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User profile for user: Snooby-92
Snooby-92 Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

MacBook Pro Retina 13" 2014 & 2015 under Catalina become ridiculously slow

Hi,


I have extensively used a MacBook Pro Retina 13" 2014 & 2015 both with an i5 processor, 8gb Ram and a 128gb SSD under Catalina. I have noticed with both MacBooks that they become extremely slow and battery drains really fast under this OS. Also both MacBooks heat up a lot.


I did not have these problems under Mojave. I have downgraded my MacBook Pro 2014 to Mojave again but strangely enough these problems now persist. It almost seems as if the OS has bricked my Laptop or so.


Does anyone know what is going on why this is happening and if it's happening with other MacBook Pros around these years as well? Does someone have a solution for this?


Dave

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 2, 2020 10:28 PM

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User profile for user: Axel Foley
Axel Foley
User level: Level 10
149,898 points

Posted on Jun 2, 2020 11:23 PM

Hello Snooby-


I do not have the exact same equipment as yours however I have a 2015 MacBook Pro with an i7 Processor and 16GB RAM and a 2019 MacBook Air with an i5 processor and 8GB RAM. No issues with Catalina as far as slowing down and heating up. Yes, I understand that we are comparing two different setups but I thought that I'd mention regardless.


I have a couple of questions. Do you pretty much run the same apps and processes on both MacBooks? Same iCloud account and same synch services etc? I am trying to relate both of your MacBooks with commonality. What about apps and processes running in the background? Are any of those chewing up resources to cause the slowdown? You can check that in ACTIVITY MONITOR app.


Furthermore, if you have not already tried the following then please do so-

  1. Reset SMC as shown here ➔ How to Reset SMC
  2. Reset NVRAM/PRAM as show here ➔ How to Reset NVRAM/PRAM.
  3. Try booting in ➔ Safe Mode  and see if the issue remains. Safe mode will limit the apps/processes that load during startup and may be causing poor performance.


Axel F.

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User profile for user: Axel Foley
Axel Foley
User level: Level 10
149,898 points

Jun 2, 2020 11:23 PM in response to Snooby-92

Hello Snooby-


I do not have the exact same equipment as yours however I have a 2015 MacBook Pro with an i7 Processor and 16GB RAM and a 2019 MacBook Air with an i5 processor and 8GB RAM. No issues with Catalina as far as slowing down and heating up. Yes, I understand that we are comparing two different setups but I thought that I'd mention regardless.


I have a couple of questions. Do you pretty much run the same apps and processes on both MacBooks? Same iCloud account and same synch services etc? I am trying to relate both of your MacBooks with commonality. What about apps and processes running in the background? Are any of those chewing up resources to cause the slowdown? You can check that in ACTIVITY MONITOR app.


Furthermore, if you have not already tried the following then please do so-

  1. Reset SMC as shown here ➔ How to Reset SMC
  2. Reset NVRAM/PRAM as show here ➔ How to Reset NVRAM/PRAM.
  3. Try booting in ➔ Safe Mode  and see if the issue remains. Safe mode will limit the apps/processes that load during startup and may be causing poor performance.


Axel F.

Reply

MacBook Pro Retina 13" 2014 & 2015 under Catalina become ridiculously slow

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