u/nuxoss

Hi everyone!

With the new M6 chips, I’m finally thinking about upgrading my base M1 Mac (8 GB RAM / 256 GB SSD). RAM is constantly close to full and storage has become very tight.

My main use will be Lightroom Classic. I currently use Lightroom Cloud but would like to move to a more traditional offline setup with my library on an external SSD.

My workload is fairly modest:

• Around 1,500 photos / 70 GB catalogue
• Mostly 26 MP RAW files, possibly 40 MP Fujifilm APS-C files in the future
• Usually 3–5 masks per photo
• Small export batches — I’m not exporting thousands of wedding photos at once
• No Photoshop
• Very light video editing, usually Instagram clips under a minute
• General office/web use

I plan to keep the Mac for several years.

For storage, I’m pretty much settled on 512 GB internal + external SSD.

My main hesitation is RAM: 24 GB or 32 GB?

Would 32 GB actually provide a noticeable benefit or more useful longevity for this workload, or would it simply be overkill?

Thanks!