X2d recommended laptop

[MGrayson]

The Air weight savings is small on paper, huge in practice. I switched to the 14" MacBook Pro, and part of me regrets that every time I pick it up by a corner or throw it in a backpack. The Air seemed to weigh nothing. My last Air was pre-M1, and my M1 MBP is still faster than I need - despite the X2D files. So I'm seriously considering moving back to an Apple Silicon Air. (My desktop is an iMac Pro, so a relative dog compared to the laptop!)

[Alex]

I switched to the 14" MacBook Pro,

Me too

and part of me regrets that every time I pick it up by a corner or throw it in a backpack.

Same here; for tethering applications Phocus doesn't need much power at all.

[tenmangu81]

As I am often on the move for long times, I don't have any desktop computer, only a laptop, which is a MacBook Pro M1 14". When I am back home, I use it as main computer and connect it to my calibrated display (an old NEC). And that's all.

[Franka]

As I am often on the move for long times, I don't have any desktop computer, only a laptop, which is a MacBook Pro M1 14". When I am back home, I use it as main computer and connect it to my calibrated display (an old NEC). And that's all.

I have the same set up including monitor and I have never had an issue.  I keep toying with the idea of upgrading to the M3 but then I think in a year or two I can get one for a lot less. 

[Plancton06]

Air m1 16gb 1tb. Not only as field computer, convinced its enough to be main computer. The interesting discovery for me after testing this week, is that for photography an air performs the same as a pro, including similar battery life, and the weight savings alone makes the air feel like a more sophisticated better designed machine. The new pros are even heavier than the previous ones.

Another advantage not to underestimate, is that a refurbished 1200us laptop suddenly feels less sensitive to rough handling, also same build quality as the pro with fewer moving parts.

Without a radical difference in screen quality for serious print work, the mac pros are starting to  feel like heavy niche equipment for more demanding tasks than photography. I have tested large composite photos with files from the x2d (400 megapixels and many layers) no slow downs

[flash]

As I am often on the move for long times, I don't have any desktop computer, only a laptop, which is a MacBook Pro M1 14". When I am back home, I use it as main computer and connect it to my calibrated display (an old NEC). And that's all.

I have the same set up including monitor and I have never had an issue.  I keep toying with the idea of upgrading to the M3 but then I think in a year or two I can get one for a lot less.

Me too but I simply can't find anywhere that shows it'll be any faster at all than my M1 max MBP. FStopper did some rough tests and the only speed improvement was rendering videos or outputting 100 files at a time. Currently irrelevant to me.

I bought this specifically to be my only machine. Desktop and laptop. So far so good. Although I still want a touchscreen in the damn thing.

Gordon

[Whitten]

There are some very affordable external screens (BenQ) that are fully calibration capable.
I use my Macbook Air M1 when I'm on the road, but at home I add the external screen, the viewer is on the calibrated screen and my tools and library window is on the MacBook screen.

[Plancton06]

just reporting after some time. Everything working well with the Air m1 (16gb - 1 tb)
I don't think there will be any additional benefit from a more powerful laptop.
What I am doing:
Treatment and development of X2D files in Phocus + some times in Lightroom with the new ai features.
Quite advanced photoshop (I work on collages that involve multiple photographs, or composites that push the files over 400 megapixels. No issues at all exporting, or working with effects and layers.
Book layout in InDesign running simultaneously. + edition of vector files in Illustrator, these are vector files coming from autocad that need edition before getting into books.
I often work with Phocus, Indesign, Photoshop and autocad for Mac, if not simultaneously, all open at the same time.
The usual open in the background... mail, a few tabs in safari + listening to YouTube (news / music , dropbox app, etc..)
For serious batch work in photoshop, such as batch converting many PDS files to tiff 16bit, I would probably close the other apps, but so far no issues.
All this on battery power.

[doc steel]

You should have this if you want speed:

Processor:   Intel i9 13980HX CPU 24/32 Core up to 5.6 GHz (P-Core) / 4.0 GHZ (E-Core)
Installed RAM: 32,0 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
Systemtype: 96-Bit-System, x64-based Processor
GPU: Nvidia RTX 5000 ADA Generation - 16 GB GDDR6 VRAM

and the fastest SSD storage drive you can get (Micron)

This setup is up to 2x times faster than the Apple M3 Max!

[Bob Andersson]

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This setup is up to 2x times faster than the Apple M3 Max!

I think the question to ask now is 2x faster at doing what? Loading photos, processing photos, exporting photos, getting uncomfortably hot or running down the battery? 

Speed is no doubt important for some users but I'd suggest that for most of us it's not the be all and end all. If it was we'd probably all be shooting with Sonys. 

I use both regular PCs and Apple silicon. Both have their strengths and weaknesses so which I use depends on what I'm doing at the time.

[Iceman1331]

I use my 27" iMac @16 Gb and 1TB storage capacity desk top for processing all my HB photos via Phocus software. The machine is very responsive and shows every detail I wanted without slowing down. Of course, you need a MacBook Pro laptop if you are on the move.

[vitdev]

I use MacBook Air M1 with Apple XDR Pro Display without any issues. Everything (even multi layer photoshop files) work smoothly. I have 16GM Ram and 1TB SSD.
I also have maxed out MBP 16" with M1 Max processor with 64GB memory as my work provided laptop. And I tried editing X2D files using Phocus and Photomator+Pixelmator on it. Performance feels pretty much the same as when using my personal M1 MacBook Air.
I was debating to get new M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pros, but couldn't justify extra weight. Maybe I'll get M3 Air when it comes out.

You can always get one from Apple Store and return it within 14 days if it doesn't work for you (double check Apple return policy for your country though).

PS Even Phocus and Photomator on my iPhone 15 Pro Max process X2D raw files without any issues. And A17 chip is still slower (in benchmarks) than M1.

[doc steel]

.
.
This setup is up to 2x times faster than the Apple M3 Max!

I think the question to ask now is 2x faster at doing what? Loading photos, processing photos, exporting photos, getting uncomfortably hot or running down the battery? 

Speed is no doubt important for some users but I'd suggest that for most of us it's not the be all and end all. If it was we'd probably all be shooting with Sonys. 

I use both regular PCs and Apple silicon. Both have their strengths and weaknesses so which I use depends on what I'm doing at the time.

I understand your doubts, especially because speed is now used as an inflationary marketing term.
In my case, however, it is a laptop made for photographic applications, specifically for editing large photo and video files. These laptops are assembled according to your own wishes from parts that are specially made for this purpose and are not available on the market. The company is based in Germany and supplies well-known companies and graphic companies. https://www.pixelcomputer.de/

[Plancton06]

there is evidence from photographers that since the m1 came out, the performance difference between the air and pro line is not justified for photography work. Not even the screen is significantly better, both equally mediocre for print workflow. That used to be a big difference back in the days when the pro was the only way to the high resolution retina screen and a bit better color.

It makes the air objectively a better laptop (better price, less weight, no moving parts, similar battery life)

In the future I might be tempted to change my refurbished M1 1tb 16gb for an m3 air only if there are further improvements in battery life. The price is low compared to the pro, so I can change the air every 3 - 4 years, 3 times ( 10 to 12 years total ) compared to the price of a fully loaded MacBook Pro (which might feel outdated due to its weight much sooner than that.