Luminar AI vs Neo - which runs quicker on Windows 11?
Answered
I started a trial for Luminar AI on a Mac and really liked using the software. However, the software started to get slower as the trial went on and as I explored more and more settings and tools. The Macbook Pro has 8GB of RAM but it's quite old (perhaps purchased ten years ago). Hence, I thought it was the computer that was not up to the task. I therefore bought a new laptop, this laptop...
It's a £800 gamer's laptop and since it's a gaming laptop it should (I would think) zoom along for a bit of photo editing.
The laptop has a fresh install of Windows 11 out of the box (or it upgraded itself before I ever saw the desktop). I decided to trial Luminar Neo on the Windows laptop as that looked even more interesting than AI.
I am currently facing the problem where when working with Neo it grinds to an almost halt and makes the fans on the laptop scream. It takes minutes to move around and click on things. For example, two minutes to open the crop tool of a previously edited RAW file. Video link (it's a two-minute-long video and apart from a little scrolling around in the Catalog panel, the video just shows me waiting for the Crop tool to load)...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mKtBJFfF4Pv2MvoisWAc6_bYuNJHG1Rp/view
Note: You cannot hear the noise the computer makes, but the laptop's fans were screaming during the event and then calmed down after I closed the Crop function.
I edit RAW files that are on the local/internal hard drive. The photos are from a camera that is mostly (90%) a Canon 5D Mark 2 with a 16-35mm L lens.
Note: The laptop came with a trial of Norton Anti-Virus. Switching off the real-time scanner doesn't resolve the issue.
Screenshots:
MSInfo details:
OS Name Microsoft Windows 11 Home
Version 10.0.22000 Build 22000
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name MSI
System Manufacturer Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
System Model Alpha 15 B5EEK
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU 158L.1
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with Radeon Graphics, 3201 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends International, LLC. E158LAMS.107, 10/11/2021
SMBIOS Version 3.3
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode UEFI
BaseBoard Manufacturer Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
BaseBoard Product MS-158L
BaseBoard Version REV:1.0
Platform Role Mobile
Secure Boot State On
PCR7 Configuration Elevation Required to View
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.22000.778"
User Name MSI\mark
Time Zone GMT Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 15.4 GB
Available Physical Memory 10.9 GB
Total Virtual Memory 18.3 GB
Available Virtual Memory 8.95 GB
Page File Space 2.88 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Kernel DMA Protection Off
Virtualization-based security Running
Virtualization-based security Required Security Properties
Virtualization-based security Available Security Properties Base Virtualization Support, Secure Boot, DMA Protection, UEFI Code Readonly, SMM Security Mitigations 1.0, Mode Based Execution Control
Virtualization-based security Services Configured
Virtualization-based security Services Running
Device Encryption Support Elevation Required to View
A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed.
I have a few questions:
- Is it accepted that the software is quicker on a Mac than Windows?
- Is Windows 10 any faster than Windows 11?
- Does Luminar AI on Windows 11 run without performance problems or is Neo and AI both affected?
- Is it accepted that it is not the computer that is not under spec'ed but the software (at least on Windows) is currently at fault?
Any help appreciated! I love the software I really want to help work with the dev team to understand and resolve the issues. Happy to be a guinea pig if required.
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Hi!
Usually, the performance depends on the number of photos you have in your catalog, their format (it can take a bit more time to load RAW or TIFF files), your hardware configuration, and the place where you store your photos (it works faster when the photos are located on an internal drive).
Nevertheless, we are constantly improving the speed of the app to provide our artists with the best quality. In fact, it's one of our top priorities at the moment.
Could you please clarify if the performance issue appears only with the Crop AI tool? Or does it remain with applying any tool?
Where are the images you're working with located (on an internal or external drive)?
Please try to increase the size of the pagefile:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-virtual-memory-size-windows-10
The minimum and maximum size of the Pagefile can be up to 1.5 times and 4 times of the physical memory that your computer has, respectively. For example, if your computer has 16GB of RAM, you can calculate your minimum paging file size with this equation: 16 GB x 1.5, and your maximum paging file size with this one: 16 GB x 4. The totals would be 24 GB (24576 MB) and 64 GB (65536 MB) of RAM respectively.
If it doesn’t help, please get the settings back to the automatic management, please see the screenshot: https://prnt.sc/oQAAMtqloVnS
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Thanks for the reply! As mentioned in the original post the images are all on the local drive so that should be pretty quick access times.
The link provided was to Windows 10 but since I have Windows 11 I followed these...
Since both articles mention "available memory" I don't think your calculation using the value of 16GB of RAM is correct. While I have 16GB of physical RAM, what is available is 10GB.
And on that subject, it looks like Luminar Neo takes a heck of a lot of memory because if I run it and reload MSInfo32 (System Information) I see...
To confirm: the Crop is what first may me want to reach out for help. Overall, the software is hanging and lagging. So, it's not just the Crop function. I constantly get black thumbnails in the Catalog panel as the image fails to render. The Crop seems to highlight the issue (perfectly for troubleshooting etc.). When clicking the Crop function on a previously edited RAW file Task Manger shows Luminar Neo is eating system resources...
I've increased the Pagefile (shown above in the screenshots). The computer still turned on the fans to max and struggled but not by two minutes. Screenshot above is with the Pagefile increase in place.
I will continue to test and monitor over the next couple of days but doesn't look like it's made a vast improvement.
Can you confirm if AI has the same issues as Neo at the moment?
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Hi,
Luminar AI may also have an increased resource consumption. However, such things as the time to apply a default preset and sync adjustments between photos may be less there. We're working on it.
You can run a trial here:
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Thanks! I'll finish off the Neo trial and then - hopefully - start an AI one as I would like to test that too.
Luminar AI looks like it would meet most of my needs, but if I go for a subscription purchase of Neo I believe I'll benefit from updates once the performance improvements are released. I can understand how stressing it is right now for all of the Skylum team so releases are probably delayed - totally understandable.
For an update on the performance issues I was having...having increased the Pagefile I'm happy to report a success day of editing without much lag and very little fan noise. Thanks for the support!
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