Working speed comparisons inDesign CC2015-2017 - Quark 2016-2017

K

Kumpel

Member
Hi,

i"m using inDesign CC2015-2017 on Mac and in my opinion especially inDesign is very slow regarding "possible" working speed
- Not CPU-core optimised
- Not RAM optimised
- GUI is PDFpreview
- Not OSX Metal optimised

Can someone provide hard evidence in terms of charts between Quark Xpress 2016-2017 and inDesign CC2015-2017,
with the same job and prove me i'm wrong (or not.......)

and does Quark Xpress still uses JAWS pdfcreator?

Thanks in Advance!
 
What are the specs of your Mac? I have a 5k iMac with 4 ghz i7 cpu, 24 gigs of RAM, R9 M295x GPU and 1 TB flash drive. If you do not have a flash/ssd hard drive it is the cheapest and best upgrade with noticeable difference. I have no speed issues with Indesign (latest update).

Cannot compare to Quark, it has been many many years since I needed to open Quark and no longer have it installed, was using Quark 8 when I stopped supporting it.
 
The 2015 release on up of InDesign, I would agree are a little bit slower on older machines. I highly recommend upgrading if you don't have a 2015 or newer computer.

m.2 or PCI express SSD will save you a shit ton of time over a few months. Can start up InDesign from fresh boot in about 3 seconds.
 
You might try turning off the dynamic preflight feature in InDesign. It uses quite a bit of CPU bandwidth when “on” especially with complex pages and longer documents.

- Dov
 
In my memory Quark use to be snappier....... Scrolling Speed for instance is terrible in InDesign
How about PDFexport; Does Xpress beat inDesign?

Of course recent macs are faster (and some settings are already disabled like HighRes preview, Preflight........)Sure
I've tested on HDD, FLASH and SSD on older macs and pc; Sure it helps
For OSX Metal the Mac has to be very recent; but does inDesign take fully advantage from Metal, RAM, GPU?

Some say CC2017 is terrible slow on mac compared to CC2015 (known bug at Adobe)
Some say CC is a lot faster on Windows right now.....

Figures, Charts, comparisons will bring evidence
 
Kumpel said:
In my memory Quark use to be snappier....... Scrolling Speed for instance is terrible in InDesign
How about PDFexport; Does Xpress beat inDesign?

Of course recent macs are faster (and some settings are already disabled like HighRes preview, Preflight........)Sure
I've tested on HDD, FLASH and SSD on older macs and pc; Sure it helps
For OSX Metal the Mac has to be very recent; but does inDesign take fully advantage from Metal, RAM, GPU?

Some say CC2017 is terrible slow on mac compared to CC2015 (known bug at Adobe)
Some say CC is a lot faster on Windows right now.....

Figures, Charts, comparisons will bring evidence
Click to expand...


I think Quark used to feel faster because it displayed everything so poorly whereas Indesign previewed much much better. With the latest release it utilized my GPU much better so I am pretty much always seeing my document in high resolution... or at least much higher then anything I used to have. Not sure how Quark is these days, I have no desire to jump back into that.
 
Dov Isaacs said:
Expect some Mac performance improvement in upcoming InDesign CC 2017 update release.

- Dov
Click to expand...

Hopefully!.....Dov

Quark is catching up really fast, and 2017 introduce great features, where's inDesign lacking serious updates the last years.
A important indication for me is the sheer amount of awesome scripts; which fix-solve a lot stuff Adobe had to solve many years ago

Too bad, no Quark 2016-2017 users reply.....

Let's not forget decent new Macs with decent specs!
 
Hi @Kumpel,

maybe join the QuarkXPress Facebook Group, there are 2000+ fans and users of QuarkXPress, including hybrid users (InDesign & QuarkXPress users):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/quarkxpress/

And yes, wonderings, since version 10 QuarkXPress understands AI/PDF natively and shows high res data even if you zoom into by 8000% and move/pan/scroll.

Thanks
Matthias
(Quark)
 
Ughhhh...Quark. We just had a job last week that was built in Quark 10 that we used Quark 2015 to process it. Designer had placed PDF's with's live transparency in it. Quark is a flaming hot mess when it comes to PDF's placed into it. Doesn't matter how fast it is if it still sucks.
 
Can´t agree with you there Joe, I use Quark 2016 and Indesign on a 2012 mac mini and a 2009 I-mac, both standard issue, Quark 2016 has picked up it´s pants and I simply can´t tell any difference in speed between the two, Quark is a bit "clicky" when you need to switch from box to pointer but if you get used to the short cuts then your fine, in the meantime I have one or two customers who won´t jump on Adobes cloud bandwaggon and use Quark 2016 along with Indesign 5.5 on newer i-macs and they report the same findings I have.

Time to let bygones be bygones and give Quark a try guys and gals.
 
Last edited:
Thank you Slammer, great to hear that QuarkXPress 2016 works well for you and your customers.

Joe, please join our Facebook group or send me your contact details. Quark can analyze your files and find out why an unflattened transparency does not behave well or what output settings you might have to change to get this to output correctly. Or whether it's a bug.

Thanks
Matthias
 
mguenther said:
Thank you Slammer, great to hear that QuarkXPress 2016 works well for you and your customers.

Joe, please join our Facebook group or send me your contact details. Quark can analyze your files and find out why an unflattened transparency does not behave well or what output settings you might have to change to get this to output correctly. Or whether it's a bug.

Thanks
Matthias
Click to expand...

Already in the group Matthias.
 
QuarkXPress changed its graphic engine a couple of versions ago to 'Xenon'. It's very fast, and full resolution preview all the time, including interpreting PDFs and EPS files. Since QX2016 the application can natively convert PDF, EPS etc so you can then edit them directly in Quark. QX2016 was a huge upgrade over 2015, so it's not really useful to use 2015 as a benchmark.
On my Mac, I can only achieve similar speeds in InDesign if I use the low quality graphics. I'm on a 2013 Retina Display Mac Book Pro with 16 GB. Hope this helps somewhat.
 
I have a Mac Pro tower (mid-2010) with 20 GB of RAM, running El Capitan. Last year, InDesign CC2015 was extremely slow starting and the dreaded "beach ball" appeared often at random while working on documents. A friend had been after me for years to install an SSD drive as the bootup disk. I finally did, and the differences in speed, stability, and reliability are astonishing. The key thing to remember is that the Application folder must also reside on the SSD, otherwise you won't see much of a performance difference. I also would install an SSD with a capacity of 500 GB or more, so that you have room to grow. I have also been satisfied with InDesign CC 2017. No issues, and I have been using it for a few months now.
 
Hi Jerry,

I'm working on with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD SAMSUNG 840..... that should be fast enough
But even on my other Mac Mini with 512 FLASH; it's not as snappy as-it-should-be in my opinion

inDesign CC2015 has less lag compared to CC2017 on my systems, even with some Adobe-Forum mentioning Disabling stuff
- Disable OpenType stuff
- NO live Preflight
- Disable CClibrary
- and usual suspects

Yes, sure........ 32Gigs or more of RAM SHOULD speadup things drastically and so is FLASH

Fingers crossed; Apple delivers those Pro MACS and Adobe there seriously taken CC2018 update with Metal support, or re-written / optimized program code
 
Speed up your InDesign files with the help of below given tips:
  • Set InDesign’s Display Performance to Typical
  • Turn off Live Drawing
  • Minimize Live Preflight
  • Turn Off Page Thumbnails
  • Turn Off Hyperlink Verification
  • Turn Off Save Preview Images
Info Source: 6 Tips to Speed Up InDesign
 
Thank you jackdision; for me the main reason for starting this.... is the comparison between InDesign CC and Xpress - latest versions.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

PressWise

A 30-day Fix for Managed Chaos

As any print professional knows, printing can be managed chaos. Software that solves multiple problems and provides measurable and monetizable value has a direct impact on the bottom-line.

“We reduced order entry costs by about 40%.” Significant savings in a shop that turns about 500 jobs a month.

Learn how…….

   
Back
Top