HDRI Dome and Render Speed

LosingSignal

I'm running a render right now that is taking an aggravatingly long time. For reference, I'm running on a laptop with integrated Intel graphics, so CPU rendering is my only option. What I'm wondering is does having the environment settings on Dome and Scene with an HDRI plugged in slow down the render for an interior shot. The room is completely enclosed, so I don't think it's adding to the lighting of the image. But I'm thinking the additional "shadows" made by the lighting on the building are affecting my render time. Am I off base here?

BeeMKay

If there are no windows, then switch to scene only mode, as yes, the external light would be used for calculations. Also, low light levels indoors will make the render crawl, even in scene only setting.