Slow performance Lightroom Classic Apple M1

[AnnapPhotog]

Can anyone take a look at these settings and let me know if my machine is the ptoblem with this new version or something else? Its been so slow lately its unbearable. TY

Lightroom Classic version: 14.0.1 [ 202410161356-30922cfc ]
License: Creative Cloud
Language setting: en-US
Operating system: Mac OS 14
Version: 14.4.1 [23E224]
Application architecture: arm64
Logical processor count: 8
Processor speed: NA
SqLite Version: 3.36.0
Built-in memory: 8,192.0 MB
Dedicated GPU memory used by Lightroom: 83.4MB / 5,461.3MB (1%)
Real memory available to Lightroom: 8,192.0 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 933.3 MB (11.3%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 411,806.7 MB
Memory cache size: 72.6MB
Internal Camera Raw version: 17.0 [ 2043 ]
Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 5
Camera Raw SIMD optimization: SSE2
Camera Raw virtual memory: 1MB / 4095MB (0%)
Camera Raw real memory: 3MB / 8192MB (0%)

Cache1:
NT- RAM:0.0MB, VRAM:0.0MB, Combined:0.0MB

Cache2:
m:72.6MB, n:0.0MB

U-main: 87.0MB

Standard Preview Size: 1440 pixels
Displays: 1) 2560x1440

Graphics Processor Info:
Metal: Apple M1
Init State: GPU for Image Processing supported by default
User Preference: Auto
Enable HDR in Library: OFF

Application folder: /Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic
Library Path: /Volumes/Master 2024 updated .lrcat
Settings Folder: /Users/macmini/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom

Installed Plugins:
1) AdobeStock
2) Aperture/iPhoto Importer Plug-in
3) Flickr
4) ShootProof

Config.lua flags:

[Conrad_C]

I’m going to guess that the main reason is the 8GB of Unified Memory (listed there as “Built-in memory)”.

The Lightroom Classic System Requirements say that 8GB is the Minimum amount, and 16GB is Recommended. I don’t think that’s changed for version 14.

The reason 16GB is Recommended is that after the amount that macOS needs, Lightroom Classic runs best with 12GB or more to itself. So with 16GB that sort of works, and with 8GB memory is strained.

Compounding that problem is that on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 through M4), memory for graphics acceleration (features that use the GPU) comes out of system memory. In earlier versions of Lightroom Classic that was less of a factor, but recent versions take advantage of the GPU a lot more, and that’s a great thing. But with only 8GB memory, there isn’t a lot of memory left to give to the GPU, so GPU acceleration can’t be used much.

If there are other applications left open, like a web browser with lots of tabs open, they’ll need memory too.

If my idea is correct, after your Mac is running and using Lightroom Classic for a while, if you open Activity Monitor and click the Memory tab, my guess is that the Memory Pressure tab will not be green, but yellow or red.

My M1 Pro has 32GB of Unified Memory and it runs great, but 24GB should work well these days. I personally think 16GB is the real minimum today for this kind of work.

[kgdizainslv]

I have mac studio 32gb ram and 1tb ssd, and lightroom clasic 14.0.1 in develope mode is very slow and painful to work!!!!!

Lightroom Classic version: 14.0.1 [ 202410161356-30922cfc ]
License: Creative Cloud
Language setting: en-US
Operating system: Mac OS 15
Version: 15.1.0 [24B83]
Application architecture: arm64
Logical processor count: 10
Processor speed: NA
SqLite Version: 3.36.0
Built-in memory: 32 768,0 MB
Dedicated GPU memory used by Lightroom: 2 255,3MB / 21 845,3MB (10%)
Real memory available to Lightroom: 32 768,0 MB
Real memory used by Lightroom: 5 210,7 MB (15,9%)
Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 415 253,7 MB
Memory cache size: 300,1MB
Internal Camera Raw version: 17.0 [ 2043 ]
Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 5
Camera Raw SIMD optimization: SSE2
Camera Raw virtual memory: 2584MB / 16383MB (15%)
Camera Raw real memory: 2817MB / 32768MB (8%)

Cache1:
Final1- RAM:2 110,0MB, VRAM:0,0MB, A4_00216.ARW
NT- RAM:2 110,0MB, VRAM:0,0MB, Combined:2 110,0MB

Cache2:
m:300,1MB, n:253,7MB

U-main: 111,0MB

Standard Preview Size: 6400 pixels
Displays: 1) 6400x3600, 2) 2560x1440, 3) 2560x1440

Graphics Processor Info:
Metal: Apple M1 Max
Init State: GPU for Display supported by default
User Preference: Auto
Enable HDR in Library: OFF

Application folder: /Applications/Adobe Lightroom Classic
Library Path: /Volumes/T7/10.26 - DPD kalendars 2025/10.26 - DPD kalendars 2025/10.26 - DPD kalendars 2025.lrcat
Settings Folder: /Users/kasparssilins/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom

Installed Plugins:
1) Aurora HDR
2) ColorChecker Camera Calibration
3) Loupedeck2
4) Luminar AI
5) Luminar Neo
6) Topaz Photo AI

Config.lua flags:

[Jao vdL]

Try running without display 1. The display with the enormously high 6K resolution. This one will definitely cause the develop module to lag as you're basically needing to live calculate the entire raw image. Also, going in and out of Develop it will need to create an absolutely massive standard preview of 6400 pixels which will cause a short lag going out of develop. Also, running multiple displays with Lightroom Classic using the secondary display will make it perform worse as it updates the preview for the secondary display constantly when you're making develop adjustments. So try disabling the secondary display if you have that turned on. I have basically the same machine (MBP M1 Max 32GB/1TB) with a 3456x2234 main display and the catalog and images on a T7 SSD and it flies. My images are mostly 14-bit raw from a Nikon Z7 so very comparable to files from that Sony you're using.

[kgdizainslv]

Unfortunately, I can’t switch from Display 1, as it’s my primary display with accurate colors, and it’s 5K, not 6K. Also, Lightroom isn’t used across multiple screens. This is definitely not a preview rendering issue because I tried generating both 1:1 previews and smart previews, but the problem persisted. Before the 14.0 update, the Develop module worked perfectly on this same system without any issues. Adobe has once again changed something, and this time not for the better. I also tried clearing the entire cache and resetting Lightroom settings, but nothing changed!

[Jao vdL]

That display is definitely a 6K display if it has 6400x3600 pixels. That is actually quite a bit above the normal 6K definition (around 6000 horizontal pixels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6K_resolution ). 5K is typically 5120 × 2880 which means your display has 56% more pixels than that.

That said, 1:1 and standard previews indeed do not matter for develop performance, but they do matter for going from Develop back to library as a new preview of that size needs to be generated to be displayed in Library. At that size it will take 1 or two seconds to do that and if you switch back and forth a lot you will notice the difference. I am guessing you are not talking about switching but talking about raw develop performance? What performance are you talking about there? Just sweeping sliders like the exposure slider? Does that become choppy? Something else? When you see bad performance do you see memory pressure going orange or red in activity monitor?

[kgdizainslv]

Do you really think I don’t know what displays I have? 😄 Apple mac studio display 5k: https://www.apple.com/studio-display/specs/ 

5K Retina display

• 27-inch (diagonal) 5K Retina display
• 5120-by-2880 resolution at 218 pixels per inch

Did you read my previous message? I already mentioned that up until LRC v14, I had no issues in the Develop module with this Mac Studio M1 Max and all three monitors. This problem has appeared now!!! Please read my initial message!

[Jao vdL]

If that is your display something is majorly wrong in your system. In your system information above this is what it says:

Standard Preview Size: 6400 pixels
Displays: 1) 6400x3600, 2) 2560x1440, 3) 2560x1440

So Lightroom is thinking your display is 6400x3600 pixels. Yes the Studio display is 5k and has much lower resolution so something is wrong here and if there is additional scaling going on that might explain some of the problems. What is your setting in System Settings->Displays for this display?

[kgdizainslv]

[Jao vdL]

Oh. That is why. You are using a scaled resolution. That is not a good idea. It will make the operating system (and therefore Lightroom think you are using a 6400x3600 pixel display which it then downscales to 5120x2880. This leads to real degradation of the image quality due to the non-integer downscaling and indeed affects performance because it needs much more GPU reserved memory. You should be using 2560x1440 for this display which will render the image at native resolution. I am surprised you don't see the standard mac OS scaling dialog here instead of a list of resolutions by the way even though you are running Sequioa. Do you have something like BetterDisplay installed?

Edit: nevermind from googling around, this seems to be standard for the Studio Display. 

[kgdizainslv]

I’ll try using 2560x1440px, but as I mentioned before, I had no issues previously. Now, in the Develop module, every slider lags, and everything is extremely slow. It’s 3x slower than it was in v13.

[wdtennis]

Just reading this as I am experiencing similar problems on a 2017 iMac.   I  had to update to OS Ventura to be able to update to the latest versions of LRC and PS.  Since doing so my sliders are slow and everything feels choppy.   If I shut down LRC and then reopen it works well for about a minute and the starts to slow down again.    I wasn't having any problems when I was running OS Mojave and the previous version of LRC. 

I spent about an hour on the phone with an assistant at Adobe who tied into my CPU, cleaned up things, removed LRC and installed it again and at first it appeared the problem was solved but as soon as I got off the phone with him the issues returned.  I have also tried many things others have suggested with no luck. 

It is making work difficult and I really need to find a solution.  Were you  able to figure anything out? 

[kgdizainslv]

After changing the resolution, I reopened Lightroom Classic 14.0.1, and in the system info, it still shows the incorrect display resolution: Displays: 1) 5120x2880, 2) 2560x1440, 3) 2560x1440.

[Jao vdL]

That is actually the correct resolution. Mac OS is really confusing about this. When you select 2560x1440, it drives this display at 5120x2880 so at its native resolution. It just scales all display elements to 2x their size. Apple really should make this much clearer as I am sure it confuses everybody. Anyway, does this make a difference in how lightroom performs in Develop? I realize that your experience with 14 is that it is suddenly slow. But sequioa came out about the exact same time so there are two factors in play here. Also if this is a bug in Lightroom's code, we want to chase down what is causing it. 

[kgdizainslv]

It’s a bit better now, but still quite laggy. It’s not as smooth as it was with the previous versions!

[kgdizainslv]

Hmm, now I’m facing other major issues—GPU export no longer works. Files are only exporting with the CPU, even though everything is correctly set up in the system! This Lightroom version has serious problems; it’s very unusable and slow!!!

[dj_paige]

Can anyone take a look at these settings and let me know if my machine is the ptoblem with this new version or something else? Its been so slow lately its unbearable. TY

By @AnnapPhotog

What actions in LrC are slow? Please be specific and detailed.

[AnnapPhotog]

Importing and exporting mostly takes more time than I've ever seen. Not sure if its the new version or if something is stalling my machine. 

[KR Seals]

What are you using for Importing? Card reader? Cable connection direct to camera?

What is your export destination? External drive?

I am asking, because it's possible the connection speed is reduced for some reason.

Also, what is the Library Path: /Volumes/Master 2024? Is that on your internal drive?

[Jao vdL]

How large is your main SSD and how much free space does it have? If it is only 256 GB and you have your catalog, previews and images on it, then that is a major problem and will slow down your machine tremendously if it gets close to being full. In that case (a too small internal SSD), often the only solution is to store the catalog on an external SSD drive. Also as already said, the 8GB can be a problem. Lastly, your preview size is set too small for your display. If you are browsing through images in the library module in fill view, it will force Lightroom to recreate a preview every image you go to. You should set the preview size on the catalog to "auto" which will select 2560 as the standard preview size.

[AnnapPhotog]

I've been importing from and exporting to my NAS for a few years on this machine with issue. The point about pitching smart previews may be a good one for me to try. I do have a large catalog which is stored in an external hard drive. I'll change the preview size too and see what happens. Appreciate everyone's input. 

[AnnapPhotog]

I meant importing and exporting on this machine with no issue. 

[Jao vdL]

Just so you know, Lightroom won't automatically create new standard previews for everything if you change the standard preview size setting. It will just do it for new imports or when you browse through older images or when you ask for new standard previews to be generated on a set of images. Smart previews are only ever used when the originals for your images are offline. They are usually not worth the effort to create. Only on older slow machines and if you set the preference to edit from smart previews even if the originals are online does it make a difference. On modern machines, smart previews are rarely a time saver. Usually they actually lead to a lot of lost time waiting for them to generate.

[KR Seals]

What is the speed of the interface to the NAS? Can you check to see if it is still running up to spec?

Have you recently changed cameras to one with much larger image files?

[Zongxin24921938sp2b]

What I noticed on my machine is that LrC dropped metal for a lot of the offloading part as I saw CPU usage raise and enhance in noise reduction now takes 10min with CPU instead of just 10s in GPU.