The rest of the cores are performance cores, focusing on tasks that need maximum processing power. On this M1 Pro Mac, Cores 1 and 2 are efficiency cores optimized for low power usage they are typically given more system and background tasks. Green indicates application activity, red indicates system activity. In Lightroom Classic 11.3.1 CPU cores are maxed out during export, and in Lightroom Classic 11.4 they are clearly less busy. Export was to JPEG format, quality 85, with no resizing or other processing applied in the Export dialog box. The images are stored on an external SATA SSD connected using 10Gbps USB 3. I exported 624 raw, adjusted time-lapse images in Lightroom Classic 11.3.1 and 11.4, running the test twice in each version, on my 14″ M1 Pro MacBook Pro with 8 CPU cores and 14 GPU cores, 32GB unified memory, and about 200GB free out of 1TB of internal storage.

High temperature can increase the noise level of a fan-cooled computer, and if the computer can’t cool itself fast enough, it may slow (throttle) its CPU to stay under its safe temperature limit. But on large batch exports, maximum CPU usage could result in unwanted side effects such as other applications becoming less responsive, and reaching the CPU temperature limit. To finish a bulk export as quickly as possible Lightroom Classic employed all cores, so the more CPU cores were available the faster a multi-image export could complete. Up through version 11.3.1, Lightroom Classic used only the CPU to process image exporting. Exporting before GPU acceleration: It was all about CPU cores A quick test shows that GPU acceleration can result in faster multi-file exports that use computer resources more efficiently on less power, which in turn produces less heat and fan noise, potentially improving battery life.

In the Lightroom Classic 11.4 update, one new performance enhancement got my attention: GPU acceleration for exporting.

Lightroom macos