I’m not a professional. I shoot RAW/Jpeg and often the Jpeg is fine. But I’d like to be able to improve/salvage the RAW version of a very good photo if needed. DxO minimum configuration is 16GB RAM. If my system will be slow to respond, frustrating the experience, then I’ll probably wait until I can upgrade to a properly configured machine.
Other specs:
8-core CPU, 10-core GPU; 13.6" Retina display - 2,560x1,664
Thanks.
I use PL9 on a M1 MacBook Air from 2020 (8+8 core, 16GB RAM) and user interaction and export are at least as fast as working on an 5K iMac. Note: 99% of my images come as RAW.
The features that take their time are some of the AI local adjustments. If you don’t plan to use them a lot, your current machine should be okay. The RAM might be a little bit low, but testing PL9 should reveal the impact. Note that you can test PL9 for 30 days, bot only once. So plan ahead and be prepared in order to not waste the time.
I ran PL9 on macOS 14, 15, 26 and have been testing on 27 beta..
I’d recommend to use PL9 on macOS 14 or 15.
Thanks for your response. I didn’t mention that I’m running macOS 26.5.2. I generally stay pretty much up-to-date, installing updates a week or two after they’re released.
I can’t predict what adjustments I’ll need to make, but if it’s a few process-intensive ones taking minutes instead of seconds then I can live with that. It’s too bad you can’t upgrade the memory in these laptops.
A trial run would be the next step but didn’t want to bother if the responsiveness prognosis wasn’t good.
I appreciate your feedback.
I have successfully run PL9 on a MacBook Neo. Certainly noticeably slower on DeepPRIME exports and complex masks, but the basics are absolutely fine.
Thanks. I wasn’t familiar with the Neo but after checking the specs this is encouraging.
Even if you discover in on the first day of the trial that your machine can’t cope the minimal effort of running the trial is most definitely worth the bother. The trial is fully functional for 30 days and it’s completely free.
Also, if you don’t run the trial, you run the risk of wasting a lot of money on software you can’t use, since the chances of getting a refund from DxO are vanishingly small.
I ran it on a MacBook M1 with 8GB RAM.
Using the AI masks slowed it down a bit as did the Deep Prime noise reduction. I typically did the NR reduction at the end. Exports were very slow, but I would do them in bulk while I made dinner, had a cup of tea, went for a walk etc.
It’s certainly manageable, but as others have said, use the trial option to confirm.
Responsiveness will also depend on the image size, I was editing 50MB images from a Sony A1.
Only 8GB of ram is a problem, but not necessarily for DeepPRIME exports . How long does a typical DeepPRIME export take on your machine?
Mark
Perhaps on a Wintel box. I know people who’ve used 8GB M1 MacBook Airs for years. So long as you don’t get silly with it, it’s fine. You just don’t leave a dozen apps open and expect them all to hum away in the background.
By contrast, I often have a lot more running on my 48GB MacBook Pro (M4 Pro) than 6 times what I run on the Neo and it is also fine.
40-100 seconds was typical if I recall. I upgraded to a Mac Mini and now its a lot faster.
Yes. I use an M2 8GB for travel. No issues at all. My M4 mini with a lot more memory is slightly snappier for some things, but generally, it is absolutely fine. DeepPRIME exports take just a few seconds. I also have the latest Final Cut Pro with several Fabfilter audio plugins running on it = again, gets the job done and delivers the goods.
I just like to mention: i does some measurements on different raw types (camera body), see in here: Budget GPU for PL - #28 by andras.csore.
I copy the relevant tables:
Of course, the performance (Megapixel / second) is based on my PC system, but i think the ratio between the raw types is ‘universal’.
Add-on: also masking (‘manual’ AI, ‘Pre-defined’ AI and standard (like CP)) performance ratios in that thread.
I , too, am an old-timer (71M) and I have a Mac mini M2 with 16GB RAM. For me, there are no issues. I just ditched Lightroom because of the catalog (I messed it up) and the recurring fees. Lightroom was very fast and, IMHO, DxO is acceptable for the hobbyist.
Thanks Larry. I’m at 8GB RAM but it looks like it should be able to handle the editing that I’ll need to do. That will be confirmed when I try out the trial version.
You may need to quit other applications while running DPL especially the likes of Firefox that hog the RAM like crazy.
Thanks. That won’t be a problem.
Same computer but M1 and no problem except it’s somewhat slow
