Playing the "Used Game" and Consolidating to one Mac

[ray_burnimage]

For the last few years my primary Mac has been a 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 30-core GPU, 32GB Ram and 1TB SSD.

It's a fine machine for my stills only Lightroom Classic workflow, but I regret going for the 16" because working remotely with it for my movie stills photography and travelling with it proved to be a bit too large and heavy for my tastes.

For that reason I later added 13" M1 MacBook Air, which is a great travel size and weight, but bears no comparison performance or screen quality wise. Plus it means two machines to juggle and a slightly less elegant backup strategy.

So, I decided the obvious thing to do, for my needs, was to consolidate those two Macs into a single 14" Max.

I know some folk swear by the 16" for the extra screen real estate, but at the end of the day I do all my critical editing back at home on a 27" Eizo, and 13", 14" or 16" screens don't compare to that.

Rather, when remotely working, I'm interested in importing, rating, culling and basic edits.

A professional shoot might involve 500-1000 images per day, shooting bursts to capture "the moment", so there's a lot of culling to do there, perhaps down to 100 selects. Plus, I revert to DXO PureRaw when shooting high ISO's. My files are Sony A1 @ 50mp.

That all means I favour a Max chip with Ram and GPU cores being of importance to me.

So, if I'm upgrading, I'll add a bit more of each! A larger internal SSD wouldn't go amiss either!

However, speccing up a machine like that gets expensive real fast, as we all know.

A new 14" M4 Max with 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 64GB Ram and 2 TB SSD runs £4300 GPB here in the UK.

So I looked up a trusted used/refurbished supplier I've had good luck with in the past, Hoxton Macs here in the UK.

They had a 14" M3 Max with the same spec of 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 64GB Ram and 2TB SSD rated "excellent" for £2400 GBP, a big saving!

So, I pulled the trigger and was delighted to receive what appears to be a brand new machine, it was even eligible for AppleCare, which I opted to take!

I'm sharing this story because some folk maybe interested in/considering a similar consolidation. And some might be thinking about playing the used/refurbished route too.

As for the machine itself, I'm delighted with it. I don't measure performance per se, but it's noticeably faster at 1:1 preview generation, exporting and DXO Pure Raw too, so this saves me time.

I tend to keep my Macs on average for about 4 years and I feel this beast will last me all of that, and possibly longer.

This time I opted for a fresh install rather than migrating my old machine, which I've tended to do in the past. I'm glad I did as it cured a coupe of niggles for me.

A minor one being I had lost audible confirmation when I press send on an email and I'd never been able to fix it.

A more major niggle that's been cured was random disk ejects and warning messages for external drives connected via my Caldigit TS3 Plus. Touch wood that is all solid and stable now.

Overall I'm a happy bunny and as a working Pro my kit has to justify its cost.

--
Follow: https://www.instagram.com/ray_burnimage/

 

[Zeee]

I had a 13" 2020 M1 which used for travel however I'm not working. It's just a hobby. I found 13" a tad small so I traded that in for a new 15" MacBook Air M3, 24GB RAM and 512GB. That bit of extra size made a big difference. O'm used to my desktop which is a 27" 5K screen.

I tell people to go a little bigger if they can manage it. Our age makes a difference as well.

--
Funny how millions of people on an internet platform where they can communicate instantaneously with people on the other side of the world using incredibly powerful handheld computers linked to orbiting the satellites hundreds of miles in space don’t believe in science. Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

[ray_burnimage]

I had a 13" 2020 M1 which used for travel however I'm not working. It's just a hobby. I found 13" a tad small so I traded that in for a new 15" MacBook Air M3, 24GB RAM and 512GB. That bit of extra size made a big difference. O'm used to my desktop which is a 27" 5K screen.

I tell people to go a little bigger if they can manage it. Our age makes a difference as well.

The 15" Air is a fine choice for travel. But for my needs it doesn't have the processing grunt that a Max chip with more GPU cores and Ram gives me.

We are spoilt for choice, it's just a question of making the right choice (which may change over time too).

 

[Zeee]

I had a 13" 2020 M1 which used for travel however I'm not working. It's just a hobby. I found 13" a tad small so I traded that in for a new 15" MacBook Air M3, 24GB RAM and 512GB. That bit of extra size made a big difference. O'm used to my desktop which is a 27" 5K screen.

I tell people to go a little bigger if they can manage it. Our age makes a difference as well.

The 15" Air is a fine choice for travel. But for my needs it doesn't have the processing grunt that a Max chip with more GPU cores and Ram gives me.

That is true. If I was doing what you do I would have beefed mine up as well. I stopped using PureRaw after Adobe released Denoise AI. I might have kept using it for the really tough edits if I was working. It should be pretty fast on the Max and I'm hoping they enable the Neural Engine soon. That sped up my old 2020 MB M1, 16GB RAM by 75%. You have to use what gets the job done for you.

We are spoilt for choice, it's just a question of making the right choice (which may change over time too).

 

[The Point and Shoot Pro]

I had a 13" 2020 M1 which used for travel however I'm not working. It's just a hobby. I found 13" a tad small so I traded that in for a new 15" MacBook Air M3, 24GB RAM and 512GB. That bit of extra size made a big difference. O'm used to my desktop which is a 27" 5K screen.

I tell people to go a little bigger if they can manage it. Our age makes a difference as well.

The 15" Air is a fine choice for travel. But for my needs it doesn't have the processing grunt that a Max chip with more GPU cores and Ram gives me.

We are spoilt for choice, it's just a question of making the right choice (which may change over time too).

Hi Ray, what video files do you work with?

 

[ray_burnimage]

I had a 13" 2020 M1 which used for travel however I'm not working. It's just a hobby. I found 13" a tad small so I traded that in for a new 15" MacBook Air M3, 24GB RAM and 512GB. That bit of extra size made a big difference. O'm used to my desktop which is a 27" 5K screen.

I tell people to go a little bigger if they can manage it. Our age makes a difference as well.

The 15" Air is a fine choice for travel. But for my needs it doesn't have the processing grunt that a Max chip with more GPU cores and Ram gives me.

We are spoilt for choice, it's just a question of making the right choice (which may change over time too).

Hi Ray, what video files do you work with?

I’m stills only. But I bulk process a lot of images, often 500 plus per shoot day. Plus AI NR quite a bit. So that’s where I appreciate extra GPU cores and more ram. It speeds things up a lot.

 

[Jacques Cornell]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

--
Event professional for 20+ years, travel & landscape enthusiast for 30+, stills-only.
http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos

 

[Zeee]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

Just curious. Did DXO actually fix the issue they also experienced with the NR or are they still using a work around? I loved that up a few months ago but couldn't find an answer.

--
Funny how millions of people on an internet platform where they can communicate instantaneously with people on the other side of the world using incredibly powerful handheld computers linked to orbiting the satellites hundreds of miles in space don’t believe in science. Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

[Zeee]

I had a 13" 2020 M1 which used for travel however I'm not working. It's just a hobby. I found 13" a tad small so I traded that in for a new 15" MacBook Air M3, 24GB RAM and 512GB. That bit of extra size made a big difference. O'm used to my desktop which is a 27" 5K screen.

I tell people to go a little bigger if they can manage it. Our age makes a difference as well.

The 15" Air is a fine choice for travel. But for my needs it doesn't have the processing grunt that a Max chip with more GPU cores and Ram gives me.

We are spoilt for choice, it's just a question of making the right choice (which may change over time too).

Hi Ray, what video files do you work with?

I’m stills only. But I bulk process a lot of images, often 500 plus per shoot day. Plus AI NR quite a bit. So that’s where I appreciate extra GPU cores and more ram. It speeds things up a lot.

Yes not only RAM but cores make a difference. A fellow on a different site has a maxed out Mac Studio with lots of cores and Adobe Denoise is clocking at 8 seconds.

 

[Jacques Cornell]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

Just curious. Did DXO actually fix the issue they also experienced with the NR or are they still using a work around? I loved that up a few months ago but couldn't find an answer.

I have never seen any magenta cast, and I apply DeepPRIME of various flavors to almost all my images. I may have skipped Ventura. Been using Sequoia for a while now, not yet on Tahoe.

--
Event professional for 20+ years, travel & landscape enthusiast for 30+, stills-only.

Landscape & Wedding Photographer - Jacques Cornell

Jacques Cornell Photography - landscape, travel, portrait and art reproduction

jacquescornell.photography

Happening Photos - Event Photography in New York City

Event Photography in New York City and Around the World - conferences, sales meetings, fundraisers and more.

happening.photos

 

[Zeee]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

Just curious. Did DXO actually fix the issue they also experienced with the NR or are they still using a work around? I loved that up a few months ago but couldn't find an answer.

I have never seen any magenta cast, and I apply DeepPRIME of various flavors to almost all my images. I may have skipped Ventura. Been using Sequoia for a while now, not yet on Tahoe.

That is from 2023 and it was discussed on these forums and other sources. You don't see it because DXO found a temporary fix in 2023. I was just curios if they actually solved it or still using the fix. DXO not the only company that experienced NE issues with AI algorithms.

--
Funny how millions of people on an internet platform where they can communicate instantaneously with people on the other side of the world using incredibly powerful handheld computers linked to orbiting the satellites hundreds of miles in space don’t believe in science. Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

[Jacques Cornell]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

Just curious. Did DXO actually fix the issue they also experienced with the NR or are they still using a work around? I loved that up a few months ago but couldn't find an answer.

I have never seen any magenta cast, and I apply DeepPRIME of various flavors to almost all my images. I may have skipped Ventura. Been using Sequoia for a while now, not yet on Tahoe.

That is from 2023 and it was discussed on these forums and other sources. You don't see it because DXO found a temporary fix in 2023. I was just curios if they actually solved it or still using the fix.

I don't even know what that means. As far as I can tell, the "temporary fix" has solved the problem. I have had no issue with DxO on Apple Silicon, and the Neural Engine gives a rocket boost to noise reduction processing.

DXO not the only company that experienced NE issues with AI algorithms.

But apparently the only one to have worked out a practical solution.

--
Event professional for 20+ years, travel & landscape enthusiast for 30+, stills-only.

Landscape & Wedding Photographer - Jacques Cornell

Jacques Cornell Photography - landscape, travel, portrait and art reproduction

jacquescornell.photography

Happening Photos - Event Photography in New York City

Event Photography in New York City and Around the World - conferences, sales meetings, fundraisers and more.

happening.photos

 

[Zeee]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

Just curious. Did DXO actually fix the issue they also experienced with the NR or are they still using a work around? I loved that up a few months ago but couldn't find an answer.

I have never seen any magenta cast, and I apply DeepPRIME of various flavors to almost all my images. I may have skipped Ventura. Been using Sequoia for a while now, not yet on Tahoe.

That is from 2023 and it was discussed on these forums and other sources. You don't see it because DXO found a temporary fix in 2023. I was just curios if they actually solved it or still using the fix.

I don't even know what that means. As far as I can tell, the "temporary fix" has solved the problem. I have had no issue with DxO on Apple Silicon, and the Neural Engine gives a rocket boost to noise reduction processing.

There is a work and an actual fix to an issue. They are different to me.

DXO not the only company that experienced NE issues with AI algorithms.

But apparently the only one to have worked out a practical solution.

--
Funny how millions of people on an internet platform where they can communicate instantaneously with people on the other side of the world using incredibly powerful handheld computers linked to orbiting the satellites hundreds of miles in space don’t believe in science. Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

[Jacques Cornell]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

Just curious. Did DXO actually fix the issue they also experienced with the NR or are they still using a work around? I loved that up a few months ago but couldn't find an answer.

I have never seen any magenta cast, and I apply DeepPRIME of various flavors to almost all my images. I may have skipped Ventura. Been using Sequoia for a while now, not yet on Tahoe.

That is from 2023 and it was discussed on these forums and other sources. You don't see it because DXO found a temporary fix in 2023. I was just curios if they actually solved it or still using the fix.

I don't even know what that means. As far as I can tell, the "temporary fix" has solved the problem. I have had no issue with DxO on Apple Silicon, and the Neural Engine gives a rocket boost to noise reduction processing.

There is a work and an actual fix to an issue. They are different to me.

Can you define the difference? For me, it just works, and it works damn well. I don't care how.

DXO not the only company that experienced NE issues with AI algorithms.

But apparently the only one to have worked out a practical solution.

--
Event professional for 20+ years, travel & landscape enthusiast for 30+, stills-only.
http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos

 

[Zeee]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

Just curious. Did DXO actually fix the issue they also experienced with the NR or are they still using a work around? I loved that up a few months ago but couldn't find an answer.

I have never seen any magenta cast, and I apply DeepPRIME of various flavors to almost all my images. I may have skipped Ventura. Been using Sequoia for a while now, not yet on Tahoe.

That is from 2023 and it was discussed on these forums and other sources. You don't see it because DXO found a temporary fix in 2023. I was just curios if they actually solved it or still using the fix.

I don't even know what that means. As far as I can tell, the "temporary fix" has solved the problem. I have had no issue with DxO on Apple Silicon, and the Neural Engine gives a rocket boost to noise reduction processing.

There is a work and an actual fix to an issue. They are different to me.

Can you define the difference?

My roof is leaking so I put a tarp over it. My neighbour replaced his shingles. Since other companies have had issues the NE I'm curious to know if they were able to solve it. Even that link said temporary. Is still temporary. I'm not asking a difficult question.

DXO not the only company that experienced NE issues with AI algorithms.

But apparently the only one to have worked out a practical solution.

--
Funny how millions of people on an internet platform where they can communicate instantaneously with people on the other side of the world using incredibly powerful handheld computers linked to orbiting the satellites hundreds of miles in space don’t believe in science. Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

[Jacques Cornell]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

Just curious. Did DXO actually fix the issue they also experienced with the NR or are they still using a work around? I loved that up a few months ago but couldn't find an answer.

I have never seen any magenta cast, and I apply DeepPRIME of various flavors to almost all my images. I may have skipped Ventura. Been using Sequoia for a while now, not yet on Tahoe.

That is from 2023 and it was discussed on these forums and other sources. You don't see it because DXO found a temporary fix in 2023. I was just curios if they actually solved it or still using the fix.

I don't even know what that means. As far as I can tell, the "temporary fix" has solved the problem. I have had no issue with DxO on Apple Silicon, and the Neural Engine gives a rocket boost to noise reduction processing.

There is a work and an actual fix to an issue. They are different to me.

Can you define the difference?

My roof is leaking so I put a tarp over it. My neighbour replaced his shingles. Since other companies have had issues the NE I'm curious to know if they were able to solve it. Even that link said temporary. Is still temporary. I'm not asking a difficult question.

DXO not the only company that experienced NE issues with AI algorithms.

But apparently the only one to have worked out a practical solution.

It's been "temporary" for a long time. I just keep using it and getting better results faster than I can with Adobe. If people hadn't written about the "issue", I never would have guessed it existed.

--
Event professional for 20+ years, travel & landscape enthusiast for 30+, stills-only.

Landscape & Wedding Photographer - Jacques Cornell

Jacques Cornell Photography - landscape, travel, portrait and art reproduction

jacquescornell.photography

Happening Photos - Event Photography in New York City

Event Photography in New York City and Around the World - conferences, sales meetings, fundraisers and more.

happening.photos

 

[Zeee]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

Just curious. Did DXO actually fix the issue they also experienced with the NR or are they still using a work around? I loved that up a few months ago but couldn't find an answer.

I have never seen any magenta cast, and I apply DeepPRIME of various flavors to almost all my images. I may have skipped Ventura. Been using Sequoia for a while now, not yet on Tahoe.

That is from 2023 and it was discussed on these forums and other sources. You don't see it because DXO found a temporary fix in 2023. I was just curios if they actually solved it or still using the fix.

I don't even know what that means. As far as I can tell, the "temporary fix" has solved the problem. I have had no issue with DxO on Apple Silicon, and the Neural Engine gives a rocket boost to noise reduction processing.

There is a work and an actual fix to an issue. They are different to me.

Can you define the difference?

My roof is leaking so I put a tarp over it. My neighbour replaced his shingles. Since other companies have had issues the NE I'm curious to know if they were able to solve it. Even that link said temporary. Is still temporary. I'm not asking a difficult question.

DXO not the only company that experienced NE issues with AI algorithms.

But apparently the only one to have worked out a practical solution.

It's been "temporary" for a long time. I just keep using it and getting better results faster than I can with Adobe. If people hadn't written about the "issue", I never would have guessed it existed.

Thanks. For other readers Adobe had NE enabled for about 3 months and disabled it. Apparently they did not like the quality in the deep shadows. Something I never noticed and that included others. On Adobe forums people wanted the choice to enable/disable it. I'm not a computer engineer. Perhaps it is more difficult to make a workaround for noise that it is a colour drift/shift.

Some other conversations. PL does not actually apply Denoise until you export a file. This is why it looks instant but you have to view it in that window. LrC applies it when you when you click on it. Denoise is applied to entire file in real time and you can tweak it as many times as you like and that is instant.

I did quick search and there are threads here and other places about how PL exports take a lot of time. Again that would be hardware dependant. LrC exports are instant, even for my slowest Macs. Something to remember. With LrC you wait at the beginning of your editing process. I don't see a big difference. Adobe recommends to do Denoising first. You can select as many files as you like, batch Denies and go for a coffee. When I used it something I did that with PL at the end of an editing session because I had wait for the exports.



--
Funny how millions of people on an internet platform where they can communicate instantaneously with people on the other side of the world using incredibly powerful handheld computers linked to orbiting the satellites hundreds of miles in space don’t believe in science. Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

[Zeee]

Matt K. The NEW Way to Batch Noise Reduction in Lightroom

 

[Jacques Cornell]

FWIW, when running DxO's DeepPRIME noise reduction, my new 13" M4 MacBook Air is as fast as my M1 Max Mac Studio and 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (both with 32 GPU cores). But, when running Adobe's Denoise, it takes twice as long as the M1 Maxes. DxO leans on Apple's Neural Engine, which got a major power-up in the M4, whereas Adobe relies on GPU cores.

Just curious. Did DXO actually fix the issue they also experienced with the NR or are they still using a work around? I loved that up a few months ago but couldn't find an answer.

I have never seen any magenta cast, and I apply DeepPRIME of various flavors to almost all my images. I may have skipped Ventura. Been using Sequoia for a while now, not yet on Tahoe.

That is from 2023 and it was discussed on these forums and other sources. You don't see it because DXO found a temporary fix in 2023. I was just curios if they actually solved it or still using the fix.

I don't even know what that means. As far as I can tell, the "temporary fix" has solved the problem. I have had no issue with DxO on Apple Silicon, and the Neural Engine gives a rocket boost to noise reduction processing.

There is a work and an actual fix to an issue. They are different to me.

Can you define the difference?

My roof is leaking so I put a tarp over it. My neighbour replaced his shingles. Since other companies have had issues the NE I'm curious to know if they were able to solve it. Even that link said temporary. Is still temporary. I'm not asking a difficult question.

DXO not the only company that experienced NE issues with AI algorithms.

But apparently the only one to have worked out a practical solution.

It's been "temporary" for a long time. I just keep using it and getting better results faster than I can with Adobe. If people hadn't written about the "issue", I never would have guessed it existed.

Thanks. For other readers Adobe had NE enabled for about 3 months and disabled it. Apparently they did not like the quality in the deep shadows. Something I never noticed and that included others. On Adobe forums people wanted the choice to enable/disable it. I'm not a computer engineer. Perhaps it is more difficult to make a workaround for noise that it is a colour drift/shift.

Some other conversations. PL does not actually apply Denoise until you export a file. This is why it looks instant but you have to view it in that window. LrC applies it when you when you click on it. Denoise is applied to entire file in real time and you can tweak it as many times as you like and that is instant.

Except that after applying it to a large batch, I have to wait a long time for the processing to complete before I can move on to making other adjustments to the images. With Adobe, I wait in the middle of my workflow. With DxO, I do all my adjustments and then wait for the final export, during which I can simply walk off to make some coffee or have dinner. Since I often process hundreds of event photos at a time, DxO's workflow is far superior.

Plus, with DxO's workflow, if I'm really in a hurry, it's easy to first do all my adjustments, then put half the batch on an SSD for processing on my MacBook to cut my export time in half.

I did quick search and there are threads here and other places about how PL exports take a lot of time. Again that would be hardware dependant.

On my M1 Max Mac Studio with 32 GPU cores, DeepPRIME 3 takes half the time of Denoise.

LrC exports are instant, even for my slowest Macs. Something to remember. With LrC you wait at the beginning of your editing process. I don't see a big difference.

Adobe recommends to do Denoising first.

After I've downloaded 2,000 images, I want to make my selects in LRC, send to PL, make adjustments, start the export, and walk away. What I don't want to do is spend an hour making my selects and then have to stop for an hour or two while I wait for Denoise and then come back to make my adjustments. That would be a major PiTA.

You can select as many files as you like, batch Denies and go for a coffee. When I used it something I did that with PL at the end of an editing session because I had wait for the exports.

I'd much rather wait half as long at the end than twice at long in the middle.

You can talk all you want about theoretical difficulties of using the Neural Engine for noise reduction and cast shade about "temporary" fixes, but DxO does a better job on noise reduction in half the time. That's my bottom line.

Oh, and I should mention that on my M4 MacBook Air, Denoise takes not 2x but 4x longer than DP3, which makes a huge difference when I'm processing onsite at a multi-day event. My MBA is actually just as fast as my Studio and my M1 Pro MBP on DP3. Which means that I can get the same performance running DxO on my portable $1000 MBA as I'd get with a desk-bound $4000 Mac Studio Ultra running Denoise.

I've been using LRC and PL side-by-side for more than a decade. LRC is my DAM, and I do all my RAW processing with PL. For my work, the only advantage of LRC for RAW processing is the ability to work on Sony's mRAW and sRAW files, something I'm pushing DxO hard to bring to PL so I can shoot 26MP mRAWs on my 61MP bodies.

--
Event professional for 20+ years, travel & landscape enthusiast for 30+, stills-only.
http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Matt K. The NEW Way to Batch Noise Reduction in Lightroom

Yeah, I know all that. What he's saying is in accord with what I'm saying: when you sync Denoise across a batch of photos, you have to wait for Denoise to process before you can move on to doing anything else. In the video, it's 2 minutes for 4 photos. Now, extrapolate that to 2,000 photos. Yah, no thanks. Not in the middle of my workflow.

Anyway, we're now way OT, so I won't pursue this conversation any further here. If you want to discuss, you can either DM me or start a new conversation.

--
Event professional for 20+ years, travel & landscape enthusiast for 30+, stills-only.
http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos