Is my 2021 iMac too old for After Effects?

Question

Just been informed by customer service that as my 2021 iMac which has 8GB memory is not powerful enough to run After Effects. I have been using AE for the past 10 months without issue, only in the last couple of months I've come across a save problem where after 5 mins of working the programme no longer saves my work. Yes, that's very frustrating. I restart my computer and I work again for 5 minutes until 'save' becomes unresponsive once again.

I'm told that AE requires a minium of 16GB memory to run effectively. But I also see a brand new MacBook Pro 13" comes with 8GB of memory too. So you can't run AE on a brand new Macbook Pro??

Is this a new version which has this requirement of 16BG memory, if so is there an earlier version which I can run on my humble, dusty and decrepit iMac from last year?

Thank you so much for your help.

Rob

Rick Gerard · Answer

It all depends on what you are trying to do. You can run AE on an M1 Mac with only 8 GB of ram. You won't get the performance you will get with 16 or more.

I tested AE on a bare-bones M1 Mac Mini for three months before I bought my M1 MacBook Pro. It ran fine on Rosetta and outperformed my loaded iMac pro on many projects. I had to install the entire Creative Suite on an external (very fast) SSD because there was not enough room on the internal Mac Mini drive to install AE, Premier Pro, Photoshop, and Illustrator, without running out of Cache or storage room.

After Effects is primarily a professional visual effect, compositing, and motion graphics application designed to produce shots (not movies, it's not an NLE) that can be used to create amazing shots for feature films, it is not designed, nor should it be designed to create Instagram posts for video enthusiasts. There is a world of difference in the processing power and options between the two.

You may occasionally have to roll back a version to solve some M1 compatibility issues. You may be limited in the future updates you can use, but After Effects should run OK for HD projects if you don't go crazy with layers, particles, and effects and have the time to wait for things to render. I did a few 4K projects on my Mac Mini and it worked just fine.

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