Lightroom performance is TERRIBLE after upgrade to Big Sur

LR is slow, long halts often (10-20 seconds), complete lockups, at one point the entire Mac crashed. Anyone have any ideas?

Apple: What did you do?

iMac 27″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Dec 14, 2020 9:39 PM

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Brady Nations Author

Level 1

60 points

Posted on Dec 17, 2020 9:08 PM

Looks like my earlier reply is buried in a long string, so let me repeat the key details. The problem only occurred on my iMac. My MacBook Pro has been working fine. Detailed troubleshooting pointed out that it was the cursor that was locking up, especially when the mouse or trackpad was dragging for input (eg. moving a slider, dragging the crop box, etc.). The solution came by downgrading from LR10.1 to 10.0. Once I did that, it's been working fine, in fact better than it ever had in LR9.x.

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dialabrain

Level 10

135,761 points

Dec 14, 2020 9:52 PM in response to Brady Nations

Brady Nations wrote:

LR is slow, long halts often (10-20 seconds), complete lockups, at one point the entire Mac crashed. Anyone have any ideas?

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/macos-big-sur.html

Apple: What did you do?

Apple is not here. This is a user forum.

Halliday

Level 4

2,677 points

Dec 15, 2020 9:22 PM in response to Brady Nations

Why are you quoting what appear to be Memory (actually RAM) Numbers, rather than CPU %, Brady Nations?

If other programs are causing Lightroom to run slow, that means they must be taking a significant portion of the CPU (maybe GPU, but background tasks seldom use much GPU).

Dec 15, 2020 9:57 PM in response to Halliday

You're correct. Those are Memory numbers. LR and Windowserver are the two big users. There are dozens of other processes that are 0.0 %CPU. When I do a task in LR it's CPU% jumps WAY up, at times higher than 100%.

Dec 16, 2020 1:30 PM in response to Halliday

A new twist: I have an iMac and a MacBook Pro. Both are running the latest LR and Big Sur. ONLY the iMac has the problem. It appears to be the mouse driver that is freezing the cursor movement on the display. Mouse or Trackpad movement is still being received, as the cursor will jump to a new position once the display becomes unfrozen. Alas, it will freeze quickly once in a new position. The problem pertains to where the cursor is representing an input position, such as moving a slider, or changing the size of an on screen box. It moves fine if just moving freely around the screen. Tried both trackpad and mouse: both behave the same. Thoughts?

Dec 14, 2020 10:03 PM in response to dialabrain

I have to believe that Apple pays attention to what their users are saying.

Dec 15, 2020 9:32 AM in response to Halliday

LR is up to date. Big Sur wasn't. Upgraded to 11.1. Showed minimal improvement. LR is still quite "jerky". Barely usable.

Dec 15, 2020 10:05 AM in response to Halliday

Yes. Their current stance is that LR is compatible with Big Sur, but I'm not alone in having the problem. Their User Forum has many reports of problems. Hopefully it's getting some attention.

Dec 15, 2020 12:19 PM in response to Old Toad

No. Any suggestions?

Halliday

Level 4

2,677 points

Dec 16, 2020 9:00 PM in response to Brady Nations

Sounds like a plan, Brady Nations!

What of RAM (Memory)?

Dec 16, 2020 9:21 PM in response to Halliday

You too.

Halliday

Level 4

2,677 points

Dec 17, 2020 1:46 PM in response to Kap2021

If the same problem, Kap2021, try what worked for Brady Nations.

Magnaza

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2021 2:26 PM in response to Brady Nations

Same problem here...

Magnaza

Level 1

8 points

Jan 25, 2021 2:28 PM in response to Brady Nations

How do you downgrade to LR 10.0?

clive189

Level 1

4 points

Feb 9, 2021 6:08 AM in response to Brady Nations

I have exactly the same problem and it’s on my iMac

Halliday

Level 4

2,677 points

Dec 15, 2020 10:40 AM in response to Brady Nations

Have you checked to see if you have other software, utilities, background tasks, system extensions, etc., running on your system, Brady Nations?

Other heavy tasks, running on your system, could, certainly, “drain” the performance of your system: you would notice this most when running an Application that places high demand on your system, such as Lightroom.

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Lightroom performance is TERRIBLE after upgrade to Big Sur