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I also walk through my exact process and the graphic design specifications I look at whenever I am buying a new Mac. The best Mac to buy for graphic design should take into consideration your budget and daily workflow. To help make that decision easier, I've created a list of Apple's best laptops and computers for graphic designers. My advice would be to always choose the recommended RAM and not the minimum required by the manufacturer of the graphic design software you use.
Use AR to see Mac Pro in your workspace.
Apple recently introduced the 14" and 16" models of their Macbook Pros. Generally, Apple does not discount its Macs unless it is going to remove them from the Apple Store soon. However, through authorized resellers you can find discounts almost year-round. Check out our article on when to buy a Mac to find out the best time to buy the Mac model you want at the best possible price.
More about M2 chip and Performance
However, if you have a Mac with M1 Pro chip, I think you can perfectly well hold out until the next generation of M3 Pro chips (probably by 2025) unless you have noticed that you need that extra performance. We designed Mac Studio together with Studio Display for the ultimate studio setup. Within the 7.7-inch-square Mac Studio enclosure lies a groundbreaking thermal system designed to let M2 Max and M2 Ultra fly through intensive tasks at lightning-fast speeds. Even with so much incredible power, Mac Studio is able to stay whisper quiet, so it never interferes with your workflow. Built from two M2 Max chips, M2 Ultra lets you power through workflows on an unprecedented scale.
Desktop vs laptop Mac
The M1 Pro and M1 Max have a different ratio of performance to efficiency cores. And for the M1 Ultra, twelve high performance and four high efficiency cores. Since the M1 chip as introduced Apple has introduced even faster and more powerful variants of it. The RAM in the Mac Pro and the Intel-powered version of the Mac mini can be updated though. If you want to save money you could purchase the RAM from a third party rather than Apple – but do bear in mind that you will void your warranty if you add it yourself.
Apple's 2025 M4 Mac Pro: What to Expect
Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld more than two decades ago. Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Print and online editions of Macworld for many years, more recently her focus has been on SEO and evergreen content as well product recommendations and buying advice on Macworld.com. This desktop Mac represents a great deal when compared to how much you would have to pay for the M1 Max in the MacBook Pro, so it is easy to recommend. The only reason why the 14in MacBook Pro gets our recommendation here is that Apple doesn’t sell a desktop Mac with an M1 Pro chip. We don’t really think you will need more than an M1 Pro, which will at least allow you to increase memory to 32GB RAM, and will support two monitors (rather than one in the case of most M1 Macs).
A powerful partnership.

These days most projects are intended to be displayed on the screen – including digital magazines, websites, and app interfaces – rather than printed. Apple offers various screen technologies such as True Tone (which adjusts the colours to suit the ambient light), Wide colour (P3) and from 500 nits brightness to 1,000 sustained (or 1,600 nits peak). If you are concerned about how True Tone might affect colour accuracy you can turn the feature off. The overall OS will reportedly get a bit of a facelift with Gurman expecting a series of design tweaks, although not as dramatic as the iOS 17 transition. Specifically, he says that the design changes will make the app designs more “modular” and “easier to update and customize”. If you’re a service-based business, for example, you’ll want to use visuals to keep your visitor on the site and have plenty of “contact” blocks to try to capture their information.
MacBook Air: A Thin and Light Powerhouse
In fact, the M1 and M2 chips are so powerful that they completely redefine what is possible with a laptop or desktop computer. If you work with more intensive processes like 3D sculpting or graphics rendering applications, then consider upgrading to the next tier up. Again, make sure consider what your daily workflow will be before spending the money on more RAM. The extra funds can potentially be spent on more hard drive storage which can also be very effective. If you’re looking for a lightweight, rugged and powerful laptop to take to class and work from home, there’s no better choice on the market than the MacBook Air. Plus, at this point in your career, your projects are probably not so complex that you need a more powerful computer, so you can save a lot of money by buying the MacBook Air instead of a MacBook Pro.
Often, notebooks are seen as the best compromise because they provide flexibility. Even if you only rarely visit clients or work away from an office, you can take a portable Mac with you. But they’re generally more expensive than broadly equivalent desktops. If you want more storage you can at least use external drives for housing weighty folders and archives. There were some Macs that do offer the possibility of updating the RAM later – the 27in iMac, for example, had a hatch at the back of the display that could be opened and new RAM added.
Best graphic design software of 2024 - TechRadar
Best graphic design software of 2024.
Posted: Fri, 01 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
When to buy your Mac for Graphic Design?
You may also be interested to read about the Studio Display, which Apple launched alongside the Mac Studio in March 2022. The M1 has 8 CPU cores, the M1 Pro and M1 Max both have 10 CPU cores, and the M1 Ultra offers 20 CPU cores (it is essentially two M1 Max chips combined). Chances are that as a graphic designer you can dealing with lots of huge files. You’ll likely be looking for the Mac with the biggest SSD you can find – and it’s worth upgrading at point of sale because, as with RAM, you can’t upgrade the SSD at a later date.
On the other hand, websites that sell products would do well to use a theme that cleanly presents images and descriptions of those products—complete with links or buttons potential customers can use to buy them. Our research is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of personal finance services and products that best suit your needs. To help you in the decision-making process, our expert contributors compare common preferences and potential pain points, such as affordability, accessibility, and credibility. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes that Apple wants to establish a more regular Apple silicon chip upgrade cycle that would perhaps see Mac chips refreshed on an annual basis much like chips designed for the iPhone.
But, while the M1 Macs are great machines, someone working with graphics and images may benefit from choosing at least an M1 Pro. However, because M1 Macs ship with 8GB RAM as standard, we recommend updating an M1 Mac to 16GB RAM at point of purchase, just because you won’t be able to later. It’s also worth noting that the RAM in the M1 Macs is limited to 16GB, if you want to be able to add more than 16GB then you need to look to the M1 Pro (maximum 32GB RAM), Max (up to 64GB RAM), or Ultra (for 128GB RAM). We’ll also discuss the pros and cons of the M1 Macs, from the M1 powered iMac to the M1 Pro, M1 Max and the M1 Ultra which arrived with the Mac Studio in March 2022. He attended the Dublin Institute of Technology graduating with honors in architecture in 1994.