Does the video card on my iMac affect my Adobe Programs? I'm having problems...

That's a lotta Macs!

I don't really work with iMac internal hardware and don't have any hardware experience with MacBooks.

I am a Desktop using Mac user.

iMacs have never been designed inside for user servicing/upgrading/repairing.

I spent many, many years repairing and upgrading older PowerMac models and even the occasional iMac.

I own a sole iMac that is my only work Mac.

iMacs have too many fasteners and small, very fiddly connections that you really have to be careful not to break.

So, I really don't want to try and work inside this iMac, myself.

I have a really good local AASP here that I trust with iMac, so I have them work on my iMac when I can afford it!

My iMac's internal hard drive is finally starting to fail, after 8 years, and I couldn't afford to replace it.

So, I purchased an external FireWire 800 enclosed SSD and boot and run my iMac from this external SSD.

Using an SSD, even an external one, has sped up the responsiveness of my late 2009 iMac considerably!

It's a very noticeable speed difference and it waa cheaper to purchase than paying for a new internal hard drive or internal SSD and the labor costs to install it!

I am not sure what assistance I would be to you outside of these forums, but I will consider your request.

[Edited by Moderator]

At this stage, this person has created her own issues and shouldn't be angry or P'O'ed at anyone, but herself!

Does she know anything about Macs, at all?

I reallly think this is HER PROBLEM and not really yours.

Have her sign up in the Adobe forums and have her ask her own questions.

Have her signed up herem with her own Apple ID and password, in the Apple support communities forums to ask her questions, too!

She has caused her own problems and issues at this point!

She didn't do the necessary research before installing the latest Adobe Creative Cloud or do reseaerch to find out what Mac specs she needed to run it!

She could have come here and signed up first to ask questions before purchasing this iMac from you.

She may have needed a new or refurbished iMac with different hardware spec requirements.

There are other video suites available that may work with that iMac.

iMovie

Voilabits Video Editor

Adobe Premiere Elements (instead of the Pro version)

FInal Cut Pro X, if not editing 4K video, only needs 256 MBs VRAM GPU.

There are one-time, cheaper priced equivalents to Adobe Apps, with lesser system requirements, also.

For image editing.

Serif Labs Affinity Photo

Pixelmator (a very good Photoshop look and work-a-like)

Substitute for Adobe Illustrator

Serif Labs Affinity Designer

Welll...

Photoshop Lightroom CC/Lightroom 6 system requirements and language versions

• Intel® or AMD processor with 64-bit support*
• Microsoft Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (64-bit), Windows 8.1 (64-bit) or Windows 10 (64-bit)
• 2 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
• 1024 x 768 display
  
• 1 GB of Video RAM (VRAM). 2 GB of dedicated VRAM is suggested for large, high-resolution monitors, such as 4K- and 5K-resolution monitors.
  
• 2 GB of available hard-disk space
• DVD-ROM drive required if purchasing Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® retail boxed version
• OpenGL 3.3 and DirectX 10-capable video adapter for GPU-related functionality
• Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, validation of subscriptions, and access to online services.†

• Multicore Intel processor with 64-bit support*
• macOS 10.10 (Yosemite), 10.11 (El Capitan), 10.12 (Sierra)**
  
• 2 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
• 1024 x 768 display
  
• 1 GB of Video RAM (VRAM). 2 GB of dedicated VRAM is suggested for large, high-resolution monitors, such as 4K- and 5K-resolution monitors.
  
• 2 GB of available hard-disk space (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices)
• DVD-ROM drive required if purchasing Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® retail boxed version
• OpenGL 3.3–capable video adapter for GPU-related functionality
• Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, validation of subscriptions, and access to online services.†

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/system-requirements.html

The first place to check is with Adobe: check the system requirements of any/all of the products you are trying to use.

I found this googling - it's a bit old, but may just answer your question:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1667808

It also depends on how much RAM you have and you do need plenty of hard drive space for editing/rendering graphics and videos.

EtreCheck is a simple little app to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac.

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

No.

You can't damage hardware running applications that don't support it.

The applications just won't run very well.

What year MacBook Pro is this?

Which OS X version are you running?

The signature in your posting is OS X 10.7 which is quite old.

How much hard drive storage space is left on your MacBook Pro.

Adobe Photoshop AND Premiere NEED lots of data storage space as well as RAM.

Other issues are a laptop, EVEN a MacBook Pro is not that powerful enough computer to process large image files and large video files.

The CPU and GPU in MacBooks aren't the most powerful and if that MacBook is stil using slow 5400 RPM laptop standard hard drive, instead of a SSD (Solid State flash memory Drive), then the read/write speed of that drive is slowing your MacBook Pro, also.

If possible, you should be running Photoshop and Premiere alone with no other running background apps, for best performance on any MacBook line.

You have an iMac NOT a MacBook Pro.

Got it!

It's the GPU that's causing the issue!

Nothing you can do about that.

Have you just tried using Premiere Pro alone with no other apps running in the background to see if you have better luck getting this to work for you?

What version of OS X are you running?

Any reason why you decided to upgrade from Adobe CS5 if this was working fine for you?

I am still running Adobe CS4 on OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks because I absolutely refuse to pay Adobe's monthly subscription/"conscription" pricing model.

So, you no longer own this iMac.

Why are you dealing with their issues.

Why aren't the new owners of this iMac signed up here asking these questions?

No.

You can't just "mess up" a GPU or any piece of computer hardware trying to get a piece software to work properly.

That is not possible, unless they cracked opened the iMac and tried to tamper and/or tried to replace the GPU themselves, which is not advisable as this is not an easily user replaceable item.

That year and model iMac had all sorts of options.

A 1or 2 Gbs video card was one of them.

An i7 CPU, a full SSD option.

The buyer should have done their homework about this iMac before buying.

Did you tell the seller all of the specs of this iMac you sold to them?

Why has this become YOUR issue?

The buyers were the ones that installed other upgraded third party software and, possibly, upgraded the OS on the iMac you sold to them.

How is all this YOUR responsibility?

babowa wrote:

Well, there is an entirely different problem if he sold the iMac with all those programs. Are Adobe licenses transferable?

They used to be (this is how I obtained my Adobe CS3 license as a transfer of ownership license), but I don't know if Adobe deals with older license transfers any older Adobe CS collections products, any longer!

If this person hasn't cracked open this iMac to tamper or try replacing the GPU or do anything else inside of this iMac, then there is no way to damage any of the hardware.

This person has simply did things to this iMac that this person should have reserached before doing so and in the process, this iMsc is now having difficulties.

What OS X version was running on this iMac before you sold this iMac and what version of the OS this iMac is running, now?

Good to hear; well, then it is her problem for not researching the requirements for the programs she wants to install and/or buying a computer that is compatible. It's wonderful that you are trying to help, but you will need to tell her that she did not ask about or research the requirements for the apps she wants to use, so it really is not your problem.