Dell XPS 15 ans Adobe apps

[andrevv]

Hi!

 

I need some help. So mainly I'm using Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere pro and Audition from Adobe. Important part of it is that very often I'm using two of those apps at the same time (and sometimes even three). My laptop has never been super fast with any of them, but lately it's super annoying to work, especially when Brave browser and Thunderbird are running also.

 

My question is - should I buy a new PC/Mac (doesn't have to be a laptop), or should I upgrade some hardware in my laptop, or maybe there are some software changes I can do?

 

My potential budget is about $4k.

 

My laptop is Dell XPS 15 7590 i9-9980HK, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, GTX1650 (with 4GB of RAM) running in windows 11.

 

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

Andrew

[Needfuldoer]

I think a desktop workstation is the way to go for you. Use that for Adobe suite, do your browsing and email on the laptop. Make sure you get a monitor with a known color calibration.

 

Don't get a Mac unless you're okay with "replace the entire thing" as your upgrade path. The current Intel Mac Pro is aging and overpriced, and all the Apple Silicon machines are tightly integrated.

[andrevv]

11 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

I think a desktop workstation is the way to go for you. Use that for Adobe suite, do your browsing and email on the laptop. Make sure you get a monitor with a known color calibration.

 

Don't get a Mac unless you're okay with "replace the entire thing" as your upgrade path. The current Intel Mac Pro is aging and overpriced, and all the Apple Silicon machines are tightly integrated.

Thank you so much! That was one of my thoughts and I was looking at some articles or PC configurations online, but all of them were only for one specific Adobe app. Can you point in the right direction - what CPU and GPU should I look for?

[RAM555789]

8 minutes ago, andrevv said:

Thank you so much! That was one of my thoughts and I was looking at some articles or PC configurations online, but all of them were only for one specific Adobe app. Can you point in the right direction - what CPU and GPU should I look for?

There only some effects that are GPU accelerated so the most important thing for your system is gonna be your CPU and RAM. Depending on your budget and workload will depend on if you want to go with AMD or Intel CPU. You will probably be happy with performance either way compared to your laptop. (in part since laptop processors tend to be more power limited compared to desktop ones due to thermals). This was a pretty good video i found talking about premier pro video editing but should be relevant to the other tasks you are looking to accomplish. 

 

[andrevv]

1 hour ago, RAM555789 said:

There only some effects that are GPU accelerated so the most important thing for your system is gonna be your CPU and RAM. Depending on your budget and workload will depend on if you want to go with AMD or Intel CPU. You will probably be happy with performance either way compared to your laptop. (in part since laptop processors tend to be more power limited compared to desktop ones due to thermals). This was a pretty good video i found talking about premier pro video editing but should be relevant to the other tasks you are looking to accomplish. 

 

Thank you very much

[andrevv]

1 hour ago, RAM555789 said:

There only some effects that are GPU accelerated so the most important thing for your system is gonna be your CPU and RAM. Depending on your budget and workload will depend on if you want to go with AMD or Intel CPU. You will probably be happy with performance either way compared to your laptop. (in part since laptop processors tend to be more power limited compared to desktop ones due to thermals). This was a pretty good video i found talking about premier pro video editing but should be relevant to the other tasks you are looking to accomplish. 

 

Oh, and one more question, to be clear - can I assume that if someone is recommending hardware for Premiere pro, it will be good enough for other Adobe apps (including simultaneous use of few apps)?

[RAM555789]

11 hours ago, andrevv said:

Oh, and one more question, to be clear - can I assume that if someone is recommending hardware for Premiere pro, it will be good enough for other Adobe apps (including simultaneous use of few apps)?

It should be, plus AMD CPUs tend to better at multi tasking anywhere when compared to Intel CPUs which tend to have slightly better single core performance.

[unclewebb]

17 hours ago, andrevv said:

My laptop has never been super fast

You have an 8 core Intel CPU that can turbo boost up to 5.00 GHz. In theory, it should be very fast. 

 

Over the years many Dell XPS 15 laptops have had some severe throttling problems. Have you ever looked into these problems? There might be a reason why your laptop is not running at its rated speed.

 

Try running ThrottleStop.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

 

Try to find out why your computer is not delivering the performance it should be. Show me some ThrottleStop screenshots so I can see how your computer is set up. Try checking the Log File box on the main screen so you have a record of your CPU performance while you are trying to use your laptop. You can attach a log file and some screenshots to your next post. 

 

Have you ever disassembled your laptop to blow the dust and dirt out of the heatsinks? This is basic maintenance for any laptop. Many Dell laptops have a simple back panel for easy access.  

 

When a 9980HK is not power limit throttling or thermal throttling, it should be able to handle pretty much anything you throw at it without it feeling slow. 

[andrevv]

13 hours ago, unclewebb said:

You have an 8 core Intel CPU that can turbo boost up to 5.00 GHz. In theory, it should be very fast. 

 

Over the years many Dell XPS 15 laptops have had some severe throttling problems. Have you ever looked into these problems? There might be a reason why your laptop is not running at its rated speed.

 

Try running ThrottleStop.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

 

Try to find out why your computer is not delivering the performance it should be. Show me some ThrottleStop screenshots so I can see how your computer is set up. Try checking the Log File box on the main screen so you have a record of your CPU performance while you are trying to use your laptop. You can attach a log file and some screenshots to your next post. 

 

Have you ever disassembled your laptop to blow the dust and dirt out of the heatsinks? This is basic maintenance for any laptop. Many Dell laptops have a simple back panel for easy access.  

 

When a 9980HK is not power limit throttling or thermal throttling, it should be able to handle pretty much anything you throw at it without it feeling slow. 

I'm a bit shame to admit, that for past 3 years I've never clean my laptop... And I should know better, I've spent my teenage years on assembling each PC I've got and ofc cleaning them... Adulthood sucks. Anyway - I've just cleaned it and tomorrow I'll run Throttle stop and post screenshots and log file. Thank you!

[andrevv]

On 1/8/2023 at 7:18 AM, unclewebb said:

You have an 8 core Intel CPU that can turbo boost up to 5.00 GHz. In theory, it should be very fast. 

 

Over the years many Dell XPS 15 laptops have had some severe throttling problems. Have you ever looked into these problems? There might be a reason why your laptop is not running at its rated speed.

 

Try running ThrottleStop.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

 

Try to find out why your computer is not delivering the performance it should be. Show me some ThrottleStop screenshots so I can see how your computer is set up. Try checking the Log File box on the main screen so you have a record of your CPU performance while you are trying to use your laptop. You can attach a log file and some screenshots to your next post. 

 

Have you ever disassembled your laptop to blow the dust and dirt out of the heatsinks? This is basic maintenance for any laptop. Many Dell laptops have a simple back panel for easy access.  

 

When a 9980HK is not power limit throttling or thermal throttling, it should be able to handle pretty much anything you throw at it without it feeling slow. 

Ok, so here are some screenshots and a log file. However after cleaning I can already tell it's much better!

2023-01-09.txt