Adobe Launches Lightroom for ARM-Based Macs and PCs

Adobe today announced support for Apple M1 and Windows 10 on ARM in a release of its newer, consumer-friendly version of Lightroom, as well as other updates to Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera Raw.

Apple is making a big platform move for its desktop Mac CPUs, shifting from Intel core chips to its own ARM-based M1 Apple Silicon, while Microsoft has been dipping into ARM-based Windows 10 PCs with increasing success, recently announcing an emulator that lets you to run existing 64-bit applications.

Though both ARM operating system versions can run legacy applications using emulators, the new Adobe software is a native application. The supported Apple M1 and Qualcomm Snapdragon architectures offer the advantage of lower power use—i.e., longer battery life on laptops.

The question many Adobe users will have is, “What about Photoshop (and Lightroom Classic)?” In its blog post announcing the ARM support, Adobe notes that a beta version of Photoshop was released in November (you can check the Betas section in Creative Cloud desktop utility). On the Apple side, Adobe states that Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and Camera Raw all work on Apple M1 with Rosetta emulation, and that the company is at work producing native versions. PCMag benchmarks have shown that, even with emulation, the applications perform nearly as well as they do on PCs running native code.

Also new for Adobe’s photography programs is support for ProRes, Lightroom widgets for iOS 14, and a free Lightroom Starter program available only to residents of Australia and New Zealand.

For more, read PCMag’s full reviews of Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Lightroom Classic.

About Our Expert

Michael Muchmore

Contributor

My Experience

I've been testing PC and mobile software for more than 20 years, focusing on photo and video editing, operating systems, and web browsers. Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech and headed up PCMag’s enterprise software team. I’ve attended trade shows for Microsoft, Google, and Apple and written about all of them and their products.

I still get a kick out of seeing what's new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine, the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft misstep and win, up to the latest Windows 11.

I’m an avid bird photographer and traveler—I’ve been to 40 countries, many with great birds! Because I’m also a classical music fan and former performer, I’ve reviewed streaming services that emphasize classical music.

Technology I Use

For everyday work, I use a good-old Dell tower with 16GB of RAM, a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, and an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti GPU that runs on Windows 11. I pair it with a 4K Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-10 monitor and a Logitech MX Vertical mouse. For offsite work, I use a 2024 Microsoft Surface Laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor. Camera-wise, I moved to mirrorless from a Canon EOS 80D with a Canon 70-300mm IS USM lens. I now have a Canon EOS R7 with a 100-400mm lens, but I miss my DSLR for several reasons.

In order of usage, the software I turn to most frequently is the Edge web browser, Slack, Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, Firefox, Brave, and WhatsApp. I use the Windows Phone link app to see everything on my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra phone, which has excellent telephoto capability.

For fitness monitoring, I have a Fitbit Charge 6 and use an Anker Smart Scale P1. I’m also a streaming fan, so I subscribe to both Amazon Music Unlimited (especially for its Dolby Atmos content) and Qobuz (for its high-res sound quality and classical catalog). I recently added a Vizio 5.1 Soundbar SE, which sounds surprisingly good given its low price. To holler commands instead of using a remote control, I have the Amazon Fire TV Cube in the living room, which lets me verbally tell the TV what I want to watch. It hooks up to an LG B4 OLED TV. I have a Sonos One speaker in my kitchen that also ties in with Alexa, as does the Echo Dot 2 With Clock in my bedroom. For serious listening, I have B&W 601 speakers plugged into a Conrad-Johnson Sonographe amp and preamp, with a Cambridge Audio AXN10 streamer as source. For reading, I also have a Nook GlowLight 3.

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