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CrockAlley
Participating Frequently
February 20, 2024
Question

System requirements for Mac: 16GB memory?

  • February 20, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 428 views

Adobe recomends 16 GB memory. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/system-requirements.html#macos

 

But everyone on Reddit says that's way too little:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AfterEffects/comments/1ah1ck4/which_is_better_for_after_effects_m2_macbook_air/

Some people recommend, 32GB, 96GB, or even 128GB. 

 

As I'm struggling to understand these stats, I'm a little despondant at the idea that I can't trust Adobe's own requirements. I'm just a hobbyist. I'm not processing huge, HD projects. What's an actual, useful list of stats for a Mac running AE?

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Mylenium
Mylenium
Legend
February 20, 2024

Minimum requirements are just that - a minimum where a software maker guarantees that a program runs and all functions can be used. This doesn't imply anything about how well it does so. AE gas always been RAM centric and more is better. The rest is a matter of endless academic discussions. As a hobbyist you can of course afford wait times or not being able to preview longer clips in realtime, but at the same time a reasonably fast disk cache can mitigate some of those issues.  So it's ultimately a lot more complicated. Still, if you can afford it, deck out your Mac with RAM. It's still the best prophylactic cure to many of AE's quirks, shortcomings and bugs.

 

Mylenium 

C
CrockAlleyAuthor
Participating Frequently
February 20, 2024

Thanks for the reply. I guess I'm just a bit frustrated that there is a "Minimum" column and a "Recommended" column on their site. In my mind, that implies that "Recommended" means a hefty step up from "Minimum," but I'm discovering that's not the case. 

 

Four years ago, I was able to afford to deck out my Mac (64GB memory), but it's one of those overly-hot Intels and it's breaking down now. And right now, I can't aford as nice a replacement, sadly. If I can just figure out how to make some money from my action figure animations... haha!

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