

A pro photographer tests Apple's M1 MacBook.

Testing out the entire new Apple Mac M1 lineup.M1 processors are more powerful siblings to Apple's A14 chips in new iPhones, and they take advantage of the circuitry miniaturization lead that TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) has on Intel. Even before the native Photoshop version arrived, CNET photographer Andrew Hoyle declared M1 Macs to be a "safe bet." Photoshop is widely used for editing and compositing photos but also many other design and publishing tasks. Good Photoshop performance is important for the creative professionals who are a core Mac customer set. Making a chip transition in computing product line is a massive endeavor, but so far it appears Apple has managed the change well.

The results reinforce the strong performance and battery life advantages that reviewers have reported for Apple's new Macs - and the serious challenge Apple poses to Intel after years of delays modernizing its manufacturing. Those tests included opening and saving files, applying editing filters, and using automated tools for filling in regions and selecting subjects, "which all feel noticeably faster," Adobe said. "Our internal tests show a wide range of features running an average of 1.5x the speed of similarly configured previous generation systems," Photoshop Product Manager Pam Clark said in a blog post Wednesday about the release of the M1-native Photoshop software. Adobe on Wednesday released Photoshop for Apple's M1-based Macs, a key software package for the new family of computers, and it runs 50% faster than on Intel-powered equivalent laptops.
