2017 MBP 16GB is really sluggish and loud after Catalina

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2017 MBP 16GB is really sluggish and loud after Catalina

Hey everyone. Really hoping someone can offer some insight here. Long story short, I'm a long time PC user who moved to Mac last year. Mojave was fantastic. Quick, responsive; just took whatever I threw at it no problems.

I've since gone to Catalina and have the following issues;

1) The fan noise is insane

2) This is usually accompanied by general sluggishness/decrease in responsiveness. Especially noticeable with things like dock rollover (it's super jerky/laboured) and moving apps around the screen, that all used to feel fluid and smooth on Mojave

3) Almost any activity will kick this off, although Dropbox and file compression seem to be main culprits

I'm not sure how this is affecting my general performance. I work in music and while I can't say I've noticed my projects running any worse, the software itself also feels incredibly jerky when scrolling around so I'd imagine it's related.

I've reset the SMC. I've checked storage (running a bit low but still over 100GB free). It's an internal 1TB SSD. AFAIK everything is updated for Catalina. Even typing now I can hear the fan slowly revving up and up.

Going back to Mojave is an option but it's one I'd like to avoid. I have a lot of software I'd need to re-install and it'd take me out of action with work for upwards of 2 days.

Super grateful to any insight anyone can offer. Maybe I've missed something!

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Apr 22, 2020 5:22 AM

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Answer 1

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chimpspanner Author

Level 1

40 points

May 4, 2020 3:36 AM in response to chimpspanner

Sorry to bump this up but I figured it was worth updating. I recently tidied my studio up (I do music production and had a LOT of peripherals connected). In the process I disconnected a lot of stuff I just wasn't using. A WACOM Intuous graphics tablet, and a *very* old MIDI hub. I also disconnected a USB hub that was plugged into another hub, that was in turn plugged into another hub.

I'm not sure which of those were responsible but things appear to be running very well atm. The fan is quieter, and the graphics are smooth again. So I'm guessing it might've either been the old MIDI hub (which was using some crusty old drivers) or perhaps the Intuous, as I've seen multiple reports of other users experiencing choppiness since updating to Catalina, in which case it might be a WACOM issue.

Either way things feel back to normal now so anyone else experiencing anything like this, I guess my advice would be...unplug everything and start again!

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Answer 2

Apr 22, 2020 5:32 AM in response to chimpspanner

chimpspanner wrote:

Hey everyone. Really hoping someone can offer some insight here. Long story short, I'm a long time PC user who moved to Mac last year. Mojave was fantastic. Quick, responsive; just took whatever I threw at it no problems.

I've since gone to Catalina and have the following issues;

1) The fan noise is insane

2) This is usually accompanied by general sluggishness/decrease in responsiveness. Especially noticeable with things like dock rollover (it's super jerky/laboured) and moving apps around the screen, that all used to feel fluid and smooth on Mojave

3) Almost any activity will kick this off, although Dropbox and file compression seem to be main culprits

I'm not sure how this is affecting my general performance. I work in music and while I can't say I've noticed my projects running any worse, the software itself also feels incredibly jerky when scrolling around so I'd imagine it's related.

I've reset the SMC. I've checked storage (running a bit low but still over 100GB free). It's an internal 1TB SSD. AFAIK everything is updated for Catalina. Even typing now I can hear the fan slowly revving up and up.

Going back to Mojave is an option but it's one I'd like to avoid. I have a lot of software I'd need to re-install and it'd take me out of action with work for upwards of 2 days.

Super grateful to any insight anyone can offer. Maybe I've missed something!

what exact Mac /model /year /size /retina /TouchBar is this

and

what exact macOS you are currently running?

To get a good look at your System config. for conflicts or issues, you can download/run this trusted utility https://etrecheck.com

If you need help interpreting the report you can post it here in its entirety in the "Additional Text" box in the editing toolbar below, in your reply.

You can set its preference to "Allow full Disk Access", with this you get a digest of issues from the last 7 days that are saved in your system. _No_ personal information is revealed.

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Answer 3

chimpspanner Author

Level 1

40 points

Apr 22, 2020 5:37 AM in response to leroydouglas

Hey! Thank you for the response. So model wise, as in the title it's a 2017 15" Macbook Pro with Touch Bar. 3.1Ghz i7, 16GB RAM.

OS is Catalina 10.15.4 - I understand there's an update available right now but I'm holding off as I've read a few stories about laptops no longer booting and I don't wanna take the chance on a fresh update.

I'm running Etrecheck now. I'll post the results here when it's finished doing its thing :)

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2017 MBP 16GB is really sluggish and loud after Catalina

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