Slow performance when editing photos

Question

Hi fam, 

I purchased a fancy new Surface Book 2 almost two years back to edit the images I make as a photographer. I favour using Adobe Lightroom CC. My SB2 was top of the line at the time: 15" with 16gb RAM, 512gb of space and a dedicated graphics card. I thought to myself "This'll make editing a breeze!"

I was wrong. The SB2's performance has never quite been up to scratch: even after pumping up the RAW cache to 100GB (about 10x what is recommended), utilising the dedicated GTX1060 graphics card specifically for editing and following just about every tip I could find online to help increase performance... it still struggles with basic photo manipulation, scrolling between different photos, heck even zooming in gives the laptop pause for thought. 

I want to feel the wind on my face as I flick through an edit. I want to feel like my computer knows what I'm doing next and makes it so before I even ask it to. I just want to make small clone stamps here and there without the program feeling like it's about to break in half. 

So, before I look into a new computer at tax-time this year I want to ask you, the community, the folks who know it all: What else can I do to make editing a breeze? 

Many (many) thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi JimABarker,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Community and posting your inquiry.   

As a photographer, we can definitely feel how this can be impacting to your works. We suggest the methods below to troubleshoot:

• Run the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit and check for Windows update. 

- Check the power mode slider. Go to the battery icon > Slide to Best performance and observe if the issue still persists. Setting the Power mode higher than Recommended will impact battery life, remember to lower the slider when no longer need the CPU performance boost when on battery.

• Check GPU performance. Go to search bar > Search for Task manager > Go to performance tab > Check on how the GPU behaves.
• Set GPU as graphics processor. Go to search box > Open Nvidia Control Panel > Go to Manager 3D settings > Under Global settings > Choose "High-performance NVIDIA processor" as the graphics. 
• Download and install the driver's package. Check the specific OS build of your Windows Settings> System> About. Download the driver and firmware for Surface, choose Surface Book 2 and click download on the next page. Please choose the .msi file that matches your current OS Build and click Next. After the download, runand installthe .msi then Restart the Surface Device.

Keep us updated by replying on this thread.

Answer 2

Thanks John - much appreciated. 

I've followed the above instructions - the only part I hadn't tried before was the nvidia control panel - and I'm afraid editing is still quite slow and laggy. 

Cheers, 

Jim

Answer 3

You're welcome, JimABarker. Please try setting the GPU to High-performance NVIDIA processor".

If the still issue persists, proceed with the USB recovery image. This process will wipe everything out on your device and install a fresh operating system. Please make sure that you have back up your files and data either in an External Hard drive or use your OneDrive app. You’ll need a USB (USB stick) with at least 16GB/32 GB and format it clean (make sure that you have chosen FAT32 as the file system while formatting the USB). You'll need a PC running Windows 10 or Surface Device to download the system files/recovery image on the Microsoft Website.   

Note: USB/Flash drives are the only required device for you to perform the follow steps below successfully.• Download the System Files or Recovery Image:1. Go to the Download a recovery image for your Surface.2. If you’re signed in with your Microsoft account, you will be prompt to choose the device from the list of devices on your Microsoft Account. If you’re not signed in, choose a product on the drop-down menu and provide the Serial Number of the device.3. Once the download is finished, go to the file, right-click and choose Extract all then choose the USB/Flash drive.

• Perform the USB recovery:1. Shutdown the device by pressing/holding the power button for 10 seconds until it’s off. 
2. Insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port. 
3. Press and hold the volume-down (-) rocker. 
4,. Press and release the power button. 
5. When the Surface logo appears, release the volume-down (-) rocker. 
6. Choose your language options and keyboard layout. 
7. Select Troubleshoot. 
8. Select Recover from a Drive. Choose Remove Everything and Fully Clean the Drive. Recovering this PC. If prompted for BitLocker Key, tap Skip this Drive. 
9. Select “Recovery”.

Answer 4

John! Thank you so much for this. Apologies for the delayed response; had to find a clear window of time I could do this in. 

I've performed the above now, and can confirm Lightroom works a little faster. It's an improvement, but not the vast, speedy leap I was hoping for. 

Thank you again, 

Jim

Answer 5

Actually, I take it all back! It's still running as slowly as ever. Even loading an image in "develop" mode gives the poor thing pause for thought. I think I'm just gonna have to upgrade, which is ridiculous to me but here we are.