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Joe_25
Joe_25
Participant
October 28, 2017
Question

Lightroom extremely slow on new MBP

  • October 28, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 1832 views

Hello,

Last February I bought a new 15'' Macbook pro with 16GB RAM i7 2.2GHz and Adobe Lightroom CC. As I am so new to Lightroom it took a little time to learn all the features. Now I have learnt them all I started to edit my images and all seemed OK.

Now even a basic adjustment such as increasing exposure can take about 3 seconds. Sometimes it can be instant other times it's really slow. As soon as I use the the adjustment brush it can take so long for the adjustment to keep up, I don't know where I am up to so i have to turn on mask overlay to see where I am. As for the spot removal - I start to use it and lose patience almost straight away and the fans on the Macbook kick in on full and the coloured wheel spins for a few seconds. Spot removal is almost unusable. The gradient filters are the same.

I have rang Apple and they told me to try and reset the SMC which should solve the fan problem if it's a hardware issue which is causing the fans to start up with such small tasks. Whilst they were really helpful, they said that the reason Lightroom is not responding very well is more likely to be Lightroom itself and not the Macbook. I have reset the SMC and the fan still kicks in almost instantly whilst editing with the above tools, and Lightroom is still really slow. It's that slow that I often give up on editing and come back to it. Also, when I open Lightroom for the first time there is a click inside the Macbook. (it also clicks when the loading bar appears on startup which is why I thought it was the Macbook to begin with)

I bought the Macbook and Lightroom as I thought they would work really well for me.

I am not sure where the problem lies or if this is normal, but the Macbook is still under warranty so want to find the problem as soon as possible.

Could it be Lightroom which is really slow and unresponsive? Does anyone else have any issues with their Lightroom, or could it be the Macbook itself? I am going to take it to a store when I get the chance but want to make sure it's not Lightroom first.

Many thanks for taking the time to read.

      This topic has been closed for replies.

      3 replies

      R
      rickb36669311
      Participant
      October 7, 2018

      I've had new 15.4 macbook pro less than a week. I also have problems with LR locking up and requiring 'Force Quit' to continue. Further, I have a HyperDrive Hub that includes SC card slot that won't read the SD card with photos and videos. I chatted with Apple and they told me the same thing . . . reset SMC. It did nothing. Web research turns up little in way of suggested solutions. I'm considering returning this computer and getting another MBP 2015 version. That machine was nearly flawless. At least Lightroom ran wonderfully on that computer.

        D
        Dylan.H.Brown
        Participating Frequently
        October 29, 2019

        I'm also in the same boat. Brand new 2018 MacBook pro w/ 2.9 GHz Intel Core i9, 32gb ram, SSD 1tb drive, and

        Radeon Pro Vega 20 4 G graphics card. I've tried all the things recommended by Apple and Adobe. I'm a professional photographer and my old 2012 iMac worked faster than this new machine!! I'm about ready to sell the new MacBook and switch over to PC. This is completely unacceptable.

         

        If anyone has any hacks that will speed up my workflow, I would very much like to know.

         

        I literally have to force quit LR after about 20 minutes of any kind of editing. Scrolling and flagging, toning, it doesn't matter. 

          bez_soltani
          bez_soltani
          Known Participant
          July 23, 2020

          I did complete reset (HD whiped clean)

           

          it fixed my issue

          cristthian
          cristthian
          Participant
          May 7, 2018

          I got the same problem, I got a new MBPr 2017 Touch Bar just to work with image edit, after that machine I had one MBPr 2014 with Lightroom Classic, and it used worked very well, some lags, but not so frustrating.  

          Now, with new machine sometimes it got 3-5 minutes just to open image to edit in Photoshop (CMD+E).  

          I don't think its right for this kinda machine.

          dj_paige
          dj_paige
          Legend
          October 28, 2017

          The adjustment brush has been known to cause these slowdowns. Same for spot healing. My understanding is that is a drawback of the architecture of Lightroom. But in any event, here are some things you can try

          • Turn off the GPU acceleration (Preferences->Performance tab->UNcheck "Use Graphics Processor")
          • Do brushing and spot healing as the next to last step of the editing process. The last step would be to turn on (if desired) lens corrections and transforms
          • Do brushing and spot healing in PHotoshop or Photoshop Elements
          • Get a faster CPU
          Chris Tsorotes
          Chris Tsorotes
          Known Participant
          April 10, 2018

          I have the latest MBP 2017 with 16gb Ram, 2.9ghz I7 & 4gb Radeon.

          GPU on or off, doesn't make a difference other than to make it slower.

          You're right use the brushes as a last resort because they cause it all to go to hell, alternatively Photoshop doesn't seem to have the same issues.

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