Exporting a ProRes media file with identical effects applied using Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro.

Compressing ProRes media files using both Apple Compressor and Adobe Media Encoder.

All variations of Cinebench 23 to test the GPU and render speed.All variations of GeekBench 5 to test the CPU and GPU.I wanted to find out how big a performance boost I’d get with the new gear. I don’t know how many cores the other GPUs have. The M1 Pro also has 16 GPU cores, built into the M1 SoC. NOTE: This is my main computer and, no, I haven’t upgraded it to Monterey yet.Īnd a 2021 16″ MacBook Pro, with an M1 Pro CPU with 10 cores, and 32 GB of RAM, running macOS Monterey. It uses an NVIDIA GPU.Ī 2017 27″ iMac, with an i5 CPU containing 4 cores, along with 40 GB of RAM, running macOS Big Sur. Of the five computers I have in my office, I decided to use three for this test, because they would, hopefully, best illustrate the growth in performance over the years.Ī 2013 MacBook Pro, with an i7 CPU containing 8 cores, along with 16 GB of RAM, running macOS Mojave.

NOTE: If you are thinking of buying a new MacBook Pro, here’s an article that can help you decide how to configure it. They also provide a sense of the performance improvements you can expect if you upgrade to a new M1 system. These twelve tests provide a good comparison between benchmarks and real-world media processing. I discovered that benchmarks don’t necessarily reflect the real-world. I also learned that RAM doesn’t really affect the performance of individual apps, the CPU in your computer makes a huge difference in performance, and Apple and Adobe leverage the M1 SoC in significantly different ways. But, the M1 did not win every race in these tests. Yes, the new M1 MacBook Pro is very, very fast.

What I discovered is that “performance” is much more nuanced than I expected.

So, since I just plunked down the bucks for a new 16″ MacBook Pro (which arrived last week), I wondered just how much faster – especially with a focus on media editing – a new M1 MacBook Pro would be compared to, say, the 2013 MacBook Pro or a 2017 27″ iMac both of which I own. But, unlike popular websites and individuals of high-net-worth, I can’t afford to buy a new computer every year. Like many, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks reading popular website reviews of the latest M1 MacBook Pro laptops and comparing them to 2020 Intel systems.

2013 mac pro processor upgrade test