are Macs better for photo editing?

 

I asked this question to ChatGPT and carefully analyzed the response to ensure it aligns with my own thoughts and opinions. Here is ChatGPT response with some of my notes in Red:

 Macs are widely considered excellent for photo editing, but whether they are "better" depends on your needs, preferences, and budget. Here are some key reasons why many photographers prefer Macs for editing:

Advantages of Macs for Photo Editing

✅ Color Accuracy & Display Quality – Mac displays (especially Retina displays) are known for their color accuracy, which is crucial for photo editing. macOS also has excellent color management. Important point for Photographers.

✅ Optimization & Stability – macOS is highly optimized for creative software like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and Capture One, leading to smooth performance and fewer crashes. In this point I need to add that in my Dell 7200 i7 Windows PC Lightroom crashes very often. I have been using it in my M3 Macbook Air and it has not crashed even one time.

✅ Hardware & Software Integration – Apple designs both the hardware and software, ensuring seamless performance and long-term stability. And this is to me a key point. Because Apple hardware is a "closed or controlled" system everything is optimized to perfection something that in Windows PC is hard to achieve. Apple devices just work.

✅ M1/M2/M3/M4 Chips – Apple's custom silicon (M-series chips) delivers impressive speed and efficiency, handling high-resolution RAW files smoothly while maintaining good battery life on laptops.

✅ Build Quality & Longevity – Macs tend to last a long time, making them a solid investment for many photographers. Another key point. It's true that in the last few years since Microsoft Surface machines were released the market has seen an improvement in quality but still, Apple is dominating the market in important aspect.

Potential Downsides of Macs

❌ Expensive – Macs generally cost more than equivalent Windows PCs with similar or better hardware specs. Here I have to say that I doubt that I can buy any Laptop for $759 with similar performance than the M3 MacBook Air.

❌ Limited Upgradability – Most newer Macs have non-upgradable RAM and storage, so you need to choose wisely at purchase.

❌ Software Compatibility – While most mainstream photo editing programs work fine, some niche software or plugins may be Windows-only.

Windows vs. Mac for Photo Editing

•     If budget is a concern, a well-built Windows PC can often deliver better performance for the price.
•     If you prioritize color accuracy, stability, and seamless workflow, a Mac is a solid choice.

As a photographer, do you find yourself editing a lot of RAW files? If so, from my experience the M-series Macs handle those quite efficiently.

To end this article here is a video that I recently found that summarizes my experience with MacOS. 

I'm not ready to dish my Windows PC yet, more than 30 years of using Windows have created a dependency that is hard to break specially if you are an IT person whose actual job is in some way supporting Windows Applications. But for sure I'm enjoying MacOS adventure.