Low CPU Geekbench score Air M4

-Apple-User wrote:

• From what you describe and the tests you ran it appears that the liquid spill and any possible damage may be all set.

A passing diagnostic result means nothing here since the diagnostics will rarely detect problems. Most of the computers I repair had passing diagnostic results, but I confirmed hardware failures through other means. Only a diagnostic which produces an error code is useful for troubleshooting.

The most likely explanation is the Apple tech missed some liquid damage, or that liquid damage did not leave behind any visible physical traces on other components....only due to the timing of the issue and the supposedly clean OS the OP mentioned.

I found these suggestions to address the issue system performance issue that you describe that could possibly correct the situation. You can try these or wait and bring your system back to where you had it repaired to have them check everything and provide the appropriate solutions for your situation. The suggestions are below:

"If you believe your P-cores are underperforming even with a high-demand workload, you can take these troubleshooting steps:"

Restart in Safe Mode: This will clear cache files and run a disk repair, which can sometimes resolve performance issues.

•

Update macOS and apps: Make sure both your operating system and your applications are fully up to date. This ensures you have the latest performance optimizations and bug fixes.

•

Manually adjust thread priority (Advanced): For command-line tools, you can use the taskpolicy command to suggest that a process run on P-cores.

1.

Open Terminal.

2. Find the Process ID (PID) of your application using ps -ef | grep "AppName".

3. Run the following command, replacing <PID> with the ID: taskpolicy -B -p <PID>. 

These things should not be necessary at all for a clean install of macOS or for any commonly used third party apps. Perhaps these may be beneficial for some lesser known third party software where the developer doesn't know how to properly program & optimize their app for an M-series Mac and macOS.

The OP should be resolving the hardware issue while the laptop is still under warranty and also covered by a 90 day part/repair warranty for the liquid damage (especially the latter if more damage is found).

saalem15 wrote:

I recently had my MacBook Air M4 serviced due to liquid contact. Only the touchpad showed signs of corrosion and was replaced. After the repair, I noticed severe performance drops in FL Studio projects. These projects used to run smoothly before the repair.

I suspect there is more liquid damage than what was discovered.

You have a 90 day part/repair warranty....just realized the M4 should also still have the original 1 year warranty coverage as well so if there is no accidental liquid damage involved....the Logic Board can be replaced for free under the warranty.

If after a closer inspection Apple finds liquid damage to the Logic Board or other components, then be careful with their repair quote since you already paid to address accidental liquid damage. At best you should only need to pay for the most expensive quote and have the previous amount paid rolled into 2nd repair since someone missed the damage the first time around. Of course they may imply this is a second incident instead of the same. Apple damage repairs are typically quoted on Tiers.

From what you describe that seems concerning that there may still be some damage from the liquid spill. Have you used the Apple Diagnostics tool on your system? This could help you to determine if there is any remaining issues with the hardware. Apple Hardware Diagnostics

From what you describe and the tests you ran it appears that the liquid spill and any possible damage may be all set. I found these suggestions to address the issue system performance issue that you describe that could possibly correct the situation. You can try these or wait and bring your system back to where you had it repaired to have them check everything and provide the appropriate solutions for your situation. The suggestions are below:

"If you believe your P-cores are underperforming even with a high-demand workload, you can take these troubleshooting steps:"

• Restart in Safe Mode: This will clear cache files and run a disk repair, which can sometimes resolve performance issues.

• Update macOS and apps: Make sure both your operating system and your applications are fully up to date. This ensures you have the latest performance optimizations and bug fixes.

• Manually adjust thread priority (Advanced): For command-line tools, you can use the taskpolicy command to suggest that a process run on P-cores.

1. 1. Open Terminal.
   2. Find the Process ID (PID) of your application using ps -ef | grep "AppName".
   3. Run the following command, replacing <PID> with the ID: taskpolicy -B -p <PID>. 

For openers, iStat menus may not catch all the the tests because of its sampling of processes. I just ran a Geekbench6 test on my M4 MacBook Air/24GB RAM and during the test I rarely saw iStat Menus respond. However, the results for my machine were 3800+ for single core and 14000+ for multicore.

Also, in your case, did you insure all applications were closed and check in Activity Monitor to make sure nothing of consequence was running before the test that may be hogging CPU.

When it comes to moisture damage, not all damage may be visible, especially if circuitry was active when the damage occurred. Moisture and active electronics don't mix.