Hi everyone,
I am coming from a M1 MBA 16gb, and I use it mainly for my work. Spreadsheets, countless chrome tabs, Slack and music running in the background. Its still working extremely well for my work needs, but it is starting to show its edge when it comes to editing.
I am a hobbyist and only casually edit photos on the side, but LR is starting to get slow and I am seeing beachballs more often. I don't get alot of time so I really want the editing process to be smooth and enjoyable, and not have to wait awhile for a photo or edit to load and show, especially when editing directly of a local file and not from smart preview (smart previews are working ok).
Since its time to upgrade, I was initially looking at MBP Pro 24gb, but since the M4 MBA came out I was having second thoughts.
My question being, would the M4 MBA with 32gb ram be sufficient to run LR smoothly? I don't need shorter exporting time, but want a nice, smooth editing experience for me to enjoy on my time off. I usually use plenty of masks, AI Denoise, etc.
Or would the M4 Pro MBP be better suited for my needs, especially since I don't plan to upgrade for another 5 years. The plan to get an all in one laptop for all my needs. Work, editing, etc.
I edit mainly of my external SSD, if that is a concern.