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mac OS Ventura slows down on MacBook Pro 13 (2017)

I have upgraded my Mac to Ventura 13.5.2 and it is slowing down in the interface. For example, scrolling in the system settings menu slows down noticeably. I installed the system from scratch, it is completely reset, and there is a lot of space in the storage


[Edited by Moderator]

MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Sep 11, 2023 11:25 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 11, 2023 7:55 AM

I have exactly the same issue.


Just upgraded from Catalina (running smoothly and pretty well, but I was forced to update macOS due to a lot of apps incompatibilities).


I did clean install and installed macOS Ventura from USB bootable image disk.


The lag alternating System Preferences tabs is absurd.


I guess Ventura is designed and mainly orientated to ARM processors, despite offering "support" for INTEL based processors, like MacBook Pro 2017 Touch Bar version (A1706).


Any ideas on how to get the MacBook Pro A1706 working properly on Ventura?


Just installed macOS Ventura, no other additional software installed, it's very laggy and slow.

13 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 11, 2023 7:55 AM in response to vicelover

I have exactly the same issue.


Just upgraded from Catalina (running smoothly and pretty well, but I was forced to update macOS due to a lot of apps incompatibilities).


I did clean install and installed macOS Ventura from USB bootable image disk.


The lag alternating System Preferences tabs is absurd.


I guess Ventura is designed and mainly orientated to ARM processors, despite offering "support" for INTEL based processors, like MacBook Pro 2017 Touch Bar version (A1706).


Any ideas on how to get the MacBook Pro A1706 working properly on Ventura?


Just installed macOS Ventura, no other additional software installed, it's very laggy and slow.

Sep 13, 2023 4:48 PM in response to vicelover

Are you seeing slowness for the whole system or only when accessing the System Settings? I really could not tell anything from the video before it was removed.


Did you test with a clean install of macOS, but before installing any third party apps & before restoring from a backup? A clean install is when you erase the whole physical SSD (Intel Macs only). Also, test with all external devices disconnected. And try it on battery only and again while using the power adapter to see if there is any difference. This is the only way to separate out software/configuration issues and hardware issues.


Even with a clean install, macOS may be extremely slow for a time due to Spotlight indexing the drive so make sure to leave the Mac running for a day before you try to perform any performance tests & evaluations. I always have to wait 5 - 15 minutes after booting or waking a Mac so that any tasks have time to run their course before I begin looking at possible performance issues.


Try running Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container. Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if First Aid says everything is "Ok", click "Show Details" and scroll back through the report to see if any unfixed errors are listed. If there are any unfixed errors listed, then you can try running First Aid from Internet Recovery Mode, otherwise you will need to erase the whole drive (Intel Macs only) before reinstalling macOS & restoring from a backup.


You may also want to check the health of the SSD by using DriveDx (free trial period). Post the complete DriveDx text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. Unfortunately drive health monitoring apps are not accurate with their summary reports when checking SSDs and many SSDs today have only the most basic health information available, so the reports tend to reveal very little information, but it never hurts to check.


FYI, the MBPro 13" (2016 & 2017) non-Touchbar models have an extremely high failure rate for their Apple OEM SSDs, but usually the failure is not related to performance issues, but a controller issue which reveals a failure when waking or powering on the laptop. Also that common failure of this SSD controller will not show any issues in the SSD's health report....things which show up in the DriveDx report could affect performance.


There is a chance that the battery is the source of the problem. Power related issues can cause the Apple USB-C Intel laptops to run slow. You can try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected besides the "Service Battery" condition. You can try running the following two commands in the Terminal app to see whether either one reports a hardware issue with the battery....normally it does not mention anything about failures even if the battery is wearing out. If it shows a hardware issue, then the Battery could very well be the cause of the slowness, but no guarantees.


I have seen dozens of our organization's Apple USB-C laptops become extremely slow for no apparent reason (keep in mind this is just a small number since we have thousands of the laptops)...I'm still trying to find a way to determine the cause, but I assume it is some issue with the Logic Board that I cannot detect. These are laptops where the Intel CPU is running at 2+ GHz, but it is not heating up and is acting like the CPU is being throttled even though it does not appear to be the case.


Sep 11, 2023 2:16 PM in response to vicelover

First, there is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac.  This documents describe what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community and Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support.  


There are no known viruses, i.e. self propagating, for Macs.  There are, however, adware and malware which require the user to install although unwittingly most of the time thru sneaky links, etc.   


Anti Virus developers try to group all types as viruses into their ad campaigns of fear.  They do a poor job of the detecting and isolating the adware and malware.  Since there are no viruses these apps use up a lot of system resources searching for what is non-existent and adversely affect system and app performance.


There is one app, Malwarebytes, which was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community, that is designed solely to seek out adware and known malware and remove it.  The free version is more than adequate for most users.  


That being said uninstall PowerMyMac and Memory Cleaner Pro according to the developers' instructions.


Sep 11, 2023 12:28 PM in response to HWTech

Major Issues:


    Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.




    Battery failure - Your battery is reporting that it needs to be serviced.


    Automatic updates disabled - Automatic updates are disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.


    Security updates disabled - Security updates are disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.


    Apple security disabled - Apple security software is disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.



Minor issues:


These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement.




    No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.


    Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed.


    Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. These files could be old, incompatible, and cause problems. They should be reviewed.


    Limited permissions - More information may be available with Full Disk Access.


Hardware Information:


    MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)


        Status: Supported


    MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro14,1


    2,3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-7360U) CPU: 2-core


    8 GB RAM - Not upgradeable


        BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB LPDDR3 2133


        BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB LPDDR3 2133


    Battery: Health = Service Battery - Cycle count = 415




Video Information:


    Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 - VRAM: 1536 MB


        Color LCD (built-in) 2880 x 1800



Oct 11, 2023 4:51 PM in response to danilovcorrea

danilovcorrea wrote:

Any ideas on how to get the MacBook Pro A1706 working properly on Ventura?

Just installed macOS Ventura, no other additional software installed, it's very laggy and slow.

Did you restore from a backup after the clean install?


Make sure to disconnect all external devices from the laptop in case one of them is causing a problem.


If a clean install with no third party apps & without a restore from a backup has a problem, then it usually indicates a hardware issue of some sort.

Feb 10, 2024 1:07 PM in response to vicelover

Same here on a Macbook Pro 13" 2017, 8G RAM (2 ports) running Ventura. I don't do anything super processor- or RAM-intensive but sometimes apps take forever to launch if there are just 2 or 3 other apps open. And the System Preferences are always painfully slow.


There's nothing that will fix it. It's how Ventura runs on this machine. You're only option is to downgrade the OS.


Intel models from late 2010s are really getting screwed with the transition to Apple silicon. Not only was the OS upgrade timeline shortened, but the newer OSs just run terribly without lots of RAM.


I've been a Mac user since the mid 90s and have always loved the long-life support and usability. But I feel (relatively) screwed with this particular model.

mac OS Ventura slows down on MacBook Pro 13 (2017)

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