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Choppy Minimize or Maximize on External Display

Almost new Macbook Pro 13" with Touchbar. External Thunderbolt display attached via the official Apple TB3 to USB-C TB3 adapter. This problem only occurs on the external display.


When I minimize an application to the Dock, it's a smooth animation. When I maximize it, it's a smooth animation. When I do this several times over the course of a day's worth of work, the maximize process gets stuttery and "stuck". My screen will be frozen with this halfway finished minimize or maximize animation.


It'll freeze with the spinning ball not always exactly halfway through either the maximize or minimize "animation" with WindowServer suddenly going up to very high CPU usage. If I wait 10 seconds or so, the animation will complete and the system will go back to normal, until I minimize or maximize again. Reboot fixes it for a period of time.


Everything was working fine the past couple of weeks. Zapped PRAM and reset SMC. All updates installed. System is not running any extra programs, it's as bare bones as a laptop from the Apple Store. System works great other than this issue. It does not happen when only using the laptop screen.


What is the fix?

Posted on May 2, 2018 3:10 PM

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Posted on May 8, 2018 1:43 PM

Quick Update:


It appears that changing the Minimize Windows Using from Genie Effect to Scale Effect resolves the problem. I don't mind Scale Effect, so I'll keep it that way if it means the problem is resolved.


Looks like it's a bug in High Sierra with an external monitor and Genie Effect that causes Windowserver to suck up a ton of CPU resources. Considering the other problems many others on this forum have complained with High Sierra, Windowserver, the switch to Metal2, and external monitors, I'm going to chalk it up to poor quality control with High Sierra.


So far High Sierra has been the Windows Vista of Apple's operating system releases. Hopefully they'll get it together.

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May 8, 2018 1:43 PM in response to plochner

Quick Update:


It appears that changing the Minimize Windows Using from Genie Effect to Scale Effect resolves the problem. I don't mind Scale Effect, so I'll keep it that way if it means the problem is resolved.


Looks like it's a bug in High Sierra with an external monitor and Genie Effect that causes Windowserver to suck up a ton of CPU resources. Considering the other problems many others on this forum have complained with High Sierra, Windowserver, the switch to Metal2, and external monitors, I'm going to chalk it up to poor quality control with High Sierra.


So far High Sierra has been the Windows Vista of Apple's operating system releases. Hopefully they'll get it together.

May 3, 2018 1:13 PM in response to plochner

Hi there, plochner,

Thanks for stopping by the Apple Support Communities. If I'm understanding your post correctly, you've been experiencing some issues with the video of your external display. Specifically, when you minimize or maximize items from the Dock, the animations are slow and choppy, and sometimes will make the external display completely unresponsive. I'd be happy to help!

Based on what you've described, I would recommend checking out the steps outlined in Get help with video issues on external displays connected to your Mac - Apple Support . There isn't a section in the article that directly addresses your issue, however the steps outlined may still help. If not, reach out to Apple Support directly for some more help: Contact Apple Support .

Best.

May 3, 2018 1:22 PM in response to Lindsay_B.

The article linked does not apply to my problem. Actually, in absolutely no place in that article is there any reference to the problem I've written above.


You've told me to Contact Apple Support, which I may decide to do. In the meantime, I'll leave my question here so others who may be experiencing the problem can offer their advice and/or support.


I appreciate that you volunteer your time on these forums, but to be honest I'd rather have no response than a form letter which requires me to write this exact response telling you that your form letter does not at all apply to my specific problem.

May 3, 2018 1:40 PM in response to plochner

You C L E A R L Y did not read her response. She outright says explicitly that there is not a section dedicated to your specific issue in the article but *YOU SHOULD STILL TRY THE STEPS ANYWAY BECAUSE THEY MAY BE HELPFUL*


And if they’re not, referring to Apple as the next step isn’t beyond the concept of a rational option—it’s quite possible that your issue requires more in depth troubleshooting than can be provided here. And who better to offer help on what is a really weird, RANDOM issue than the people who designed the darn thing?


In the end, take her advice or don’t, but don’t complain it didn’t address your issue when it actually might, just because you can’t see past the surface.


Have a good day and good luck waiting for someone to answer you!

May 3, 2018 2:02 PM in response to Miss Smartie Partie

I will certainly be fine waiting for someone to offer their useful experience in helping me solve the problem. I'm on these forums enough helping out other people with their problems that I'm certain I'll eventually get someone who says, "Hey, I've got that issue as well, turns out you have to delete the dock prefs .plist and run this command in the terminal".


I'm fine waiting for a resolution. What I'm aggravated with is this form letter I see posted on so many discussion posts on this Apple community website. She gave me a link that had nothing to do with my problem, and even admitted so. Her link asks if everything is updated, what to do if there's fuzzy images, or no image, contrast or color issues, or USB-C issues. I was very clear with my specific problem and the is absolutely nothing in my original post that references anything in the post she linked. I would be curious if you could look at those steps posted in the article and let me know specifically which of those steps I should try to even begin to resolve my issue.


Then she gave me the generic information for Apple Support, which may be a route I eventually go down.


When I see that form letter, it feels like I'm having a problem with my Bluetooth audio stuttering after I synch it to my Chevy's radio, and the response from Chevy is to make sure that there's gas in my car and the electrical system works when I turn the ignition key, and failing that I should just "call Chevrolet".

Choppy Minimize or Maximize on External Display

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