Computer requirements

[R.Theberge]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hi,

I recently added a Q3 43 to my Q2 but I did not quite realize what a strain the larger Q3 files would put on my 2020 iMac. Now waiting for a couple of minutes for the files to load into my editing software (Capture oOne, although thinking of switching to Lightroom Classic). I've been thinking of upgrading to a Mac Mini or even used Studio. So I'm wondering what others think would be reasonable specs in terms of RAM, storage, processor, GPU. Yes, I know more is better, but I do not want to spend a fortune and so I need to make some tradeoffs. If I get a Mac Mini then the minimum configuration would be:

Apple M4 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine

 

24GB unified memory

4TB SSD storage

Would this be sufficient to run Capture One or Lightroom Classic? Current hard disk is 4 GB and about 3.4 GB full.  Other options for storage as the next jump up for SSD to 8 GB is just too expensive with the Apple tax for memory?

 

Any thoughts or suggestion would be most appreciated.

 

Rene

 

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[-MR-]

I work with an iMac M1 8GB and everything works fine with Q3 files. I still dont have a Q3 but I downloaded a bunch of raws from the internet.  I use Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop. Everything is fluent.

 

Apple M4 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine is more than enough! 

 

Edited March 4 by -MR-

[PhotoCruiser]

vor 4 Stunden schrieb R.Theberge:

Apple M4 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
24GB unified memory
4TB SSD storage

I have two MacBooks ad had other 2 who got stolen 2 years ago
2 x M1 MacBook Pro M1 with 8GB and with 16GB of RAM
one MacBook Air 8GB / 512 Gb SSD M1 i still have for sale as he has a Italian keyboard as i needed urgently after the others got stolen

Actually i use

1 14" MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GB RAM 1TB SSD
1 16" MacBook Pro M3 Pro Max 36GB Ram 1TB SSD

The 16" is a bit faster and the bigger memory avoid to run out of Memory and avoid that Swapping happen too early.
However having LightRoom and PhotoShop open i get a low memory warning after a while.

I suggest you to not waste money in a big internal SSD and invest the money in more RAM, but the backdraw is that you need a external SSD or HardDisk to store your photos. As i have now about 5TB of photos and videos they would not fit the 2TB SSD i use a external RAID hard disk and it works more than reasonable fast. The Thunderbolt SSD i have is a bit faster in loading the Lightroom catalog, but it's a matter of about one or two seconds, so for me neglectable. I believe that the faster M4 would be faster when using extensively the denoise tool, but i can denoise a 48MP photo from my SL2 in a few seconds what is acceptable for me. For the 60Mp of the M3 it would take another seconds more.

I am actually working on a Lightroom Catalog with about 85'000 Photos in it, all i have from 2003 on and it works well and absolutely workable and enough fast, however the clearly faster solution is when i open a catalog who has on the photos and videos from 1 year.

Regarding your hypothetic setup:
As i wrote i personally would not pay that amount for the 4TB SSD and deal with a external one for storage and the internal one has only MacOS and the programs. Never buy a 512GB SSD, they can be slower and space wise tight.
Not really sure if the M4 is that much faster to justify a higher price, you may save a lot of $$$ getting a top spec M3 rather than a lower spec M4. You may do a search in internet about speed advantage of the M4 using Photo and video apps to see how much better the M4 performs.

If oyu don't mind about the money for your new Mac, then use the spects you posted, but rise the RAM to 36GB (or more) 

Chris

 

 

 

[EUSe]

vor 5 Stunden schrieb R.Theberge:

Hi,

I recently added a Q3 43 to my Q2 but I did not quite realize what a strain the larger Q3 files would put on my 2020 iMac. Now waiting for a couple of minutes for the files to load into my editing software (Capture oOne, although thinking of switching to Lightroom Classic). I've been thinking of upgrading to a Mac Mini or even used Studio. So I'm wondering what others think would be reasonable specs in terms of RAM, storage, processor, GPU. Yes, I know more is better, but I do not want to spend a fortune and so I need to make some tradeoffs. If I get a Mac Mini then the minimum configuration would be:

Apple M4 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine

 

24GB unified memory

4TB SSD storage

Would this be sufficient to run Capture One or Lightroom Classic? Current hard disk is 4 GB and about 3.4 GB full.  Other options for storage as the next jump up for SSD to 8 GB is just too expensive with the Apple tax for memory?

 

Any thoughts or suggestion would be most appreciated.

 

Rene

 

I currently use an M4 Pro, 2 TB internal torage and 2 TB external devices. 64 GB shared Memory. It works well, but if you try to denoise full size DNGs, even more memory would be helpful. 24 GB is not enough. 

[flappo]

Yes , concentrate on the RAM, which is something you can't upgrade later whereas storage you can always add on , to be honest the basic Mac mini M4 is more than enough w/ 16 gigs of RAM and 256 SSD then add on additional hd space via the expansion ports ,  it's pretty simple. To be honest, I would upgrade the SSD to 512 or one terabyte and just keep the 16 gigs of RAM that will be more than enough in real world usage

[Miltz]

Get the most expensive you can afford. I had the M1 Pro 16GB 1TB and the system would crawl in a pro workflow. It also depends on what you do. Everyone has different workflows. I now run a M3 Max with 36GB of Ram, it's enough for me.

[Patrick NL]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

A Mac Mini with an M4, even in the base version, is great. I would never put more than 1TB in it; buy external storage if you need more! An older Mac Studio is not as fast as these M4 Minis. Ridiculous but true!

I use my MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro and 1TB storage and "only" 16GB of RAM and that is enough. But more ie better!

Edited March 4 by Patrick NL

[flappo]

Yes , the new Mac Mini M4 is arguably the best value computer ever , mac or pc ! It's a stunning piece of kit 

I use a macbook pro m3 max 48/1tb connected to an Apple Studio Display and it works great !!!

[ianforber]

I recently upgraded to Mac Mini M4 16GB with 512GB storage. I always keep my files on external storage anyway so only need the internal storage for software. This works for files from my (now sold) M11 and Q2. I changed from a MacBook Pro to a Mac Mini (plus Apple display) so that future upgrades might be cheaper as I’d only be changing one of those two items at a time. 
 

The only reason for going for the Mac Mini M4 Pro would be to get Thunderbolt 5 but I decided I didn’t need that as I never do video. 

[Le Chef]

I just replaced a 2020 iMac 27” with a Mac  Mini M4 Pro, 48GB ram, 512MB HD, with 5TB SSD external storage and backed up to the cloud. 

Have used LRC for as long as I can remember.

[PhotoCruiser]

Mac Mini is a great computer and i was thinking about to get one instead of the very expensive MacBooks i have.
While the Mac Mini would work great to take with me between Zurich and Sardinia due it's size and as i have external keyboard and Monitor in either place i could just unplug the small box and attach it in the other place again. That make it very interesting for people who move every now and then between two locations like i do.
The decision against a Mac Mini was that i travel a lot to other places, use my computer on my porch, carry it around, on the lap on the Sofa, etc.
 

Check in the Apple User Forum (or a Apple Store) regarding the back draws of a Mac Mini, as far i remember there were a few flaws.

Regarding Thunderbolt 5, Thunderbolt is not only for Video use, TB has many vantages over USB-C one of them is that devices can be daisy chained what can make cable management more simple and neat.
Here the difference between TB 4 and TB 5, however, having TB4 a new computer with TB5 does not make sense, except for very complicated systems with many devices writing and reading contemporary on the TB attached devices and saturate the bandwith.

• Supporting the latest version of USB4 2.0 80 Gbit/s specification
• Two times the total bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 to 80 Gbit/s, while providing up to three times the bandwidth to 120 Gbit/s for video-intensive uses
• Support for DisplayPort 2.1
• Two times (64 Gbit/s) the PCI Express data-throughput using PCI Express Gen. 4 x4, for faster storage and external graphics
• Up to 240 W of charging power downstream
• Works with existing passive cables up to 1 m (3.3 ft) via PAM-3
• Compatible with previous versions of Thunderbolt, USB, and DisplayPort

Chris

Edited March 5 by PhotoCruiser

[luetz]

I have an M1 iMac with 16GB Unified Ram and a 2 TB SSD.  This combination works very well with LR Classic and the large DNG files from my Q3.  Importing files and developing images in LR Classic are quick, with little if any "hang time".  RAM requirements are a lot less with the "Silicon" chip than the previous Intel chips.

 

 

[jaapv]

You need to take into account that hat AI editing, partly here already, and sure to expand dramatically, makes huge demands on processor and RAM. My MacMini M1 16 GB kept up until a few months ago but started slowing down with more elaborate processing So I got a refurbished Mini M2Pro (said to be especially suitable for image processing)  and 32 GB /1TB and hope to be future-proof for a while. 

[Simone_DF]

On 3/4/2025 at 4:26 AM, R.Theberge said:

4TB SSD storage

I'd recommend you to get an external SSD and use a Thunderbolt cable to connect it to your Mac. Thunderbolt cables look like a normal USB-C cable, but data transfer speed is higher. I have a 1TB HD on my MBP, and run my entire Lightroom library on an external 4TB Samsung SSD drive. Make sure to buy a model with a fast data transfer speed and you're good to go. Invest the money you save on a backup solution like a NAS + online backup solution like Backblaze etc.

[Qwertynm]

Check out @ArtIsRight on youtube. He continuously posts his own photo editing benchmarks with a plethora of different Mac M processors and configurations. He covers Lightroom as well as Capture One and Video editing software. If you’re in the market for a new Mac check out his videos and decide what benefits you and your workflow the most. 
 

I‘d take a hard long look at Mac Studio M2 Ultras hitting the refurb stores after the release of the M3 now. M2 will be future proof for a very long time. Get 64GB RAM at the very least. Storage as mich as you can afford. 

Edited March 11 by Qwertynm

[PeterHatt]

I change my files to 8 bit from 16 bit this considerably speeds up my workflow on my  M1 iMac 24, & for web publishing there is no visible difference. However I’m also looking to upgrade & I’m hearing rumours of an iMac Pro 32 inch so fingers crossed …

[Qwertynm]

1 hour ago, PeterHatt said:

I’m hearing rumours of an iMac Pro 32 inch so fingers crossed …

Where are you hearing those? Pretty wild rumor considering the Mac Studio exists. What is more likely imho is a 32“ Studio Display for 2799$

Edited March 11 by Qwertynm

[PeterHatt]

13 minutes ago, Qwertynm said:

Where are you hearing those? Pretty wild rumor considering the Mac Studio exists. What is more likely imho is a 32“ Studio Display for 2799$

 

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[Qwertynm]

Calling that rumors is a bit far fetched. This is just wishful thinking or speculation. If there is going to be a bigger iMac it won’t have a Max or Ultra chip is my guess but will be the big sister rof the 24“ iMac. We‘ll see.