Motion playback lag on Mac mini M4 Pro

I recently upgraded to a Mac mini M4 Pro, 24GB Ram, 12 Core. But the apple motion playback in some projects are worst and laggier than on my old Mac mini M1 16Gb Ram? Any tips to improve performance or is the M1 better than M4 Pro?



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Apple Motion laggy playback

Mac mini, macOS 15.6

Posted on Aug 4, 2025 07:38 AM

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Posted on Aug 4, 2025 09:34 AM

Honestly, there isn't a computer fast enough available today that can handle some Motion projects. Motion can bring any machine to its knees depending on what's going on. For instance, an Emitter with thousands of "particles" with long Life settings, and particularly if they're animated. The best way to handle this situation is to dial back the number of particles (and possibly also the Life spans) while developing, then turn it back up for publishing.


You'll need to describe your project for better recommendations.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 4, 2025 09:34 AM in response to olrogerio

Honestly, there isn't a computer fast enough available today that can handle some Motion projects. Motion can bring any machine to its knees depending on what's going on. For instance, an Emitter with thousands of "particles" with long Life settings, and particularly if they're animated. The best way to handle this situation is to dial back the number of particles (and possibly also the Life spans) while developing, then turn it back up for publishing.


You'll need to describe your project for better recommendations.

Motion playback lag on Mac mini M4 Pro

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