User profile for user: dangerboydesign
dangerboydesign Author
User level: Level 1
73 points

Why is Photoshop still so slow??

I just bought a Mac Studio M2 Max with 96GB of RAM for the express reason that Photoshop was very slow on my iMac when working with large (2G+) files. I set the machine up and have been working on it for a week or two now, and finally had a large file to work on. It's 2.7G and 12 layers, so not huge or anything. Photoshop is just as slow on this machine as it was on my Intel iMac. Can anyone help with any configurations that could make a difference? This machine is supposed to be super powerful and cost a fair bit of money, and I really don't want to be disappointed with it.

Mac Studio, macOS 14.6

Posted on Sep 18, 2024 9:00 AM

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User profile for user: mp2u
mp2u
User level: Level 1
61 points

Posted on Oct 15, 2024 3:42 AM

I have bought also a new Mac Studio Max with 64GB and 1TB internal SSD for the same reason.

I used to have a Mac Pro (late 2013 - the “trash can model”) running El Capitan with Photoshop CS6.

A few issues as well :

  • the Mac Studio is barely faster than my old Mac Pro
  • Sonoma is full of bugs, unstable and a real pain. Two of my problems are the connection with my Wacom Cintiq Pro is not stable and going to sleep mode is a huge issue. But other problems along…
  • Photoshop 2024 is slow, unstable, with lots of poor thought changes compared to my old trusted CS6. Just trying to quit (unless I force quit) Photoshop take a god 5 minutes… Once restarted, it works fine for a while until it slows down again to being very very sluggish to a point it’s impossible to work.

As a pro painter (+30 years experience incl. almost 20 years on computer), I would NOT recommend this latest Mac (machine and OS) and the latest Photoshop. They are a complete waste of money IMO and experience.

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User profile for user: lkrupp
lkrupp
User level: Level 7
20,509 points

Oct 15, 2024 8:15 AM in response to dangerboydesign

I didn’t see this question, sorry if it was asked already. What version of Photoshop are you using? Are you still using the Intel version that would be running under Rosetta 2? Photoshop is now a subscription app and many are still using the older versions instead of subscribing. If you are running the latest version of Photoshop check to see if it’s being opened with Rosetta 2 or Apple Silicon. Right click the app and select Get Info.

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User profile for user: dangerboydesign
dangerboydesign Author
User level: Level 1
73 points

Oct 15, 2024 8:28 AM in response to Servant of Cats

No, the working layered files are up in the gigabyte range, but the final flattened files are usually only a few hundred megs.


I posted a screen cap of my Activity Monitor memory pressure graphs earlier in this post. Yes, the graphs go into the reds across all 12 cores.

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Why is Photoshop still so slow??

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