Skip to main content
A
aghanjar16430960
Known Participant
February 17, 2024
Question

indesign 2024 - slow on Lenovo X1 Carbon laptop.

  • February 17, 2024
  • 4 replies
  • 2163 views

 am writing to express my disappointment regarding the performance of INDESIGN 2024 19.0 on my Lenovo X1 Carbon laptop.

My laptop specifications include an Intel Core i5 8th generation processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Despite these decent specifications, I am encountering significant slowness while working on the digital planner project in INDESIGN.

The software seems to lag frequently, making it challenging to accomplish tasks efficiently. This slowdown is hindering my workflow and causing frustration.

I would appreciate any guidance or assistance you can provide to optimize the performance of INDESIGN on my laptop. If there are any updates, settings adjustments, or recommendations you can offer to improve its speed and responsiveness, I would be grateful.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    4 replies

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 18, 2024

    8th Gen i5? 8GB RAM?

    That is an underpowered computer for InDesign. My guidance is to buy a new one. Yours is somewhere in the neighborhood. 5-7 years old.

    That said, the current version of InDesign 2024 is 19.2.

      A
      aghanjar16430960Author
      Known Participant
      February 19, 2024

      and what about amd ryzen 5 4600g 3.7 ghz with radeon graphics its perfect for working on InDesign

      BobLevine
      Community Expert
      BobLevineCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 19, 2024

      Lower end processor but you still need at least 16GB of RAM to run InDesign decently.

        Robert at ID-Tasker
        Robert at ID-Tasker
        Legend
        February 18, 2024

        Just to add to what others said - your laptop is an "ultraportable" thing with "U" CPU designed for long battery life - it's good for browsing Internet and overall office jobs - but not exactly powerhouse for working with InDesign.

         

        Not to mention that 8GB is just enough to boot Windows... 

         

          A
          aghanjar16430960Author
          Known Participant
          February 19, 2024

          and what about amd ryzen 5 4600g 3.7 ghz with radeon graphics its perfect for working on InDesign 

          thanks

          Robert at ID-Tasker
          Robert at ID-Tasker
          Legend
          February 19, 2024

          it's a desktop pc


          quote

          it's a desktop pc


          By @aghanjar16430960

           

          But you were complaining about laptop? 

           

          E
          Community Expert
          Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          February 18, 2024
          quote

           INDESIGN 2024 19.0 on my Lenovo X1 Carbon laptop.

          My laptop specifications include an Intel Core i5 8th generation processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. 


          By @aghanjar16430960

          You computer is not high enough spec.

          It's decent. back in the day.

          8th gen is 2017 - 7 years old to date.

          i5 is a lower end processor slightly better an i3 and worse than i7/i9

          8Gb ram is too low - you need much more like 16 or even 32gb RAM

          256gb SSD is very small for todays demands.

           

          2 things you can do

          Depending your exact processor model and motherboard - you could possibly upgrade to 16 or even 32gb RAM

          And you could potentially upgrade your SSD to a larger hard drive - 1tb would be good.

           

          Sorry to say - performance your facing is due to your technology being over 7 years old. 

          It's crazy to thing 2017 is so long ago - even 2019 is now half a decade away.

            leo.r
            Community Expert
            leo.rCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            February 17, 2024

            In my view these specifications are simply not that decent. 8GB RAM is barely enough to keep InDesign afloat, in my experience.

             

            Also, how much free room do you have on that SSD?

              A
              aghanjar16430960Author
              Known Participant
              February 17, 2024

              120 GB

               

              Joel Cherney
              Community Expert
              Joel CherneyCommunity Expert
              Community Expert
              February 17, 2024

              I'm running a desktop with not dissimilar specs, and while I can notice that 2024 is rather slower & more bloaty-feeling than 2023, it still runs okay. The main differences between our machines are:

               

              a) I have essentially the slowest possible cheap replacement SSD, it simply must have a lower read speed than whatever Lenovo was putting into their X1 Carbon Thinkpads

              b) I have an eighth-gen i7, not an i5

              c) I have sixteen gigs of RAM

               

              We're both overdue for a hardware refresh, and I thought for a minute that I could suggest that you put off the hardware purchase for another year, if you put another eight gigs of RAM into your Thinkpad. However, if I'm right about you having a 7th or 8th gen Thinkpad X1 Carbon, your RAM is soldered to the motherboard and cannot be expanded. 

               

              The only userpace software tweak that I have personally seen cause meaningful performance improvements in InDesign is to limit the number of fonts installed on your system. In my experience, that only really affects the speed of the Character panel, unfortunately. Also if you are working over a network, then moving your working files to your SSD might get you a bit of a speed boost. Quitting absolutely everything else might also help, in an attempt to free up some more RAM.

               

              Unfortunately, my experience is exactly the same as that of @leo.r; eight gigs will let you run InDesign. Barely. 

                Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
                Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices