Lightroom CC - Mac/PC compatibility?

[dlearyous1]

I just finally bit down and subscribed for a Photography package with Lightroom and Photoshop after using an old version of Lightroom I received from a friend 10-15 years ago.  I'm really looking forward to Lightroom CC and being able to sync between two computers as I have my computer at home and then a work laptop that I always have with me when travelling for work.

My question now, my computer at home is an older MacBook which is restricted to Lightroom CC 2015 where as my other laptop is a PC that is brand new with Windows 10 and can almost certainly run the latest version of Lightroom CC.  Will these two be compatable with eachother?  To be honest I dont even fully grasp how Lightroom CC works as I've only seen a couple YouTube movies about it, etc.  

Thank you!

[JP Hess]

It's unfortunate that Adobe chose the naming convention that they did because there isn't even any Lightroom CC anymore. So the first thing we need to clarify is which version you are referring to. Today there is Lightroom Classic, which is the "regular" Lightroom which stores images on your local hard drive and uses a local catalog. It works like Lightroom has worked for the last 10 years. Then there is Lightroom, which many of the tutorials and many users refer to as Lightroom CC. This is the new Lightroom that stores images in the cloud and enables you to synchronize your images on your computer, your mobile phone, tablet, etc. Any editing performed on any device will affect the images on all other devices. Depending on which plan you subscribe to, you will have either 20 GB of cloud storage or 1 TB of cloud storage. And depending on how much you are paying for your plan, Photoshop will or will not be included. Which plan have you subscribe to, or plan subscribe to? And how do you perceive to implement that plan into your workflow?

[dlearyous1]

Thanks for your reply and the clarifications! 
It is the newer version of Lightroom that sounded really interesting! I have an older (2013) MacBook Pro that I have El Capitan installed on and from what I can see it Lightroom 2015 should work on that OS. I travel a fair amount for work and have a gaming laptop (PC) with me that I could use after work. Thus my want to be able to use both computers and curiosity if the different versions (old vs new computers) would be compatible per syncing. 

I purchased the Photography plan which included Lightroom and Photoshop with 20gb of storage. 

[Jao vdL]

If you got that plan than you'll also have Lightroom Classic, which is the more grown up version of Lightroom. It has way more features (it can actually print for example) but doesn't sync everything to the cloud. Lightroom Desktop (absolutely terrible naming by Adobe) syncs everything to the cloud but misses a bunch of essential features. Just making sure. There is also a plan that only includes Lightroom cloud and photoshop but 1TB of space. If all you care about is the cloud syncing perhaps that is a better deal. You run through 20GB pretty quickly. You won't get Lightroom Classic though.

[Jao vdL]

Why is the MacBook restricted? Is it so old that the OS can't be updated far enough to support the latest Lightroom Cloudy? I am pretty sure it won't work correctly with the older 2015 version of Lightroom Cloudy (then called CC) but have no way of testing it.

[dlearyous1]

I suppose the OS could be updated? I haven't done so as I received recommendations that El Capitan was the best OS for my old MacBook Pro 2013. The computer runs quite well for what I use it for thus my hesitation to change to a newer OS that might slow it down...

[Jao vdL]

A 2013 MacBook Pro should be able to run all the way up to the latest OS just fine. If you want to run the latest Lightroom  you need at least 10.13 (High Sierra). There were many optimizations since El Capitan that actually make these machines way faster. If you have at least 8GB of memory and a SSD in that MacBook Pro, I would definitely upgrade it all the way to Catalina. I have a 2012 MBP that runs catalina perfectly fine including Lightroom. Let alone that El Capitan is no longer supported for any security updates whihc means you;ll not be protected against even well-known hacks. 

[dlearyous1]

Thank you!

I saw a few posts saying that Lightroom Desktop was a bit limited at the beginning but had hoped that it had cought up in the past few years.  There's that big of a difference in the two?  I guess I may just install Lightroom Classic on both computers as when I am at work and want to edit pictures it's most often pictures I've taken that day.

It also sounds like I should give updating my MBP a try.  I have 8gb ram and installed a SSD a couple years ago which gave it new life.  Here goes nothing.