Whenever I start typing, the first few characters are almost always missing. It won't happen if the keyboard is active in the next minute or two. I notice it after macOS 27.2 update from macOS 27.0.1. Never happened before on the M1 Pro MacBook Pro. Other issues like opening the Apps and see only a white window, hanging for minutes before numbers of windows pop up because of repeated attempts to open an app or documents.
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 2021)
Runaway processes and low free storage space are common reasons for Macs to run slow, which can result win missed keystrokes and apps failing to launch.
It is possible there are processes running in the background that are using significant resources. Check Activity Monitor, CPU tab (sort by % CPU) and Memory tab (sort by Memory) to see what's running hard. Make sure that View menu > All Processes is selected, so you are seeing everything.
Activity Monitor User Guide for Mac - Apple Support
Confirm that you have sufficient free space on your internal storage. The absolute minimum is ~30-40 GB free space, and as a rule of thumb you should aim to have 15-20% of your total internal storage as free space. You can check the amount of free space you have on your Mac in a variety of ways:
Note that on versions of macOS prior to Golden Gate, the ‘available’ space reported with the first two methods above was greater than the ‘free’ space reported by the second two methods. Apple corrected that confusion with Golden Gate, and as shown in the above screenshot, the available/free space is consistent across the different methods. For more details, see this User Tip.
Some steps to take to safely free up space:
Free up storage space on Mac - Apple Support
Optimize storage space on your Mac - Apple Support
How to free up ‘System Data’ and other st… - Apple Community
If nothing in the above reveals an obvious culprit, then appropriate troubleshooting steps are Safe Mode and creating a new user account to test.
See if the problem is present when you boot in safe mode. That process performs some system cleanup and clears caches, and also disables 3rd party extensions that may cause problems.
Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support
If that does not correct the issue, test in a new user account. A newly-created user account will have all settings at default, and if the issue does not occur in that new account then it provides guidance on what may need to be changed to correct the issue.
Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support
Once the testing is complete, the new account can easily be deleted.
Delete a user or group on Mac – Apple Support
If you have 3rd party ‘protection’ software installed, that may be the problem. That includes:
Such 3rd party system ‘helpers’, ‘cleaners’ and ‘protectors’ do more harm than good. In fact, such products are completely unnecessary for macOS and the only ‘good’ (if you want to call it that) they do is to put money in the developers’ pockets. Cleaners and protectors cause compatibility issues, often after macOS updates. Commercial VPNs claim to hide your browsing activity from websites, and while that may be true those VPN providers just sell your browsing data to others. For the user, all of these types of software offer only harm…and if that is limited to harm to your bank account, then count yourself lucky. If you have installed such software, follow the developer’s instructions to completely uninstall it (note that some developers fail to provide instructions and their software installs can be pervasive, meaning the only way to truly remove it is to erase your Mac, reinstall macOS then restore your user files from a backup).
It might help to download and run EtreCheck, written by a long-time forum member. The free version is fine. Post the full report using the Additional Text button. No personal information is revealed.
Initial keystrokes missing. Can it be fixed?
