The Yuryev brothers at MaxTech YouTube channel bought about a dozen different versions of these and tested them to determine the sweet spot.

The Max versions of the M2 SOC are for people doing 3D modeling and high end graphics/special effects for TV, motion picture, and other video production. The primary advantage of the Max is the additional graphics cores for such tasks.

Bottom line, as Vadim said this week, get the M2 Pro. You want AT LEAST 16GB unified memory and AT LEAST 1TB storage if you can afford it.

WHY??? Because the M2 Pro and M2 Max Macs have HALF the storage modules of their M1 predecessors! Instead of two 256 or four 128GB modules, the 512GB versions use just one 512GB module. That means they are NOT configured in a RAID 0 array, which speeds up read/write operations significantly, ESPECIALLY during swap memory/virtual memory operations. The 1TB models use TWO 512GB modules, in a RAID 0 array, so they perform much better.

The main advantage of the RAID 0 array is MOST NOTICEABLE when running Photoshop and Lightroom Classic. It does little for video editing.

Personally, if I were buying for photography, video, and audio production, I'd get the 32GB/1TB version of the M2 Pro MacBook Pro, or the 24GB/1TB version of the M2 MacBook Air. With these computers, there is very little memory swap needed, and I/O operations are at full speed. When swap is needed, it won't slow you down.

I have an M1 MacBook Air, 16GB/1TB, which works great for Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Final Cut Pro, and GarageBand. All my everyday apps are lightning fast. The only time it has slowed down due to thermal throttling, I was rendering an 867GB Apple ProRes video file to an external drive as a 4K MOV file. It has no fan, but most of the time, it barely gets warm. Compared to all my previous Macs and PCs, it runs like a bat out of hell! And the fact that it is COMPLETELY silent is great when I'm trying to narrate a video.

The 16" version of the MBP will throttle less than the 14", because it has better cooling fans. The difference may or may not matter to you.

MOST PEOPLE do not need the fastest versions of these machines. If you're like UHH user CJC2 (above) frequently processing massive quantities of files, you can justify them. But for occasional "high stress tasks", the midrange models are plenty.

If you need MORE than 1TB storage, get fast external storage. My Samsung T7 SSD drives are plenty fast enough when connected through a small hub. If you need more speed for video editing, a Thunderbolt 4 M.2 solid state drive is the ticket.

I am a hobbyist. I do not sell my images, do not print them in large formats beyond 11x14 or 16x20, and seldom enter contests.
I shoot in RAW and import the images to LR. I use LR, both the mobile version and the LRC version, but do a great deal of my editing on my MacBook Air and IPad Air.

I am very comfortable with LR and yet I feel that I should also use Photoshop, since some of my photographer friends use it with ease. I am pretty good with technology but for the life of me, I cannot grasp Photoshop!

I have looked at You Tube videos, signed up for Udemy courses on Photoshop for beginners, but I can’t get the hang of it….
Have any of you found on line instruction that is effective and gives a step by step process?

I honestly don’t get the point of Photoshop…except for creative changes to or manipulation of an image. What am I missing?