Each mask makes operations slower

[defaultihdrt6t2m92y]

My latest version (and a few previous ones) of Lightroom Classic, 13.1, is painfully slow. This happens when I'm in Masking mode and, with each new mask, it gets slower and slower. The response to any slider adjustment can sometimes take up to 10 or more seconds. This is deeply frustrating.

I am running this on a Macbook Pro (2018) with less than 80 percent of my onboard hard drive being used. I'm running Mac OS 13.6.1. 

Is this about the limitations of the video card? If so, I'm out of luck because (as I have come to undertand) there's no way to add more memory now; I'd have to buy a new machine. Or should I be closing all other programs when I'm in Lightroom?

[JohanElzenga]

If this is a MacBook Pro with an integrated GPU in the Intel processor, then yes, it's the GPU but having not too much memory can make it worse. Do quit all apps you don't use at that moment, so Lightroom can have all the memory it can get.

BTW, please don't post a a question like this in the 'Bugs' section. I moved it to 'Discussions' where it belongs. A 'bug' is not just a synonym for a problem with a computer!

[Media Goen South]

I am using Lightroom 13.1 on a new MacBook Pro...  Apple M2 MAX chip, 64 gigs of memory. I bought the computer because LR was completely unusable on my 2019 MacBook pro. Meaning it would actually crash, when I moved a slider it would not show the edit for several seconds, trying to move from one image to the next took almost 4 seconds to load, etc… Since upgrading my computer I have spent a very frustrating few weeks trying to make LR performance better. I have tried all the recommended things. I have a small, local catalogue. I’ve done all the performance recommendations. LR Classic is STILL so slow/laggy that I WILL switch to another software unless someone tells me there is an update coming very soon. I have used LR for 15 years. The fact that I can’t use the current version of LR with a $5000 computer is insane. Adobe has a real problem and I can’t waste any more time with it.

[Jao vdL]

There is something seriously wrong otherwise with your machine. I have a M1 Max with 32 GB and it absolutely flies. Astoundingly fast. What you are seeing is very ... very ...  far from normal and indicates another issue.

[defaultihdrt6t2m92y]

Thanks for the observation ....

I have a 2018, so not an M1 chip ... and it's maxed out at 16GB ... but it appears from other comments that it's more likely the video card RAM ....

I have been trying it with no other programs opened and it seems a little more efficent that way ...

[Jao vdL]

I am surprised it even works on your video card to be honest. I thought you needed at least 2 GB of memory on the GPU for the current lightroom versions. The 16 GB main memory is generally considered OK but any of the intel CPUs are going to be very slow nowadays. The technology has advanced leaps and bounds and unfortunately newer versions of software like Lightroom are starting to use that power. We're getting far higher quality tools but at the expense of needing much more capable hardware.

[barolina]

I have a Macbook Pro M1 with 16GB memory and Lightroom used to run beautifully until these latest updates, please believe us users when we say the software got way, way worse, which is incredibly frustrating. I have been using it with all other software closed and still don't get a better performance, I can't even move from one picture to the next in Library mode without getting Apple's wheel of death. This is not normal indeed, but it doesn't seem to be Apple's problem, seeing that, as mentioned before, this didn't happen before v13

[dj_paige]

I have a Macbook Pro M1 with 16GB memory and Lightroom used to run beautifully until these latest updates, please believe us users when we say the software got way, way worse, which is incredibly frustrating. I have been using it with all other software closed and still don't get a better performance, I can't even move from one picture to the next in Library mode without getting Apple's wheel of death. This is not normal indeed, but it doesn't seem to be Apple's problem, seeing that, as mentioned before, this didn't happen before v13

By @barolina

This has already been addressed. Repeating what @Jao vdL said: "The technology has advanced leaps and bounds and unfortunately newer versions of software like Lightroom are starting to use that power. We're getting far higher quality tools but at the expense of needing much more capable hardware."

[defaultihdrt6t2m92y]

It appears I have an Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536MB .... Is that an
internal GPU?

Thanks for moving to Discussions ... I haven't posted much here and didn't
know the difference ...


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[Jao vdL]

Yeah that is in integrated GPU with far too little memory to do the modern code in the current Classic versions. Even a low end M1 mac (i.e. non pro non Max) is going to be much faster than this.

[Conrad_C]

I am running this on a Macbook Pro (2018) with less than 80 percent of my onboard hard drive being used. I'm running Mac OS 13.6.1. 

By @defaultihdrt6t2m92y

I also have a 2018 Intel MacBook Pro with Intel integrated graphics only. It is far behind what my 2021 M1 Pro MacBook Pro can do with graphics acceleration, because Apple Silicon has been a huge leap forward. I am not surprised that the 2018 slows down with more mask adjustments. An Apple Silicon Mac can also slow down with more adjustments, but it takes a lot more adjustments to get to that point.

On Macs, Intel integrated graphics can use up to 1.5GB of system memory as graphics memory, but that is a hard limit, regardless of how much RAM you pack into the computer. So even if you could have put more than 16GB RAM in your current Mac, that would not have helped. This is partly why the more expensive Intel MacBook Pros also had discrete AMD graphics hardware, so they could have more graphics memory.

Apple Silicon Macs can dynamically assign as much system memory to graphics as is needed, so the old Intel limit is gone. If a Mac with Intel integrated graphics and an Apple Silicon Mac both have 16GB RAM, the Apple Silicon Mac will be able to assign more of that 16GB to graphics. Of course, that happens only if something else doesn’t already need that memory, so if you shop for a new computer for Lightroom Classic, 16GB of Unified Memory should be the minimum, but it would really be better to have 24GB or more. That provides enough (in most cases) for macOS, Lightroom Classic, and graphics. If you want to cover more cases, larger files, or keep more applications open, start at 32GB of Unified Memory.

So the slowdown with masks is probably not due to free storage space, the amount of RAM, or the CPU (well, maybe a little), but is mostly about the 1.5GB graphics memory limit and limited processing power of Intel integrated graphics. Today, even the cheapest and oldest Apple Silicon M1 Mac has a decent 8-core GPU with access to potentially more graphics memory.