Slow Graphics Performance MacOS High Sierra

It’s bull that it’s a coincidence and that it ‘might be’ a hardware issue that’s just so happened to have started at the same time. My early 2015 retina MacBook has had to be sent to the store to be repaired due to the MacBook becoming completely slow and then the screen malfunctioned and scrambled at boot. This was after high Sierra upgrade. So I reverted back to Sierra and the screen fixed for 2 weeks but then started malfunctioning again. It could boot in safe mode, so to say not a hardware issue. I tried other Mac OS to stop the issues but no joy. I tried to reset everything - did hardware test on boot - everything fine.

I personally think that the high Sierra update has overridden / updated something key and it’s not been able to go back to how it was. And the fact it’s been 2 months (and I’d say hundreds of thousands of posts on this forum in various other threads ), apple have not realised or been able to resolve it themselves.

It’s a lot of money for a door stopper and the hassle.

You know how they intentionally placed a bug in their last iPhone update to make the older models slower, so people are forced to upgrade their devices...it could be the same happening here.

I have a 2010 - 27" imac with i7 Quad Core and 32 GB ram. When I upgraded to Yesomite it got so extremely slow (slow only by start up, shutdown and starting and quitting any program). Then I replaced the hard drive with a solid state (in 2010 they didn't have that yet), and it runs fantastic, but I am scared of updating it to High Sierra.

I am sure your new imac will just work perfectly. It's not only about the processor, etc. the whole structure of motherboard and the graphic card is different.

It isn’t a bug, it’s a feature (where have I heard that before?). This feature manages performance when a non-optimal or older battery is used, less drain from CPU/GPU to get longer times before charging and in some cases to prevent the phones from turning off due to lack of battery power.

They have slashed the price of replacement batteries, so if you replace the battery the device should run at full speed again.

Battery-operated Macs ARE known to slow down when on power adapter AND battery is depleted (or absent) AND intense processing requires the Mac to "borrow" power from the battery to work at top speed.

But that is an obscure case, and only applies when the battery is depleted. I do not think it is the cause of the graphics performance shortcomings users are reporting specifically with High Sierra (and when reverted to Sierra all is as normal).

I have 10.13.3 and now using the system nvidia driver. And finally I'm able to connect my external 4k display use ti without lagging!:-) However I'm still testing it since morning. Once it will work for a few days without problems, then I will be happy!:-)

It is not true, because if there is a second graphics card, macOS is switching between then automatically not only based on the external monitor but e.g. if some page requires webGL, if the Photos app is run, if a java app is run, ... and this switch cost 2-5seconds and if the nvidia card was active, the performance was not great too.

But, second day and it still seems to be finally working!

Interesting...I have the latest version of FcpX and a "mid-2014" macbook pro and I experienced severe frame drops...usually after editing for a while. I always had to restart to get everything back to normal.

So you use the Nvidia driver instead of the built in one?

Winston Archibald Baxter VII wrote:

Interesting...I have the latest version of FcpX and a "mid-2014" macbook pro and I experienced severe frame drops...usually after editing for a while. I always had to restart to get everything back to normal.

So you use the Nvidia driver instead of the built in one?

No, never installed any driver. It has been working ok for me, maybe I did not push it as hard. My edits are relatively short, using mostly 4K iPhone recordings and 1080p from an AVCHD camera on 1080 timelines.

Not dramatically fast, but it would crash only rarely. On the short time with 10.13.3, the whole system *appears* to be more responsive, including FCP X.

Exact same situation here. Almost the exact same machine as yours, too 😐

I'm going to do a fresh install this weekend, and see if that fixes it (doubt it), then it may be back to Sierra for me as well.

Another victim here, High sierra, late 13 MBP with Nvidia 750m, I patiently wait for updates but every time there is no fix.

I think I have to find some time to roll back to Sierra, what a waste of time! Seems Apple is doing what they always have done with their phones and this is really sad.

I have followed this and other discussions, tried everything, Nvidia drivers, Nvidia CUDA but nothing, as soon as I connect my external monitor the fans starts spinning and I'm back in the 90s with a computer that seems to be running a 486 CPU, this planned obsolescenty game from apple is a shame, for the first time I'm actually considering not to buy a Mac next time, I really feel swindled by Apple.

I wish more resources were directed towards quality control.

In my opinion, a LOT of resources WERE directed to Quality Control. Unfortunately for owners of previously-shipped Macs, a lot of that effort seems to have been focused on the new File System, APFS, introduced in High Sierra. It appears that regression testing did not get as much attention as needed this time around.

This release has been pretty stable, but there have been a few features, like this graphics performance, that are not quite ready for Prime Time in their current state. I expect that will improve steadily as time and minor revisions go on.

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The person you talk to may honestly have never heard of your problem. There are a lot of different reasons for this -- none of them are diabolical or the result of a conspiracy.

Apple First Responders handles a wide variety of problems. So many, in fact that they honestly have not heard of any symptoms resembling yours. Their main mission is triage -- to get you referred to the appropriate second level experts, or to an Apple Authorized service provider. Only if your problem is simple do they expect to solve your problem themselves.

The symptoms they heard from a user yesterday may not sound much like the symptoms they heard from you today, so they simply may not have made the connection. It is only through a deeper understanding of what might be happening inside that technicians might make the connection between problems whose symptoms descriptions may be wildly different.

No one who post here can speak for Apple, Inc, unless they are clearly identified as an Apple employee. what I posted above is my opinions.

Has it even been acknowledged as an issue? Can they replicate it? Has it been assigned a priority? Is there an estimate of when it will be resolved?

The only way to know that is if someone has filed a problem report, been given a ticket number, and they have heard back from Apple about proposed resolution.

I don't think Apple denies real problems so much as they are not quick to acknowledge that a users symptoms are the same as a system problem.

What tends to happen instead is that folks post here, never follow up using official Apple channels, and no one knows whether Apple has taken it on as an issue that needs solving.

So if you have access to developer tech support or National (big customer) tech support, or educational tech support, pursuing this through official Apple channels can be worth doing. If you are selfish, and push your own problems, it helps everyone.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

No one who post here can speak for Apple, Inc, unless they are clearly identified as an Apple employee. what I posted above is my opinions.

Has it even been acknowledged as an issue? Can they replicate it? Has it been assigned a priority? Is there an estimate of when it will be resolved?

The only way to know that is if someone has filed a problem report, been given a ticket number, and they have heard back from Apple about proposed resolution.

I don't think Apple denies real problems so much as they are not quick to acknowledge that a users symptoms are the same as a system problem.

What tends to happen instead is that folks post here, never follow up using official Apple channels, and no one knows whether Apple has taken it on as an issue that needs solving.

So if you have access to developer tech support or National (big customer) tech support, or educational tech support, pursuing this through official Apple channels can be worth doing. If you are selfish, and push your own problems, it helps everyone.

Thanks for your reply.

Just for the record I have actually pursed this issue via official Apple channels ...

But the communication is very one side, I capture data, send it to them ... but not much info flows the other way.

I'm just left in the dark - wondering ...

Do I go back to Sierra, buy a Microsoft laptop or just wait for this issue to be resolved?

Hmm, I dont think so 😟.

then follow the directions and post a new Bug Report as they told you to do.

... and stop posting here about BETA software or the Hosts will be obliged to remove your posts, as they recently did other posts about BETA software on this Public forum.

I'm irritated because it feels like High Sierra is intentionally leaving behind many Macs by having performance problems.

My 2012 iMac took a serious step back in graphics performance upon upgrading it to High Sierra, but the two 2015 5K iMacs I have access to were unaffected and actually got a bit faster.

It's aggravating. Apple shouldn't be trying to use new GPU features that slow down tasks that ran fine using previous methods. The only positive thing I can say is that Apple is making it easier to stay on Sierra, including providing security updates. It makes me think they recognize there are issues.