New 16" MacBook Pro - Running Slow

Download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply. How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

ALSO:

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine the root of the problem.

No wonder you're having problems. You've installed a couple of apps that are considered akin to malware around here: CleanMyMac X and Gemini. Do a Google search on how to uninstall according to the developer's instructions. There is no reason to every run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up" or anti-virus apps.

You have an app, The Witness, that is hanging. Made sure it's the latest version and is fully compatible with Catalina.

You've also got an unusually large number of Safari extensions for blocking content. You should select one and use only it. I use Ghostery Lite and it works very well by itself.

You have a large number of apps in the User Login Items. To improve system performance limit them and launch those you need only when you need them and then close when done.

When done uninstalling rerun Etrecheck and check the report for any occurrences of cleanmymac, gemini or macpaw

Have you run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up" or anti-virus apps? If you have download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply. How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the app's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

ALSO IMPORTANT:

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine the root of the problem.

I don't see any of the usual suspects in the report. However, I do see some unnecessary software that's been installed: PACE Anti-Piracy. There is no reason to ever run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up" or anti-virus apps on your Mac.  This user tip describes what you need to know and do to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community   

LastPass has been crashing a lot. Make sure you have the very latest version installed.

To see if it's something in your user account that the culprit log into another pristine user account, Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac,  and see if the problem persists. (This tells us if the problem is limited to your user account or is system wide).

Next I'd boot into Safe Mode (How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support) by booting with the Shift key held down and then reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing some system cache cleaning, volume verifying and directory repairing. 

Lastly if it's still crashing boot into the Recovery volume (boot with the Command + R keys held down), select Disk Utility and repair the disk. Reboot normally and check again.

You have 14 or 15 days from the initial purchase to return the laptop to Apple for a full refund no questions asked. Don't know if your local store is open but it's something you might consider if you an find a solution quickly. It they are closed all Apple within the time period and let Customer Support know that's what you want to do. Then you'll be on record in time.

Wish I had more positive news.

I don't see any of the usual suspects in the report but it seems you have memory issues:

Virtual Memory Information:

Physical RAM: 16 GB

 Free RAM: 117 MB

  Used RAM: 14.94 GB

  Cached files: 966 MB

  Available RAM: 1.06 GB

  Swap Used: 7.57 GB

You should limit the number of apps launched at boot, i.e. Login Items, and reboot frequestly, i.e. shut down at night. Being a SSD drive boot time will not be long and rebooting will clear out temporary system, cache and swap files.

Keep an eye on the Memory Pressure graph in Activity Monitor to see when it goes in the read what apps are open and working.

Download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply. How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the Etrecheck's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Also click and read the About info to further permit full disk access.

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine what might be causing the problem.

Download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply. How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the Etrecheck's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine what might be contributing to the problem.

update:

i just updated my catalina to 10.15.4 and i think a miracle happened. my mac battery now lasts for about 6-8 hours working with it. all slow downs have gone. and i am happy af.

That new Mac should have shipped with a special build of Catalina, and it isn't clear that upgrading it to 10.15.1 would provide the proper hardware support that it needs. Might have been better to wait until 10.15.2.

You might consider running the free Malwarebytes for Mac on it, as it might detect malware in those windows files that got migrated over.

Does the Activity monitor show any resource hog of the CPU other than the kernel?

Well ... Just so you all know from my original posting. I have solved my issue.

DO NOT USE APPLE MAIL ...... I completely disregarded using it entirely and problem resolved.

Countless hours of headaches gone.

I have now been using Microsoft 365 Outlook... on Mac.. and works like a charm.. I am wondering if I should even post this as they may now put a bug in my Mac..

Big Mac fan.. but not with issues like this !! FIX IT and ill go back. seriously ! APPLE Mail needs serious fixing !!

I'm cautiously optimistic that Apple might have FIXED this issue. I just updated Catalina to the newest version 10.15.7 (just came out) and went into Excel, Photos, and PowerPoint to see if it reduced the delay. It did! While there does seem to be a little lag on PowerPoint (going through multiple slides), it appears that my lag issues have mostly been resolved. I wonder if others have the same experience on other programs after updating the OS. Good luck! :)

Post the entire Etrecheck report so we might evaluate it for any questionable 3rd party softrware:

Use the

If it's within the 14 days since you purchased it I'd take it back and get another. Within 14 days you can return it or exchange no questions asked.

I spoke with tech support and they had me wipe my month old MBP16 hard drive and do a fresh install. It's been a couple of weeks since then and it is working better. But the finder is still not as responsive as my old MBP15 mid-2012 with Sierra. I think it's just a bad OS. Can't downgrade to Mojave and not going to sell it. Just going to wait and see if it gets better with OS updates. Suffer along and keep an eye on things. It doesn't feel like a hardware issue but at least I have a one year warranty if it turns out to be. Mail is working fine BTY.

My brand new 16" base model, same as yours, is 15-20% slower in FCPX and Compressor (h264) than my old 2.8GHz 2015 Macbook Pro...spent several hours on the phone with Apple Care demonstrating the issue while thye take diagnostics. They were able to pull up remote screens on my 16" and old 2015 at the same time and run side by side encoding exports to see the problem. Got to a point where they said I should take it into an Apple store to have them run a hardware diagnostic on it, because there are some things that can't be uncovered remotely or just with logs. Other than slow h264 exports, the 16" is much snappier and happy, even with Chrome.