Mac Mini Slowing Down - Question for Adobe Users

[james*b]

Hi
I noticed my new mac mini (6,2/Quad Core/4gb/SSD) beginning to seriously slow down for the first time yesterday.
I was editing a photo in Lightroom 4 with about seven local selection masks and the mini became nearly unusable.
At one point the activity monitor showed Lightroom CPU use at 400%+ (and RAM 2GB+).
Is this normal? Is there anything I can do (other than use less masks/buy a mac pro etc!)?
Thanks in advance!

 

[opinio]

Hi
I noticed my new mac mini (6,2/Quad Core/4gb/SSD) beginning to seriously slow down for the first time yesterday.
I was editing a photo in Lightroom 4 with about seven local selection masks and the mini became nearly unusable.
At one point the activity monitor showed Lightroom CPU use at 400%+ (and RAM 2GB+).
Is this normal? Is there anything I can do (other than use less masks/buy a mac pro etc!)?
Thanks in advance!

2 8gb Corsair Vengeance RAM chips (total 16gb) would go a long way to helping. 4gb is pretty low for photo editing.

 

[james*b]

2 8gb Corsair Vengeance RAM chips (total 16gb) would go a long way to helping. 4gb is pretty low for photo editing.

Thanks - but according to the activity monitor, doesn't it appear that it is the CPU which is maxing out, not the RAM?

 

[Che Castro]

James if one program uses 2gb of ram and you only have 4

16gb is better

 

[Padaung]

I'd go with more RAM too. Cheap and easy to install. The rest of your machine is very quick, the memory is almost certainly holding you back.

 

[opinio]

Thanks - but according to the activity monitor, doesn't it appear that it is the CPU which is maxing out, not the RAM?

The CPU isn't running at 400%. I think the CPU% in activity monitor is the percentage of allotted usage. So 400% is 4 times what it should be using under normal allotment. My interpretation will be corrected here for sure.

For example if I run the CPU actually (truly at 100%) at 100% (as set out in iStat Menus), the app I am using (HandBrake) is taking 750% while another app is taking 20% and another 10% etc.

Someone can explain it better than me I am sure, but certainly when it says your app is on 400% in the '%CPU' column in activity monitor it does not mean you CPU is running 400% on its 2.3GHz frequency max.

 

[fa8362]

You ran out of RAM. Get more.

 

[elolaugesen]

More ram is always better and low cost upgrade....

cheers elo