Supported GPUs: Discrete Necessary?

[skennedy789]

Hi all,

I'm considering moving from a 2014 15" Macbook Pro with a Nvidia 750m to a Skylake Surface Book. I'd like to save some money and battery by buying a model without the discrete chip. I know a quad core CPU is a must because the CPU really matters for 2D applications. Now, I know both GPUs are supported for acceleration in Adobe CC programs. But does the extra power on the discrete chip (and other, more recent discrete chips) matter for Lightroom and other 2D applications like Illustrator? Basically, if a GPU is supported, will I notice a difference between any of them?

[dj_paige]

You will notice a difference from GPU acceleration if you have a 4K or larger monitor and a supported GPU and LR6/LR CC 2015

[skennedy789]

I know I'll notice the difference between accelerated and not accelerated, but what about the difference between a 750m and a Skylake Iris, since both are supported, but the 750m is a good bit more powerful than the Iris.

[F. McLion]

Ad dj_paige already said. You will only notice a difference from activated GPU acceleration with a 4k (or higher) monitor. For lower resolution monitors it may even be faster when the GPU acceleration is turned off - if you have fast CPU.

So, the first and most important thing is a fast CPU. Second, and only on 4k or higher monitors, a fast GPU can speed up (only!) the Develop module.

[bob frost]

And only some things in the Develop module, not all.

Bob Frost

[dj_paige]

skennedy789 wrote:

I know I'll notice the difference between accelerated and not accelerated, but what about the difference between a 750m and a Skylake Iris, since both are supported, but the 750m is a good bit more powerful than the Iris.

This brings up the question: where is your Lightroom slow? Please be very specific, state what modules and actions are slow in your Lightroom.

[Todd Shaner]

skennedy789 wrote:

Hi all,

I'm considering moving from a 2014 15" Macbook Pro with a Nvidia 750m to a Skylake Surface Book. I'd like to save some money and battery by buying a model without the discrete chip.

The Surface Book has a 3000x2000 resolution display, which is pretty close to your current 2014 15" MacBook Pro (2880x1800). It may very well benefit from a discrete Nvida GPU. Have you tried using the MacBook Pro (2880x1800) with LR GPU both enabled and then disabled? That will tell you something right their, correct? Just make sure the Nvidia GPU is actually "turned on" when you run that test.

Also keep in mind GPU support in LR is very new and Adobe will most likely find ways to more fully utilize that capability.

My suggestions is to buy a Surface Book configuration with the highest performance i7 Quad-core processor, Nvidia GPU and a minimum of 16GB memory. Anything short of that list you might as well stick with your current 2014 15" Macbook Pro for a while longer.