Buying a new Mac for graphic design? Here’s my honest review and what you need to know
- Deena Englard
- Jul 4
- 12 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
For the first time in 10 years, I bought a new laptop. 🥳 And just two years ago I bought a new iMac as well.
With all the time I put into researching them, and my experience now after using them for a bit, I thought you might benefit from this knowledge.
If you’re looking for a new computer, hopefully this will help you make an informed decision as to the best option for your needs.
TLDR: skip to these sections
Before we jump in, my first piece of advice is:
Talk to an expert.
A new computer is a major investment.
It will cost a significant amount of money and hopefully be your most important tool in your designing for at least the next 5-10 years (depending on how fast technology keeps advancing).
So you want to make an informed decision.
Reach out to a few stores and chat with their team.
Describe your situation, your needs, what you use your computer for, where you use it, how much space your files take up, etc. And let them tell you what they recommend.
This should work with most stores, but I’ve heard especially great feedback about the Apple and B&H teams. (And B&H is a Jewish-owned store, so that’s a plus :)
It pays to come into the discussion with some knowledge of computer hardware in your back pocket.
Understanding your computer’s hardware
As a designer, you need to consider the power of your computer. Any old cheap device won’t do. It won’t be able to handle having multiple Adobe programs open and running simultaneously.
The worst thing that can happen is to have a computer that’s too slow and hinders your design process, slowing down client work and causing countless hours of frustration.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list of every detail within a computer, here’s a starting point of terms to understand when going shopping.
There are three specs that make the biggest difference when it comes to running heavy software smoothly:
Cores / Processor (AKA the CPU - Central Processing Unit)
RAM - Random Access Memory (AKA short-term storage)
Storage
Let’s get an overview of what each one does:
Cores
Each core is like a mini brain for your computer. The more cores you have, the more actions your computer can do simultaneously before it starts running reeeeeally slow.
As designers, we need to run multiple heavy software at the same time - Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and maybe even a few others like Figma or Bridge. Not to mention our browser, Gmail, Pinterest, and Slack along with plenty more.
If you don’t have enough cores, each time you open a new program you’ll notice everything start to slow down. The new program's icon will bounce for quite a while before opening. Saving will create the spinning beach ball of death for a few minutes of nail-biting anxiety. The cursor will move like a ghost with a few second delay from when you clicked.
So you want to look for a lot of cores. The more the merrier.
More cores = more power.
The general recommendation is to aim for a minimum of 8 cores. BUT I own an 8-core 2021 iMac M1 chip and it is too slow for large Photoshop files.
So I would recommend not buying anything with less than 12 cores to be safe. These days you can even get 14, 16 or even 24 cores in Apple devices!
RAM
RAM, also known as Flash Memory, stands for Random Access Memory. In other words, it’s your computer’s short-term memory. It’s where your computer stores information that you want to access easily and quickly.
Think of it as the tabs in your browser that you’re not actively on right now, but they’re still open in your browser and you want them to be running when you go back to them and not just freeze.
Design programs in particular use a lot of RAM. All those little details of code in each InDesign or Illustrator or Photoshop file that Adobe is running in the background to keep your tools, images, fonts, etc. working are stored in your RAM.
The more RAM you have, the faster your computer can open files, pull up information, and just run smoothly.
More RAM = less lag.
As a designer, aim for a minimum of 16GB RAM.
Extra RAM can usually be installed at a later point as well, up to a certain amount, so that’s a feature you can check for if you want to plan on upgrading in the future.
Storage
As opposed to RAM which is short-term memory, Storage is your computer’s long-term memory. It’s the place you store files, software information, basically all the big things that make up your computer.
It used to be (ahem, just 10 years ago when I bought my previous laptop) that all computer storage was HDD - Hard Disk Drives. These were literal physical spinning disks within your computer.
This meant that when you were pushing your computer too hard, running too many programs at once, you would start to literally hear it working, the drives were physically spinning faster, the fans whirring to cool it down from overheating. Your laptop got hot enough to burn your lap. Fun times (I write, typing from my old laptop with my very warm lap and 2 layers of fabric between myself and my laptop). There are actual laptop stands you can buy with built-in fans to help cool down your computer.
Nowadays, most computers are SSD - Solid State Drives. In the way technology goes, this used to be the fancy expensive option for those who wanted better. Nowadays it’s standard and don’t miss out - it's popular for a reason.
SSDs are much better than HDDs. They work by using lots of pieces of flash memory, making them not physical, more durable, and - most importantly - faster. They’re more energy-efficient so battery life is longer. And they run completely silently since there are no spinning disks.
Basically they’re better in every way.
So always opt for SSD over HDD.
Aim for a minimum of 500GB SSD. Your software alone will easily take up the first 100GB and you need space for your local files while editing, even if the rest are all exclusively cloud-based. More storage will simply last you longer.
These days storage is cheap enough that you can easily upgrade to 1TB and never have to worry about running out of space.
If you edit videos or 3D, your files will likely take up much more space, so you’ll need even more storage just to cover your bases.
Each one of these 3 features above is important for your computer to run quickly and smoothly. And you need them all.
Lots of cores with tiny RAM does nothing for you. Lots of RAM and not enough cores will be equally slow.
So it’s best to spread your budget evenly across all three, rather than investing in just 1 without the others.
PS - There’s another feature called the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) that also affects your computer. This is a pretty important feature to get a high-end version of, especially as a designer working with visuals. But I didn't mention it since Apple now has the M chip which replaces their GPU with a totally different system than PCs use and is universal for all Mac products with that same M chip. It pretty much removed GPU from being a feature you need to consider and compare in Apple computers.
Some other features you might want to consider are your personal lifestyle choices.
Lifestyle Preferences
The way you work will determine some of the best options for you.
Are you on the go or do you prefer to be in one spot?
For the former a laptop will be a better fit. For the latter, a desktop.
Personally, I prefer to use a desktop for work because it feels more permanent and settled - and less like I can just quickly log back in during the evenings. This keeps my work life and personal life separate. If I want to work, I have to go to my designated working spot on the other side of the house. Much better for work-life balance and avoiding burnout.
Meanwhile, for personal use such as checking email, Slack, shopping, etc. I prefer a laptop that I can use while chilling on the couch in the evenings. Totally different vibe. I use it for freelance work as well where I want to be comfortable and keep it separate from my day job.
Some other decisions you’ll have to make are:
Screen size
Device color
Nano texture display
Screen size
When it comes to Macbooks there are two options: 14in and 16in.
My recommendation: the bigger the better.
The larger your screen is, the more space you have for viewing multiple windows simultaneously. The more details you can easily zoom in on.
But if you prefer a smaller, more compact, and lighter device to carry around with you, then the 14in Macbook is a great choice for you.
Device Color
When it comes to Macbooks, there are currently 2 colors offered:
Space Gray
Silver
From my research, everyone, including myself, loves how cool the space gray looks.
However, every reviewer said that the space gray has a single big drawback - it looks dirty really fast. The amount of fingerprints it showed was a major source of irritation to everyone. Even at Apple stores they have someone dedicated to wiping down space gray models between each user testing them out because otherwise they look dirty really quickly. One person mentioned that if you do get space gray you’ll need to wipe/polish it daily in order for it to look clean. They all ended up returning the space gray and swapping it for a regular old silver model instead.
So, from a practical perspective, my research showed a unanimous agreement that silver is the way to go.
When it comes to iMacs, they come in a whole array of color options these days!
When I got mine a few years ago, I went with just the traditional silver, thinking it felt more like a professional computer than a toy.
However, they’ve gotten a lot more common these days. If I was buying a new one now, I’d go for a color for the fun of it. They’re pretty subtle and feel unique and cheerful to look at.
Nano Texture Display
This is a new feature in the latest model of Macbook. It was developed by Apple to help reduce glare on your screen.
Essentially they create lots of tiny microscopic bumps along the screen. So small that you can’t see them with the naked eye. But large enough to reflect light differently. Instead of a sharp glare from lights reflecting off your screen, it softens the light to a matte blob, making it less distracting.
If you plan on working in a lot of changing light environments such as airports, cafes, and libraries - places where you can’t control the lighting situation - then this might be a good idea for you.
From my research, people who went with this (it’s a fairly cheap add-on) due to their tendency to work on the go, were all happy with this choice and said it was worth the money.
Personally, that's not an issue for me. I work mainly in my house so I can easily adjust the lighting or my position to remove any glare. So I didn't upgrade to a nano texture display.
Now, getting to the main point:
My Experiences and Recommendations
My Apple Desktop
Ironically, Apple’s iMacs are not designed to be heavy lifter computers. A Macbook comes with a much more powerful computer than an iMac does. iMacs are built for hobbyists while their Mac Studios are for professionals like us designers.
I have a regular iMac that’s only four years old. It has an M1 chip, 8-cores and 16GB RAM. Even so, it's slow when editing large Photoshop files, sometimes taking a whole minute or two to save, meanwhile showing me the spinning beachball of death.
So if you want a desktop, you should get the separate pieces for the computer and the screen.
I'd recommend upgrading to a Mac Studio (around $2,000) with a separate monitor - you’ll end up with better specs and a more powerful device that way. And then you easily create a multi-monitor setup with matching screens.
My Apple Laptop
I chose the medium level - a Macbook Pro 16in with an M4 Pro chip. It has 16-core, 24GB RAM and 1TB SSD.
M Chip
The reviews I heard said that the Macbook Air was too slow for Adobe's design programs and the Macbook Pro with the M4 Max chip was overkill for just design so I went with the Pro chip as the midway point between the regular M4, the M4 Pro, and the M4 Max.
If you do a lot of animation, video editing, or 3D rendering, then you'll need the Max chip. If you just use InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator (like I do) then the Pro chip is all you need.
My husband also did some research and it seems like there's a massive difference in performance between M3 and M4 which is why we went with the newer model instead of getting an older refurbished version. With each M chip the speeds increase between 20-60%!
Since I want this to IYH last for the next 10 years, like my previous one did, I decided to get the newest model to give it the longest lifespan.
Storage
I upgraded the internal storage from the default 500GB to 1TB.
Even using cloud storage (I opt for Dropbox synced directly to my Finder, but that's a story for another post) for most of my files, I still need plenty of files synced live to my device in order to access them when designing, such as photos, fonts, and other designs for that client.
Getting too close to your storage limit slows down your computer so I chose to stay safe rather than risk having to walk around with an external HD plugged into my laptop all the time and slowing down processing speeds.
Display
I didn't do the upgrade to the nano texture screen. It's mainly for glare and since I don't travel around with my laptop much I don't need to account for changing light situations.
My total was around $3,000, including tax.
So far, it’s been running great! Everything has been fast and smooth, no glitches or freezing or spinning beach balls.
Making the Switch
You made your choice, hit the checkout, and now have your brand new package in-hand! What next?
Time to make the switch.
Story time:
I typically paste random thoughts, ideas, and inspo into the Notes app on my macbook. But, I don't pay for iCloud space. So at some point I maxed out on the free storage. It kept popping up little warnings that iCloud wasn't backing up but I figured that I don't sync iCloud across multiple Apple devices anyway so no big deal.
But then I wanted to sync all of those notes to my new macbook. That's where the trouble began.
My last full system Time Machine backup was 11 months ago. But I thought of what I figured was a genius idea - I'd upgrade my iCloud storage for the month, wait for all the notes to backup and then sync them to my new macbook.
So I naively went ahead and spent the $.99 for a month of iCloud storage.
Opened up my old laptop. Pulled up the Notes app.
My most recent Note is from February 2025.
But now it's June 2025.
Long story short, after 2 hours of chatgpt'ing, installing data recovery software, and searching through files and folders whose names and functions I don't understand, I gave up on ever seeing those notes again.
So learn from my mistake! Always back things up in multiple ways before transfering files. Better safe than sorry.
Here are some things to remember before switching:
Create a full system backup Before doing anything, create a backup of everything from your old computer onto an external drive. Use a tool like TimeMachine to back up everything - from files to post-its to iTunes music to fonts… Hopefully you won’t need this, but just in case, better safe than sorry!
Use the Cloud In addition to the step above, backup all of your files to the Cloud of your choice - Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, etc. This will make it so much easier to transfer files to your new computer. In fact, just work out of the cloud moving forward. It’ll save you hard drive space and ensure that you always have a backup 24/7 without having to manually remember to back things up. Automations like these can save you so much time and headache.
Export Saved Passwords Having passwords saved is such a timesaver. And do you even remember any of them anymore? Export your saved passwords from your favorite browser as a CSV file and copy that file over so you can upload them to your new computer without having to manually remember each of those 1,296 passwords.
Record Your Adobe Settings Save your favorite Adobe Workspaces and Photoshop Actions. That way you can upload them to your new device when you log in. If that’s too complicated, just write down a list of them so you can quickly and easily recreate them.
Find Your Fonts You’ve spent hours curating and downloading an amazing array of fonts for all occasions. You don’t want to lose them now! Find the source folder where your computer stores your fonts (they’re here for Apple users: ~/Library/Fonts/) and create a copy of all of them in your Cloud storage (or external hard drive). Now you can copy them back onto your new computer and reinstall them. (Pro tip: do this for your iTunes/music, audiobooks, and shiurim as well. You spent all that time copying over the cd's to your computer, don't let it go to waste!)
Reinstall Ad Blockers and Filters Last but not least, don’t forget about your ad blockers and filters. And all of your other browser extensions like the screenshot tool and ink dropper (and my personal favorite, Keepa, it shows you product price history on Amazon and you wouldn’t believe how useful that is). Make a list of all your extensions before shutting down your old laptop so you remember to reinstall them all to your new browser.
So if you’ve taken nothing else out of this long article, remember these
Backup everything before copying over
Upgrade as much as possible to not have a frustratingly slow computer
Let me know if you have any other horror stories, ahem tips, to share!
While having a virtual mentor through this Learning Center is great, the advice here is necessarily general since I'm not talking to just one person.
If you’re looking for more personalized advice to help you grow your design skills and increase your confidence in your work, pricing, and communication skills, check out design critique and coaching options here.
