Looking to upgrade but not in a rush. I have a 13” M2 MBA but my problem is the RAM. I do photography and mainly use lightroom and photoshop. This isn’t my main machine and mostly only getting a laptop for travel purposes so size and portability are top of my list alongside RAM. I LOVE the aesthetic and portability of my 13” MBA but understand I need better performance. I have pretty much narrowed it down to the 14” MBP with the M3 Pro chip OR wait for the M3 Air to come out and spec up to 24GB memory. I intend to keep this for several years so I don’t want to end up in the same position I am now with needing to upgrade after only a year due to not being knowledgeable in the first place about the base RAM. any opinions appreciated.
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I edit 51 megapixel photographies (150mb each) with Capture One on my M2 pro…works smooth.
did you upgrade the RAM? i’m finding anytime I am using both Lr and Ps and doing any sort of retouching is when it really bogs down the worst. it’s using a ton of swap when doing that. if just using lightroom it’s okay but when I get into doing more intense editing, using healing brush or denoise it really starts to slow
I have 16 GB. I also do retouching in Photoshop. Apparently similar tasks to you: healing brush, liquifying, removing background, adding noise.I didn’t experiment any kind of slowness here
m2 pro 16 GB 512 GB less than a month of use…
If this isn’t your main machine and portability is your number 1 factor, why upgrade now? Yes you’re feeling a RAM crunch when you travel, but if everything else is good, then wait.
Why didn’t you ask about just trading up to a larger RAM M2 air? Is there something about the pro (screen size, 120hz, graphics cores) that you are also eyeing? A lot of the price premium you are going to pay will be for features you didn’t mention, and they will make up that half pound extra weight.
All that said, I’m sure the M3 pro will be a great upgrade for you. I guess I’m asking, “what’s the rush?”
i’m not in a rush to upgrade, but potentially next year or when they upgrade the Air with the M3 chips is when i’m thinking of upgrading
I’d say Pro. The m3 chip is amazing. I’m editing 60mp photos (On the M3 Max, add a few seconds extra for the M3 Pro) 120mb+ photos in Lightroom literally almost instantly. I rendered close to 300 finished and edited photos today together and the device didn’t even heat up.
Photos aren’t very demanding. You can edit large photos on practically any M series MacBook. An M3 Max is more for 4K multi cam setups. But if you have the budget for it then go for it. At least you know you’re future proofed for the next 15 years if all your doing is editing photos
Pro will get you better performance from the chip and active cooling, as well as a better screen. If the weight isn’t an issue go for the pro.