Custom PC Vs Macbook

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
February 11, 2025
3 replies
1377 views

Custom PC specs: i9-14900K with RTX 4070ti/4080 and 64/128 gigs RAM (might add extra RAM)
Macbook specs: M4 max with 16 CPU and 40 GPU cores and 64 gigs RAM

My workflow includes editing long, multiple hours 2k/4k footage inside premier and taking multiple, huge chunks of it in after effects through dynamic link to work on heavy compositions which may use heavy effects like sapphire, trapcode, universe, element 3d, etc.

Problems I want to avoid:

- Lag while scrubbing through timeline in half/full resolution in both Pr and especially Ae

- Lag while using both softwares continously through dynamic link
- Lag during real time playback in both softwares but especially Ae

- Lag while using those heavy effects I mentioned above

Factors I DO NOT care about:
- Crashes (I keep saving my files time to time)
- Operating system: I am fine using both MacOS or Windows
- Flexibility (I don't travel much lol)
- Render times: I am fine with longer render times

Summary: I just want the best performace in both premier pro and after effects. I do not want any sort of lag issues during real time preview/playbacks in half or full resolutions and scrubbing though timelines in both softwares but After effects especially, even when using heavy effects like those I mentioned. I use dynamic link all the time so I need all these things with both premier and after effects opened and running my projects at the same time.

Some things that I've heard (Are they true?):
- "Adobe softwares are better optimized for macbooks so you should choose macbook"
- "Playbacks/previews are smoother and less laggy in macbook compared to PC"
- "Windows PC fraws more power and you get better performance but things that you prioritize are better done in Mac"

Are all these things actually true? I am more convinced for a PC build because it also fits in my budget but I am scared because majority of the people said I should go for a Mac even though I doubt that they've ever used a custom PC build that powerful.

Thanks!

Conrad_C

Community Expert

Some things that I've heard (Are they true?):
- "Adobe softwares are better optimized for macbooks so you should choose macbook"
- "Playbacks/previews are smoother and less laggy in macbook compared to PC"
- "Windows PC fraws more power and you get better performance but things that you prioritize are better done in Mac"

Are all these things actually true? I am more convinced for a PC build because it also fits in my budget but I am scared because majority of the people said I should go for a Mac even though I doubt that they've ever used a custom PC build that powerful.
By @Samar36043148dnrx

I am competent in Windows, but I strongly prefer and only own Macs. And yet, I’m, going to say:

I’m not sure any of those are really true, except maybe the third one.

For the first one, there are many examples of any platform being “favored.” If you look at forum posts all over the web, you will see Windows users complaining that Adobe is biased toward Mac, but in other posts Mac users are convinced Adobe favors Windows, and both Android and iOS users complain that Adobe is not giving them mobile apps or features that the other platform got first. And all of it is at least partially true at the same time, because in reality Adobe does things where it’s practical to do them, which is not the same on all platforms all the time. One example is support for an NPU (neural processing engine) which is useful to machine learning/AI tasks. The first place I know of that Adobe added NPU support was on the Mac for Lightroom, so Windows users can complain about that. But Adobe recently announced that Premiere Pro would add NPU support on Copilot+ PCs, yet they never did that for Mac Premiere Pro, so Mac users can complain about that. 🙂

I’m suspicious of the second item you heard. I suppose it’s possible that a Mac might preview more smoothly; if it can, it might be because of Apple Silicon high memory bandwidth and unified memory. However, I find it hard to believe that a PC can’t match or beat that, because of the third item in your list…

…that one I think is true, that it’s possible to build a PC with performance no Mac can match.

As far as the “priorities” mentioned in the last one, that can affect things. Because Apple Silicon processors are more efficient, if a Mac can reach the required performance level, it can probably do it using less power consumption than a PC, resulting in lower temperatures, less fan noise, and longer component life. And of course, for mobile users, it’s a major advantage to have a laptop that achieves high performance without being throttled by heat or battery wattage limits, with longer battery life and low fan noise. For others, a priority is not having to deal with Windows, but if you don’t mind Windows then that’s not a factor.

So a quick way to summarize this could be: A Mac might be better if you prioritize being able to edit video anywhere with decent battery life and not a lot of heat and fan noise, or if you just want a compact, quiet desktop system like a Mac Studio, or if you find Windows complicated and annoying. But if you require the maximum possible performance, I don’t think any Mac can beat a properly specced desktop PC with a high end Nvidia RTX graphics card.

S

Samar36043148dnrxAuthor

Participant

I am also more biased towards PC builds but recently one of my friend who had a monsterous PC with Threadripper and a 4090, switched to Mac M4 max and I couldn't believe when he said, he feels that premier and after effects performs far more better in Mac, things like previews and real time playbacks etc.. I just want the best performace in Adobe softwares and for that everyone, like you said PC but I heard the opposite from my friend recently so my pick is now gonna be mac 🙂

R

RjL190365

Legend

That also depends on the footage that your friend used. If it's H.264, then Nvidia's NVDEC never performed particularly well. In fact, I have an i9-14900K system with an RTX 4070 Ti, and I couldn't believe just how weakly NVDEC performed (at least on the RTX 40-series and earlier GPUs). In fact, software-only decoding with the i9-14900K alone performed better than NVDEC ever did on H.264.

If that footage is in ProRes, then the Apple Silicon Macs except for the base M1 chip offered hardware decoding and encoding acceleration for ProRes. Windows never natively supported ProRes to begin with.

On the other hand, a Mac is not the best choice when deadlines are critical: Every Mac that I had my hands on took much longer at exporting than even a recent-gen PC with an 8-core/16-thread CPU such as a Ryzen 7 9800X3D (which I spent only a couple of hours on).