Slow performance from new macbook pro m1 ?

I've been using a MacBook Pro 13" M1 for over a week now, and for work doing coding for the web and dealing with large images in Sketch this computer is not up to the task. It hangs all the time, during simple things like saving files and opening a new browser tab. I don't know how much of this is a problem with Rosetta or Big Sur, or something more fundamentally wrong with the architecture. It could just be the lack of RAM. Either way there's no way they should have released a Pro computer right out of the gate. I'll be sending it back.

Unfortunately I'm also having this experience with my M1 MBP 16 Gb / 512 Gb. The whole computer feels sluggish and laggy even when performing simple tasks such as web browsing or opening and using simple built-in apps. This is very disappointing, especially that I ditched my Windows 10 laptop for the Mac experience based on my iPhone 12 Pro Max which is a very fluent device. I'm also plagued by nonsensical issues such as my external display and gigabyte ethernet adapter regularly not being detected. This is very annoying for the amount of money this computer cost me, I could've built a ridiculously powerful desktop PC with this kind of cash.

As your Mac is brand new, only one thing can be done to test it, which is to reinstall macOS.

So create a bootable installer How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Restart your Mac, press and hold the Power button.

Select the installer and wait it to load.

The first load is probably straight to Big Sur installation, but we want to clean the disk first, so click Install macOS Big Sur on the Menu Bar and quit the installation, then you'll be taken to that more classic menu of Recovery Mode.

Open Disk Utility and erase Mac's internal disk, everything.

Close DU and choose reinstall macOS.

Proceed as requested by the installer.

If the problem persist after a fresh install, wait no more. Call Apple Support, tell them about your issue and take it to an Apple Store or Authorized for a proper action.

There are NO pervasive reports of slowness on M1 Macs attributable to slow CPU or GPU performance. There are a very small number of reports of Hardware issues.

There are lots of reports from users on all sorts of Macs who have ruined their performance by installing aftermarket software such as Virus scanners, File Sync-ers ported form Windows (not Mac-native), speeder-uppers, and "optimizers".

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This thread is already too long to provide personalized advice. Anyone who wants a personal assessment is invited to start a new Thread and post your Mac model, your MacOS version, How much RAM is installed and an Etrecheck report.

Using EtreCheck to Troubleshoot Potential… - Apple Community

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There are NO pervasive reports of slowness on M1 Macs attributable to slow CPU or GPU performance. There are a very small number of reports of Hardware issues.

There are lots of reports from users on all sorts of Macs who have ruined their performance by installing aftermarket software such as Virus scanners, File Sync-ers ported form Windows (not Mac-native), speeder-uppers, and "optimizers".

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This thread is already too long to provide personalized advice. Anyone who wants a personal assessment is invited to start a new Thread and post your Mac model, your MacOS version, How much RAM is installed and an Etrecheck report.

Using EtreCheck to Troubleshoot Potential… - Apple Community

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<< Do these new M1's get bugged down after a month or so? >>

NO. There are NO pervasive reports of slowness on M1 Macs attributable to slow CPU or GPU performance. There are a very small number of reports of Hardware issues.

There are lots of reports from users on all sorts of Macs who have ruined their performance by installing aftermarket software such as Virus scanners, File Sync-ers ported form Windows (not Mac-native), speeder-uppers, and "optimizers".

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This thread is already too long to provide personalized advice. Anyone who wants a personal assessment is invited to start a new Thread and post your Mac model, your MacOS version, How much RAM is installed and an Etrecheck report.

Using EtreCheck to Troubleshoot Potential… - Apple Community

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<< It's so slow accessing Dropbox and other external drives >>

That is because Dropbox is not a Native macOS app, it is ported form Windows. It is so stupid about where it has ended up it ignores the Mac File System Event Store, a Mac data structure that could tell it EXACTLY what folders have changed, and instead searches ALL your files AND all the files you have stored on the web, looking for changes.

Disable Dropbox and at least some of your speed will return.

There are NO pervasive reports of slowness on M1 Macs attributable to slow CPU or GPU performance. There are a very small number of reports of Hardware issues.

There are lots of reports from users on all sorts of Macs who have ruined their performance by installing aftermarket software such as Virus scanners, File Sync-ers ported form Windows (not Mac-native), speeder-uppers, and "optimizers".

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This thread is already too long to provide personalized advice. Anyone who wants a personal assessment is invited to start a new Thread and post your Mac model, your MacOS version, How much RAM is installed and an Etrecheck report.

Using EtreCheck to Troubleshoot Potential… - Apple Community

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It's slow significantly if you have low storage ~ 10-15%!

Lots of background processes (e.g spindump) will use the cores & it's significantly slow to just open a few websites!

There're also bluetooth related issues as when I have a few devices like iPhone/iPad next to the Mac (M1), the connection is automatically disconnected if you just go to a nearby place like kitchen.

• it works fine if I just turn off bluetooth for other devices

there're a lot more issues that I don't know or found before purchasing my M1 :|

Hope Apple Team improves the quality of their products soon!

Kind regards!

There are NO pervasive reports of slowness on M1 Macs attributable to slow CPU or GPU performance. There are a very small number of reports of Hardware issues.

There are lots of reports from users on all sorts of Macs who have ruined their performance by installing aftermarket software such as Virus scanners, File Sync-ers ported form Windows (not Mac-native), speeder-uppers, and "optimizers".

--------

This thread is already too long to provide personalized advice. Anyone who wants a personal assessment is invited to start a new Thread and post your Mac model, your MacOS version, How much RAM is installed and an Etrecheck report.

Using EtreCheck to Troubleshoot Potential… - Apple Community

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Yeah, that's why i keep my free storage above 100gb+, so those issues do not affect its performance!

There are other issues as well if you use other features like Sidecar, airplay & running simulators ...

The temperature could jump to over 60 degrees if not monitored properly

Nevertheless, they're smart, they fixed a few issues mentioned here :) i believe they know how the customers are suffering

-> for those who suffer similar issues, one solution is to just restart your Mac (M1)

you can turn off some applications to improve its performance! Like i only open 1 youtube tab + 4 tabs with pure text! And it keeps reporting insufficient memory issues! (Spec: 16G memory)

Some applications may not be optimised yet and cause memory leak, you can check with activity monitor!

You can try restart after a few days! :)

Even i have not started docker or simulator yet! Hope they'll optimise apps soon!

Like the opened excel file is only ~ 400kb, but Excel Application uses more than 2GB of memory lol

2017 is not an M1. Procedures are a bit different, but OK.

If it is a hardware problem, well it can happen, you know. It's hard to know, but production processes are not perfect no matter what product or company.

And thank god this is showing up now, when you're setting it up and still under warranty, right?

I know it's trouble and you shouldn't be bothered by this, but it happens, you know.

Good question, bro, never saw it done with an SD.

I'm gonna look at it to see if anyone did it.

I'd say it is possible based on the way macOS mounts external drives, which is the same no matter what kind of drive it is. Just not sure if the Mac can boot via SD. Let's look into it.