13" non-touch with Lightroom

[kwandrews]

I have migrated a small portion of my LR library to a new one for the 13" 2016 MBP (NT) with base config. It only has 14.5k photos. My full library (100k+) runs pretty well on my 2012 Mini quad core and 16g on a 240G SSD. However, even the little 14.5k library (which is running with smart previews on the main Mac SSD and has referenced / master files on an USB-C 3.1 SSD, clocked at 450 mbps), is running like a dog. Scrolling thumbnails is pretty choppy. I get a lot of spinning beach balls...even with just working with the smart previews. The full files make it worse. It's so painful, it feels worse than the 2012 Mini and feels like my old MBA 13" from 2012 (8G RAM and SSD of course).

I had activity monitor running. Memory pressure never left the green zone, but it was about 50-65% up the graph. Never ran with less than 750MB showing free, but about 1.5G in cache. Swap used was 517MB. I also had the CPU history running on top of LR so I could keep an eye on that. It was consistently running about 75-95% just by looking at the graph, with peaks that maxed it out.

QUESTIONS:

1. Would the 2.9 GHz Touch Bar version with 16G RAM make a big difference here?
2. I'm sure the 15" base model would run it better with the quad-core, but I'm liking the portability of the 13". How does LR run on the old 15"? I'm assuming the new one would be better than the old one.
3. Any other suggestions?

I am in my return window for another week.

Photos runs VERY well on it (of course). No lag. no choppiness, etc. I just have a hard time trusting Photos/iCloud with my images and like the control of the DAM tools in LR (I really miss Aperture, that would be my ideal if it ever came back....won't happen though). Any advice appreciated.

 

[kwandrews]

Hmmm....any input on this one?

 

[yillbs]

Hmmm....any input on this one?

I think you're getting those beachballs for a number of reasons, the CPU is pretty underpowered for the work you're doing ( even at 14k~ images ), and your ram speed is going to be much slower. I have a 13 inch with the I7, and 16GB ram, I'm having nothing like that. I'm going through a gallery of just over 85K photo's and it's loading them like lightning, and letting me scroll as i see fit. Your cache being so high in theory should eliminate that. I'd have to go with the hardware, but id hate for you to upgrade and it not help.

 

[kwandrews]

Thanks, this does help. I may just do the upgraded version (TB) with 16G and I'm sure that will make a difference, no question. I just figured if my old 2012 mini i7 quad could do it fine, this would as well being much newer processor (but dual core), faster RAM, much faster SSD than the one I have in the mini, etc.

 

[yillbs]

Thanks, this does help. I may just do the upgraded version (TB) with 16G and I'm sure that will make a difference, no question. I just figured if my old 2012 mini i7 quad could do it fine, this would as well being much newer processor (but dual core), faster RAM, much faster SSD than the one I have in the mini, etc.

Ram speed plays a huge huge role in what you're doing. I think its almost fair to see you'll see 2x the performance we th just the ram increase alone.

 

[protoxx]

2012 Quad i7 mini has a geekbench of 10024 or 10757
2016 2.0 MBP has a geekbench of 7003
2016 2.4 MBP has a geekbench of 7514

 

[kwandrews]

2012 Quad i7 mini has a geekbench of 10024 or 10757
2016 2.0 MBP has a geekbench of 7003
2016 2.4 MBP has a geekbench of 7514

Interesting. The 2.9 MBP 13" 2016 would be the option for, plus the 16G RAM and faster SSD. Of course, the quad helps a lot, maybe that's what I'm really missing here. I wanted to get down to 1 Mac (vs. a desktop + laptop)....if that's what I really want, the maybe the 15" and quad is the way to go. I was actually hoping the 13" would have a quad upgrade option....wishful thinking.

 

[Howard2k]

That sounds a bit weird, since it runs great on the 2015s, which are slower (allegedly). Could it be that it's getting too warm and then throttling down the CPU?

 

[bobosing316]

After reading your post, I think i have to think twice before getting this no touch base model.
As i am a light user of lightroom.

 

[kwandrews]

That sounds a bit weird, since it runs great on the 2015s, which are slower (allegedly). Could it be that it's getting too warm and then throttling down the CPU?

I don't recall the fans ever turning on when using LR. I would assume that would happen before, or concurrent with, throttling.
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After reading your post, I think i have to think twice before getting this no touch base model.
As i am a light user of lightroom.

I am using v6.7 (most up to date) stand alone version (not CC). I doubt that would make a difference though. It does launch really fast, maybe 3 seconds and I'm in seeing the library.

 

[protoxx]

If you want a desktop replacement that is also portable, that would be the 15" with quad core cpu and dgpu.

The 13" is a ultrabook (minus windows). Base model is a low power 15w cpu.

cpu development hasn't gone that fast. Fastest Sandy Bridge i7s had geekmarks over 10k. The fastest ones today are somewhat above 15k. Graphics processors have had bigger improvements.

Start with your workflow requirement and from there. Don't start a very small size requirement then expect to be able to do any workflow you want.

I want an apple watch that specs at 4 billion geekmarks and can project a glorious image on a 20' wall and project a holographic keyboard that has great tactile feel. With 14 petabytes of storage and weighs 1oz and only needs to be charged after 3 weeks of constant usage. Not yet.

Was asked back in '88 what kind of monitor I really wanted.......Pointed at wall of office said "Entire wall 300 dpi and 64bit color" Forgot to mention pantone correct.