Skip to main content
Mhaned
Participant
June 17, 2026
Question

Is MacBook Pro M5 - 16GB , 512GB good for After Effects in ai

  • June 17, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 32 views

i wan buy an new macbook pro M5 , 16GB , 512GB and i want to know if work good in After Effects

    1 reply

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 21, 2026

    That configuration is OK for learning and for small/short projects. However, the 16GB of memory is only the minimum amount according to the official system requirements, and could result in slow performance. After Effects generally has more demanding system requirements than most software.

     

    For larger professional projects, it’s much better to have 32GB or more of memory. For longer timelines, larger frame sizes (larger than 4K) or heavy use of effects, 48GB or more is a good idea.

     

    The 512GB of storage is also minimal. It can work if you can keep at least 200GB free (preferably much more), but for best performance especially with larger or longer projects, it’s best to have either more internal storage, or to add external storage that’s used for source media, renders, and maybe the Media Cache if there isn’t enough room for it in internal storage.

     

    If your projects use many GPU-accelerated effects, then it may be good to upgrade to an M5 Pro or M5 Max processor because those have more powerful GPUs.