I made a performance test with different Windows notebooks and different MacBook Pro notebooks with Lightroom Classic Version 13.1. For the performance tests I used 222 different Nikon raw images from the Nikon Z 8 (each image has 45 MP). The power consumption of the "Asus ASUS ROG Zyphrus Duo 16 2023" was two / two and half times higher than the "MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max". Lightroom Classic used up to 34 GB RAM during the AI denoise. Here are the results:
Notebook
Lenovo ThinkPad T15g Gen 1
ASUS ROG Zyphrus Duo 16 2023
MacBook Pro 14"
MacBook Pro 16"
CPU Type
Intel Xeon W-10855M
AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX
M2 Max
M3 Max
CPU cores
6 Cores, 12 Threads
16 Cores, 32 Threads
8 P cores + 4 E cores
12 P cores + 4 E cores
GPU cores
NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super Laptop
NVIDIA RTX 4090 Laptop
38‑Core GPU
40‑Core GPU
RAM
64 GB RAM
64 GB RAM
64 GB RAM
64 GB RAM
Import and creation of 1:1 previews
0:27:50
0:04:40
0:05:15
0:02:55
AI denoise with strength 55
2:25:00
1:43:30
1:30:00
1:07:12
Export as JPG with 100% quality and AdobeRGB color space
0:09:30
0:02:25
0:01:27
0:00:56
Conclusion: Apple's M3 Max is faster and much more efficient than x86. This is the reason, why I switched from Lenovo/Windows to Macbook Pro /macOS.
Selecting just two CPUs for your Windows computers, one of them 3 years old, to represent all Windows computers; and then concluding that "Apple's M3 Max is faster and much more efficient than x86", seems like an unfair and non-sequitur conclusion. I would agree that M3 is faster and more efficient than the two CPUs on your Windows computers that you used in your study.
The "ASUS ROG Zyphrus Duo 16 2023" is a very expensive 17" high-end gaming notebook with the fastest notebook GPU available. It is hard to find an x86 Windows notebook that is faster.
2 additions: - The two MacBook Pro notebooks are much quieter than the two Windows notebooks - I am not a missionary for Intel/AMD/Windows or Apple/macOS. Both alternatives have advantages and disadvantages, regardless of performance. In particular, I have no preference between the two operating systems (Windows 11 and macOS), both operating systems have their quirks. Lightroom Classic is my primary use case with the greatest need for performance.
Missing in that table for the Windows rigs is the VRAM. And the amount of VRAM can be critical as to performance. Also missing, for the Windows rigs, for the GPU's is the power rating of the GPU installed.
Also, two Gaming laptops (will the ASUS at lest) what occurs if you have a Creative Users laptop such as a ASUS ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED
You need to consider things like that. Basically you are trying to compare an Apple with some Oranges, but are those Oranges, Navel, Tangerines or Cuties?.
These types of comparison tests have been done many times. Discounting the underpowered Lenovo, how often do you import and export. Does it really make a big difference whether import takes 5 minutes vs 3 minutes or export takes 2 minutes vs 1 minute in an editing session.
Laptops are what has given Microsoft a bad name. The problem with Windows laptops is that they are usually so heavily modified by the manufacturer that you can no longer find the original operating system or component drivers. All these extra layers cause nothing but problems - in short, it's a mess. These modifications are never done with high performance advanced applications in mind, they target the "average" consumer/gamer.
In the desktop/stationary segment, the situation is completely different.
The GPU in the ASUS notebook is exactly an "NVIDA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU GDDR6 @ 16GB (256 bits)", this means 16 GB VRAM and has a "Max TGP 175W". So the GPU of the AUS notebook uses the maximal possible power design for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop - 150W GPU Power + 25W Dyn Boost.
The "Studio Driver" from NVIDIA was used in all tests with the Windows notebooks. My experience from the past is that Lightroom Classic runs faster and more stable with this type of driver compared to the "Game Ready Driver".
The "Lenovo ThinkPad T15g Gen 1" is my 4 years old notebook. After switching from 24MP raw files to 45MP raw files, working with Lightroom Classic became very slow. I only made the measurement with the old notebook for comparison to know how much my workflows could be accelerated with Lightroom Classic.
Good job! Very interesting comparison. Would you please be able to share details of methodology so I could replicate this for my other computers? I would share the results as well.
Just want to make sure the process is comparable 🙂
I used 222 raw images from my Nikon Z8. The raw images are "loosless compressed" and use "Adobe RGB" color space.
Import and creation of 1:1 previews: I used the default configuration for import and configured the creating of 1:1 previews. Import was finished after creation of all 222 previews were finished.
After the import - AI denoise with strength 55 on all 222 raw images.
After denoise - Export all 222 raw images as JPG with original resolution, 100% quality and Adobe RGB color space.
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