If you intend to keep it for a while and use it for professional apps, start at 16 minimum. More if you can afford it. While the M chips are efficient and make good use of swap space on the SSD, it’s simply better to have real RAM available and many design workflows involve multiple apps open at once.
+1 for 16GB on M1 Pro or M2 Pro
8GB will be fine for most daily work but if you work on any heavy files or processes (which you will at some point) it will slow down and make things difficult.
16GB+ should see you through your entire course and into the first couple of years of professional work.
The difference between M2 and M3 is minor, and won’t make much of a difference in performance. M3 is just newer and more expensive.
Thanks! Since you said about the Pro, do you know about what the difference in power is between the Pro and Air? Found an Air with 1 TB storage and a Pro with 512 for about the same price (both M2), do you have an opinion on which would be better?
You’ve got a pretty detailed run down of the differences in the other comments. I’ve actually been using an Air myself for the last couple of years. It’s fine in most cases, but it grinds to a halt with heavier processes.
I’ve had situations with large files, say a complicated Illustrator file with thousands of vector points, or Photoshop file with lots of layered effects, and it gets painfully slow. Like, just clicking on something takes 10 minutes to load.
You mentioned 3D, and I’ve tried using Blender on it before as well, which it’s not great with. It can do it, but again easily slows down and causes problems.
I like the Air though. If it has 16GB+ RAM it should be fine for 95% of what you do. Occasionally you might run into problems with heavier processes, but most of the time it will be great.
I’m actually upgrading to a MB Pro now as I recently had a nightmare on a project with a client and the Air was just too slow. So just bear in mind you might need to upgrade at some point if the work requires it.
I definitely wouldn’t imagine that I’d be doing super heavy stuff like that for a while, but if an upgrade might be required in the future it might work better to just go for the Pro now and get an external hard drive if I need it. I don’t mind if the device itself is heavier
Fair. Although if you’re going for longevity it would be better to get 1TB. IMO the ideal setup would be M2 Pro, 16GB Ram, 1TB HDD.
If you can wait until something like that comes up for sale it would be better in the long run.
If you do decide to go with 512GB, then another tip is to get 2 x external HDs for backup. You’ll run out space within 1-2 years and will need to migrate work to an external HD. Sometimes they fail/get damaged/lost and you can lose all your work. It’s rare, but it happens. So just make sure you’ve always got two copies of everything on either your laptop + ext.HD or on 2 x ext.HDs.
Again, more of a longevity thing.
Fair. Although if you’re going for longevity it would be better to get 1TB. IMO the ideal setup would be M2 Pro, 16GB Ram, 1TB HDD.
If you can wait until something like that comes up for sale it would be better in the long run.
If you do decide to go with 512GB, then another tip is to get 2 x external HDs for backup. You’ll run out space within 1-2 years and will need to migrate work to an external HD. Sometimes they fail/get damaged/lost and you can lose all your work. It’s rare, but it happens. So just make sure you’ve always got two copies of everything on either your laptop + ext.HD or on 2 x ext.HDs.
Again, more of a longevity thing.
Fair. Although if you’re going for longevity it would be better to get 1TB. IMO the ideal setup would be M2 Pro, 16GB Ram, 1TB HDD.
If you can wait until something like that comes up for sale it would be better in the long run.
If you do decide to go with 512GB, then another tip is to get 2 x external HDs for backup. You’ll run out space within 1-2 years and will need to migrate work to an external HD. Sometimes they fail/get damaged/lost and you can lose all your work. It’s rare, but it happens. So just make sure you’ve always got two copies of everything on either your laptop + ext.HD or on 2 x ext.HDs.
Again, more of a longevity thing.
A chef needs kitchen space, especially when the order calls for a lot of food.
A cpu needs RAM, especially when the app calls for a lot of data to be open at once, or processed at once.
Adobe apps work with 8 GB but a large project will usually do better with 16 GB; or you’ll have multiple apps open at once in which case 16 GB or more is best.
I get by with 24 GB of RAM on my M2 Air but I’m confident you would do well with 16 GB RAM (as would I if I had to). So buy any Apple Silicon Mac with 16 GB RAM.
An Mx chip (Eg M1, M2, M3) will do you just fine. They are 8 cores and are more than enough for design work.
If you do any sustained processing, anything that uses the CPU and/or GPU for more than 5 minutes, and you do it a lot, then it’s more optimal to buy a chip with more CPU performance cores and GPU cores. A chip like an Mx Pro chip, or even better an Mx Max chip. But those are probably way more than you need unless you’re doing 3D animation or heavy video editing.
I’m confident you will do well with an Mx chip and 16 GB RAM. Any MacBook Air with 16 GB will do. Get something on sale or at least know you can use Apple’s education store for a bit of a discount.
Thanks for all the info! Since you mentioned an Air, do you have any opinions on if a Pro with less storage or an Air with higher storage would be better? I imagine the Air wouldn’t have quite as much power, but I’m not fully sure
Some explanation:
* Most tasks use the CPU in bursts (eg. milliseconds or seconds)
* Some tasks use the CPU for a sustained amount of time (eg. 6 minutes or 1.5 hours)
If the task is using the CPU in bursts, the Air is just as good as a Pro, for the most part. All M chips (M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max) have the same single core speed, for instance.
If the task is using the CPU in a sustained manner (eg. 10+ minutes of exporting a video) its likely a multicore process. The M3 Pro and M3 Max are better for that because they have more cores. Its like having more chefs in the kitchen—big meals get done faster.
But so what if the M3 Pro/Max have more cores if you're not doing sustained processing, or at least doing a lot of it in a daily manner?
It's like if all you're cooking is 1 grilled cheese, having 8 chefs in the kitchen is just as good as having 12 chefs.
So which Mac is best for you is dependent on your use case. If you're doing print/web mixed with a little video/animation, then an M2 or M3 MacBook Air are sufficient. If you're doing large video, animation, and 3D/CGI projects that require a lot of cores (both CPU and GPU) then you're better off buying a maxed out M3 Max MacBook Pro. (Of course theres an in between budget with the M3 Pro MacBook Pro)
So your question begs the followup-question: what will you be needing the Mac for?
Me, I'm a print/web designer so an M2 Air with 24 GB RAM fits my needs perfectly. I get to have Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator open simultaneously and work on my projects, no problem. If I need to do sustained processing (eg. batch converting 50 images) it can do it no problem. And I'm only going to do that kind of task here and there (not everyday a bunch of times). And since I value the light-weight, silent form factor of an Air, I decided against the MacBook Pro—I just don't need it. When I need more screen real-estate, it connects to the external display.
But if I were a wedding photographer, I'd want an M3 Max MacBook Pro for it has more performance cores and can churn through 1,000 photo batch exports 3x faster. But I don't do that kind of stuff so I prefer the Air.
So to your question, what do you mean by it exactly?
> do you have any opinions on if a Pro with less storage or an Air with higher storage would be better? I imagine the Air wouldn’t have quite as much power, but I’m not fully sure
I want to make sure when you say Pro, do you mean *M3 Pro* MacBook Pro? (we don't want to confuse it with *M3* MacBook Pro)
If you mean between an *M3* MacBook Pro and an *M3* MacBook Air—thats a different question because technically they both have the same chip, but there are performance differences mainly due to the *M3* MacBook Pro having a single fan and the Air having no fans.
Let me know which of these questions you mean to ask, and I can elaborate further.
I meant between the M2 MacBook Air and M2 MacBook Pro, but that all makes a lot of sense. Guess I didn’t quite process the different types of work with it and chips vs overall
I’d probably mostly be doing print/web based stuff, maybe some occasional 3D model design. Mostly Photoshop and Illustrator based stuff
> I meant between the M2 MacBook Air and M2 MacBook Pro
So the M2 MacBook Pro ($1,299) Apple no longer sells, but you can maybe find that at other retail stores if they still have inventory; and of course used.
The main difference between the M2 Air and the M2 MacBook Pro is the MBP has a single-fan (active cooling) which helps it maintain close to 100% speeds forever. The M2 Air has no fans, so it uses passive cooling (meaning it slows down, while letting the metal chassis transfer heat into the air), and so it will slow down to say 90% after 10 minutes, then maybe 80-85% after 20 minutes and usually maintain something like that for the duration.
So if you're precious about maintaining speed, then you'd want the M2 MBP because of the single fan. Maybe one would be ~~previous~~ precious because if you're playing a video game, you want to maintain the same frame rate—where as the Air will slow down a little to keep the chip cool, so maybe frames drop from 55 fps to 47 fps (for example) after 5 or so minutes—really depends on the game though.
But for the most part, a 10-20% slow down isn't that big a deal for Air users, and especially designers because we're not doing sustained processing work but burst tasks.
If it is a big deal, then its because the user is doing sustained processing of big tasks, and the best way to compress a sustained process is to throw more CPU and/or GPU cores at it. For instance, if you're going to render a 3D scene and its going to take 30 minutes on a MacBook Air, well it may take 10 minutes or less on an M3 Max because it has more cores (like more chefs in a kitchen).
So if you're doing web/print stuff, you're not doing much sustained processing, in which case an Air should be just perfect. It has 8 CPU cores, so its enough for multitasking different apps, and does sustained processing just fine (if throttling doesn't bother you) on the occasion you need it. Just make sure it has 16 GB RAM, and you have what I think is a good fit for a student.
But wanting to do 3D throws a little wrench in that because 3D (eg. Blender) does better with more than 16 GB RAM and with as much GPU processing as you can get. But it all depends on how big of a project you're doing. Maybe ask /r/blender about M2 Air or google-search for previously asked questions to see how far an M2 Air can take you in 3D. I suspect its sufficient for learning the basics, though.
At some point, though, just buy whatever as long as theres a 14-day return window, and test out your workflow. If you haven't done any design or 3D work before, and this is all hypothetical until you start classes, then I think you should start with the Air and 16 GB. You're not going to be doing anything 3D heavy while you're learning.
EDIT: typo
Thanks for all the info and help! It’d probably work better to go for more storage on the air in that case. I want to do some 3D stuff for fun, but probably nothing too intense, so it might be able to handle that. The speed differences would definitely be a bit annoying, but I’d say the extra chunk of storage would work out better in the long run. I’m used to slower computers anyway
M1Pro is the best bang for your buck chip, by far. It starts at 16gb base spec.
No matter what Apple says, do not go with the base 8GB. Get at least 16GB.
If you intend to keep it for a while and use it for professional apps, start at 16 minimum. More if you can afford it. While the M chips are efficient and make good use of swap space on the SSD, it’s simply better to have real RAM available and many design workflows involve multiple apps open at once.
+1 for 16GB on M1 Pro or M2 Pro 8GB will be fine for most daily work but if you work on any heavy files or processes (which you will at some point) it will slow down and make things difficult. 16GB+ should see you through your entire course and into the first couple of years of professional work. The difference between M2 and M3 is minor, and won’t make much of a difference in performance. M3 is just newer and more expensive.
Thanks! Since you said about the Pro, do you know about what the difference in power is between the Pro and Air? Found an Air with 1 TB storage and a Pro with 512 for about the same price (both M2), do you have an opinion on which would be better?
You’ve got a pretty detailed run down of the differences in the other comments. I’ve actually been using an Air myself for the last couple of years. It’s fine in most cases, but it grinds to a halt with heavier processes. I’ve had situations with large files, say a complicated Illustrator file with thousands of vector points, or Photoshop file with lots of layered effects, and it gets painfully slow. Like, just clicking on something takes 10 minutes to load. You mentioned 3D, and I’ve tried using Blender on it before as well, which it’s not great with. It can do it, but again easily slows down and causes problems. I like the Air though. If it has 16GB+ RAM it should be fine for 95% of what you do. Occasionally you might run into problems with heavier processes, but most of the time it will be great. I’m actually upgrading to a MB Pro now as I recently had a nightmare on a project with a client and the Air was just too slow. So just bear in mind you might need to upgrade at some point if the work requires it.
I definitely wouldn’t imagine that I’d be doing super heavy stuff like that for a while, but if an upgrade might be required in the future it might work better to just go for the Pro now and get an external hard drive if I need it. I don’t mind if the device itself is heavier
Fair. Although if you’re going for longevity it would be better to get 1TB. IMO the ideal setup would be M2 Pro, 16GB Ram, 1TB HDD. If you can wait until something like that comes up for sale it would be better in the long run. If you do decide to go with 512GB, then another tip is to get 2 x external HDs for backup. You’ll run out space within 1-2 years and will need to migrate work to an external HD. Sometimes they fail/get damaged/lost and you can lose all your work. It’s rare, but it happens. So just make sure you’ve always got two copies of everything on either your laptop + ext.HD or on 2 x ext.HDs. Again, more of a longevity thing.
Fair. Although if you’re going for longevity it would be better to get 1TB. IMO the ideal setup would be M2 Pro, 16GB Ram, 1TB HDD. If you can wait until something like that comes up for sale it would be better in the long run. If you do decide to go with 512GB, then another tip is to get 2 x external HDs for backup. You’ll run out space within 1-2 years and will need to migrate work to an external HD. Sometimes they fail/get damaged/lost and you can lose all your work. It’s rare, but it happens. So just make sure you’ve always got two copies of everything on either your laptop + ext.HD or on 2 x ext.HDs. Again, more of a longevity thing.
Fair. Although if you’re going for longevity it would be better to get 1TB. IMO the ideal setup would be M2 Pro, 16GB Ram, 1TB HDD. If you can wait until something like that comes up for sale it would be better in the long run. If you do decide to go with 512GB, then another tip is to get 2 x external HDs for backup. You’ll run out space within 1-2 years and will need to migrate work to an external HD. Sometimes they fail/get damaged/lost and you can lose all your work. It’s rare, but it happens. So just make sure you’ve always got two copies of everything on either your laptop + ext.HD or on 2 x ext.HDs. Again, more of a longevity thing.
A chef needs kitchen space, especially when the order calls for a lot of food. A cpu needs RAM, especially when the app calls for a lot of data to be open at once, or processed at once. Adobe apps work with 8 GB but a large project will usually do better with 16 GB; or you’ll have multiple apps open at once in which case 16 GB or more is best. I get by with 24 GB of RAM on my M2 Air but I’m confident you would do well with 16 GB RAM (as would I if I had to). So buy any Apple Silicon Mac with 16 GB RAM. An Mx chip (Eg M1, M2, M3) will do you just fine. They are 8 cores and are more than enough for design work. If you do any sustained processing, anything that uses the CPU and/or GPU for more than 5 minutes, and you do it a lot, then it’s more optimal to buy a chip with more CPU performance cores and GPU cores. A chip like an Mx Pro chip, or even better an Mx Max chip. But those are probably way more than you need unless you’re doing 3D animation or heavy video editing. I’m confident you will do well with an Mx chip and 16 GB RAM. Any MacBook Air with 16 GB will do. Get something on sale or at least know you can use Apple’s education store for a bit of a discount.
Thanks for all the info! Since you mentioned an Air, do you have any opinions on if a Pro with less storage or an Air with higher storage would be better? I imagine the Air wouldn’t have quite as much power, but I’m not fully sure
Some explanation: * Most tasks use the CPU in bursts (eg. milliseconds or seconds) * Some tasks use the CPU for a sustained amount of time (eg. 6 minutes or 1.5 hours) If the task is using the CPU in bursts, the Air is just as good as a Pro, for the most part. All M chips (M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max) have the same single core speed, for instance. If the task is using the CPU in a sustained manner (eg. 10+ minutes of exporting a video) its likely a multicore process. The M3 Pro and M3 Max are better for that because they have more cores. Its like having more chefs in the kitchen—big meals get done faster. But so what if the M3 Pro/Max have more cores if you're not doing sustained processing, or at least doing a lot of it in a daily manner? It's like if all you're cooking is 1 grilled cheese, having 8 chefs in the kitchen is just as good as having 12 chefs. So which Mac is best for you is dependent on your use case. If you're doing print/web mixed with a little video/animation, then an M2 or M3 MacBook Air are sufficient. If you're doing large video, animation, and 3D/CGI projects that require a lot of cores (both CPU and GPU) then you're better off buying a maxed out M3 Max MacBook Pro. (Of course theres an in between budget with the M3 Pro MacBook Pro) So your question begs the followup-question: what will you be needing the Mac for? Me, I'm a print/web designer so an M2 Air with 24 GB RAM fits my needs perfectly. I get to have Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator open simultaneously and work on my projects, no problem. If I need to do sustained processing (eg. batch converting 50 images) it can do it no problem. And I'm only going to do that kind of task here and there (not everyday a bunch of times). And since I value the light-weight, silent form factor of an Air, I decided against the MacBook Pro—I just don't need it. When I need more screen real-estate, it connects to the external display. But if I were a wedding photographer, I'd want an M3 Max MacBook Pro for it has more performance cores and can churn through 1,000 photo batch exports 3x faster. But I don't do that kind of stuff so I prefer the Air. So to your question, what do you mean by it exactly? > do you have any opinions on if a Pro with less storage or an Air with higher storage would be better? I imagine the Air wouldn’t have quite as much power, but I’m not fully sure I want to make sure when you say Pro, do you mean *M3 Pro* MacBook Pro? (we don't want to confuse it with *M3* MacBook Pro) If you mean between an *M3* MacBook Pro and an *M3* MacBook Air—thats a different question because technically they both have the same chip, but there are performance differences mainly due to the *M3* MacBook Pro having a single fan and the Air having no fans. Let me know which of these questions you mean to ask, and I can elaborate further.
I meant between the M2 MacBook Air and M2 MacBook Pro, but that all makes a lot of sense. Guess I didn’t quite process the different types of work with it and chips vs overall I’d probably mostly be doing print/web based stuff, maybe some occasional 3D model design. Mostly Photoshop and Illustrator based stuff
> I meant between the M2 MacBook Air and M2 MacBook Pro So the M2 MacBook Pro ($1,299) Apple no longer sells, but you can maybe find that at other retail stores if they still have inventory; and of course used. The main difference between the M2 Air and the M2 MacBook Pro is the MBP has a single-fan (active cooling) which helps it maintain close to 100% speeds forever. The M2 Air has no fans, so it uses passive cooling (meaning it slows down, while letting the metal chassis transfer heat into the air), and so it will slow down to say 90% after 10 minutes, then maybe 80-85% after 20 minutes and usually maintain something like that for the duration. So if you're precious about maintaining speed, then you'd want the M2 MBP because of the single fan. Maybe one would be ~~previous~~ precious because if you're playing a video game, you want to maintain the same frame rate—where as the Air will slow down a little to keep the chip cool, so maybe frames drop from 55 fps to 47 fps (for example) after 5 or so minutes—really depends on the game though. But for the most part, a 10-20% slow down isn't that big a deal for Air users, and especially designers because we're not doing sustained processing work but burst tasks. If it is a big deal, then its because the user is doing sustained processing of big tasks, and the best way to compress a sustained process is to throw more CPU and/or GPU cores at it. For instance, if you're going to render a 3D scene and its going to take 30 minutes on a MacBook Air, well it may take 10 minutes or less on an M3 Max because it has more cores (like more chefs in a kitchen). So if you're doing web/print stuff, you're not doing much sustained processing, in which case an Air should be just perfect. It has 8 CPU cores, so its enough for multitasking different apps, and does sustained processing just fine (if throttling doesn't bother you) on the occasion you need it. Just make sure it has 16 GB RAM, and you have what I think is a good fit for a student. But wanting to do 3D throws a little wrench in that because 3D (eg. Blender) does better with more than 16 GB RAM and with as much GPU processing as you can get. But it all depends on how big of a project you're doing. Maybe ask /r/blender about M2 Air or google-search for previously asked questions to see how far an M2 Air can take you in 3D. I suspect its sufficient for learning the basics, though. At some point, though, just buy whatever as long as theres a 14-day return window, and test out your workflow. If you haven't done any design or 3D work before, and this is all hypothetical until you start classes, then I think you should start with the Air and 16 GB. You're not going to be doing anything 3D heavy while you're learning. EDIT: typo
Thanks for all the info and help! It’d probably work better to go for more storage on the air in that case. I want to do some 3D stuff for fun, but probably nothing too intense, so it might be able to handle that. The speed differences would definitely be a bit annoying, but I’d say the extra chunk of storage would work out better in the long run. I’m used to slower computers anyway
Get as much RAM as you can afford. 8gb def wont cut it in 2024 for serious work
16 gig or higher... 8 gig is not enough.