M1 max 32gb problem with photoshop plus trackpad also!

[lclev]

I have the 14" M1 Max with 64GB. I just opened 50+ photos of various sizes and types (HEIC, jpeg, psd, tiff, png). I two finger zoomed, popped around in various pics, changed sizes of them, did a variety of stuff I won't save! Smooth as silk.

Not sure if your issue is the 16", trackpad, or the 32GB. My trackpad is as smooth as silk. I also opened a large video I just finished using Premiere Pro and let it play while using Photoshop. No issues. Smooth as silk. I did check and Activity Monitor shows Photoshop using 21.44GB of memory.

If you are having the issues you say I would send it back. I love my new 14" M1 Max MBP but for what it cost if it did not perform it would go back.

Forgot - I am running Photoshop 2022 latest and updated.

 

[smirking]

So how come it works amazingly well on my i9? ?

Expect random software issues to abound for the next year or so. This is a big shift. It never goes as smoothly as expected. You might even see bugs go away, but come back again. That's just the frustrating world of software development.

There are lot of people editing larger than 18MP images in other programs who report things being as smooth as butter on only 16GB of RAM. I had a surprisingly smooth time for a while as a Capture One Pro user this summer on only 8GB.

 

[aevan]

There's nothing more I can add or say.

The pinch to zoom feature was never intended for this kind of thing. It was for casual users. Professional users use keyboard commands.

Pinch to zoom and rotate is used a lot by professional illustrators, btw. It’s offtopic, but it is definitely not made for “casual users”. Different users prefer different methods.

It doesn’t have anything to do with OP though. Speaking of which, I’m genuinely curious why would anyone open 70 images in Photoshop at once (honest question).

 

[wilberforce]

I don't know whether this helps, but I compared using PS on my MBP, and on my iMac, opening a mix of jpegs from 20MP to 45MP

If I open 20 jpegs:

14" base MBP M1 Pro, 16GB RAM:
Photoshop occupies 6 GB RAM, swap usage is 1GB
Pinch to zoom is very smooth

27" 2020 iMac (i7, 5500XT) with 32GB RAM and 8GB VRAM:
Photoshop occupies 5 GB RAM, swap usage is zero
Pinch to zoom is very smooth

If I open 80 jpegs:

14" base MBP M1 Pro, 16GB RAM:
Photoshop occupies 13 GB RAM, swap usage is 2GB
Pinch to zoom is very smooth on about the first 25 tabs, a little jerky and laggy on the rest

27" 2020 iMac (i7, 5500XT) with 32GB RAM and 8GB VRAM:
Photoshop occupies 19 GB RAM, swap usage is zero
Pinch to zoom is very smooth on about the first 25 tabs, VERY jerky and laggy on the rest

Essentially, my 16GB MBP M1 Pro is smoother than my 32GB 2020 iMac.

It also seems PS is rendering about the first 25 windows, as these seem to be smooth on both machines, regardless of how many I open

 

[lclev]

... Speaking of which, I’m genuinely curious why would anyone open 70 images in Photoshop at once (honest question).

One example - I do special videos for local high school graduations. I will open up a group of photos to do any cropping, color correcting etc. That group can be 50 to 100+ and that way as I go through them I don't miss one. Then I can set up a batch import into Premiere Pro. Just one example.

 

[metapunk2077fail]

Pinch to zoom and rotate is used a lot by professional illustrators, btw. It’s offtopic, but it is definitely not made for “casual users”. Different users prefer different methods.

It doesn’t have anything to do with OP though. Speaking of which, I’m genuinely curious why would anyone open 70 images in Photoshop at once (honest question).

I do it often if I have a bunch of images I have to make similar amends or colour corrections too. It means I can:

- Make the amend, save, close, move on to the next one.

Instead of:

- Make the amend, save, close, switch back to Finder/Bridge, open the next file.

Just not having to switch between apps 70 times is a time saver.

 

[metapunk2077fail]

Expect random software issues to abound for the next year or so. This is a big shift. It never goes as smoothly as expected. You might even see bugs go away, but come back again. That's just the frustrating world of software development.

There are lot of people editing larger than 18MP images in other programs who report things being as smooth as butter on only 16GB of RAM. I had a surprisingly smooth time for a while as a Capture One Pro user this summer on only 8GB.

The stuff that OP is trying to do could be done on a Core Duo with 4GB RAM. Opening and navigating 70 flat jpegs is child's play for a decade old computer. He needs to manage and configure his computer optimally and use it efficiently.

I had a friend call me last week who bought the same M1 Max as I. He was complaining about performance. I had to dig deeper with some questions and video calls. He's not a professional creative but he uses the apps to manage some of his business.

When I looked at his computer he was running Photoshop, FCPX, Illustrator, Indesign, Office, Safari with 10 tabs and a bunch of disgusting third party apps I never heard of, the type of apps that junk sites encourage visitors to download.

I asked why are you running all these apps at the same time and running all these junk processes? His answer 'Because I want to. Why can't I have all these apps running and have blazing performance?'

A lot of people who complain online won't admit to their own inefficient practices. If you're using your computer for a certain workflow then everything has to be optimised including yourself. That's why there is a whole side industry for configuring computers as workstations and courses for training users.

 

[Philllllip]

I have the 14" M1 Max with 64GB. I just opened 50+ photos of various sizes and types (HEIC, jpeg, psd, tiff, png). I two finger zoomed, popped around in various pics, changed sizes of them, did a variety of stuff I won't save! Smooth as silk.

Not sure if your issue is the 16", trackpad, or the 32GB. My trackpad is as smooth as silk. I also opened a large video I just finished using Premiere Pro and let it play while using Photoshop. No issues. Smooth as silk. I did check and Activity Monitor shows Photoshop using 21.44GB of memory.

If you are having the issues you say I would send it back. I love my new 14" M1 Max MBP but for what it cost if it did not perform it would go back.

Forgot - I am running Photoshop 2022 latest and updated.

Hi, Thanks so much for checking that out for me Did every single one work smoothly?

 

[Philllllip]

The stuff that OP is trying to do could be done on a Core Duo with 4GB RAM. Opening and navigating 70 flat jpegs is child's play for a decade old computer. He needs to manage and configure his computer optimally and use it efficiently.

I had a friend call me last week who bought the same M1 Max as I. He was complaining about performance. I had to dig deeper with some questions and video calls. He's not a professional creative but he uses the apps to manage some of his business.

When I looked at his computer he was running Photoshop, FCPX, Illustrator, Indesign, Office, Safari with 10 tabs and a bunch of disgusting third party apps I never heard of, the type of apps that junk sites encourage visitors to download.

I asked why are you running all these apps at the same time and running all these junk processes? His answer 'Because I want to. Why can't I have all these apps running and have blazing performance?'

A lot of people who complain online won't admit to their own inefficient practices. If you're using your computer for a certain workflow then everything has to be optimised including yourself. That's why there is a whole side industry for configuring computers as workstations and courses for training users.

Hi, I am a professional photographer and I had no other apps open at all. I actually only ever have mail, safari and photoshop and bridge open at the most so I manage my Macs very well.

 

[Philllllip]

Pinch to zoom and rotate is used a lot by professional illustrators, btw. It’s offtopic, but it is definitely not made for “casual users”. Different users prefer different methods.

It doesn’t have anything to do with OP though. Speaking of which, I’m genuinely curious why would anyone open 70 images in Photoshop at once (honest question).

Its a good question.. I am a pro photographer and show clients the images at their viewing and the best way is to let them pick around 40/60 pics in separate windows and then we wittle them down one at a time. so I have them in separate windows and zoom in out with the trackpad ( and keyboard ) to show the detail etc. My point is that why would I sell my i9 which works like a super speedy speed machine for the new one which is laggy and unpleasant to use in this instance ( and this instance is the most important part of what I do ) But I do totally love the new machine so will need to try the 64gb properly myself I guess

 

[Philllllip]

I don't know whether this helps, but I compared using PS on my MBP, and on my iMac, opening a mix of jpegs from 20MP to 45MP

If I open 20 jpegs:

14" base MBP M1 Pro, 16GB RAM:
Photoshop occupies 6 GB RAM, swap usage is 1GB
Pinch to zoom is very smooth

27" 2020 iMac (i7, 5500XT) with 32GB RAM and 8GB VRAM:
Photoshop occupies 5 GB RAM, swap usage is zero
Pinch to zoom is very smooth

If I open 80 jpegs:

14" base MBP M1 Pro, 16GB RAM:
Photoshop occupies 13 GB RAM, swap usage is 2GB
Pinch to zoom is very smooth on about the first 25 tabs, a little jerky and laggy on the rest

27" 2020 iMac (i7, 5500XT) with 32GB RAM and 8GB VRAM:
Photoshop occupies 19 GB RAM, swap usage is zero
Pinch to zoom is very smooth on about the first 25 tabs, VERY jerky and laggy on the rest

Essentially, my 16GB MBP M1 Pro is smoother than my 32GB 2020 iMac.

It also seems PS is rendering about the first 25 windows, as these seem to be smooth on both machines, regardless of how many I open

Thanks for the test results So theoretically a 64gb M1 machine could handle 50 plus smoothly hopefully

 

[metapunk2077fail]

Its a good question.. I am a pro photographer and show clients the images at their viewing and the best way is to let them pick around 40/60 pics in separate windows and then we wittle them down one at a time.

Normally for this part of the process of having an overview of images to little them down to selects you should be using Lightroom, Capture One or Bridge. Obviously you can even just use the Finder and QuickLook. Pinch to zoom is faster in QuickLook than in Photoshop because it uses Apple's own acceleration.

 

[Philllllip]

Normally for this part of the process of having an overview of images to little them down to selects you should be using Lightroom, Capture One or Bridge. Obviously you can even just use the Finder and QuickLook. Pinch to zoom is faster in QuickLook than in Photoshop because it uses Apple's own acceleration.

Well that's not the way I do it and I have been doing it very successfully and super quickly for over 15 years now

 

[Sanpete]

But I do totally love the new machine so will need to try the 64gb properly myself I guess

There is good reason to think this isn't an issue of amount of RAM. You have no RAM pressure, plenty of RAM left.

So theoretically a 64gb M1 machine could handle 50 plus smoothly hopefully

What he showed you is that his machine with 16GB RAM was doing it better than his machine with 32GB RAM. So, no.

Might be worth asking about this at the Adobe Photoshop forums.

 

[Philllllip]

There is good reason to think this isn't an issue of amount of RAM. You have no RAM pressure, plenty of RAM left.

What he showed you is that his machine with 16GB RAM was doing it better than his machine with 32GB RAM. So, no.

Might be worth asking about this at the Adobe Photoshop forums.

And yet the only poster here with a 64gb max said he had NO PROBLEM at all with 50 plus images!?

 

[Sanpete]

And yet the only poster here with a 64gb max said he had NO PROBLEM at all with 50 plus images!?

They didn't say whether they tested all the images or only some from the first 25 or so, which seem to not have a problem. They did say Photoshop was only reported as using 21GB RAM, about the same as for you. Lots and lots of free RAM for both of you.

It's an interesting issue, some kind of mild bottleneck somewhere. I'd also ask at the Photoshop forums.

 

[Philllllip]

Hi, I wonder if I use an older version of photoshop then that may sort problem out? But yes I do need know if the guy checked ALL 50 images

 

[Sanpete]

Hi, I wonder if I use an older version of photoshop then that may sort problem out?

If there's an earlier version for M1, you could try it.

How much does money matter here? If it's not a major factor, just go ahead and get the 64GB. Might be worth it just for psychological reasons. You know how that works.

 

[Philllllip]

Problem is there is a 2 month wait for the 64gb at moment here in UK! I had one on order with Apple and only 2 weeks left to go when I saw this 32gb max available so I bought and cancelled my Apple order :-(

 

[Philllllip]

Plus on top of that I am STILL absolutely torn between the 14 and 16!! Lol. I loved the 64gb silver 2tb 14 chunk completely but as its my only screen I decided to get the 16 however I really miss the 14 as it has the sexiest design plus that notch is less noticeable I find. And the screen seems sharper because its smaller I guess. I could live with the 14 but its illogical as I wouldn't need to it take out anywhere apart from around the house! ..but..

 

[Philllllip]

I thinking that maybe I keep my 16 i9 for my studio/edits and occasional viewings and get the Max 14 chunk back again with the 64gb fro my main laptop in the house ( its much much much more portable than the 16 )

 

[Philllllip]

But then I could just get the base 14 for that!!!! OMG. I been weeks on this now!Head exploding!! ?

 

[lclev]

Hi, Thanks so much for checking that out for me Did every single one work smoothly?

Yes they did. Absolutely smooth. Some of the images were on an EHD and some on the internal SSD. None in the cloud.

That said I will say I keep things clean on my laptops. The only apps open when I start using Adobe apps are the apps I am using. Browser is closed, all Office apps, and any thing else that I find running in the background that is not needed by Adobe. I am OCD like that and it also stems from years of using older machines that could not handle a load and needed all the resources it could have. I am not one to have all kinds of things open just because I can. Too many years of bogged down computers broke me of that!

 

[wilberforce]

Thanks for the test results So theoretically a 64gb M1 machine could handle 50 plus smoothly hopefully

Well, I am not sure. It could be a Photoshop limitation, not a RAM limitation. It seems odd to me that my 32GB iMac can only smoothly zoom the same first 25 out of 80 windows as my 16GB M1 Pro. I had plenty of unused RAM on my iMac, but it still only smoothly zoomed the first 25 windows. Even when I instructed PS to use 100% of the available RAM, rather than the default 70%. Maybe all just coincidence.
It would be unfortunate if you returned the 32GB MBP for a 64GB MBP and got exactly the same result on the same photos. Not sure how to help with your quandary. I suppose you have a reason to believe the 64GB will work better for you, so now is the time to exchange it, else you will be stuck always wondering if you should have done so.

In terms of 14" vs 16": go with your instinct and emotions. Don't overthink it. It has to be joyful to use.