Inspiring

Question

Old Mac and Indesign CS4 much faster than new Mac with Indesign CC.

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
November 8, 2019
5 replies
835 views

Just bought a new iMac, 21.5 inch with 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 processor & 8 Gb RAM. This is nearly the same as my 8-year-old iMac with 21.5 inch screen 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 16 Gb of RAM.

My old iMac runs on OS 10.11.6 and uses CS4 products. The new iMac runs on OS 1014.4 and Creative Cloud products.

Though the computers are nearly identical I thought the new one would work faster. I was wrong. I fired up two identical InDesign files and found the CC version took 20 seconds to load while the CS4 version was ready in 7 seconds. I repeated the test several times, quitting InDesign each time and got the same result each time.

Any ideas? Should I return these products and save my money? Very disappointed.

Performance

This topic has been closed for replies.

F

federico platon

Legend

Some Numbers:

Windows 10 64bits and ID 2020, open ID takes about 6 seconds. I select a document I have used and saved before with this version of ID, takes just 2 seconds to open. Well, and a 200 page (text only) file a meagre 3 seconds!

(I have enough memory and use Samsung SSD M.2 that perform equivalent to their siblings on Apple systems)

BobLevine

Community Expert

Yeah, I do have to give credit to the team for the performance improvements. But all the improvements in the world won't help on an underpowered machine.

P

Pickory

Legend

Hi Bob,

If it is this machine,

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-mac/imac

2.3GHz Dual-Core Processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
1TB Storage

2.3GHz dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
8GB 2133MHz memory, configurable to 16GB
1TB hard drive1
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
1920x1080 sRGB display

7th gen i5, not a bad spec at all.

P.

rob day

Community Expert

The new iMac runs on OS 1014.4 and Creative Cloud products.

You are running on a newer system, and OSX 10.14 would likely demand more resources than the older 10.11. There could also be other utilities and apps running on the new system that would compete with ID for memory. If you are short on RAM when you launch ID CC, then the startup disk will be used for virtual memory, which would certainly slow things down. Is the new startup volume on an SSD drive?

BobLevine

Community Expert

That is a rather low-end Mac. The recommendation for the latest versions of InDesign is 16GB of RAM. For professional use, I'd also recommend the i7 and a solid state harddrive is an absolute must.

In short, lousy performance is exactly what I would expect out of those specs.

G

GraphicsGeezerAuthor

Inspiring

So I took the iMac back to the Apple Store and found that the guy who sold it to me had been "spoken to". A low end iMac is no use for design or photography. So I traded it for a Mac Mini, same price, just add monitor. Happy so far.

P

Pickory

Legend

Hi GG,

I have noticed the same. I use InDesign CS6 for most of my development work. Launch time is quicker, altogether a much nippier application. The down side, I am stuck with using older OS, and I don't get to use all those shiny new features.

P.

F

federico platon

Legend

Compare apples to apples, 🙂

Please try using the very same file to get assured.

I guess you will have several documents saved as CS4, well open one on ID CC and save it with a different name.

Then check the time spent in opening both, the CS4 saved on your old computer and the saved as CC on your new machine with InDesign CC.

Operations that include reading data are dependent of the hard disk performance where files are stored

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded