Best performance / M1 Mac

[Matthias Michel]

Hi everyone,

I am currently using PTGui on a Mid-2015 MacBook Pro (i7, 16 GByte), and I am thinking about getting a new system. 

Does anyone here use a Mac with the new M1 chip? I wonder how much time it would save me compared to my current setup. Other than PTGui I am using Lightroom Classic on a daily basis, as well as Photoshop (mostly for clone stamping, healing brush, regular adjustment layers).

It seems like all the M1 models are currently limited to 16 gigs of RAM, but that might change some time later this year. 

PTGui would benefit from more RAM, right?

Thanks!

[LABRUSH]

IV'E BEEN USING THE M1 WITH PTGUI / LR / PS & C1 ... IT'S FAST AND CONSISTENT HIGHLY RECOMMEND UPGRADING IF YOU CAN. THE 16GB RM IS THE ONLY DOWNSIDE - BUT FOR MY WORKFLOW I JUST NEED TO KEEP THINGS CATEGORIZED AND NOT OVERLOAD THE LIMITED CAPACITY. 

PTGUI RUNS CLEANER AND FASTER THAN I'VE EVER SEEN. I WONT STITCH ON MY I7'S AT ALL ANYMORE / NOT THAT PTGUI CANT DO A GREAT JOB, THERE'S JUST AN EDGE WITH M1 AND PTGUI  THAT VERY WELL. 

-DAVID  

[LABRUSH]

FORGOT TO MENTION: MY FILE SIZES ARE PHASE ONE IQ4 TIFFED OUT OF CAPTURE ONE WITH COLOR ADJUSTMENTS AND SOME EDITS THEY COME IN AT ABOUT 900MB - 1.2GB'S PER IMAGE.  5-9BGB'S PER PANO 

PTGUI WILL EAT UP IN ABOUT 4-6 SECONDS. CANT GET MUCH FASTER THAN THAT! 

BRING A DRIVE TO THE APPLE STORE INSTALL AND UNINSTALL PTGUI QUICKLY ON ONE OF THE OPEN BOXED MACHINES, DON'T FORGET TO BRING SOME PHOTOS TO STITCH TOGETHER. APPLE WILL LET YOU TEST BEFORE YOU BUY. 

 

GOOD LUCK.  

[Matthias Michel]

Thank you very much for your response. 

It looks like it will be worth upgrading. Are you using an iMac, a Mac Mini or a MacBook (Pro/Air)? 

I assume that the iMac might have a slight advantage because it might stay cooler under heavy CPU usage, so that there is no need to throttle the CPU.

Then again, I already own several displays and don't really need another screen.

I am using 5D Mark IV files that I drop into PTGui from Lightroom.

Thanks a lot!

[dher...@gmail.com]

I may chime in here:

New user of a Macbook Pro M1 16GB and very happy. 

The Pro does not throttle CPU speed as the Air does, but it has a fan instead.

However, while Lightroom Classic made the fan speed up quite a bit when rendering previews, PTGui did not so far, although the test project I stitched was a quite large one.

I, too, experienced this test stitch very fast and consistent, as Matthias reports.

I'd recommend an iMac or Macbook Pro. On the Macbook Air it will most probably work as well, but it may be a bit slower due to the CPU throttling on high temperature.

Daniel