More ram or faster processor?
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Hi hi hi!
I'm still using my laptop (since January 2004) but it feels slow when using lightroom.
It is a Pentium M 1400MHz, 512mb ram.
It starts to become really really slow when using lightroom, so slow that the whole laptop slows down, takes many minutes to change windows etc.
Will adding more RAM help this?
Or must I get a faster processor?
Thanks!
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This is a DNAQ reply, but unfortunately I can't answer the ram/processor question.
What I can suggest is re-optimizing your Lightroom library. Under the "general" tab of the "Catalog Settings" menu item, you'll see 'relaunch and optimize'. This will often make LR a little snappier, and may reduce the overall drain on your computer. There are also options to discard older image previews which may help.
Another option is to start a new catalog. I actually have four catalogs since the single one I was using became too cumbersome. (Original catalog, archive catalog of even older files and jpegs, work images, and my current catalog.) This also gives a great opportunity to clean house, and start making better use of keywording & rating photos, in case you want to change your workflow to be more DAM-friendly. I imagine I'll start using new catalogs annually or semi-annually from now on.
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Hey Adam,
If you are planning on keeping your current laptop for a while, I'd definately recommend adding more RAM. Most laptops don't easily allow for processor upgrades but they should handle RAM upgrades no worries. But regardless, I reckon you'll get a much better performance boost with more RAM given your current situation. 512mb is just not enough for serious image editing to run smoothly IMHO.
Photoshop in particular loves plenty of RAM to play with. If I were you I'd be trying to upgrade to 1.5 - 2Gb.
I guess it also depends a bit on how many RAM slots are in your lappy - you might have to toss out your current 512mb in order to replace it with something bigger... or you might have a spare slot or two.
What brand lappy is it? I'd suggest finding out what kind and speed RAM it uses and then buying it from a generic PC supplier (somewhere like PLE Computers here in Perth), rather than buying the official Toshiba, Dell, HP or whatever brand the laptop is. It should work out a LOT cheaper, and changing RAM in a laptop is usually not much harder than changing a SIM card in a phone. You could probably just take your laptop into the store and they'd sort you out on the spot.
ps: Is your display calibrated? Laptop displays are notorious for not reproducing colours accurately. On the few lappy screens that I've calibrated I've noticed large changes before and after the calibration, compared to not much change for desktop LCD monitors.
Adrian Broughton
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Yeah definitely RAM. At least double it. I run lightroom on my laptop on 1280MB of RAM, and it runs "tolerably". I run it on my desktop with 2GB and it runs well.
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RAM will definitely help.
Canon stuff.
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The more RAM you can install the better
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Thanks all for the advice!
I'll have to investigate the price of ram and perhaps get some as a temporary thing until I get a big powerful desktop.
Or just save up for the powerful desktop!
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ram ram ram!
I upgraded to 1GB ram on my ancient laptop (compac) and it felt like upgrading to a Porsche from a Golf. I am easily using PS CSII, but Lightroom would probably tie it up allright too.
uli
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My laptop is an Acer Travelmate 371TCi.
I've now decided to avoid spending more on upgrades for it, and use the money to buy a powerful desktop computer instead.
The screen is callibrated - but probably not very good - it is an old laptop screen afterall!
So.... new desktop... imac? 
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iMac.
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iMac!
I think the consideration between RAM and CPU is that - if your system doesn't have enough RAM, it will page to hard disk often, thus slowing it down. Adding more will definitely make things appear faster, especially for memory intensive apps.
If your memory is not maxed out though, adding more RAM will not make it any faster - you need a faster CPU.
For most of us though, #1 applies more often than not because photoshop is a resource hog..
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