I'm looking for a new editing machine. The price.of graphics cards.is currently insane, and after doing a lot of research, the new Apple M1 series keeps looking like the best bet.
Are they really that good? Most, if not all reviews, are saying they out perform core i7/i9 computers and laptops with more ram.
I'll be doing mainly photo editing with some 4k 30/60/120 editing and grading too.
For a budget of $2k or under, they just seem like the best bet?
Is the touchbar and touch ID really worth it when the Air is functionally just as powerful as the Pro for a particular use case?
Touch ID is worth it, touch bar is not. However, the Macbook Air M1 comes with Touch ID.
Also worth noting that the MacBook Pro M1 has a larger battery than the Air M1. If you want the best battery life, thats the model to get.
Seems long enough to me already. Photo editing doesn't hammer the CPU constantly. I do like to run After Effects though, 30 minutes of rendering probably eats up a lot of battery. It's hard to choose because from everything I've read the Air is just as good as the Pro in terms of specs, unless you are maxing out the CPU constantly for tens of minutes at a time.
@AustriaBargain: Under sustained workloads like video encoding the Pro can maintain better performance. In saying that I really love the Air's formfactor.
@RIBBS: Also the less I spend on one now, the more I will have to spend on some future model that will make these early ones look like toys in comparison.
I replaced my 16" 8 core with a base Air with half the RAM… and it compiles our app in half the time, battery lasts 3 times as long, at half the way.
You'll have to do some research to see if the applications you need run either natively or via Rosetta. The first time I attempted the move, Docker didn't work at all so every benefit was lost with the workflow disruption.
Personally prefer the lighter weight over the battery life, and it also runs off power bank far better than the 16" did when I have a long day without a charger.
Do not discount RAM. If you are going to be using programs that use more than 8 or 18 gb the M1 is going to have to start hitting swap space on the SSD (which is going to have a large performance impact).
The reason that people think it does not need as much RAM vs Intel Macs is because Apple put garbage tier SSDs in the last gen of Intel Macs vs a mid range SSD in the M1 Macs, so when it hit the swap space performance was affected more.
Wait for the M1X
The M1 Macs are impressive. I’d recommend the MacBook Pro, the TouchBar with Touch ID is worth the extra cost.
You could always trial one and if it doesn’t suit your needs return it to the Apple Store.
https://www.apple.com/au/shop/help/returns_refund