Noor said: Pax said:
Hi
My wife works as a UI/UX designer and we want to get her a MacBook but we’re unsure if the Air will be enough with the M3 and 16GB.
She mainly uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and has several Chrome tabs open.
Do you think the Air will be enough or will it struggle a bit?
And will the Pro be noticeably faster?
Thank you
I suggest the Pro. The Air may get warm and slow down the CPU.
Getting an Air to slow down with Figma and daily apps isn’t easy. I design regularly on an M1 Air with no heating issues.
It’s actually pretty easy. I have an M1 Air with 16GB and I strongly advise against buying the Air. Figma can throttle with larger files. The person who posted should not choose the Air. Seriously. I know M3 is better than M1, but I doubt it’s significantly better.
Remington said: Noor said: Pax said:
Hi
My wife works as a UI/UX designer and we want to get her a MacBook but we’re unsure if the Air will be enough with the M3 and 16GB.
She mainly uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and has several Chrome tabs open.
Do you think the Air will be enough or will it struggle a bit?
And will the Pro be noticeably faster?
Thank you
I suggest the Pro. The Air may get warm and slow down the CPU.
Getting an Air to slow down with Figma and daily apps isn’t easy. I design regularly on an M1 Air with no heating issues.
It’s actually pretty easy. I have an M1 Air with 16GB and I strongly advise against buying the Air. Figma can throttle with larger files. The person who posted should not choose the Air. Seriously. I know M3 is better than M1, but I doubt it’s significantly better.
If your files are large enough to slow down a M1 Mac, you might want to break them into smaller files for smoother work. Even a M3 Pro can struggle with a very large file.
Noor said: Pax said:
Hi
My wife works as a UI/UX designer and we want to get her a MacBook but we’re unsure if the Air will be enough with the M3 and 16GB.
She mainly uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and has several Chrome tabs open.
Do you think the Air will be enough or will it struggle a bit?
And will the Pro be noticeably faster?
Thank you
I suggest the Pro. The Air may get warm and slow down the CPU.
Getting an Air to slow down with Figma and daily apps isn’t easy. I design regularly on an M1 Air with no heating issues.
It depends on how you use it. I usually have Figma and Photoshop open together, plus 20 Chrome tabs, Slack, Spotify, etc.
Pax said:
Hi
My wife works as a UI/UX designer and we want to get her a MacBook but we’re unsure if the Air will be enough with the M3 and 16GB.
She mainly uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and has several Chrome tabs open.
Do you think the Air will be enough or will it struggle a bit?
And will the Pro be noticeably faster?
Thank you
Both the Air and Pro would work well. Get as much RAM as you can. Don’t hesitate to go for an older model with more RAM if your budget allows. I got a maxed out M1 Pro after the M2 was released. All M chips will work great for your needs.
Pax said:
Hi
My wife works as a UI/UX designer and we want to get her a MacBook but we’re unsure if the Air will be enough with the M3 and 16GB.
She mainly uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and has several Chrome tabs open.
Do you think the Air will be enough or will it struggle a bit?
And will the Pro be noticeably faster?
Thank you
I had a MacBook Pro M1. Using Figma while screen sharing over Google Meet was tough, so I upgraded to a MacBook Pro M3 for that reason, and now it works perfectly. I don’t think the MacBook Air would be fast enough for this.
Pax said:
Hi
My wife works as a UI/UX designer and we want to get her a MacBook but we’re unsure if the Air will be enough with the M3 and 16GB.
She mainly uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and has several Chrome tabs open.
Do you think the Air will be enough or will it struggle a bit?
And will the Pro be noticeably faster?
Thank you
The Air is fine. I have the M2 Air with 8GB and it handles my design files well. If she has several (Adobe) programs open along with multiple files, then yes, go for 16GB. Choose the 15in if she often uses it solo, or the 13in if she mainly uses an external monitor.
Pax said:
Hi
My wife works as a UI/UX designer and we want to get her a MacBook but we’re unsure if the Air will be enough with the M3 and 16GB.
She mainly uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and has several Chrome tabs open.
Do you think the Air will be enough or will it struggle a bit?
And will the Pro be noticeably faster?
Thank you
I have the Air, and when I have Figma and Chrome open, the fan kicks in, and it annoys me. Definitely consider the Pro if you can.
Which Air model do you have? The Air doesn’t have fans at all, as far as I know. You probably have 8GB RAM, and I believe at least 16GB is necessary by today’s standards.
Bao said: Pax said:
Hi
My wife works as a UI/UX designer and we want to get her a MacBook but we’re unsure if the Air will be enough with the M3 and 16GB.
She mainly uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and has several Chrome tabs open.
Do you think the Air will be enough or will it struggle a bit?
And will the Pro be noticeably faster?
Thank you
I have the Air, and when I have Figma and Chrome open, the fan kicks in, and it annoys me. Definitely consider the Pro if you can.
Which Air model do you have? The Air doesn’t have fans at all, as far as I know. You probably have 8GB RAM, and I believe at least 16GB is necessary by today’s standards.
It’s a 2021 model. I’m not sure of the exact type, but I know it has 8GB, and I really need more :’)
Noor said: Bao said: Pax said:
Hi
My wife works as a UI/UX designer and we want to get her a MacBook but we’re unsure if the Air will be enough with the M3 and 16GB.
She mainly uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and has several Chrome tabs open.
Do you think the Air will be enough or will it struggle a bit?
And will the Pro be noticeably faster?
Thank you
I have the Air, and when I have Figma and Chrome open, the fan kicks in, and it annoys me. Definitely consider the Pro if you can.
Which Air model do you have? The Air doesn’t have fans at all, as far as I know. You probably have 8GB RAM, and I believe at least 16GB is necessary by today’s standards.
It’s a 2021 model. I’m not sure of the exact type, but I know it has 8GB, and I really need more :’)
That’s likely your issue because the M1 can easily handle what you mentioned. Unfortunately, RAM cannot be changed later, so the person who posted should aim for at least 16GB.
Pax said:
Hi
My wife works as a UI/UX designer and we want to get her a MacBook but we’re unsure if the Air will be enough with the M3 and 16GB.
She mainly uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and has several Chrome tabs open.
Do you think the Air will be enough or will it struggle a bit?
And will the Pro be noticeably faster?
Thank you
M3 with 16GB is good enough. I’m on an M1 Pro with 16GB and can have many tabs and Figma files open. Sometimes I hit memory issues, but it’s usually due to having too many Chrome tabs open.
If you’re also using Photoshop and Illustrator, you might run into some RAM issues, but nothing you can’t handle. A 24GB Air should handle everything, but it’s probably only worth it if you can afford the extra 200.
