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Question

illustrator on M1 Max Chips

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
November 9, 2021
11 replies
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Is there anyone tried to run illustrator on Macbook pro M1 Max, did they solve the lagging issue?

Performance

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T

tschrey

New Participant

Not sure if this thread is still active but wanted to chime in.

My mbp M1 Max with 32gb ram is really laggy in Illustrator. If I click on a vector, most of the time it takes a few seconds to load what I have clicked on. If I am dragging objects around it lags so hard that it doesn't register a drag till seconds later and then the object snaps to my pointer when I am not dragging. I turned GPU Performance off and that seemed to help a bit, but still having the lag issues.

I am on macOS Sequoia 15.1 and Adobe Illustrator v 29.1.

Monika Gause

Braniac

@tschrey schrieb:

Not sure if this thread is still active but wanted to chime in.

My mbp M1 Max with 32gb ram is really laggy in Illustrator. If I click on a vector, most of the time it takes a few seconds to load what I have clicked on. If I am dragging objects around it lags so hard that it doesn't register a drag till seconds later and then the object snaps to my pointer when I am not dragging. I turned GPU Performance off and that seemed to help a bit, but still having the lag issues.

I am on macOS Sequoia 15.1 and Adobe Illustrator v 29.1.

Do you have Magnet installed? If so, turn it off.

J

Joan245963815j15

New Participant

Do you have external monitors connected? if so go to Settings > Check "Displays have separate spaces"

V

ViktorBlub

New Participant

I'm using Illustrator 27.5 on Monterey 12.5.1 on an M1 Max and it's unbearably slow and laggy. When opening an A0 architectural plan drawing PDF and trying to select all, move it around or even just turning the orientation, illustrator freezes or takes very long to perform that task..

I attached a screen recording.

M1 chip has been around now for quite some time. And supposedly it's super fast.. So how come such standard tasks bring illustrator to its knees?

Screen_Recording_2023-04-26_at_10-40-03.zip

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi @ViktorBlub,

Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention. I understand how frustrating it can be to work with slow and laggy software.

While the M1 chip is known for its performance, there can still be several factors that may cause the slow performance of Illustrator, such as the size and complexity of the file, available memory, and other software running in the background.

Would you mind confirming the exact version of macOS & Illustrator?

Also, does this happens while working on a specific file or all? If it's a specific file, could you please share the document with us? You can upload it to the Creative Cloud (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/help/share.html) and share the download link.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Best,

Anshul Saini

samc24050789

New Participant

Thanks for your quick reply.

The exact versions are as written above: Illustrator 27.5 on Monterey 12.5.1 on an M1 Max Are there other specifications that you need?

The slow performance happens with any "real" file, which has a bit of information in it. E.g. this Din A0 architectural plan with only 13MB. I would expect that Illustrator can handle this with ease..

I'm running a Mac Mini M2 Pro on OSX 13.3.

I can open Illustrator, drag out a single box with no fill, and then drag the box around the screen.

With GPU turned on the latency makes it unusable, the box will be 1 to 2 seconds behind the cursor...

Y

Yevgeniy29389910gr3n

New Participant

The issue is still there and it prevents me from using illustrator on my M1 Max.

samc24050789

New Participant

Same here, just bought a new Mac Mini M2 Pro with Apple Studio Display. If the GPU is used, Illustrator is unusable, serious lag even just draging a simple box round the screen. Turning GPU off in the settings and using CPU seems to help a lot. Come on Adobe, this looks like it's been going on for years, still no fix...??

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi @samc24050789 @Yevgeniy29389910gr3n,

I apologize for the inconvenience you are facing with Adobe Illustrator on your M1 Max Mac. In order to better understand and resolve the issue, could you please provide some details about the lag you are experiencing? Specifically, it would be helpful to know:

The specific actions or tools in Adobe Illustrator where you are experiencing lag
The size and complexity of the document you are working on
The exact version of Adobe Illustrator you are using
Any other relevant information about your system configuration, such as macOS version and system specs
A small screen recording of the issue would be really helpful.

Additionally, have you tried any troubleshooting steps, such as updating Adobe Illustrator to the latest version, resetting preferences, or optimizing performance settings? If not, I would recommend trying these steps as they may help in resolving the lag issue.

Please provide as much information as possible so that we can better assist you in resolving this issue. Thank you.

Best,

Anshul Saini

C

crispe123

Known Participant

Also have the same issues. Worse on Ventura than Monterey if anything. Getting to the point where I'm just probably going to switch primarily to Affinity Designer or similar. Less features, more tedious workarounds, but using it doesn't infuriate me moment to moment like Illustrator. I've been using Illustrator for 20 years and had long been my favourite program, but over the years it has just become more bloated, slow and unpleasant to be in.

P

Peter Furstenberg

New Participant

Although it's a lot better, the issue is not fully resolved. Really complex files still struggle to render and keep up. The image below is still incredibly laggy when trying to manipulate objects.

https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/golden-wheel-fortune-lottery-game-casino-chance-win-prize-lucky-roulette_15420872.htm?query=fortune%20wheel

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi @Peter Furstenberg,

Thanks for sharing the vector file link, @Peter Furstenberg. I checked this file on the windows machine and was facing extensive lags while editing it. It seems the issue is with this particular file, not with M1 Max Macbook Pro. EPS files can have such issues sometimes. @Monika Gause would be able to explain it better. Would it be possible for you to check this Monika and share your observation & suggestion?

Are there any other files in which you are facing issues which is not an EPS file?

Regards,

Anshul Saini

Monika Gause

Braniac

The file has been made with the limitations of compatibility with Illustrator 10 in mind, so it doesn't contain gradients with reduced opacity, but instead for the intended visual effect they had to use blend modes for everything that glows and glitters inside here.

But in this case I don't think the blend modes or the Illustrator 10 limitations are the issue. Just the sheer amount of objects that blend into each other. On top of that I saw some some paths having way too many points. Maybe there are others as well.

The file caused my M1 to lag as well.

schulterblick

Participating Frequently

I got problems with opening and editing .ai files on myMacbook pro M1.
When i open a .ai i have to answer if i want to replace the missing files.
There are no files. It is only a vectorgrafic.

When it is open it is only 1 layer and i can not edit that.

The same when i open other .ai

It is urgent because i am earning money with illustator.

Monika Gause

Braniac

I got problems with opening and editing .ai files on myMacbook pro M1.
When i open a .ai i have to answer if i want to replace the missing files.
There are no files. It is only a vectorgrafic.

When it is open it is only 1 layer and i can not edit that.

The same when i open other .ai

It is urgent because i am earning money with illustator.

By @schulterblick

Please create a new thread. This thread is about lagging.

D

Dwoodwor

New Participant

+1 to everything said here.. my last three macbooks worked better with illustrator than my new 2021 MacBook pro 16" 32gb.. . It has nothing to do with file type or size

S

Synergy_Sign_Jim

New Participant

Im experiencing almost unuable lag in Illustrator. When I click on a tool tip to get the fly out for the tools underneath, it take 3-4 seconds for the flyout to pop up. Dragging things across the screen lags at least 2-3 seconds. I'm baffled.

M1Max 16" laptop w/ 64 gb of ram.

problem persists aftewr reboots as well.

adobe_lag.zip

S

Synergy_Sign_Jim

New Participant

also seems to be resolution / document size independent.

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi @Synergy_Sign_Jim,

We are sorry to hear about the trouble you are facing. This is not a usual behavior by the app. I would request you to please try the steps suggested in this community post (https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/resolve-slow-performance-and-unexpected-behaviors-in-illustrator/td-p/11561981) and let us know how it goes.

I will be looking forward to your response.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

P

Peter Furstenberg

New Participant

I've just started working in my M1 Max and can confirm that the artwork I was working on is a lot more laggy vs. working with the same file on my Mac Mini M1. It's nearly impossible moving the illustration taking several seconds to redraw on the M1 Max. There's definitely some graphics issue going on.

R

rstetz2825188

New Participant

Myself and some colleagues have experienced the same issue.

2 of us are on M1 Max's and other on M1.

I did a recent update and it seemed to work for me but other colleague still having the issue. Apparently when she unplugged her two monitors and worked straight from the laptop is was a lot better, and when she used 1 monitor it was OK. It was 2 monitors where she had the problem.

Not sure if that helps.

P

Peter Furstenberg

New Participant

Even after the most recent update, the problem persists for me. No additional monitors. With CMYK color mode and GPU enabled it's even worse. Literally can't work with some files. (Again these files on the M1 mac mini is much more performant)

M

mkiela

New Participant

I'm using illstrator v26.01 on m1 pro max 64gb and freeform gradient is slow, lagging, sometimes causing spod when file is above 3000 x 3000 pixels. This is for the default freeform gradient setting with only 4 corner points.

Lag occurs when applying the gradient. Gets even laggier when changing colors.

Monika Gause

Braniac

I've tried that on my M1 and can't reproduce it. There's a very slight lag when applying a freeform gradient, it's only happening nearly immediately, but that's it. Artboard is 5000x6000 px. Object is about that size.

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