Slow performance from new macbook pro m1 ?

Update:

I wrote in my last post that I´ve directly installed Big Sur 11.2.3 after formatting my SSD. It´s been 11.2.2.

I´ve checked the version when writing and didn´t recognize that 11.2.3 was the available update waiting for installation.

So I just did that and guess what - it´s beachball time again and the issues with the self signed IP using wired network is also back.

New thing is a problem with my card reader so it won´t start to copy my photos from the SD card directly onto the SDD.

After a restart the IP adress works again and changing the card reader got rid of the problem importing my pics.

PDF creating with word is still working. But very strange things going on with this machine.

Cheers, Tom

Cheers Tom

Hi Jonas,

your´re welcome! :)

I´ve never used Safari since I´m an WIndows and Android user and Chrome worked out pretty well for me in the M1.

But I just tried scrolling trough the thumbnails on Pinterest and it´s just as you described. Buttery smooth on Chrome (CPU usage about 45%), but very laggy using Pinterest (CPU usage between 25-35%).

I´ve heard that Chrome needs a lot of ressources and Safari is very good when ist comes to battery usage.

I´ve already noticed that some things aren´t very smooth on the M1 that haven´t been any issues with my windows machine. Otherwise things that my beefy PC always struggled with are perfectly fine with the M1. On Lightroom for instance zooming in at 100% and moving the picture around in the library module is a little bit choppy on the M1, but moving the sliders (brightness, contrast, ...) the real time preview is absolutely smooth and in real time. On my windows machine (8700k @ 4,9Ghz, 64GB RAM, GTX1080) it always had a different performance from extremely laggy to really smooth. But never ever nearly as smooth as with the M1.

Also zooming in using Google Earth is really smooth with the M1. I´ve only experienced that performance in Google Earth with my Phones but never on a PC.

It´s a new architecture and a new OS. It´s really impressive but I think there´s still a lot of work to do. For me, the MBA is the perfect combination of tablet and computer and I´m very happy with it. But the issues with the OS updates are indeed a bummer. And the poor performance in Safari seems to be to. Wouldn´t be surprised seeing this behavior in Chrome. But Safari is Apple land. I would have expected them to get at least their own software running perfectly.

But, things aren´t alway that easy und may come other than expected. I´m pretty sure there will be a fix in the near future.

At least you´re not the only one with that problem and it has nothing to do with 8GB RAM.. ;)

Cheers,

Tom

Oh sorry, yes I meant that it´s perfectly fine with chrome, but very laggy with safari.

If this problem appeared with Big Sur and it´s also happening on the Intel machines, I think we´ve found the reason.

I think it´s not that easy to create an OS für x86 and ARM. This needs some time and is part of the jump to a new platform.

Cheers,

Tom

Mine unfortunately also gets slow from time to time. most problems are with finder an especially using the lan connection with a dongle. Also some programs like Microsoft Word (newest version, apple silicon native) take forevery to start. Even if the system is not checking the app before opening is, it sometimes takes more than 10s so start. While photo editing works really well, basic office stuff is struggeling a lot.

Yesterday I made the update to Big Sur 1.3. Despite the updates seemed to make it worse in first place, I´m hopening for performance increase this time.

I've got exact same issue on the M1 13" MacBook Pro. Worst apps are the Adobe Suite which ran great on my top end 2018 MacBook Pro. I (maybe foolishly) swapped from that one to this based on crazy GeekBench scores but I'm thinking the Apple Sales guy's promises that an 8GB M1 MacBook Pro would be more than sufficient compared to my 32GB MacBook Pro.

It takes up to a minute or more to simply open Adobe Premiere as well as other adobe apps. Can't even do any basic editing in Premiere cuz its excruciatingly laggy and delayed (even with just 1/8 resolution for playback). Haven't even bothered trying Adobe After Effects cuz can't imagine how delayed it would be with rendering.

Scary thing is more simple apps like native Safari or the Brave browser seem to be a little laggy.

Crazy and frustrating.

I´m on 11.3.1 right now with my MBA and lucky me, I didn´t have any performance issues like I had with the first updates. One big problem is the connection to my Synology NAS. Finder is very laggy from time to time. I´ve never had any issues with Network Shares with any of my PC´s or laptops running windows no matter how weak their CPU was. Also with old Wifi standards network folders with content were showing instantly (opening or copy was an other thing despite the 54Mbit-connection but the content did always show in proper times).

The M1 MBA sometimes is just loading and loading and even after a few seconds, I still have no clue if there´s some content in that folder. Very annoying. Got my new OWC Thunderbolt 3 pro dockingstation today and connected it to my NAS with 10GbE. When ejecting the network shares after using wifi and reconnect it with enabled 10GbE, the connection seems fine. But browsing throw folders is still very slow compared to my Windows workstation.

Opening apps also isn´t very fast. Resolve or Word for instance take much longer than on my Windows workstation an even my old Dell laptop with only a dual core i5 from 2013 and an SATA SSD.

Browsing the web with the M1 is very snappy. In direct comparison with my Workstation it´s definitly faster, but I never had any problem with the Windows machine, neither I´m having now when I use it side by side with the M1. So it is faster, but not that big of a deal.

I really love my MBA with the M1, but there are still some tradeoffs that I will have to live with. Maybe some things are fixed in future updates.

Cheers,

Tom

<< 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".

--------

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

.

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!

Here's a pretty simple tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iNDe2zAJyg

I moved over from a PC and was looking forward to these "blazing speeds." Can only say am disappointed. Does not boot up particularly quick. Also has lag to open may apps. (mac book pro with M1)

adobe has recently issued Apple-Silicon M1 versions of its two most popular Apps, but you must download them deliberately -- they are not served to you by software update.

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.

Yep, me too. Really laggy in Motion and FCPX. Having real issues. Never had this with my 2012 i7 Mac mini.

M1 Mac Mini - 16GB Ram - 512 storage.

I really hope its a Big Sur issue and that fixes are just around the corner!

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.