Illustrator 29.6.1 lagging on Macbook M3 24 GB memory !?

Question

Versions in the subject, OS Sonoma. This is a brand new laptop and there is nothing significant running in the backgroud; AI is severely lagging, I am trying to prepare a poster, it's a 30 MB file, some graphs, some embedded jpgs but nothing that is out of ordinary and I had no problems with older computers/software on similar files.

Now just moving vector objects like a simple circle leads to the beach ball. I followed some troubleshooting suggestions from similar issues with older version like renaming com.adobe.illustrator in cache, resetting preferences, etc., I even uninstalled and re-installed the app - none helped, still lagging.

Please help, I'm running against a deadline and I can't finish my work; I don't have my old computer.

creative explorer · Answer

@hopeful_navigator1799 Sorry to hear that you are running with some issues. Especially against a tight deadline! Despite being relatively a new laptop, ensure all macOS updates are installed. Sometimes, even new machines might not have the absolute latest patches, which can include critical performance or compatibility fixes. Check in System Settings > General > Software Update.

Consider the GPU performance settings within Illustrator itself. Go to Illustrator > Preferences > Performance. Ensure "GPU Performance" is checked. You might also try toggling "Enable Animated Zoom" and "Real-time Drawing and Editing" to see if disabling them temporarily improves performance, then re-enabling them one by one. Mine is all 'checked' on.

Next, verify that Illustrator 2025 is optimized for Apple Silicon (if your MacBook Pro has an M-series chip). Adobe applications are generally good about this, but occasionally, an update might cause a regression or a specific older plugin could be forcing Rosetta emulation. You can check this by going to your Applications folder, right-clicking on Adobe Illustrator 2025, selecting "Get Info," and looking for "Kind." It should say "Application (Universal)" or "Application (Apple Silicon)." If it says "Application (Intel)," then it's running via Rosetta 2, which could impact performance. In that case, ensure you downloaded the correct version of Illustrator.

Also, depending on the work, if you are using complex vector files maybe rasterized those into an image. And if you have many images embedded, maybe try linking them to keep the file size smaller and prevent from lagging.

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