P: Performance problems iMac Retina 5k

Report · Jan 26, 2015

I've been using the new imac retina, and i have enormous problems with the performance of Photoshop. If i for example use the selective color correction, this does not run smoothly. Other functions also work delayed. I noticed if i do not use Photoshop in full screen mode, everything goes back to normal. A friend used the predecessor model imac without 5k resolution, but has no problems. I suspect Photoshop has problems with the resolution of 5k. I hope Adobe fix this problems because Photoshop works slow and delayed, the performance is terrible. I bought the retina iMac 5k, since my previous mac is getting old and slow. But now is it so, that my new retina iMac, run equal slowly as my old iMac. Adobe please fix this problems, so i cannot work.

Report · Dec 13, 2016

I'm running 2015.5 and have pretty bad lag issues......I tried some of the suggestions above by changing my screen resolution to non-retina and also running just PS in low-res, but it hasn't seemed to help.

upgraded my computer to 32GB recently and I'm just sitting here waiting 2 whole seconds for each command to register with Photoshop. Awful.

Report · Dec 13, 2016

Are other RAM intensive Applications running smooth at the same time? Like Logic X with a normal-bigger project in it? Actually my iMac 5K was very sensitive regarding the RAM it was using, at the end the only fix was to obtain the original Apple RAM, this solved all issues.

Report · Dec 13, 2016

Weirdly- right after posting this I moved my resolution down to 2048 x 1152....and I seem to be having a smoother go of it in Photoshop....keeping my fingers crossed.

Yes, it seems like other programs that would gobble up RAM were running at a close-to-normal rate before making this switch- I've been using a 3D modelling program with Parallels (SolidWorks) and a 3D rendering program (Keyshot) and both seem to work fine even though I know from experience that they hog a lot of RAM.

(I usually don't have those two programs open while I'm using PS, however to make sure it can do it's thing without competition)

Report · Dec 13, 2016

1. What is 2015.5?

2. For my 5K iMac changing screen resolution and getting more memory didn't help the poor performance of PSE at all. A workaround for the editor being unusable is to close the organizer while you are using the editor. That works for me; although it is a clunky solution it does make the editor usable with normal performance. When you close or save the edited file it does save correctly in the organizer. Of course, you have to open up the organizer and find the photo so see that, but it's better than not being able to use the editor. (The other major issues like not rendering full screen correctly and not printing more than one photo per page are still present, though.)

3. Within the next few weeks (waiting for Apple to update Sierra) I will be testing PSE on Sierra and also PSE running under Windows on a virtual machine with Sierra. I'll post results here.

Report · Jan 03, 2017

I have posted two new threads in this forum relevant to this issue. One discusses the differences between PSE and Apple Photos and whether Photos is a possible alternative to PSE on Macs. The other discusses my experience running the Windows version of PSE using a virtual machine (Windows 7) alongside Mac OS on a Mac. Search for my name as submitter and you will find them.