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M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

amlsml
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

I need to replace my 2017 i7 MBP, have some stuck keys and it is very slow. I shoot on deadline and use Photomechanic and On 1 2023 camera raw, export speeds are very slow. The newer On 1 software is will be optimized for M1 and M2 architecture.

for those of you who have da the M2 max, M2 and M1 what has been your experience and advice and RAM.

Thanks

Sep 20, 2023 at 05:26 AM

Chris Dees
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

I'm on a MBP 14" M1 Max with 32Gb memory.
At home I'm using 2x4K screens and a bunch of external SSD/HDD's
My software is LR, PS, DxO PL6 and Topaz.
Everything is working fast (especially LR export).
I guess a M2 is 15% faster or so.

I have no experience with Photomechanic and On1

Sep 20, 2023 at 05:35 AM

schlotz
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

M1 Max 32gb here. I also shoot on deadline, use PhotoMechanic but use LR vs On 1. The difference between this MBP and my older one is quite amazing. The export to jpg is very fast. Haven't run into any troubles using it field side vs the old one that was painfully slow.

Sep 20, 2023 at 06:28 AM

amlsml
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

Thanks, appreciate the help. From what I read the On 1 is pretty close to the LR needs in the processor speed. Still tryin got justify the expense of the M2. if you were to buy now would you have opted for the M2 architecture?

Sep 20, 2023 at 06:43 AM

Chris Dees
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

LR export is optimised for Apple silicon.
If I upgrade I go for the latest. 😊

amlsml wrote:
Thanks, appreciate the help. From what I read the On 1 is pretty close to the LR needs in the processor speed. Still tryin got justify the expense of the M2. if you were to buy now would you have opted for the M2 architecture?

Sep 20, 2023 at 08:34 AM

donmega
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

If you're on a tight budget, go M1 Max refurbished. Stay in budget and get great bang for your buck. No reason why that wouldn't suffice until M3 Max or beyond.

I'm working on a Mac Studio M1 Max with 64GB of RAM, using PhotoMechanic, ACR and CaptureOne for the most part. I don't see a need to upgrade until MAYBE M3 Max. Even then, it would probably be out of want rather than need.

Sep 20, 2023 at 12:37 PM

RustyBug
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

donmega wrote:
If you're on a tight budget, go M1 Max refurbished. Stay in budget and get great bang for your buck. No reason why that wouldn't suffice until M3 Max or beyond.

I'm working on a Mac Studio M1 Max with 64GB of RAM, using PhotoMechanic, ACR and CaptureOne for the most part. I don't see a need to upgrade until MAYBE M3 Max. Even then, it would probably be out of want rather than need.

Or, get an M2 refurb (that's what I did). I'm thinking I can "leapfrog" all the way into an M4 Max.

Took a bit of watching for the right config that I wanted to come along, but an M2 with 64GB RAM ... yeah, that should hold me for a bit.

You could go with the Pro version, but that tops out at 32GB RAM (depending on whether or not you feel the need for more than that), yet it is probably a very nice "sweet spot" for many folks.

Price point for refurb M1 Max with 64GB vs. refurb M2 Pro with 32GB are in similar territory. Just kinda depends if you want the CPU speed or the RAM. The diff in CPU speed is fractional, the difference in memory volume is 2X. The main thing the Max versions give you is double video encoders ... and that brings along with it the double RAM potential. For stills that don't need more than 32GB RAM ... Pro is solid, too.

FYI, I bought / demo'd 32GB and 64GB Max / Pro versions in both M1 / M2 varieties ... hard to go wrong with any of the configs, unless you have a specific case use that demands the 64GB (or 96GB).

Just make sure you are at least in the Pro / Max territory. Base model ... don't go there, unless you are really strapped for $$$ and biding time for the M3.

HTH

Sep 20, 2023 at 02:36 PM

amlsml
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

thanks!!

Sep 20, 2023 at 06:23 PM

b-mhac
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

I always advise to stay away from Apple. No upgrade ability and you are stuck within the rigid OS. I'll buy some gaming laptop with 2X the features, RAM, GPU, and comparable core all while being half the price and with the option to replace battery, keys, etc...

Sep 21, 2023 at 10:00 AM

rscheffler
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

I'm using PM6 on an M1 Pro 14" MBP along with Lightroom Classic and some other apps.

PM is snappy on the M1 Pro chip and I haven't noticed any problems with ftp uploads, general browsing, captioning, culling, etc.

My previous machines were all pretty old, much older than your 2017 MBP, so the transition to the M1 Pro processor resulted in extremely noticeable, faster raw conversions/exports with LRC. I'm only shooting 20-24MP cameras so everything seems to fly along nicely. Not sure how things would fare with 50MP files.

You can probably get by just fine with an M1 Pro or M1 Max option. I seem to recall seeing some of those on fairly steep discount, so might be worth shopping around.

If I was to do it over, I'd just get more storage and RAM. I tend to have a ton of apps open and lots of Safari tabs, etc., and occasionally get system memory warnings (only 16GB RAM). So for me, 2TB storage and 32GB RAM would have been better than 1TB/16GB. But I still get by and bought a couple 2TB NVME drives in USB enclosures for overflow and backups before everything gets moved over to large capacity HDDs for offline storage.

Sep 21, 2023 at 11:23 AM

schlotz
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

amlsml wrote:
Thanks, appreciate the help. From what I read the On 1 is pretty close to the LR needs in the processor speed. Still tryin got justify the expense of the M2. if you were to buy now would you have opted for the M2 architecture?

Yup, with computers I try to get the top of the line in most aspects. In no way I would call it future proofing but it can delay the next purchase. If I was just now wanting to upgrade my old Intel based MBP it would be the M2 Max w/64gb and at minimum a 1 TB SSD

Sep 22, 2023 at 08:33 PM

RustyBug
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

As an aside for consideration to the 2X GPU in the Max ... LR Denoise is GPU centric. So, while the 2X GPU is touted as a beneficial to video, more than stills ... I suspect that more and more software will harness the GPU going forward.

That aspect of "future" was part of the factor for my decision to go with the Max, even though I'm stills only, with no foreseeable intent of video.

schlotz wrote:
Yup, with computers I try to get the top of the line in most aspects. In no way I would call it future proofing but it can delay the next purchase. If I was just now wanting to upgrade my old Intel based MBP it would be the M2 Max w/64gb and at minimum a 1 TB SSD

I found the M2 Max w/64GB and 2TB SSD in the refurb, saved a few $$$ ... so, that's what I'm rolling with now (my first Mac). The jump to a 4TB (new) from 2TB refurb was quite substantial $$$. I could have gone with the M1 Max, but the M2 has the newer Bluetooth, and some other aspects that pulled me to the M2.

The processing diff between M2 Max vs. M1 Max wasn't the deciding factor for me. Bluetooth and WIFI 6E tipped the scales (thinking future) to the M2 (after too much wrangling about the less $$$ of the M1).

The one thing I'll add is that (with so many things) ... you PAY for it ONCE (pain) ... and you LIVE (pain vs. joy) with it EVERY DAY for years, thereafter. It's not what I call future proofing from a technology perspective, but more like "pain proofing" for the future.

Imo, you gotta know your "pain points", and make sure you get something that will keep them at bay (different for everyone).

HTH

Sep 23, 2023 at 09:13 AM

amlsml
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

appreciate the comments. In my experience the applications i use Photomechanic, On 1 and Topaz, tend to upgrade their thirst for RAM of GPU or whatever processing speed much more rapidly than a few years ago, very frustrating to wait for Jpeg exports and simple edits to render. I will certainly max the ram and at least a 1 tb internal storage. Thanks

Sep 30, 2023 at 05:29 AM

amlsml
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

Anyone go to M3 compared to m2? for deadline shooters

Nov 21, 2023 at 06:36 AM

Ray Swindle
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

Before I upgraded from my '17 MBP to M1, I called Apple support to talk to a rep about the M1/16 gig vs an Intel 32/gig for photography. I told him I used PM, Lr and Topaz DeNoise. My biggest concern was the M1 limited 16 gig of RAM. He assured me with the M1 architecture,16 g was more than sufficient, and he was right and he talked me into the 13" $1300 MBP. When I shoot night games I must caption and process photos and send them to the editor by 9:30 pm. The M1 has really sped up my processing.

However, with the M2 and M3 availability, I would go for the newer version, unless $$$ are a factor, and we all understand that. I guess I would say any the M versions would be fine for photography. Now, if you are doing video or processing 100,000 layers in Photoshop, well, that's a different story.

Nov 21, 2023 at 09:31 AM

rscheffler
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

amlsml wrote:
Anyone go to M3 compared to m2? for deadline shooters

I'm still on an M1 Pro chip, so can only offer an opinion based on performance numbers posted by others. The M3 chipset appears to not uniformly increase performance gains over the M2, depending on which M3 version you choose. Specifically, the M3 Pro doesn't appear to substantially improve over the M2 Pro. This gives the M3 Max a bigger performance gain versus the M3 Pro than the M2 Max over the M2 Pro. That said, the M3 Max does appear to gain more over the M2 Max than the latter did over the M1 Max.

If you compare the results in this post, you'll see each successive Max generation improves file export time. And M3 Max appears to gain more over M2 Max than the latter did over M1 Max. But how much of a real world improvement will it make? In that export chart, M1 Max exported a 50MP Sony a1 file to jpeg in 0.82 seconds. M2 Max was 0.74 seconds and M3 Max was 0.58 seconds.

In this post in the same thread, the poster compared 14" MBP M1 Pro against 14" MBP M3 Max, with the M3 Max showing substantial gains. But even here, does losing 2 minutes to export 100 Sony a1 files with the M1 Pro make a real world difference for your needs? That doesn't sound as impressive as the equally true statement that the M3 Max was almost 3x faster than the M1 Pro.

For pure RAW to jpeg conversion speeds in LRC, I'm still happy with my M1 Pro compared to my ancient Intel-based Macs. But when I bought the M1 Pro, Adobe hadn't yet released their Enhance Denoise noise reduction feature. Shooting night/indoor sports, I find this substantially cleans up images within my LRC workflow, to the point where anything ISO 3200 and higher I pretty much want to run through Denoise. I'm only working with 24MP image files but my M1 Pro takes between 25-45 seconds per file. As you can imagine, even processing a few hundred files takes hours. Denoise uses the GPU, so here the Max chips with 2x the GPUs compared to Pro chips, will make a significant difference (though here the difference between the three generations of Max chips does not appear that significant; number of GPUs seems to be the predominant factor).

Have you replaced your 2017 i7 MBP yet? If you're not price sensitive, just get an M3 Max. If price is a factor, you can likely find some deals on refurbs or clearance of M1 and M2 variants. That said, you have to shop carefully. I just had a look at M2 Max refurbished options on Apple's site and comparably specced new M3 Max options actually appear to be cheaper.... Any of them will make a noticeable improvement over your old system.

Nov 21, 2023 at 10:15 AM

Gregory Edge
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

b-mhac wrote:
I always advise to stay away from Apple. No upgrade ability and you are stuck within the rigid OS. I'll buy some gaming laptop with 2X the features, RAM, GPU, and comparable core all while being half the price and with the option to replace battery, keys, etc...

With Apple you can spend more time using your computer than administering it. I have both Macs and Windows at home and the Windows machines are always updating and something always needs to be fixed. I need Windows for one piece of software not related to Photography and have a second Windows laptop for my day job.

I doubt the OP wants to switch to a different OS. Most of us have found what we prefer and will stick with that eco system. We just want things to go faster, who doesn’t?

I agree that Apple is not upgrade friendly. The hardware is more expensive for sure but it seems to last longer. The trade off is you don’t have to be a system admin to use it and it just works.

Nov 23, 2023 at 10:04 AM

chez
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

Gregory Edge wrote:
With Apple you can spend more time using your computer than administering it. I have both Macs and Windows at home and the Windows machines are always updating and something always needs to be fixed. I need Windows for one piece of software not related to Photography and have a second Windows laptop for my day job.

I doubt the OP wants to switch to a different OS. Most of us have found what we prefer and will stick with that eco system. We just want things to go faster, who doesn’t?

I agree that Apple is not upgrade friendly....Show more →

I’ve had MacOS upgrades break things all the time, but especially access to external devices like printers and scanners. Just read over some of the threads here about issues with upgrading macOS.

Nov 23, 2023 at 11:04 AM

Gregory Edge
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

I have only had issues once, years ago, with things not working. That taught me to never upgrade any software until at least V x.1 and I read the forums to make sure there are no complaints.

When Apple went from PowerPC to Intel I waited almost a year before the printer and other hardware/software companies caught up. Same when OS X launched. Again when the M1 came out I waited 6 months before I jumped on it.

Windows is no better. Stuff gets broken every major OS revision. It is the nature of the modern world. The end user is the tester. Pick whatever flavor you like and roll with it.

Nov 23, 2023 at 02:21 PM

amlsml
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · M2 vs M1 for deadline shooters?

So has anyone upgraded to M3 from m1 or M2? Any real difference?

Jan 10, 2024 at 06:46 PM

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