I am considering getting a iMac and want to know the difference between an 8 GPU and a 10 GPU. I primarily process photographs in Light Room; having to load and look through up to 2,000 frames per editing session w/a frame size of <=100 Mg pixels. I currently have a MacBook Pro and it takes a long time to process each photo edit.
MacBook Pro (M3, 2023)
You can get the 24" M3 iMac with 8, 16, or 24 GB of RAM.
Although Photoshop, Lightroom, and Lightroom Classic can run in 8 GB of RAM, Adobe recommends 16 GB of RAM – or more – for each of these programs. I would advise getting no less than 16 GB of RAM. Consider getting more if you are going to work with huge (100 megapixel) photos, work with a lot of layers, or large panoramas.
You can get the M2 Pro Mac mini with 16 or 32 GB of RAM, and the M2 Max Mac Studio with 32, 64, or 96 GB of it. It seems unlikely that you would need 96 GB of RAM (you might not even be able to take advantage of 64 GB), but you can get that machine with that much.
Although the M3 is a newer-generation chip, the M2 Pro and M2 Max are higher up in their lines, and thus are likely to have stronger multi-core CPU performance, and GPU performance, by virtue of having more cores.
https://www.hoxtonmacs.co.uk/blogs/news/apple-m2-vs-m3-chip-comparison
Very good point on memory, 8 GB is not going to be enough.
Your MacBook Pro has at least a 10 core GPU, so you would not want to go less. In my opinion, I would wait until the September 9 event that Apple has announced. We don't know what will be launched, but an iMac with the M4 chip and even larger GPU would be ideal in your case. The iMac was last updated in November 2023, so it would be good timing for you.
Thank you for your replies. Both are very helpful; I will wait to see what September 9th brings. Thanks again.
Difference in GPU Size
