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I'm upgrading the 8GB Ram in my 27' iMac, late 2015 build and wondering if 16GB would be sufficient for fairly heavy use Photoshop Elements and Apple Photos Use. Video usage is beginning to go up as well.
Running Monterey 12.6 and noticing lots more lag time. Thanks folks
iMac 27″, macOS 12.6
More memory is almost always beneficial, but before you buy more first determine if a lack of available memory is limiting your Mac's performance.
Use Activity Monitor on your Mac - Apple Support. If its unitless "Memory Pressure" graph is frequently "red" your Mac would benefit from additional memory. If not, it won't. It's that simple.
If your Mac is performing poorly, please determine if the same problems occur in "Safe Mode": How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support.
More memory is almost always beneficial, but before you buy more first determine if a lack of available memory is limiting your Mac's performance.
Use Activity Monitor on your Mac - Apple Support. If its unitless "Memory Pressure" graph is frequently "red" your Mac would benefit from additional memory. If not, it won't. It's that simple.
If your Mac is performing poorly, please determine if the same problems occur in "Safe Mode": How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support.
I have PSE and a 2017 iMac with 16 GB of RAM. The only time I had any "slowdown" in PSE was when I was editing a 250+MB jpeg image with the Healing Brush. It too a couple of seconds to complete.
I strongly recommend getting the RAM from either Crucial.com or OWC (MacSales.com). Macs are very particular about RAM quality and the two mentioned vendors test the RAM in the models they are intended for to they can guarantee compatilbity. Also getting their RAM from 3rd party vendors like Amazon or eBy can get you the modules that didn't pass their Mac quality tests. Most of us here won't use any other RAM than from those two vendors.
Thanks for the very logical step by step approach to finding a solution, given my skill level.
Activity Monitor reading of memory is solidly green at least when my Mac is at rest. Can I assume that using the Monitor while my Mac is under a load is the correct way to check for more meaningful readings? Also looking forward to giving your Safe Mode suggestion a go.
Thanks for the SSD suggestion. The res on all pics is around 8 so not, I would think, really the problem. Both Elements 22 and Apple Photos slow down to a crawl as the workload on each app increases through any and all processing options.
Can I assume that using the Monitor while my Mac is under a load is the correct way to check for more meaningful readings?
Yes. Keep Activity Monitor open with the Memory tab selected. Let it continue to run in the background while you perform some particularly demanding tasks such as using Photoshop. Ideally, the Memory Pressure graph should never become "red". If it does, it means your Mac was starved for RAM during that time, and adding more would help.
It could help if photos are very high res, could be that a ssd hd would help more
Here are the system requirements for Photoshop Elements 2023.
My machine seems to meet the current requirements of my Elements 22 with a little extra to spare. Thanks for reminding me to check the (overlooked) basics on this.
I thought my 2015 iMac deserved a memory boost and sent for 2 4GB cards from OWC. Wish I could do the same for my 74 year old, 1948 model. Thanks for steering me to a trusted equipment supply source.
Ram Upgrade from 8 to 16 or more for Heavy Photoshop Elements use?
