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John E Anderson
Known Participant
December 7, 2024
Answered

Do I need a new Macbook to run latest version of LRC?

  • December 7, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 765 views

Have been using LRC on my new Windows PC for almost a year now.  Recently updated to the latest version.  I keep my catalog and image files on a removable drive.  Went to use my Macbook yesterday and couldn't load the updated catalog from the removeable drive because the catalog file was newer.  So I ran update all in Adobe Cloud and got a message that said the latest version of Lightroom Classic was not compatible with the Monterey OS.  Said I needed to have the Ventura OS.  I thought fine, I'll upgrade to Ventura.  Found out that my 9 year old Macbook can't run Ventura OS.  

So my question is: Do I need to get a new Macbook in order to run the latest version of Lightroom Classic?  I know it's 9 years old, but was hoping to get more mileage out of it.  Related question: Don't the new Macbooks use a new Apple chip, not an Intel  CPU?  Will my other software like MS Office even run on it?

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Correct answer john beardsworth

Yes, you'd need a new Mac as Ventura is the current requirement https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-classic/system-requirements.html

 

MS Office runs just fine, other than Access which doesn't have a Mac version.

2 replies

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Conrad_CCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 8, 2024

Just for future reference, you should be aware that the useful lifetime of a Mac is subject to the support limits that both Apple and Adobe impose.

 

Apple tends to provide macOS updates to a Mac for roughly 7 to 8 years after it’s first released, and they only provide updates for the last three major versions. So, if a Mac was bought around 7 years ago, the chance goes way up that the next time Apple releases a new major version of macOS (which they now do every autumn), that Mac can’t upgrade to it. The Mac is still supported, at least as far as the version of macOS that was released the previous year. But… the clock has started ticking.

 

Two years later, Apple releases another major new version of macOS and now that Mac is three years behind the current version and will no longer get macOS updates, because it can’t run any of the three most recent versions of macOS that Apple supports.

 

It turns out Adobe follows the Apple support period, so now that Mac can no longer install a current version of Creative Cloud apps because Adobe also requires one of the last three major versions of macOS.

 

Today, those three last versions are macOS 13, 14, and 15. Next year they will (probably) be 14, 15, and 16. It goes up one version every year.

 

In addition, the Adobe Creative Cloud installer only offers the last two major versions of Creative Cloud apps. So if a Mac can no longer reach the oldest macOS supported by the oldest available version of a Creative Cloud app, the Creative Cloud installer won’t offer any version of that app to install.

 

This is now a predictable pattern, and every Mac user of Adobe software should now be budgeting accordingly: If it’s vitally important to be able to run the latest version of a Creative Cloud app, the closer a Mac gets to being more than 7 years old, the more critical it is that a Mac user should already be saving and budgeting to buy a new Mac in the next few years.

 

quote

Don't the new Macbooks use a new Apple chip, not an Intel  CPU?  Will my other software like MS Office even run on it?

By @John E Anderson

 

They do run, and the good news is, because you wanted to keep your current Mac going for as long as possible, you were able to wait out the entire Intel to Apple Silicon transition period. Your question was a real problem when Macs started using ARM-based Apple Silicon processors…four years ago. But over that past four years, just about all important Mac apps have had the time to re-code and optimize for Apple Silicon, so current versions of apps by Adobe, Microsoft, and more now run natively and efficiently on the Apple Silicon (M1 and up) Macs.

 

(In contrast, ARM processors are just now starting to be practical for mainstream Windows PCs. So, this year, the Windows users trying the new ARM-based Windows PCs are going through the same Intel-to-ARM compatibility problems that the Mac community already went through four years ago and have now resolved.)

    J
    John E AndersonAuthor
    Known Participant
    December 8, 2024

    Conrad_c, Thank you for yor thorough and informative post.  I was always a PC/Windows guy.  I bought the Macbook 9 years ago almost on a whim.  The things that hooked me was the display and touchpad (I always hated every PC touchpad I ever owned but was instantly won over by the Macbook touchpad).

     

    Given that my Macbook is now a dinosaur, I've started to research new laptops.  I'm leaning toward getting another Windows laptop.  Reading the Adobe specs for Lightroom and Premiere Pro, it looks like I can get a high-powered Thinkpad for $2000 or so less than a comparable Macbook.  It's hard to compare, not really having any experience with Apple M4 processors (Prom or Max version?).

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Conrad_CCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 10, 2024

    Lenovos are supposed to be good. Were you looking at a P16, a P1, or something else? I haven’t used them but I looked at the reviews for both of those on rtings.com, and it reported that both were fast. (Although it was interesting that the P16 review says “If you don't need a Windows laptop for your workflow, consider the new M4 SoC Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2024) as an alternative with significantly faster performance.”.)

     

    A major challenge for all of us is that computer spec sheets don’t often say what’s really important for our work. And most reviews talk about performance and that’s it, but other factors are also important.

     

    For example, displays. The M4 MacBook Pro comes with a wide gamut (P3) display that qualifies for Adobe HDR editing (1000 nits sustained) in Lightroom and Camera Raw, and is capable of 120Hz refresh. According to rtings, The Lenovo P1 display falls well short on both color gamut and luminance, but the P16 is wide gamut and reaches almost 800 nits but at only 60Hz. If your work doesn’t prioritize wide gamut, HDR luminance, or high refresh (e.g., you mostly do photos and videos for print and web sites), then these MacBook Pro display advantages don’t count. However, rtings said the out-of-the-box accuracy of the Lenovo displays wasn’t great, while it said the MacBook Pro was very accurate. All that means is that you probably need to at least profile the Lenovo display before use for color-critical work, or plug it into a better display.

     

    Also, graphics hardware: To get the most out of these applications, the Lenovo should be configured with one of the Nvidia discrete GPU options with 8GB of VRAM (6GB is probably OK on a budget), a good amount for Lightroom Classic and Premiere Pro. If the Lenovo you priced comes with Intel UHD or Arc graphics instead, then that needs to be upgraded to Nvidia, narrowing the price difference with the Mac a little. Both apps are making more use of GPU acceleration.

     

    If the Lenovo you’re looking at meets those requirements and yours, chances are it will work well if you profile the screen (to make up the color accuracy gap compared to the Mac). I don’t know how different the overall performance and battery life of the Lenovo are compared to an M4 Pro/Max, but even if it turns out the Mac is faster, if the Lenovo costs enough less than the Mac and it’s fast enough, it may be worth the savings.

     

    Regarding M4 Pro or Max, if you were to get the Mac: My opinion is that if most of your work is in Lightroom Classic, the Pro is fine. The reasons you would pay the premium for the Max are for the upgraded GPU and double the video encoder/decoder engines, which would generally benefit heavy duty Premiere Pro rendering much more than Lightroom Classic. Although, if you frequently apply AI Denoise in large batches, then the Max can be worth it for Lightroom Classic because on the Mac, AI Denoise performance scales with GPU cores and the Max can have a lot more of those.

      john beardsworth
      Community Expert
      john beardsworthCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      December 7, 2024

      Yes, you'd need a new Mac as Ventura is the current requirement https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-classic/system-requirements.html

       

      MS Office runs just fine, other than Access which doesn't have a Mac version.

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