- Adobe Photoshop 2020 21.1.2 tested using the crystallize, pointillize, radial blur, dust & scratches, and median filters. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro.
- Affinity Photo is a past Apple Mac App of the Year Winner and the professional tool.
- Adobe Photoshop For Apple Computers
- Best Apple Computer For Photoshop
- Photoshop For Apple Computer Desktop
- Free Photoshop For Apple
- January 02, 2020
- 18 min to read
Most free photo editors available on the App Store are quite basic, offering just a limited number of filters and allowing you to easily and quickly liven up your photos before posting them on social media.
But if you're an aspiring or professional photographer, you probably need a more powerful app with a broader set of tools to use your creativity to the fullest. Besides, you probably use your Mac for photo editing because working on a large screen makes it possible to adjust the slightest details.
Use Apple Pencil and touch shortcuts to make edits directly on your canvas and speed up your workflow. With the context-aware UI, you display only the core tools and panes you need, so you can focus on your canvas, not the clutter.
1. Apple's Photos (Built-in app)
Apple's Photos app is included for free on all recently released Macs. It does a good job at organizing your photos, but its collection of photo enhancement tools leaves much to be desired. Hopefully, our selection of the best free programs for photo editing on Mac will help you choose the right app to suit all your creative needs.
2. Luminar (7 days trial)
Luminar is another full-featured photo editor that's popular with both Mac and Windows users. It can work as a standalone app as well as a plugin for such popular programs as Apple Photos.
Luminar uses Artificial Intelligence to enable sophisticated yet quick photo enhancements. Among these AI features are Sky Enhancer, which adds more depth and detail to the sky in your photos while leaving other areas untouched; Accent AI, which analyzes a photo and automatically applies the best combination of different effects to enhance your image; and Sun Rays, which allows you to place an artificial sun and adjust the lighting to your liking or make the sun rays already in your photo look even more incredible. Top 3d animation software.
Luminar has over 60 filters you can apply to your photos to enhance them in a moment. Luminar also provides a set of powerful tools for cropping, transforming, cloning, erasing, and stamping, along with layers, brushes, and many more incredible features. Luminar supports the Touch Bar on the latest MacBook Pro, making photo editing even more effortless and pleasing.
3. Photolemur 3 (Free Version with watermark)
Photolemur is a relative newcomer on the photo editing market but it has all the chances to win the favor of beginner photographers and hobbyists. Running on Artificial Intelligence, Photolemur is a completely automatic photo enhancer, meaning that it does all the editing for you in no time. It has the simplest interface, with only a few buttons and sliders to adjust the enhancement to your liking and view the before and after results.
All you need to do is choose a photo (or a few) that you want to improve, drag and drop or import them using the Import button, and let the program make enhancements. After it's done, you can compare the edited version with the original image by using the before–after slider and, if you want, adjust the skin tone or even enlarge the eyes using additional sliders. Pretty easy, huh?
Photolemur also offers a number of impressive styles to touch up your photos and give them a sophisticated and professional look. With this app, you don't need to stuff your head with photo editing nuances and terms. Just run Photolemur and watch the magic happen!
4. Aurora HDR (14 days trial)
As you probably can tell from the name, Aurora HDR is designed to help photographers enhance their HDR photos, making them even more detailed and beautiful. It's an ideal tool for editing your photos, with an extensive collection of more than 20 tools including details, tone, mapping, color, glow, and vignette. Each tool has its unique selection of controls to adjust its effects.
Aurora HDR enables you to work with brushes, layers, and masks, and provides a number of automatic AI tools for recognizing and removing noise, enhancing colors, lighting, and details, improving clarity, and adding contrast to dull areas while leaving other areas untouched.
Aurora HDR does a great job dealing with difficult lighting situations and creating full-of-life images while being easy to use.
5. Pixelmator (Trial 30 Days)
Pixelmator is a photo enhancer beloved by many Mac users, as it offers a good combination of a modern and simple interface, the ability to work on multiple layers, and powerful features that take photo editing to a whole new level. With so many editing tools, brushes, and effects, you can enhance your photos to your liking. You can choose between two versions of Pixelmator – standard and pro – depending on your needs. The standard version is great for basic photo editing with its selection of essential tools and filters, while the pro version is packed with extra brushes, tools, and effects that let you push your creativity to new boundaries. You can decide which version is suitable for you according to what features you're looking for in a photo editing app.
6. Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 (Trial link)
Photoshop Elements isn't as affordable as other photo enhancers for beginner photographers. But luckily there's a trial version available, so you can check it out before deciding whether this app is worthy of your money. Photoshop Elements acquired many powerful features from Photoshop, only Elements is simplified for amateur photographers and enthusiasts. It includes a good number of effects and filters, plus automated editing options for improving lighting, color balance, and exposure, and even opening closed eyes and reducing the effects of camera shake.
In addition to all of these awesome features, Photoshop also offers editing modes for beginners, intermediate users, and experts. Beginners will probably prefer Quick mode, as it focuses on essential tools to quickly enhance your photos by improving color, lighting, and other basic settings. Guided mode provides intermediate users with step-by-step guidance with more professional features like artistic effects, skin tone correction, and background replacement. Expert mode gives you full access to the app's really powerful editing features and is ideal for creating stunning images.
7. Affinity Photo (Free Trial)
Affinity Photo's interface may seem overwhelming at first, especially for novices, but when you come to grips with it you'll find that the app is just what you've been looking for. Its numerous professional tools, effects, and filters encourage you to get creative with your photos. Among the coolest features Affinity Photo has to offer is a before and after view to compare the original photo with its edited version.
Affinity Photo works with 15 file types, including common ones like PDF, PSD, JPG, and GIF as well as some less popular ones. The app amazes with its abundance of basic and top-notch editing tools, allowing you to tweak your photos using all possible kinds of instruments. Affinity Photo allows you to edit HDR photos, apply artistic filters and effects, play with masks and layers, and create breathtaking compositions by combining several images in one. If you find its interface a bit much and are afraid of getting lost in all those advanced tools, you should probably look for something more suitable for your level. But Affinity Photo is worth mastering.
8. Google Photos
Google Photos is a popular cloud storage service for photos and videos. It can't boast countless masterly tools like other photo enhancers that we review in this article, but it includes some fundamental features like filters, color adjustment sliders, and transformation tools.
Although Google Photos may not be that helpful when it comes to editing photos, it does a pretty good job at storing high-resolution images and videos with 15GB of free online storage, compared to iCloud's mere 5GB (which you can upgrade to 50GB for a monthly fee). If you're planning to go on a trip and take plenty of photos, then it might be smart to sign up for Google Photos to use that extra storage space when you come back.
9. PhotoScape X (Free)
A relatively new photo editing app, PhotoScape X has been gaining popularity with many Mac and PC users since its release in 2008. Its interface is simple but unconventional, with a number of tabs running along the top of the window. Each is responsible for a specific stage of editing. The Viewer tab allows you to browse and organize your photos. After you pick a photo, you can switch to the Editor tab, which includes a broad set of instruments, filters, and effects and a useful feature that enables you to compare the adjusted photo with the original.
The next tabs, including the Batch tab, mainly concentrate on editing and renaming multiple photos at once. The GIF tab allows you to easily create an animated GIF from a group of selected photos.
The downside of PhotoScape X is a lack of selection tools, so all changes are applied to the whole image rather than to a selected part.
10. Gimp (Free)
Gimp is a free open-source photo editing app that has been on the market for over 22 years and is available for Windows, Mac, and even Linux. Unlike many free apps, Gimp doesn't have any ads or in-app purchases. Its grey interface might seem a little old-fashioned and it may be a bit sluggish when it comes to complex effects, though.
Gimp offers a vast collection of advanced tools that hardly any free photo editor can boast. It has numerous enhancement options such as clone and heal brushes, layers and channels, accurate selection tools, a number of transformation instruments, and, of course, color adjustment controls. Gimp is one of the most powerful tools for enhancing photos and is beloved by so many users for its price (free) and versatility. But if you can't come to grips with Gimp's interface, it may be worth paying some cash for a more user-friendly program.
This article is for those looking to buy a computer or laptop primarily to use Photoshop or Lightroom, either for digital painting, graphic design or photo editing. I've used Photoshop for more than 10 years in my job as an artist creating art for newspaper publication.
Oh, yeah. All the systems are pre-built. If you're the DIY kind, then this article probably might not be as useful.
Official specifications vs my recommended specifications
Below are the specifications as recommended by Adobe for running Photoshop:
- 2 GHz or faster processor
- 2 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
- 2 GB of storage for installation
Those above at the minimum specifications recommended by Adobe. I'm happy to say that most computers nowadays are much more powerful than the listed specifications.
Here are my recommended optimal specifications for running Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop For Apple Computers
- At least a dual-core 2Ghz or faster processor
- 8 GB RAM minimum
- SSD for storage
Below are reasons for my recommendations.
Processor
Unfortunately after all these years since the introduction of multi-core processors, Photoshop is still unable to take advantage of all the cores available.
In short, a 4-core processor will not be significantly faster than a 2-core processor. Getting 4-core is recommended if other applications you have can make use of the cores though. However, for Photoshop, getting a 2-core processor is sufficient.
The important thing is to get as high a processor clock speed as you can (afford). A dual-core 3Ghz will perform faster a quad-core 2Ghz. Because Photoshop don't use all cores, clock speed of each core will matters more.
You will definitely want a dual-core because the OS also needs processing power. So having a dual-core will balance the load out between Photoshop and the OS, either Windows or Mac.
Storage
There are two types of storage options, the traditional hard drives HDD vs modern solid state drives (SSD). Here the takeaways you should know
HDD are cheap and have larger storage capacity. They are great for storing huge files, or files you don't use that often, and good for backup purposes. They transfer up to 50 - 120MB/s of storage.
SSD are more expensive, have lesser storage capacity compared to HDD. They transfer up 200 - 500 MB/s. If you install your OS or Photoshop on the SSD, they will start in a fraction of time compared to HDD. When opening and saving huge files on SSD, you save a few seconds with each save. Time savings with SSD is significant.
Storage is often the bottleneck to performance on any system. Mkv software for mac. If you have limited budget to upgrade your system, I recommend upgrading the HDD to SSD first. You can get external storage later on.
If your computer has two storage slots, you can get a smaller SSD (save money) to install OS and applications and a HDD to store more and or larger files.
RAM
RAM, aka Random-access memory or just memory, is the temporary storage for your opened files.
RAM usage depends on the number of files you open, the file sizes, the number of layers in your Photoshop files, and also other applications that are opened and also how the OS is managing memory.
Running the OS, launching Photoshop, working on multiple files at the same time, looking at a photo reference on a web browser, listening to music --- all those require memory.
8GB of RAM is the minimum I would recommend. Having 16GB RAM will be great.
Photoshop has a feature called scratch disk. A scratch disk is a place for temporary storage for memory as well, such as caches for your opened files. You can choose to use storage (either HDD or SSD) as a scratch disk. Storage drives are slower than the RAM. So if you have more RAM, having a scratch disk becomes less important.
Graphics card
A powerful graphics card is not necessary for Photoshop. Even an integrated graphics card with the CPU will suffice. If you intend to play 3D games on your computer, then go ahead and get a better graphics card.
Best Apple Computer For Photoshop
Screen
Photoshop runs at a minimum of 1024 x 768 resolution. Nowadays, it would be difficult to buy a monitor or laptop that runs at that low a resolution.
If you want to get a desktop, I recommend you check out the budget non-glossy monitors I've featured on this article at https://www.parkablogs.com/content/budget-monitors-artists-and-designers..
Nowadays most laptop screens are glossy. Glossy screens present colours more vividly compared to matte screens. Personally, I don't like the distractions of reflections, or looking at my own face on the screen when working.
My system recommendation
I'm splitting this section into desktops and laptops.
Mac vs Windows? Photoshop, including most of Adobe's Creative Suite software, runs on both platforms. Main difference comes down to interface and also slight differences in usability. It's a personal preference. Subjective stuff. Which OS you choose depends on what other applications you want to run. If you want to run games as well, then it's better to get Windows for the wider selection. If your system is purely for work, either OS is fine.
All the systems below fulfill my recommended minimum specifications:
- At least a dual-core 2Ghz or faster processor
- 8 GB RAM minimum
- 128GB SSD for storage
- 13 to 15-inch screen for laptops
Photoshop For Apple Computer Desktop
I've included only systems that use SSDs. For extra storage capacity, get an external hard drive. I recommend Western Digital My Passport (I have several for backups of backups).
Not all systems below are budget systems, so click their names to see the continuously changing prices and more reviews.
DESKTOPS
High end (above USD $1000)
- Apple iMac (glossy screen): 27-inch Quad 3.2Ghz | 27-inch Quad 3.3Ghz | Other iMac configurations
- HP Envy Phoenix - Quad 3.6Ghz, 16GB RAM, 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD | (other specs)
- Asus G11 - Quad 3.4Ghz, 16GB RAM, 256SSD + 2TB HDD
Budget (around and below $1000):
Free Photoshop For Apple
- Apple Mac Mini (no screen): Dual 2.8Ghz, 8GB RAM, 1TB Fusion (SSD+HDD) | Dual 2.8Ghz, 8GB RAM, 2TB Fusion (SSD+HDD)
- Lenovo IdeaCentre 700: Quad 3.4Ghz, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD
- Lenovo H50: Intel Quad 3.6Ghz, 8GB RAM, 120GB SSD + 1TB HDD
- Lenovo X315: Amd Quad 3.5Ghz, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD
- Intel NUC NUC5i7RYH: Dual 2.6Ghz not inclusive of RAM, Storage and OS
- Gigabyte Mini - Quad 2.5Ghz with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 not inclusive of RAM, storage and OS
The Mac Mini, Intel NUC, Gigabyte Mini and other miniPCs do not come with keyboard and mouse so you have to factor in the extra cost. I recommend the Logitech Marathon wireless mouse and Logitech K360 wireless keyboard.
And all desktops above do not come with screens except the iMac. For budget high quality monitors, check out this list: https://www.parkablogs.com/content/budget-monitors-artists-and-designers..
Laptops
The main compromise for laptops is screen size vs weight. While I want to help you save money, a good laptop is just not cheap.
- Apple Macbook Pro (glossy screen): Various configurations
- Lenovo ThinkPad X1: 14-inch, Dual 2.3Ghz, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 2.877 lbs (1.31 kg)
- ASUS K501UX: Matte 15-inch, Dual 2.5Ghz, 8GB RAM, 256SSD, 4.4 lbs (1.99kg)
- Dell XPS: 13-inch, Dual 2.3Ghz, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 2.78 lb (1.26 kg)
There aren't a lot of matte screens nowadays and ASUS's one manufacturer that still makes some. If you don't mind glossy screens, there are lots of options.
While I want to include the Microsoft Surface Book (above), they are more expensive compared to the laptops listed above. Probably because of the Surface Book's gimmicky detachable screen. If you don't need to use the computer in tablet mode, you can save a few hundred dollars by getting other laptops.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is a good choice too but the screen is only 12.3-inches. And it does not come with a keyboard. 13-inch screens to me still feels small but I've to say they are much more portable. But if you have an external monitor, the getting the 13-inch screen makes more sense when you have the option to work from a larger screen.
Note that the Surface Pro 4 does not come with the keyboard cover (expensive).
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