Is Lightroom Classic (LrC) slowing down for everyone? By this, I primarily mean the performance when navigating the user interface, switching between the Library and Develop modules, accessing various tabs, and using tools like masking, spot remover, or scrolling through modifier lists etc.
In software development, there are different phases. In some cycles, the focus is on expanding functionality, bringing in new features. In other cycles, development might prioritize performance improvements, resulting in faster and more efficient software. As an example for Windows users, the transition from Windows XP/Vista to Windows 7 marked a significant leap in efficiency. Windows 7, 8, and 10 were known for running smoothly even on older hardware. However, in recent years, Microsoft has been more feature-centric.
My point is, based on my experience as a Windows user of Lightroom Classic. LrC seems to be slowing down. Even with superior hardware, the user interface feels sluggish. I acknowledge that this is purely anecdotal, but in the past, LrC was more responsive on my older systems with i5 and i7 processors, 16GB RAM, and even spinning hard drives, compared to my current brand-new i9-13900K with 64GB RAM, M.2, and SSD drives. I initially thought this slowdown was due to my large 61-megapixel files and a growing library. Consequently, I invested in a powerful computer to give Lightroom Classic the resources it needs, but the experience has not met my expectations.
While certain tasks like rendering and exporting, as well as other resource-intensive operations, have improved, it appears that my GPU's RAM (RTX 2070 with 8GB) is a new bottleneck for certain new features. This leads me to a comparison with Windows and a hypothesis: Has Adobe focused too much on adding new features and GPU-related enhancements, potentially neglecting the core experience of Lightroom Classic's responsiveness and efficiency? Are they assuming that users have high-end GPUs to run the software smoothly with its AI features? I'm curious if anyone else shares this experience with Lightroom Classic.
As a control question, if you find Lightroom Classic to be slow or fast, how many photos are in your catalog? I have 45,086 photos, totaling 3.6TB. I have been an active user of LrC close to 10 years now.
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