FAQ · M1 Air
Is a MacBook Air M1 good enough for Remotion?
Yes for the Remotion motion-graphics class we measured. You do not need a Studio for every overnight kinetic. HeavyMotion stayed within about 25–30% of M2 Max wall-clock.
| Composition | Frames | M2 Max | M1 Silver1 | M1 Silver2 | CF live |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LightMotion (5 s) | 150 | 3.47 s | 8.78 s | 8.66 s | 54.12 s |
| MediumMotion (10 s) | 300 | 5.98 s | 9.14 s | 8.54 s | - |
| HeavyMotion (15 s) | 450 | 32.62 s | 42.93 s | 40.87 s | - |
Source: 2026-07-22 Remotion fleet + CF Containers bakeoff. Canonical report: Remotion vs cloud and M1 vs M2 Max.
Longer jobs
| Job | Output | M2 Max | M1 Silver1 | M1 Silver2 | CF live |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LongKinetic3m | 3:00 (5400 f) | 111.5 s | 133.7 s | 145.6 s | 2175.3 s |
| LongKinetic20m | 20:00 (36000 f) | 679.5 s | - | - | 14502 s PROJECTED |
LongKinetic20m CF column is PROJECTED (×20/3 from measured 3-minute CF live). Method: benchmark methodology.
Good enough ≠ identical. Max still wins, especially on short cold jobs.
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