Suggestion for new Mac spec.

[gunnynow]

I have been using a borrowed Mac and I am about to take the leap and purchase my own system. I primarily use Illustrator, Photoshop and Sketch up pro. But I would like to get a system that has the capability of running the entire creative suite as I am ready to delve into additional Adobe products. My budget is 5K. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks in advance. 

[Mike_Gondek]

You will first need to decide do you want a laptop, iMac or Mac Pro? 

With 5K you will be able to buy almost any mac, add additional ram & upgrade your SSD Solid State Drive. You do not need to max out on the most expensive mac as you will do fine. As you have a decetn budget treat yourself to the largest monitor size, as most everyone benefits form.  All else going with best -1. 

Not sure if you need a digital tablet as that drives up your budget.

Without knowing more would say

[Conrad_C · Accepted solution]

Apple Silicon Macs are quite capable, so it is no longer necessary to max out any configurations for general Adobe use. Many of the base models are now good values.

If you want a desktop, the base M1 Max Mac Studio is quite good for $1999, because it already comes with a powerful M1 Max processor, 32GB unified memory and 512GB storage. For a lot of users there is nothing to upgrade, many others don’t have to upgrade it very much.

If you want a portable, the base 14" and 16" MacBook Pros are very solid (I use the 14"), although you might consider upgrading unified memory to 32GB.

If you want to or can spend more money, for most Adobe uses you won’t need more than 64GB unified memory, and storage of course depends on how much you want to store inside the computer on very fast storage. (If you want to save money, just buy external drives and connect them.)

So in many cases the total cost including upgrades should be under $5000.

For design and photos, the M1, M2, or M1 Pro processors are good enough. The M1 Max and M1 Ultra processors are not fully used by the design and photo applications, but do have benefits if you are going to spend a lot of your time in Adobe video or 3D applications.