Lightroom and MacBook Air 13” 2017 /8GB RAM/Intel i5/128GB SSD

[tb23321713]

Hi, 

I'm a photographer, I'm using Lightroom tethering on my iMac but I'd need a laptop also.

My goal is not to edit on Lightroom but just to receive the files while shooting.

I have the opportunity to buy a MacBook Air 13” 2017 /8GB RAM/Intel i5/128GB SSD, do you think that this beast would be working good for my need? Not to slow or some others problems?

Thank you very much.

[tb23321713]

"My goal is not to edit on Lightroom but just to receive the files while shooting." : sorry, I mean, of course, to receive the files on Lightroom in order to visualize them.

[dj_paige]

Are you talking about Lightroom (Lr icon) or Lightroom Classic (LrC icon)? What version NUMBER?

If @tb23321713 is using LrC (I do not use Lr and cannot comment on Lr) then my answer is: no, the MacBook Air is extremely underpowered by today's standards and would not perform well.

(@tb23321713 said that he won't be editing photos on this computer, just receiving them to visualize them, this requires a lot more explanation ... is the camera going to be tethered to LrC? What is it about receiving and visualizing photos that requires Lightroom Classic? Wouldn't the camera manufacturer's software be a better choice because it is free once you buy the camera?)

[tb23321713]

Hi.

I'm using Lr Classic. The last version, last update (can't open it now to be more precise).
The camera will be tethered to LrC.
The camera sotfware wouldn't do the job the same way. WIth LrC I can set on of my preset to visualize better my goal, I can go back and forth to check the photos, etc.

[dj_paige]

So there will be editing, the applying of presets to change the appearance of the photo. I will stick with my opinion that using LrC 14.2 on this MacBook Air 2017 will be very slow, and I do not recommend this.

[tb23321713]

Yes, right, some kind of editing, but super easy stuff like white balance and contrast only.
Ok, sir, thank you for your answer, it seems I will have so find an other solution then 😕

[cmgap]

Hello - while the config has a lot of storage with the 128GB SSD - 8GB of RAM is lean and you may want to consider at the minimum 16GB of RAM. If you have the opportunity to test it before you buy it that would be optimal however 16GB of RAM is recommended. Hopefully others here will chime in with their experience with tethering performance on a Mac and recommended system requirements.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/system-requirements.html

[tb23321713]

Hello. 

Thank you, and thank you evry much for the link.

I'll contact the seller and talk about all this with him.

[ExUSA]

Absolutely not. This is a low-end model that cannot be updated past macOS 12 Monterey. Monterey is no longer supported by Apple and Adobe software no longer works on that OS version. Also, Apple is rapidly removing support for Intel-based Macs because of their move to Apple Silicon.

Apple is close to releasing an M4 MacBook Air, if you want to buy new, or you can get a 13" M2 MacBook Air for around US$750-800 (or a current discounted M3 model.) The M2 is a slightly older model but will run circles around that old Air and is fully supported by Apple and Adobe. Assuming that price is a consideration, this is your best bet.

Be sure to get at least 16GB of RAM; all the current Apple models ship with that.

[tb23321713]

Thank you very much for your useful answer as well.

[Conrad_C]

Tethering with minimal edits is definitely one of the lightest Lightroom Classic use cases for hardware, but I have to agree that today, it’s not really a good idea to buy any Intel Mac laptop. Your baseline should be any Apple Silicon (M1 through M4) Mac with 16GB unified memory. Any Apple Silicon Mac will perform more smoothly than an aging Intel Mac laptop, and Apple Silicon will remain supported for longer by both macOS and Adobe.

The nice thing is that there are now a lot of used/refurbished M1/M2 Mac laptops that can be had for just a few hundred dollars, can still run the latest versions of macOS and Lightroom Classic, and would work great for tethering.

For the amount of internal storage you need, it depends on how many images the tethering sessions generate and where they go. 256GB should probably be your minimum just to make sure there is enough space for macOS and apps. If you are also using the Mac’s internal storage for the Lightroom Classic catalog folder and all shots captured during tethering, the Mac needs enough internal storage space for all of that while also making it possible to keep around 100GB of unused space, for the large temporary files that macOS and Lightroom Classic may create during normal use. If the tethered sessions will generate many images and you want to keep everything from a session on the Mac, then 512GB is a more reasonable minimum for internal storage.

One way you could easily get away with minimal internal storage on the tethered Mac is if you plan to set up the tethering import folder and the Lightroom Classic catalog folder on external storage.

[tb23321713]

Thank you also, Sir, I will keep all this in mind and give up with the laptop I was talking about.

[tb23321713]

Then, this should do the job (even more if I upgrade to 16gb RAM)?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/111893

[Conrad_C]

Yes, although that’s the first generation of Apple Silicon Mac released almost 5 years ago, it’s still a good computer today, especially with 16GB of Unified Memory.

It would not be recommended for daily heavy photo editing, but it should work great for simple tethering where you just capture, apply a profile/preset, and make a basic adjustment or two.

[tb23321713]

Allright, good.

Thank you so much again, to you and all the others for your answers.

Have all a nice day.

[ExUSA]

I wouldn't go with an M1, when you can get an M2 or M3 for about the same cost. DEFINITELY get at least 16GB of RAM, 24GB is better.