burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

M1, M2, M3 series Apple Silicon can support two monitors. That means a laptop monitor OR an iMac monitor and ONE external monitor, OR two external monitors connected to an M-series Mac mini.

The MacBook Pro 14" and 16" and the Mac Studio can support three monitors with the M1/M2/M3 PRO chip, or four monitors with the M1/M2/M3 MAX chip.

So if you want a Mac, think about how many monitors you need before choosing. NONE of the new Macs supports an add-in graphics card. All Apple Silicon graphics processing is done on the SOC (system on a chip). (Mac Pros don't even do it. They have slots for external equipment controller boards and storage, not graphics.)

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Any modern graphics card will drive at least two monitors. I use ASUS 2048x1080 resolution monitors.

bwa

delder Loc: Maryland

Great suggestion. The GPU does a TON of processing in photo applications and should be substantial.
You can think of it as the modern equivelent of the Numeric Coprocessor in the past.

Oftentimes, ordering a Gaming Computer is an easy way to obtain the Higher Memory/GPU/GPU Memory you are looking for. REMEMBER, the GPU makes extreme demands on the Power Supply, so this should be in the Several Hundred Watt range..

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

I presume that you are speaking only of a Windows computer. If not, then consider an Apple Studio. I have the Ultra M1 version with 128 GB unified memory and I forget how many cores, it updates LrC and Photoshop in a snap.

rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

Dear hlpeterson,
I use a Dell precision workstation (5820) with an Intel Wxxxx processor. It works very well with Photoshop and Lightroom, although I don't use Lightroom nearly so much as I should (learning curve problem). I suggest you go to dell.com and look at their various workstations, which you can configure almost endlessly to get what you want.
Good luck!

jackpinoh Loc: Kettering, OH 45419

You don't need a gaming computer. The average computer can deal with LR just fine. You won't notice a significant difference in processing photos in LR with a super computer. Very fast computers are only necessary for video processing or processing thousands of files in a batch (which may save you 30+ seconds). The computer speed has zero impact on image quality. The 32GB of RAM has been shown to be a good choice in a variety of tests.

jackpinoh Loc: Kettering, OH 45419

I concur. I also have the identical MacBook Air. I have used it with the BenQ SW321C monitor with no problems.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

The reason to consider a gaming computer if you’re processing images is that they typically have a fast graphics card/GPU with plenty of VRAM. You’ll find that a fast graphics card/GPU is required for some Photoshop features and AI based aps such as Topaz. If you buy a machine with integrated graphics on the CPU, you’ll be limited in what editing tools you can use (some photoshop tools require a GPU and a min amount of VRAM) effectively, the number of monitors you can use, and some aps will be so slow it will be agonizing.

If you’re buying a new machine, you need to buy the processing power you’ll need, not just for today, but for a reasonable number of years in the future, or you’ll be doing the same thing again in a couple of years. SW is getting larger, more complex and increasingly relies on GPUs. Just like tripods - buy a decent one up front or just keep buying cheap ones until you wise up.

hlpeterson

I am the original poster. I had planned on "overbuying" and ended up doing so more than I had originally planned. I bought an Alienware Aurora R16 Desktop. I will now list its features: Intel Corei7; 32GB of memory; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070; 1 TB storage. $1899--Best Buy, $300 off. I expect it will be the last computer I will buy at almost 84. My last computer, purchased in 2014, experienced a hard drive mechanical failure.
Thanks for your spirited and informed comments.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Congratulations - nice configuration.