4 Reasons the M1 MacBook Air Is Still Fine for Lightroom
Regarding the MacBook Air: 1. The M1 already handles Lightroom snappily Editing raw files from a Sony A7III, applying adjustments and masking, and exporting images all feel fast. You won’t sit around waiting.
The M2 is only 10–15% faster That small speed bump matters only if you edit huge batches of high-res RAW files all day. For most people, the difference is negligible.
Lightroom doesn’t rely heavily on GPU acceleration The M2 has a better GPU, but Lightroom leans more on CPU and RAM for typical edits. The GPU upgrade won’t transform your workflow.
16GB of RAM is the real bottleneck, and both support it Both the M1 and M2 run best with 16GB. If you have that, the M1 is plenty for hobbyists and semi-pros alike.