Best MacBook Pro notebook build for LR Classic

[Paparatzy]

Lightroom Version Number

Lightroom Classic v9.0

Operating System

For editing in LR, I use a 2016 MacBook Pro, 1TB HD, 16GB RAM, Radeon Pro 8GB graphics card along with a Blackmagic GPU, with a DELL 34” external display attached. I leave the MacBook closed, using just the large external display. All that sounds fairly competent, but LR struggles when using the brush, clone/healing tool and sometimes the gradient tool. I find myself setting waiting for 2-3 minutes after making adjustments with the brush tool, like painting yellow winter grass, green. I shoot Real Estate and typically have three shoots to process the same day and waiting for LR to catch is very discouraging.

I’ve read the minimal requirements for LR Classic, but don’t see anything glaring that would point a finger at a hardware lack. Also, I shoot about 500 homes per year and each year is it’s own catalog, so I don’t think it is the catalog size. It seems it is a rendering problem and I don’t think I can upgrade the RAM or Video Graphics, which is why I purchased the Blackmagic GPU (and yes, that option is checked in the Preferences in LR).

I would really appreciate hearing from others who have an opinion re: speeding up the performance when editing. Thanks in advance.

 

[kimballistic]

I'm on a 2016 13" MBP with no discrete GPU. I recently noticed my brush performance improved significantly when I turned off lens corrections. Now my brush can (mostly) keep up with my mouse when working on D850 files. Since I use them, I just turn lens corrections off temporarily and then back on when I'm done brushing.

But a 2-3 minute delay is not a performance issue; it's a malfunction. Is it the same with or without the eGPU? With or without GPU acceleration turned on? On both the laptop monitor and the external display?

 

[Paparatzy]

Thanks for responding Kimballistic. Great questions! Turning off Lens Corrections does seem to speed it up, losing the cursor lag but the time to copy an area and paste is still about a 8-12 second wait. The cursor lag was really frustrating when trying to use the Clone or Heal brush, which this simple ‘flip of a switch’ seems to cure.

I tested with and without the eGPU and if there is a difference, it is only a slight difference and I chose to leave it enabled. I do a lot of brushing turning yellow grass to green and replacing cloudy skies with blue skies, so this has been a real time consuming and frustrating experience. I start in again tomorrow with 4 shoots, so with lens corrections left off until the end, I’ll see how it goes.

 

[kimballistic]

Cool, glad that helped a little bit. Other folks might suggest resetting lightroom's preferences. That seems to be the default first step in troubleshooting.

Also, as an interim solution, you may want to test out editing with smart previews instead of the original raw. You can generate smart previews on import (or later manually) and there's an option in Preferences under the Performance tab for using them even when the original raw is present.

 

[Paparatzy]

I will try using the smart previews as well. I’ll update after going through real world testing.

 

[BarrySchwartz]

That all seems a bit odd, particularly since you have an external GPU. Off the top of my head I would say, in no particular order: check that your cables are in first-rate shape; make sure there is nothing physically wrong with your hard drive (whether internal or external, a software drive or just data), because they might be corrupted or failing - even if a drive is an SSD. You might try editing without the monitor attached, just right on the laptop. You may need to check that your motherboard or another component is not failing, and also that the battery is in good shape - if it is one of the rare ones that expand, that can cause real slowdowns - that's what happened to me on my last one, a 2015. If all else fails, getting on the phone with Adobe customer service can be really helpful. I'm also an architectural photographer and processing lots of images in a timely fashion is key!

 

[Paparatzy]

Great thoughts Barry. Today I processed 4 homes and with the lens correction off, it was more responsive. I think LR has not been coded to be entirely efficient either and has to share part of the blame. Lightroom is the only app that I experience a great deal of the spinning beach ball, otherwise the notebook performs quite well. I think calling Adobe would be a great idea. Thanks.

 

[Adrian Malloch]

For editing in LR, I use a 2016 MacBook Pro, 1TB HD, 16GB RAM, Radeon Pro 8GB graphics card along with a Blackmagic GPU, with a DELL 34” external display attached. I leave the MacBook closed, using just the large external display. All that sounds fairly competent, but LR struggles when using the brush, clone/healing tool and sometimes the gradient tool. I find myself setting waiting for 2-3 minutes after making adjustments with the brush tool, like painting yellow winter grass, green. I shoot Real Estate and typically have three shoots to process the same day and waiting for LR to catch is very discouraging.

I’ve read the minimal requirements for LR Classic, but don’t see anything glaring that would point a finger at a hardware lack. Also, I shoot about 500 homes per year and each year is it’s own catalog, so I don’t think it is the catalog size. It seems it is a rendering problem and I don’t think I can upgrade the RAM or Video Graphics, which is why I purchased the Blackmagic GPU (and yes, that option is checked in the Preferences in LR).

I would really appreciate hearing from others who have an opinion re: speeding up the performance when editing. Thanks in advance.

How did you go with troubleshooting this issue?
One thought that comes to mind with your situation is that with eGPUs, they work much more efficiently when your monitors are connected directly to the eGPU instead of the MacBook Pro.
And, if there are unused ports on the eGPU, use them! Add another monitor or better still use a dummy HDMI dongle like this: Amazon.com: HDMI Dummy Plug,Headless Ghost, Display Emulator （Fit Headless-1920x1080 New Generation@60Hz）: Computers & Accessories

 

[Paparatzy]

I’ve reached the bottom line. A closer inspection of my MacBook Pro revealed that the bottom of the notebook is swollen and it does not sit flat on my desk. So I know I have the battery problem, which as BarrySwartz mentioned could be causing performance issues.

I’m anxiously waiting to hear the announcement from Apple on June 22nd regarding a possible release of a new iMac, which will replace the notebook and hopefully Apple’s extended warranty program for the battery problem will cover the repairs.

 

[BarrySchwartz]

I’ve reached the bottom line. A closer inspection of my MacBook Pro revealed that the bottom of the notebook is swollen and it does not sit flat on my desk. So I know I have the battery problem, which as BarrySwartz mentioned could be causing performance issues.

I’m anxiously waiting to hear the announcement from Apple on June 22nd regarding a possible release of a new iMac, which will replace the notebook and hopefully Apple’s extended warranty program for the battery problem will cover the repairs.

Good you figured it out. I don't know if Apple is still replacing the batteries for free for your model (I think they are), it was a painless experience. I had been planning on upgrading to a newer laptop, anyway, for a whole variety of reasons, and rather than get a trade-in value for the laptop, I kept it and now have a really good backup computer, and one I can feel good about taking on location, which is really reassuring.