Which Macbook Is Best For Photographers - During the new Macbook Pro press conference and in the announcement itself, Apple made many bold claims about the quality, power and utility of the laptop.
Considering that the new M1 Pro Macbooks cost over $2000 -, we need to know how practical and powerful this Macbook will be for everything we need to shoot, make and edit.
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We got our hands on a Macbook M1 Pro to check the specs and see what it can do; here are our results!
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Macs are rarely the most powerful computers on the market for your dollar, often costing hundreds more than a Windows-based laptop; That said, they've always had the quality to hold that price tag. Between their core suite of native software like Final Cut Pro and their best screens on the market, they've been a solid choice for photographers and videographers for years. Honestly, they have done a lot to strengthen their leadership with new models. They are easy to use, more powerful, and have plug-ins that make them a laptop like no other.
To talk about the most important changes first, the Macbook M1 Pro and Max run a new type of CPU, Apple Silicon. That might sound silly, but it's actually the same family of chips that's been running iOS since the iPod Touch. Thus, the entire mobile phone and iPad software market is added to the Macbook.
Apple Silicon is changing the game for anyone embedded in iOS systems remotely for their work or projects; First, mobile-first apps like Instagram are no longer confined to poorly maintained browser-based solutions.
Second, it makes it much easier to have a common device outside and in the office. This may not change the workflow of some photographers, but it will open up tens of thousands of options now and in the future. With a shared software library, you have more flexibility in what you want to use and how you need to use it.
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If you compare the two, the M1 Max is the better figure, but at the same time, we found that it generally falls into overkill. Unlike previous versions of the Macbook Pro, the Pro and Max share the same raw features, such as screen resolution and ports, meaning the main difference is power and size.
The M1 Pro already eats 4k video for breakfast and doesn't break a sweat when editing photos. Honestly, unless you're working with 3D models or something more serious than editing 4k+ video, the M1 Pro is more than good enough.
If you're interested in a few extra hours of battery life, or a bigger screen, you can get the M1 Max. Alternatively, pick up the M1 Pro and put the $1000 you've saved towards a new lens.
Apple has dominated the photography space for a while, with one of its biggest selling points being its powerful retina displays. Made of 10,000 mini-LEDs and covering 1,000,000,000 colors
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, there is not much to say about the screen apart from the fact that Apple was and remains the best. With each release they always show better contrast and more colors of their laptops, and this year also. In fact, this is one of the biggest leaps we've seen from Apple in years, leaving us with the best screens money can buy.
Additionally, Apple has raised the brightness ceiling on the laptop, so you don't have to worry about glare affecting colors when you're trying to make a nice change.
When it comes to the screen, we have a small problem. To make better use of that space, Apple chose to use the same black 'notch' on top of the front camera on the iPhone screen. We don't complain about the screen anymore, but some apps ignore the important thing and hide things behind it. It's rare, but annoying.
Back to the positives and perhaps my favorite thing about the M1 Pro and M1 Max is that they have an SDXC reader and full HDMI port built right into the laptop, no dongles or peripherals required. Considering that both of these attachments disappear from the race to be light and thin, we're glad to see them back. A direct SDXC slot is one less wire you have to remember in the morning, and connecting the card indirectly is always handy for file management. Thank goodness the SDXC slot is back, and hopefully they won't be doing away with it anytime soon.
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As a bonus, Apple has already made sure that big-name photography programs are optimized for the new CPU, so Photoshop, Lightroom, Affinity and many other classics work just as well as editors on the new machine.
Focusing more on the video side of things, there's still a lot to like about the Macbook M1 Pro and Max. First, you benefit from all the screens, batteries and travel parts we've already talked about, but we all know that video is about power, and the Macbook M1 Pro doesn't disappoint.
At this time, most modern cameras such as the Sony A7 IV shoot directly in 4K or in 7-8K for multi-sampling. The jump to 4k has left many laptops on desks when it comes to video editing and manipulation, but the M1 and M1 Max impress here as well.
Apple talks primarily about the rendering speed of these laptops, saying they run between 10 and 14 times faster than non-Apple Silicon models. That said, for the average editing user, this figure doesn't show much. The important thing to know about the Macbook M1 Pro is that it can easily handle a full 4k schedule on multiple monitors without a single stutter. It's a buttery smooth experience that you almost ignore until you work on another system and notice how often you wait a second or two for something to load. It's not a rough figure, but it's a pleasant feeling.
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The above is also true even if you use a native HDMI port to work with a multi-monitor setup.
Finally, as a little bonus, you can lock the screen refresh rate if you want to see how the video will look on specific monitors. Like I said, a little bonus.
The new Macbook Pro line is larger and somehow even more mobile than previous models and laptops. A number of key changes ensure that the M1 Pro and M1 Max outperform their competitors.
The first thing to talk about when traveling is the amazing battery life of the Macbook M1 Pro and Max. According to Apple's figures, they should last 17 and 21 hours of video playback respectively. Now those are lab hours under ideal conditions, but even compared to last year's Macbooks, which were the most durable ever, that's a 30-50% increase. Given that you don't get much battery life out of them, your Macbook will still last a full day at work, a flight, a site shoot or a day out on the town.
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This means you won't be married to your hotel room or locked in a single seat at the airport that has access to the terminal. Thank you God.
Perhaps more interesting than the rough battery life is that the Macbook M1 Pro and Max run the same whether they are plugged in or not. This is important because most computers reduce processing power to save power when they are not plugged in, making them useless for making your final video or doing small edits on the go. Apple ensured that this was not the case, which means that long battery life is not a useless feature when you have things to do.
Finally, as a little note, this Macbook is much better at cooling itself than older models, so you don't have to worry too much about overheating and boiling when you're somewhere sunny.
Yes. If it comes down to a rough recommendation, then replacing your laptop with a new Macbook M1 Pro will be a huge improvement in quality of life, power and resolution. Even if you already have a 2020 Macbook Pro. For photographers and videographers, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better option on the market. If it's in your budget, it's a solid recommendation from us.
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Hello! I'm Elliot Clennam, a passionate photographer living in Brussels, Belgium. My passion for capturing the nature of my surroundings has led me on many adventures, from adventurous road trips to escaping the busy city.
Macbook M1 Pro $2,499 9.5 Screen 9.5/10 Power 10.0/10 Value 9.0/10 Service 9.5/10 Battery Life Pros…MacBook laptops offer everything you need to edit your photos. They look great, are very durable, and have incredible system specs so you can run Photoshop, Lightroom, and other editing software for hours.
The best MacBooks for photo editing have powerful Apple processing chips, lots of RAM and fast storage. The display quality is also good, which is important for color accuracy when editing and printing.
In this article I chose
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