This week, Adobe updated Photoshop with native support for Apple’s M1 Macs. In an interview with Computerworld, Photoshop Product Manager Mark Dahm said that Photoshop runs 50% faster on an M1 MacBook compared to last year’s Intel-hobbled MacBook.
The M1 is the most powerful chip Apple has ever created and the first chip designed specifically for the Mac. M1 is optimized for Mac systems in which small size and power efficiency are critically important. As a system on a chip (SoC), M1 combines numerous powerful technologies into a single chip, and features a unified memory architecture for dramatically improved performance and efficiency. M1 is the first personal computer chip built using cutting-edge 5-nanometer process technology and is packed with an astounding 16 billion transistors, the most Apple has ever put into a chip. It features the world’s fastest CPU core in low-power silicon, the world’s best CPU performance per watt, the world’s fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer, and breakthrough machine learning performance with the Apple Neural Engine. As a result, M1 delivers up to 3.5x faster CPU performance, up to 6x faster GPU performance, and up to 15x faster machine learning, all while enabling battery life up to 2x longer than previous-generation Macs. With its profound increase in performance and efficiency, M1 delivers the biggest leap ever for the Mac.
We compared an M1 MacBook to a previous-generation MacBook similarly configured, and found that under native mode, Photoshop was running 50% faster than the older hardware. These great performance improvements are just the beginning, and we will continue to work together with Apple to further optimize performance over time. — [Photoshop Product Manager Mark Dahm]
Dahm said that Photoshop ran sufficiently with Rosetta, in some cases even faster than it did natively on Intel Mac computers.
Moving forward, Dahm said Adobe is looking forward to “bringing even more performance gains and Photoshop magic to life” on future Apple silicon chips.
MacDailyNews Take: Wait until you see what Apple’s M2 can do!
(We assume Dahm is talking about Photoshop performance on Apple’s 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro, but the M1 MacBook Air is plenty fast, too.)
I’ve had no issues running Intel versions of Illustrator and Photoshop on my M1 Air and Mini. In fact, they’re running faster through Rosetta 2 than any previous Mac setup I’ve used. I was super excited to run this native version of Photoshop but after one day I had to revert back to the previous Intel version. No biggie but obviously Adobe still has some kinks to work out. Hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm at all, these M1’s are wonderful machines!
Why specifically did you go back?
It seemed to be running fine until I tried to copy/paste a graphic from Illustrator. Nothing but beachball. Tried restarting Photoshop and rebooting the computer but no luck. I’ll keep trying each new update to see if the problem gets fixed, otherwise the Intel version is solid.
Thant’s EACTLY what I have been waiting for…
Quit calling my computers hobbled. My MacBook pros both have i9s, 64GB RAM, and the Radeon Pro 5600. They scream. Quit yer bragging about them fancy new fangled sillycon contraptions. Just cause my iPad renders 4K video faster don’t mean nuttin.
Seriously, 50% faster on these first generation M1 machines is highly encouraging.
Now if they can only make Photoshop open photos from Lightroom, it really would be great!!!
I don’t have any way to sell an iPad over a MacBook Air anymore.I can no longer justify it except to say its a fun way to work.
It’ll be even harder to justify an iPad when Macs get a touch screen and stylus support.
Which suggests they likely never will.
Just like iPods would never play video or gets apps, just like Apple would never make a phone, just like Apple would never offer a stylus
C’mon Tau Myx. You’re better and smarter than that!