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Trevor.Dennis
Community Expert
Community Expert
June 12, 2019
Question

Why Some Mac Computers Seem to Under Perform

  • June 12, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 2269 views

This just released video from Linus is interesting.  I actually answered a forum thread recently, from a user who was complaining his Mac was under performing with Photoshop.  Not being familiar with their spec, I looked it up and suggested that the poster was probably getting performance commensurate to the low CPU clock base rate, but then scaled back my response when reading the apparently reasonable turbo clock speed.  It would seem that those specs are misleading, and that in real world situations, unachievable for more than very short periods. 

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    4 replies

    KShinabery212
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 12, 2019

    I am so glad I moved away from Macs.  Yes, I use them for work.  But my Wacom MobileStuio Pro and Cintiq Companion 2 really rock.  Never going back to Apple.

    Even I did not have the Wacom devices now... I would probably build my own desktop PC.  One top notch that you see the gamers use.  If you build the right PC desktop... you can out perform any Mac.  To me Mac is just a name any more.  A pricey name.

    But that is just me.

    Let's connect on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kshinabery/
    jane-e
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 12, 2019

    Hi Trevor,

    I am not having the issues on my Mac that many are reporting. There is definitely a problem somewhere and pinpointing it is a good idea. Did you also read the specs on the Apple website? I found this:

    https://www.apple.com/imac-pro/

    "Packing all that performance into such a slim all-in-one design required a new approach to cooling the system. We redesigned the thermal architecture of iMac Pro with innovative dual blowers, a high-capacity heatsink, and extra venting. The result? Almost 75 percent more airflow and an 80 percent increase in system thermal capacity. Which lets iMac Pro handle 500 watts — 67 percent more power than the 27-inch iMac."

    And I do hope we can keep this thread factual. Thank you for starting it.

    ~ Jane

    June 12, 2019

    Jane aren't you still on High Sierra, Mojave seems to be causing most of the issues that we've seen here on the forum

    leds2097726
    Inspiring
    June 12, 2019

    @ - actually these problems are not mostly caused by Mojave at all, we've been reporting brush tool lag for five+ years on the Mac.

    So that's two "Adobe Community Professionals" that haven't got the slightest idea what they're talking about in this thread.

    How do we get this problem escalated to someone who actually knows what they're talking about?

    June 12, 2019

    Interesting video Trevor, my six year old PC with a few upgrades is still serving me well

    Intel i7 3770k

    32GB RAM

    GTX 4GB 1050ti GPU

    500GB SSD for OS

    250GB SSD for Scratch Disk

    2 * 4TB HD's

    Chuck Uebele
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 12, 2019

    Kind of makes you think of all those posts from Mac users, complaining that PS is sluggish. Was it Abobe's fault or Mac's? After have several computers' graphic cards fail, to what I'm assuming was heat, I got a laptop with huge cooling fans. It's heavy and bulky, but it is still going strong. PS does make those fans kick on a lot, but when they do turn on, I'm glad I have them. You can really feel the heat being expelled.

    leds2097726
    Inspiring
    June 12, 2019

    Doesn't explain why on a brand new maxed out iMac, 8 core, 3.6ghz i9 CPU with 64GB Ram, with only the base operating system installed and Photoshop CC, the brush tools still lag, lasso tool fails to draw and exhibits all the other problems reported daily on this forum.

    You can post all the anti-Mac BS you want, and congratulations on your PC superiority, but it doesn't help us with fixing the problems that we are dealing with on a day to day basis with Photoshop's broken core tools.

    The same iMac is absolutely blazing fast and responsive in ZBrush, Painter, Affinity Photo and Cinema4D FYI.

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 12, 2019

    ...and the same Photoshop is blazing fast and responsive on both my Windows machines. The are no broken Photoshop tools here.

    Seriously, what you describe is classic buggy video driver. The problem with Mac in this respect is that the video driver is integrated into the OS. You can't update it.