16” MBP M1 MAX SLOW PERFORMANCE

Here is the Etrecheck.

I've been using Seagate Portable Hard drive 4TB which is currently half full. I was told SSDs would be better to use and so I've also tried the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD Drive which i experienced the exact same issue.

I have also seen your comment below, and will definetly try uninstalling chrome now - but I'm also curious how I have used chrome on every single mac I've ever used and never experienced any issues with video editing. Is this something specifically with the new M1 MAX?

This actually wasn't checked: "Full Disk Access" so I've checked that now.

As well as completely uninstall chrome and reinstalling Final Cut Pro - There is absolutely no change in the speed and if anything I'm finding that the entire library is now taking about 1-2 minutes to even open upon starting up Final Cut Pro. I get a good few minutes of editing without any issues and then even something as basic as slicing a clip causes the spinning wheel and I have no choice but to force quit.

I have also tired creating the new library, the interface is even slow just trying to important the footage.

I honestly am shocked at the idea that an M1MAX chip could struggle in the slightest when it's just 4K IPHONE footage.

I am currently trying to create a new library directly on the internal drive, but final cut is just struggling to open so I'll get back to you on how that goes. I've ran the tests below (I don't quite understand all this stuff) But I gather from that, that clearly the internal drive can process extremely faster than the hard drive which could be causing the issue? But I'm interested to know how the same project on the same hard drive can work perfectly fine on my old iMac and yet has all these issues on the new MBP?

I ran the test on my hard drive and got this:

And not sure if I did it correctly, but I ran it on my user folder with the internal and got this:

I have the hard drive usbA plugged into an adapter as the laptop only has usbC.

I thought this may have been the case last time so I went and bought an SSD hard drive, transferred my files onto that and worked directly off the SSD but has the exact same issues.

I would love to rely on working directly off the internal drive however I only have 2T and a lot of video projects. As mentioned, I don't understand why the exact same project works fine on a 2020 iMac, yet not on this.

I have ejected the drive and disconnected it, and yes FCPX opened up with no issues but also had no libraries opened as they are all on the hard drive.

EDIT: and if you were using the same adapter with an SSD, that would tell us why even that would not work correctly.

In response to this, the SSD actually had a usbC with it, so the adapter wasn't needed.

I've run the test using the USB3.0

Even though it shows it's faster, final cut is still working slow.

I am eager to find a solution to this, and based off this would you assume the issue is the hard drive?

Do you have any recommendations for external hard drives that shouldn't affect the internal speed?

I am going to try working off the internal drive directly to see if the issue still occurs, but I have so many ongoing projects that 2T actually isnt enough which is why I’ve always worked off a hard drive. Do you have any suggestions for what spec SSD i should be looking at?

Thank you guys for all this information.

I am going to trial working directly off the computer, see if that makes any difference and will report back how it goes.

in regards to the hard drive it makes complete sense if that’s the issue however i am wondering why doesn’t it affect my work process when using the 2020 imac 27” ? I’ve never had any issues editing with the same process?

So I am now editing directly off the laptop (no external hard drives plugged in) all my raw video content is saved on the computer - starting a new project and just importing my clips - it has crashed 2 minutes into importing the footage.

Once reopened - even when I'm trying to drag in the clips, cut and edit - its maxing out the CPU and lagging.

Is there a way for me to check that?

This laptop is honestly fresh out of the box, and I've only downloaded my essential programs I use for work ie adobe suite and Final Cut Pro with the additional WhatsApp and and Spotify. I don't even have any of my 3rd party plugins installed yet.

I've just checked and it's already been updated currently macOS Monterey 12.4

Yup :)

I have actually tried this with a number of projects / old and new. Completely different footage and have found on both the original and this replacement laptop that I'm having the same issue.

Oh I see!

I've looked online and I believe this is what I have

Yeah exactly, I've spoken to others who also have it and are editing much bigger files than me which is why I'm not sure what the issue is.