads. I bought an iPad pro hoping to be able to use in for travel maybe even replace the computer as suggested by S. Jobs.

The iPad is a great piece of hardware but it is severely limited by iOS. There are simple things I can do in seconds on the computer that take much longer or are not even possible using iOS. And this is STILL true after many many years. Frankly, IMHO, iOS sucks. When Apple was naming their Mac OS versions after big cats, they should have called iOS "Tabby".

Microsoft has the right idea here, where the Surface runs a version of Windows rather than a neutered OS incapable of accommodating a power user.

Just saying...

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

I use an iPad to edit most of my images, but then, I’m no pro or even advanced amateur. I take photos for my own pleasure, and on occasion share one or two, so I don’t necessarily have a need for a photo processing program or software to edit images critically. So for me, the iPad works for what I do. I have a MacBook Pro, so that is always available to use if I think it’s necessary.

rjrbigdog Loc: New York

Yes, I have a MacBook Air m1 which I want to use for photoshop/Lightroom. Are the days gone that you need a powerful computer? Does anyone use a MacBook Air? Mine is M1 with 16 gigs of Ram.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

You think that MacBook Air M1 is not a powerful computer? Compared to what?

M1 with 16 GB of ram, will be fine for what you want to do. But you will need some HD storage, so I hope it's more than 16GB. LOL.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

If you're asking is the 2020 M1 MacBook Air suitable for use with Lightroom Classic and Photoshop, the answer is an emphatic YES from me.

CAVEAT: My Air is spec'd out this way:

> M1 un-binned chip (8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores, 16 neural engine cores)
> 16 GB Unified Memory
> 1 TB SSD Storage.

I'll have had it for two years next week. I run Lightroom Classic and Photoshop frequently, and occasionally edit 4K video in Final Cut Pro. Those are the heavy lifting apps I have, but I use about 40 others on occasion, including all of MS 365 (Formerly MS Office).

Is the M1 enough? Yes, if you do NOT buy the base model. These chips SHARE RAM among all the processor cores. They also use SSD storage for virtual memory swaps. The less real memory you have, the more the system relies upon storage. But if you only have the base amount of storage, it fills up quickly, so you don't have enough for virtual memory swaps, and the system bogs down. You won't have problems with everyday tasks on the base models, but if you want to avoid slow-downs during heavy lifting tasks, get more memory and storage.

The sweet spot, where diminishing marginal returns on expenditure sets in, is at 16GB and 1TB. With any of the new Macs, you'll have smooth performance if you get at least that much memory and storage, respectively. If you're doing VERY heavy lifting (constant file rendering of thousands of images from Lightroom Classic, or 4K video editing with 8 streams of video and 16 tracks of audio plus effects, transitions, color grading and titles), then the MacBook Pro 14" or 16" or Mac Studio models are appropriate. But 95% of users can get by with the M1 or M2 Macs, given sufficient memory and internal storage.

If I were considering a Mac right now, I'd wait until after Apple's second rumored Fall announcement. The first will be iPhones in September, but M3 Macs are expected in October or November (but as late as next Spring). The M3 will feature faster processing and better battery life, although speed and battery life are already pretty amazing.

Oh, and about that iPad: Yes, people use them with mobile versions of Lightroom and Affinity Photo. There are some apps that can really shine on an iPad. But I still consider it a media consumption device, and the Mac to be a serious creation tool. I have an iPhone and a MacBook Air. I don't need an iPad.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

You never needed a powerful computer, although the amount of RAM was important. LR/PS will run on old slow computers as long as they will run reasonably current operating systems.

OTOH, the M1 is a powerful computer so you needn't worry about whether they will run. The only thing to worry about when you buy an M1 or M2 (or M3 eventually) is whether you have enough disk space (SSD). You can't make it larger after the fact, although you can benefit from keeping all your data on an external drive. That makes it easy to copy the data to a larger drive and rename that drive to match the old one. The substitution becomes transparent.

Dalek Loc: Detroit, Miami, Goffstown

Just purchased an Air M2. My son will aasist me in set-up and software. Goal is to have Z9 and Z8 load to the Air

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

You will need flash media card readers. Get the fastest you can find. The interface is USB-C, in any flavor of protocol up to 40Gbps, since the ports on the Mac support Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4.

While you can also connect via USB-C cable, it may be slower, especially if you use the wrong USB-C cable. Cables rated for Thunderbolt 3 or 4 are the fastest for all data over USB-C.

gouldopfl

Compared to a Intel chips. Arm processors are slower due to the design where Intel and AMD are made for speed. You will never find a data center using a M1/M2 as a server. I don't even know if Apple has a server anymore. If you do your research, you will find that the goals of ARM and X86 are different.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

First of all, Apple Silicon is not made by ARM. Apple licenses some intellectual property from ARM, but they design their own systems and have them fabricated by TSMC.

Second, if you haven't seen recent comparisons of Apple Silicon with similarly priced Intel and AMD machines, go over to the MaxTech YouTube channel and check them out. I think you'll be floored to see how frequently the Mac trounces a similarly-priced PC.

Now, if you're a gamer, forget Macs. Buy or build a high end PC with a graphics card suitable for gaming, and keep in plugged into a dedicated outlet in a room with really good air conditioning... My son is a gaming expert. He uses PCs at his gaming job at UNCG, and a MacBook Pro 14" for video production.

Yes, you can custom build a super fast PC on a budget, but the average consumer isn't interested in doing that. They're going to buy a Dell, HP, LG, Toshiba, Acer, Lenovo, etc., or a Mac.

If you're at all interested in AV production, the Macs are far easier to live with in a studio, because they are near-silent and won't act as space heaters. I can narrate a video script without picking up fan noise, because there is no fan in my MacBook Air.

Watch this typical laptop comparison. https://youtu.be/V2dE1sKdlaA

In short, the Apple Silicon Macs are FAR faster than the Intel Macs they replaced. They use about one third the power for equivalent performance. This is an entirely different approach than x86, and deserves more than a casual look. For creatives, they're very hard to beat.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

UNCG has a paid position for gaming?

gouldopfl

I have probably been around computers before most. I started programming on punch cards. In my software development company we built probably 2000+ systems for our customers. I understand CPU technology pretty well. This isn't a MAC vs PC issue. It also has nothing to do with who makes the chips. TSMC make both the Apple silicone and AMD CPU's. The ARM instruction set is what is used in the M1/M2 chips. The M1/M2 are ARM processors. Apple licenses them from ARM and TSMC makes them. The M1 uses some 16 bit instructions and some 32 instructions. They use 64 bit registers but there are less instructions in the Apple processors and they run at a slower clock speed. The Apple processors must maintain the 16 bit instructions for backward compatibility to previous ARM processors as per their license. With less instructions available it will take longer to execute 2 instructions on the M1/M2 for those instructions that are missing than in the X86 chips etc that have the additional instructions. Apple has never tried to say that their computers are faster than the Intel and AMD processors. As far as graphics, I have a older T1650 processor in my laptop. I have a 8 core AMD Ryzen 4800H so not the fastest but the laptop came configured with 64 gig of RAM which allows more in memory processing. I will replace my computer in a couple years when the AMD 2nm processors are available along with the wider bus. The faster bus is every bit as important as fast memory.