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New M2 Pro freezing when switching between apps

I have a new M2 Pro I bought less than a month ago but barely used aside from, like, normal browsing. It has the upgraded 16gb ram and 256gb hard drive, and it's really slow. It's taking a loooong time to switch between apps - usually 3-5 seconds, even with only two basic apps open (i.e. Mail and Safari) and even after the laptop has been restarted. Newly-opened apps take a long time to load and it often freezes for a few seconds when one opens. Other times I get the spinning cursor and it freezes for longer, though the touchbar still works. It's also skipping keyboard inputs - like, it often misses the first word I type in a new app or Safari window, or randomly misses parts of words mid-sentence.


I'm an MA student so I don't exactly work it hard - I often have a lot of tabs open for research, hence I upgraded the ram, but I haven't even written a paper on it yet. I stopped using Chrome in case that was the problem; tried closing out of any unused apps, etc. - none of it makes it better. I've seen people on Reddit with the same problems on Airs, but not Pros. Anyone else having these issues and/or have any explanations/fixes? I'll be taking the problems to Apple but it'd be nice to know if it's just me, or if there's a better way to describe it than just 'slow.'

Posted on Aug 26, 2022 2:13 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 27, 2022 7:57 AM

cssnzvdc005 wrote:

I have a new M2 Pro I bought less than a month ago but barely used aside from, like, normal browsing. It has the upgraded 16gb ram and 256gb hard drive, and it's really slow. It's taking a loooong time to switch between apps - usually 3-5 seconds, even with only two basic apps open (i.e. Mail and Safari) and even after the laptop has been restarted. Newly-opened apps take a long time to load and it often freezes for a few seconds when one opens. Other times I get the spinning cursor and it freezes for longer, though the touchbar still works. It's also skipping keyboard inputs - like, it often misses the first word I type in a new app or Safari window, or randomly misses parts of words mid-sentence.

I'm an MA student so I don't exactly work it hard - I often have a lot of tabs open for research, hence I upgraded the ram, but I haven't even written a paper on it yet. I stopped using Chrome in case that was the problem; tried closing out of any unused apps, etc. - none of it makes it better. I've seen people on Reddit with the same problems on Airs, but not Pros. Anyone else having these issues and/or have any explanations/fixes? I'll be taking the problems to Apple but it'd be nice to know if it's just me, or if there's a better way to describe it than just 'slow.'


To trouble shoot further you can:


—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac - Apple Support

This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 



—SafeBoot How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support will sort many anomalies


Takes a bit longer to get to the login screen, does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, font cache, etc., third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.


a reboot will put it back to normal mode.


This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.




Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS




Similar questions

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 27, 2022 7:57 AM in response to cssnzvdc005

cssnzvdc005 wrote:

I have a new M2 Pro I bought less than a month ago but barely used aside from, like, normal browsing. It has the upgraded 16gb ram and 256gb hard drive, and it's really slow. It's taking a loooong time to switch between apps - usually 3-5 seconds, even with only two basic apps open (i.e. Mail and Safari) and even after the laptop has been restarted. Newly-opened apps take a long time to load and it often freezes for a few seconds when one opens. Other times I get the spinning cursor and it freezes for longer, though the touchbar still works. It's also skipping keyboard inputs - like, it often misses the first word I type in a new app or Safari window, or randomly misses parts of words mid-sentence.

I'm an MA student so I don't exactly work it hard - I often have a lot of tabs open for research, hence I upgraded the ram, but I haven't even written a paper on it yet. I stopped using Chrome in case that was the problem; tried closing out of any unused apps, etc. - none of it makes it better. I've seen people on Reddit with the same problems on Airs, but not Pros. Anyone else having these issues and/or have any explanations/fixes? I'll be taking the problems to Apple but it'd be nice to know if it's just me, or if there's a better way to describe it than just 'slow.'


To trouble shoot further you can:


—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac - Apple Support

This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 



—SafeBoot How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support will sort many anomalies


Takes a bit longer to get to the login screen, does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, including dynamic loader cache, font cache, etc., third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.


a reboot will put it back to normal mode.


This test will tell you if third party interference; extensions etc are not loaded in safe boot mode.




Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS




New M2 Pro freezing when switching between apps

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