After 6 years with my i7 mac mini i ordered a new m4 pro chip mac mini. I should finally be able to process raw files in a timely manner!

i’ve been shooting jpeg all this time cause the computer would have a mental breakdown when i loaded raw files in batch. I could work with one at a time but that was painstakingly slow.

 

raw are very large files so i hope you got a lot of RAM

 

I got the base 24 GB of ram. But from my understanding, the processing power to edit photos comes from your signal core CPU performance, which is why I went with the highest chipset possible.

 

It will be a combo of both but 24GB should be fine, what are your RAW files about 100MB?

RAM is very important for processing raw photos because it allows your CPU to handle more tasks simultaneously. The amount of RAM you need depends on the size of the images you're working with, but here are some general recommendations:
16 GB: Recommended for images up to 250 MB
32 GB: Recommended for images up to 1024 MB
64 GB: Recommended for images over 1024 MB
Even opening photo editing programs like Lightroom or Photoshop uses a significant amount of RAM. For example, Lightroom uses around 1 GB of RAM when it's open, but can use up to 4 GB when you start scrolling through pictures.

 

dont recall exactly but wanna say between 50-60 mb in compressed raw.

 

General rule of thumb is ~2mb per mp of RAW file size. So a 24mp camera for example will yield ~50mb per photo. I just recently upgraded my current system and my general rule of thumb (for photo editing) is to get the fastest chip and the most amount of RAM you can fit on the motherboard to (for lack of a better word) kind of future proof your machine. To me the RAM is important because I may have multiple photo editing software open at the same time...Lightroom, Photoshop, ColorEFX Pro, Retouch Me etc... I don't edit with Apple but I know they make good stuff and should be in good hands with what you have.

For me it is all about speed in processing very large batches of images so everything I am using is honestly just for speed and stability though would be overkill for most people. I use (2) 2tb M.2 Drives to run operating system and Lightroom Catalogs. (4) 5TB 970 EVO Solid State Drives and a 20TB Back up drive and a 10TB SS Back up drive. RAM is 64GB of DDR5 and chip is newest Intel i9 with twin coolers, a GForce RTX 4060 Graphics Card and a built in CF Express Card reader directly on the motherboard.

All of that said having a really good Monitor that you can color correct/match is very important. For that I use (2) 32' ASUS Pro Art 4K photo monitors. Hope any of that helps.

 

my entire lifetime of digital photography is at 350gb, lol. And i only process 1 or 2 photos from each outing. I just need to be able to scroll through the raw files faster. Once i pick one or two to edit my computer now can do it. So i am hoping to be in good hands. At the end of the day this isn’t terribly expensive and doesn’t need to be a forever computer. I can always upgrade if the need prevails!

the jump from i7 to the new m4 pro chip should be extremely competent. And i have added 8 gb of ram that i did not have before.

all your answers always help!

 

Be careful...it is addicting...I think a having a Crack habit may be less costly! The saving grace is that hard drive space is so much less expensive and quicker than in previous years. That said, for your current volume you are definitely in good shape.