Photoshop and big files.

[sbozic]

Hi!
I used to have a 2018 Macbook Pro Intel i9 with 32 gig of RAM and 1 TB of storage. I then bought a MacbookPro M3 Max with 64 gigs of RAM and 2 TB of storage because I wanted a faster workflow. I can´t say that I feel much difference in speed. My files are big, 2-5 gig in size and it takes 90sec to 120sec to save a file and gradients take forever. There are 5-15 layers. I understand that the files are heavy, but one would think that a new ridiculous expensive computer would speed things up quite a lot but, naaaah. Is Photoshop so bad at using the full potential of the hardware? How is your workflow performance ?

[Whitten]

I'm no computer expert but I think processor and RAM are the biggest factors in operational speed, not the storage. I think 64gb is the minimum RAM for a lot of the more complex programs these days. Maybe the M3 is not as well developed for photographic work as the M1 or M2? I though I saw somewhere someone recommending not upgrading to M3 from M2 Mac?

[Patrick CM]

So I have my home network at a higher speed as the files are so big! My network runs at 10Gbps.

Hudson Henry has a great Video on his setup.
Most networks at 1Gbps.

Note too, the Ethernet port on Mac's are also 1Gbps....some newer ones are at 10Gbps. I had to get a 10Gbps Thunderbolt4/Ethernet adaptor.

I really notice the speed increase.

[NickT]

Hi!
I used to have a 2018 Macbook Pro Intel i9 with 32 gig of RAM and 1 TB of storage. I then bought a MacbookPro M3 Max with 64 gigs of RAM and 2 TB of storage because I wanted a faster workflow. I can´t say that I feel much difference in speed. My files are big, 2-5 gig in size and it takes 90sec to 120sec to save a file and gradients take forever. There are 5-15 layers.

I'm curious as to why your files are so big. What are the pixel dimensions of these files?

[Alex]

Hi,

Presuming that you are saving the files in either PSD or PSB format; are you saving them with compression turned On (default is On (set in the preferences))?

Photoshop spends a long time working on this compression process and there hasn't been much change in the efficiency in how it goes about doing it (comparing from CS6 to 2024). The saving process itself seems to start at around 72 - 79% and completes pretty instantaneously.

If you have the available space then switching off the compression option will greatly speed up the process although at the expense of larger files (however this might be worth doing whilst regularly working on the file and then reverting to compressing it at the final stage when you have finished and want to archive).

I guess a format for comparing efficiency etc between hardware would be TIFF.

Alex