The important bit here is the Arm architecture is fundamentally different from the x86 one used by chipmakers like Intel and AMD. These chips were based on the Advanced RISC Machine architecture licensed from Arm Holdings, and this is still true today. What makes these Macs special?īefore I launch into my experience using these Macs, I want to take a moment to explain why the chips inside of them are so important.įor those that don't know, Apple has been designing its own chips for the iPhone and iPad for the past decade, starting with the A4 in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4. While most of the changes are on the inside, there are still a few things worth noting. I’ll also spend some time on the hardware. In this post, I'll be spending a fair bit of time on performance in native and non-native applications like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. If you really want to get into the nitty gritty of the M1 processor, I recommend taking a look at AnandTech’s deep dive which you can find here.

Thankfully, other publications and blogs have done a great job of exploring the M1's performance potential. I won’t be spending a lot of time on benchmarks as I have nothing to compare them to. This post is going to focus in large part on my anecdotal experiences in primarily photographic workloads. With that in mind, I wanted to break down my experience with the new M1 Macs from a photographer's point of view. In fact, I can say with confidence that this first generation of Arm-based Macs are likely to stay the sweet spot for many Photographers, especially as Adobe and other creative apps add native software support - more on that later. While Apple's performance claims seemed too good to be true, early benchmarks paint these chips as some of the more powerful on the market today.īut how does that translate to real-world performance, especially where it concerns photography? Should you even consider one of these Macs when Apple has more powerful silicon on the way? These are the questions I hope to address in this post.Īnd, after a few weeks with one of the new MacBooks - both the Pro and the Air - I’m happy to report that the M1 is just as competent in Photoshop and Lightroom as it is in the synthetic benchmarks that keep popping up in reviews.

When Apple announced its first batch of Macs powered by its in-house M1 processor, I was cautiously optimistic.

Macbook air m1 adobe illustrator