Mac OS Big Sur is laggy and sluggish

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Level 1

14 points

Mac OS Big Sur is laggy and sluggish

Dear Community,

I have been using MacOS Big Sur since it got released. It works fine overall, but it seems sluggish and animations are slow. Especially, the new widget/notification center area. I am using a 15 inch MBP and it has a dedicated GPU it should be working fine with it.

I know originally (The OS) it's been designed to M1 MACs but since I intend to use my intel MAC for at least another 4 years, I don't give a flying about those macs.

Is there any news about upcoming system updates in the near future?

Thanks,

David

David's MacBook Pro 15"

Posted on Feb 1, 2021 06:39 AM

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Answer 1

benwiggy

Level 4

1,491 points

Feb 1, 2021 07:25 AM in response to razieee

That's not my experience, nor most people's, I think. Big Sur should still work fine on Intel.

What vintage of MBP is it? Have you run something like Etrecheck over your system? The chances are you've got some old software that's launching background processes which don't play nicely with Big Sur. Or failing hardware!

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Answer 2

razieee Author

Level 1

14 points

Feb 1, 2021 07:39 AM in response to Sisklogw

That vintage MBP is a 2016 touch bar 15" macbook pro.

It runs "fine" wont interrupt with my daily tasks, but seems more sluggish and laggy. Like animations are not on top as always. I don't think my GPU is dying it just seems that the OS is poorly optimized. I have to use chrome since safari is "stuttery" when scrolling etc.

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Answer 3

benwiggy

Level 4

1,491 points

Feb 1, 2021 07:53 AM in response to razieee

OK, well first thing you should do is download EtreCheck from the Mac App Store, and run it. That will produce a report about your system: what third-party software is running in the background, any problems. It's a very useful diagnostic tool. You can post the results here: there's no personal info.

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Answer 4

Feb 1, 2021 08:04 AM in response to benwiggy

razieee, I'm running Big Sur on a 2015 MBP and while it isn't as fast as my 2020 iMac I don't notice sluggishness myself. It runs perfectly fine. How much RAM do you have and how much free space is on your disk?

Please look into Etrecheck, it will help us diagnose your issue. I would guess as benwiggy is suggesting that it is a software issue.

I hope this helps.

Paul

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Answer 5

benwiggy

Level 4

1,491 points

Feb 1, 2021 08:43 AM in response to razieee

I can read it. OK there's lots of useful info here, but no obvious culprit.

You have lots of third-party software that has its 'teeth' in the OS. If it's not updated or compatible with Big Sur, it might be causing problems.

I'm immediately suspicious of DigiDNA, and Folx, neither of which I know. If Safari is being sluggish: remove third-party extensions. Also VPN Unlimited -- check that the software is compatible, or remove.

Get rid of SpeedTestHelper in your Login Items. You can test connection speeds without installing stuff.

You have enough free disk space, and 16 GB of RAM. Memory pressure might be a bit high.

I would launch Activity Monitor, and see if anything is hogging the CPU and Memory. Things do look a bit excessive - Notification Centre is running at 30%; "Other processes" are 51%. It has to be said that Chrome has a reputation as a CPU and Memory hog.

Also: I note you don't seem to be using Time Machine. I hope you have another backup strategy in place?

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Answer 6

benwiggy

Level 4

1,491 points

Feb 1, 2021 07:43 AM in response to razieee

Have you tested a brand new user account, at the least? That's a quick way of ruling out the system as the cause. (Though third-party /Library/LaunchAgents will still run.)

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