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February 1, 2026
Question

Hardware question

  • February 1, 2026
  • 3 replies
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Would a MacBook pro, M4, 24 GB RAM be adequate for running LrC?  Thinking of getting a new computer and leaving Windows behind.

 

    3 replies

    Franciszek67
    Participant
    February 1, 2026

    Yes, the M4 MacBook Pro with 24 GB unified memory should handle Lightroom Classic just fine for typical editing sessions, culling, basic adjustments, and even some batch work. I've been using similar M-series setups and the performance is snappy for most photographers' workflows.
    That said, if you shoot high-res RAWs a lot, do heavy Denoise/AI masking, or bounce between LrC and Photoshop frequently, bumping to 32 GB would give you more headroom—especially since GPU tasks pull from that shared pool. The base M4 chip is plenty capable, but if your budget allows, the Pro or Max variants add extra GPU cores for faster exports.
    Overall solid choice if you're ditching Windows. What kind of photo work do you do most? That might help narrow if 24 GB is enough or if you'd notice the difference with more.

    Ian Lyons
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    February 1, 2026

    I have an M4 MacBook Air with 32GB of memory. Given its portability, I tend to it use more frequently than my other M3/M4 based Macs. The MacBook Air uses the same CPU/GPU module as the M4 MacBook Pro, but doesn’t have a fan. For interactive edits such as slider adjustments, masks etc. it works very well. However, tasks such as preview building and exports do take much longer than my more powerful Macs.

     

    Below linked video covers the M5 MacBook Pro when using Lightroom Classic and Desktop, but also compares it with earlier models. I recommend that you take a look at it before making any decisions.

     

    Also, note that Apple will release the MacBook Pro M5 Pro and Max very shortly. So, M4 MacBook Pros  should become available at lower cost.

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gcsG-KfIRs

     

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    February 1, 2026

    If your workload is average and you edit relatively small groups of photos at one time, those specs will work fine. I am OK editing bulk jobs in Lightroom Classic with a much older M1 MacBook Pro with 32GB of Unified Memory; M4 is a faster and more advanced processor of course.

     

    Some workflow considerations may alter your specs, though:

     

    If your workload is heavy, includes raw files with a high megapixel count, or you will also be editing large images in Photoshop, more Unified Memory might be a good idea, like 32GB.

     

    If you place a very high priority on faster processing of the newer features that use local AI, such as Denoise, people masks, object selection masks, and Adobe Adaptive profiles, those features mostly depend on how fast the GPU is. If this is a concern for you then pay attention to the level of processor you buy, because that determines the power of the GPU. The base M4 has 10 GPU cores, the M4 Pro can have up to 20 GPU cores, the M4 Max (the best processor you can order for a Mac laptop) can have up to 40 GPU cores, and the M3 Ultra can have up to 80 GPU cores.

     

    If you need to make sure the GPU has enough memory for maximum GPU acceleration (for example, for faster GPU-accelerated preview rendering or large bulk exports), again 32GB or more might be a good idea because on Macs, GPU memory is dynamically allocated from the common Unified Memory pool that macOS and running applications also use. Although this might sound similar to how integrated graphics in Intel processors share system memory, it’s architecturally different and more flexible.