photoshop running super slow

Question

Hey, my parents are graphic designers working on Photoshop 2023/2024, using on 2019 iMac 27" fully max out (128 GB RAM), max Photoshop RAM allocation. they are working on pretty large files, about 1.5-2GB with 100+ layers.

Simple copy and paste or moving a picture in the file can take tons of time, we even tried that other PS file format that can sustain larger file sizes with no improvement.

We are wondering if it's something related to outdated hardware or wrong usage in the application (layer management, smart objects, settings, etc.)

Thanks

Ben M · Answer

2019 iMacs only had a supported configuration per Apple of up to 64GB of memory. While there was information from OWC that the memory could support up to 128GB it's not an official statement from Apple and there is no official statement from Apple saying as to why they imposed the 64GB limit or if stretching this limit could be causing your issue.

In terms of hardware, the only machines that supported the 64GB of memory were 6-core Core i5 processors which would put it at the lower end of the processor requirements (2ghz Intel minimum). At that same point in time in 2019, the Macbook Pros were running 6-core Core i7 and 8-core Core i9. So it's possible you are starting to see some limitations in performance as the machine ages with the Core i5. The iMac model you have was configurable up to a Core i9 which is a bit of a difference, but you have not stated which processor you have so I can only assume the range that was offered at the time.

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