I use Photoshop and Illustrator heavily and simultaneously for work. I am currently using a Win 11 system with an Intel i7 11th Gen Processor, 64GB DDR4 RAM, and GeForce 4GB Graphics card. I want to move to an iMac, the one currently selling with M1 Chip 8-Core CPU
8-Core GPU with 1TB Storage and 16GB unified memory. Can I expect a better experience shifting to iMac?
iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021, 2 ports)
Although you may experience an improvement in interactive performance on an M1 iMac, it is still currently limited to 16 GB of RAM and that is the minimum RAM recommendation for the two Adobe subscription applications. RAM is not upgradeable post-sale. The current subscription Photoshop/Illustrator are supported on macOS Ventura which currently ships with new Macs.
What you might consider is an M2 Mac mini pro with 32 GB RAM and 1TB storage. Then add an LG 32-inch display HDMI 4K display and you will be rewarded with more screen real estate for your artwork. This will cost more, perform better, and give you the RAM that you need for future operating system and Adobe application growth. This is my current configuration, though I opted for the $300 more expensive 12-Core CPU/19-Core GPU upgrade.
Although you may experience an improvement in interactive performance on an M1 iMac, it is still currently limited to 16 GB of RAM and that is the minimum RAM recommendation for the two Adobe subscription applications. RAM is not upgradeable post-sale. The current subscription Photoshop/Illustrator are supported on macOS Ventura which currently ships with new Macs.
What you might consider is an M2 Mac mini pro with 32 GB RAM and 1TB storage. Then add an LG 32-inch display HDMI 4K display and you will be rewarded with more screen real estate for your artwork. This will cost more, perform better, and give you the RAM that you need for future operating system and Adobe application growth. This is my current configuration, though I opted for the $300 more expensive 12-Core CPU/19-Core GPU upgrade.
The two Adobe apps that you currently have will not work on the Mac. I don't know if the licenses are transferrable between platforms so you could download the equivalent version for Macs and run. It will also depend on the current versions.
As far as the hardware is concerned the Mini with 32 GB RAM suggestion by VikingOSX would be the best configuration.
Thank You for the detailed response, I majorly wanted to move to Mac for the display clarity. But adding a studio display to the Mac mini as per the configuration you suggested exceeds my budget. I guess I shall stick with Windows for now.
Thank you for replying. I am using the creative cloud so it does run on both Mac and Windows. Since Mac recently moved away from Intel there were snags earlier in using adobe software as the M series processors use a different architecture. From what VikingOSX has said, I guess it is sorted now and Adobe is working on using the multi-core efficiency.
I don't use a Apple Studio display and did not recommend one primarily to the unnecessary pricing hit on a budget. My 32-in LG display cost $695 and there are less expensive 4K LG 32-inch displays available.
Thanks, will consider it.
Compatibility of Photoshop and Illustrator on iMac
