Sluggish Safari on new MBP 16

[Mini2018User]

Hello again,
to the Mac Mini 2018 Users here. I have posted a few pages earlier due to the sluggish performance of my i5 Mini 2018 on 4k/60hz. This issue drove me crazy! Sluggish scrolling in Safari/Chrome (with Safari a bit faster). Sluggish scrolling in Finder etc. Even beachballing doing simple things. And this on a 1600€ machine!

I found a solution which is a bit cheaper than buying an egpu case + gpu. I bought a 1440p 144hz 27" monitor for 350€ (~389,84$). The egpu stuff would've cost me around 450-500€ (500-550$). Now everything is blazing fast. I set the refresh rate in MacOS to 120hz. It is so amazing. Everything works like charm now, without having the issues that may come with an egpu setup.

Of course you are losing pixel density (~109ppi (1440p) vs. ~163.18ppi (4k) on 27") and you can see the difference. But imo, it's not a big deal. On my new 1440p monitor everything is decently sharp. A bit less than 4k, but it's fine. From a normal viewing distance (~0.8 meters), the difference is there, but only slightly. I (my eyes) needed around 60 minutes to adapt to the lower resolution.

But the benefits weight far more for me. The iGPU of my Mini 2018 (UHD 630) handles 1440p@120hz extremely well. The whole systems feels like it's on steroids now. A whole new machine, which i finally appreciate to use. Even Chrome/Android Studio/Visual Studio and other non Apple apps run smooth now (And still in a decent resolution/pixel density). In comparison to the 60hz of my 4k monitor, it's like day and night in case of smoothness due to 120hz. I also do gaming on my Desktop PC, which is also connected to the new monitor. High refresh rate gaming is just awesome. You may consider this aswell.

I'm still disappointed, that the igpu driver in MacOS is so worse in comparison to windows (On page 5 on this thread, i posted benchmarks comparing the UHD 630 on mac/win). But for now i'm ok with it.

Hope this may help some of you guys (especially the ones with a Mini). (If wanted, i can do a video of the scrolling smoothness etc.). You may try out a 1440p 144hz monitor on a local store in your area. I found, that the new monitor is my sweetspot between gaming and working (software dev.).

Edit:
I also downgraded from Catalina to Mojave, which is a bit snappier imo.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

We should make them aware of this problem. Can one of you post on Apple's official forum? They probably don't access this one on a regular basis

I would post it but I don't experience the problem. In the last few days. It would make sense to film it imo.

Yeah and get some screenshots rolling for them to see if we can get a fix for this eventually...

 

[Viamusic10000]

I'm gonna be honest I've been using the 16 the last couple days and haven't noticed any serious performance issues like I did before. I don't notice any difference with the iGPU or dGPU on. It's been very smooth, don't know why there was some lag before.

 

[baypharm]

It's not about browsers obviously, the macbook itself is flawed. This happens for example in Xcode while I'm developing apps, the simulator stutters

Then why is Opera so much faster than Safari on mine?

 

[MrGunnyPT]

I'm gonna be honest I've been using the 16 the last couple days and haven't noticed any serious performance issues like I did before. I don't notice any difference with the iGPU or dGPU on. It's been very smooth, don't know why there was some lag before.

Try to switch between both and you'll notice a major difference heavy images websites.

A quick restart fixes the iGPU until a next hibernation

 

[Viamusic10000]

Try to switch between both and you'll notice a major difference heavy images websites.

A quick restart fixes the iGPU until a next hibernation

Give me a website - websites heavy on memory aren’t doing the same thing anymore.

EDIT: Also, I stopped using Vanilla because in many other ways it was unoptimized and I can no longer replicate the sluggish safari glitch that I had before. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Give me a website - websites heavy on memory aren’t doing the same thing anymore.

EDIT: Also, I stopped using Vanilla because in many other ways it was unoptimized and I can no longer replicate the sluggish safari glitch that I had before. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Reddit and Imgur usually have these problems for me.

 

[Viamusic10000]

Reddit and Imgur usually have these problems for me.

I had it on Reddit before and it stopped for whatever reason or at least there is no discernible difference anymore. Not sure what changed I’ll continue testing

 

[ksk6794]

I have bought two MacBook Pro 16" laptops: for me and for my wife. My wife's laptop works correctly without any freezes. But my laptop freezes.

My console output:
void IOAccelFenceMachine::fence_timeout(IOTimerEventSource *): IntelAccelerator prodding blockFenceInterrupt

MacOS reinstallation from scratch doesn't help. Graphics switching helps, also it works fine via bootcamp in Windows 10. Therefore, there is hope that this is a driver problem. Nevertheless, it is strange why such a problem is absent on the second laptop?

Unfortunately, I did not work on holidays and found a problem on the 15th day after the purchase! I'm sad Should I give my laptop to service center or wait for an update?

 

[treypiepmeier]

Ah! This one looks like the same issue: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250919102

That sounds very much like what I’ve been experiencing as well. I’m thinking about returning this one and buying a refurbished older 13” or 15”. I had such high hopes for this new 16”.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251022176

 

[Viamusic10000]

That sounds very much like what I’ve been experiencing as well. I’m thinking about returning this one and buying a refurbished older 13” or 15”. I had such high hopes for this new 16”.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251022176

Every single Mac I've tried in store has the potential to be sluggish rn because Catalina is just not optimized yet. That being said the issue went away for me.

 

[treypiepmeier]

Every single Mac I've tried in store has the potential to be sluggish rn because Catalina is just not optimized yet. That being said the issue went away for me.

Did you have to do anything for the issue to go away?

 

[Viamusic10000]

Did you have to do anything for the issue to go away?

I stopped using vanilla but that's it. It's not that all sluggishness as gone, but it mostly occurs when a webpage is loading and I scroll as fast as possible and I think this has to do with my houses internet being very old and there isn't any difference when I switch to the iGPU vs dGPU - what makes the difference is letting the page load before blasting it out.

 

[treypiepmeier]

I stopped using vanilla but that's it. It's not that all sluggishness as gone, but it mostly occurs when a webpage is loading and I scroll as fast as possible and I think this has to do with my houses internet being very old and there isn't any difference when I switch to the iGPU vs dGPU - what makes the difference is letting the page load before blasting it out.

Cool. I think I must have missed some of the previous conversation. What is “vanilla?”

 

[Viamusic10000]

Cool. I think I must have missed some of the previous conversation. What is “vanilla?”

It’s a third party which allows you to hide your menu bar icons when you’re not using them. Sometimes I still get some little jolts of lag but it happens on my monitor too so it’s not the iGPU. I think it’s just Catalina. And the problem seems to be happening less.

 

[treypiepmeier]

It's getting worse for me. A return may be in order.

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

Apple "Engineers" claimed this is normal after submitting more than 10 videos demonstrating the issue.

 

[treypiepmeier]

I retuned it last night. Glad to be done with the thing. I'll probably consider buying again once they have an updated version of the 13" (14"?) and another point update has happened on Catalina.

 

[Tarek S. Abdelhamed]

10.15.3 and still this isn't fixed.

This is ridiculous

 

[iandk]

Same issue, stutter all the time

 

[ksk6794]

I have a strange idea to compare Part No. of your MacBook Pro 16 inch
It is indicated at the back of the box from your box.
MVVL2ZE/A (silver) - works correctly
MVVJ2ZE/A (space gray) - has freezes

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250905859?answerId=252108517022#252108517022

Please write yours, even if it works fine.
Maybe there is a pattern )

 

[treypiepmeier]

I bought another base-level 16" a few days ago, and so far, it seems like it's better than the previous, custom-built one I returned. When I use it in clamshell mode, it's pretty much flawless. I've been making a point to use it in laptop mode the last couple of days to make sure it's tolerable before its 14 day return period is over. I am noticing both keyboard and mouse jitter/lag every once in a while and it's making me nervous. I don't want to have to do this again.

 

[PhoebusXS]

That is only because when connected to an external monitor, it will use AMD card only

Hello again,
to the Mac Mini 2018 Users here. I have posted a few pages earlier due to the sluggish performance of my i5 Mini 2018 on 4k/60hz. This issue drove me crazy! Sluggish scrolling in Safari/Chrome (with Safari a bit faster). Sluggish scrolling in Finder etc. Even beachballing doing simple things. And this on a 1600€ machine!

I found a solution which is a bit cheaper than buying an egpu case + gpu. I bought a 1440p 144hz 27" monitor for 350€ (~389,84$). The egpu stuff would've cost me around 450-500€ (500-550$). Now everything is blazing fast. I set the refresh rate in MacOS to 120hz. It is so amazing. Everything works like charm now, without having the issues that may come with an egpu setup.

Of course you are losing pixel density (~109ppi (1440p) vs. ~163.18ppi (4k) on 27") and you can see the difference. But imo, it's not a big deal. On my new 1440p monitor everything is decently sharp. A bit less than 4k, but it's fine. From a normal viewing distance (~0.8 meters), the difference is there, but only slightly. I (my eyes) needed around 60 minutes to adapt to the lower resolution.

But the benefits weight far more for me. The iGPU of my Mini 2018 (UHD 630) handles 1440p@120hz extremely well. The whole systems feels like it's on steroids now. A whole new machine, which i finally appreciate to use. Even Chrome/Android Studio/Visual Studio and other non Apple apps run smooth now (And still in a decent resolution/pixel density). In comparison to the 60hz of my 4k monitor, it's like day and night in case of smoothness due to 120hz. I also do gaming on my Desktop PC, which is also connected to the new monitor. High refresh rate gaming is just awesome. You may consider this aswell.

I'm still disappointed, that the igpu driver in MacOS is so worse in comparison to windows (On page 5 on this thread, i posted benchmarks comparing the UHD 630 on mac/win). But for now i'm ok with it.

Hope this may help some of you guys (especially the ones with a Mini). (If wanted, i can do a video of the scrolling smoothness etc.). You may try out a 1440p 144hz monitor on a local store in your area. I found, that the new monitor is my sweetspot between gaming and working (software dev.).

Edit:
I also downgraded from Catalina to Mojave, which is a bit snappier imo.

 

[Ybersetzer]

Hello again,
to the Mac Mini 2018 Users here. I have posted a few pages earlier due to the sluggish performance of my i5 Mini 2018 on 4k/60hz. This issue drove me crazy! Sluggish scrolling in Safari/Chrome (with Safari a bit faster). Sluggish scrolling in Finder etc. Even beachballing doing simple things. And this on a 1600€ machine!

I found a solution which is a bit cheaper than buying an egpu case + gpu. I bought a 1440p 144hz 27" monitor for 350€ (~389,84$). The egpu stuff would've cost me around 450-500€ (500-550$). Now everything is blazing fast. I set the refresh rate in MacOS to 120hz. It is so amazing. Everything works like charm now, without having the issues that may come with an egpu setup.

Of course you are losing pixel density (~109ppi (1440p) vs. ~163.18ppi (4k) on 27") and you can see the difference. But imo, it's not a big deal. On my new 1440p monitor everything is decently sharp. A bit less than 4k, but it's fine. From a normal viewing distance (~0.8 meters), the difference is there, but only slightly. I (my eyes) needed around 60 minutes to adapt to the lower resolution.

But the benefits weight far more for me. The iGPU of my Mini 2018 (UHD 630) handles 1440p@120hz extremely well. The whole systems feels like it's on steroids now. A whole new machine, which i finally appreciate to use. Even Chrome/Android Studio/Visual Studio and other non Apple apps run smooth now (And still in a decent resolution/pixel density). In comparison to the 60hz of my 4k monitor, it's like day and night in case of smoothness due to 120hz. I also do gaming on my Desktop PC, which is also connected to the new monitor. High refresh rate gaming is just awesome. You may consider this aswell.

I'm still disappointed, that the igpu driver in MacOS is so worse in comparison to windows (On page 5 on this thread, i posted benchmarks comparing the UHD 630 on mac/win). But for now i'm ok with it.

Hope this may help some of you guys (especially the ones with a Mini). (If wanted, i can do a video of the scrolling smoothness etc.). You may try out a 1440p 144hz monitor on a local store in your area. I found, that the new monitor is my sweetspot between gaming and working (software dev.).

Edit:
I also downgraded from Catalina to Mojave, which is a bit snappier imo.

I feel your pain, but there is something else going on with your system. You wrote in an earlier post that "sometimes, even entering an url causes beachballing for 2-3 seconds." That is NOT because of the UHD 630 being underpowered when driving a 4k monitor (unless you maybe had set it to some unusual resolution setting that needed constant interpolation?). I had a similiar setup, Mac Mini 2018 hooked up to a LG 4k, and browsing was SNAPPY. I am also disappointed that Apple didn't ship the Mini with a beefier graphics solution, but browsing is not the failure threshold, in my experience.

 

[treypiepmeier]

A little update on my situation. I didn't return this one, and it's been pretty alright. When I use it in clamshell mode (plugged into an external monitor with wireless keyboard and mouse and the lid closed), things are pretty much perfect. That's using the high-performance graphics all the time, of course. When I use it as a laptop, I do still get the periodic lag of basically anything on the screen. Keyboard, mouse cursor, or even a scrolling action or switching windows. (Even when it's bad, it's not as bad as the last machine.) Just like with the last one, if I turn off automatic graphics switching, things are pretty much good all the time. I'm still hopeful for a software update that fixes this nonsense. I kept a careful log of what software I installed this time, and there's no rhyme or reason to the lags unless it's from 1Password, which is basically the first piece of software I install on a new system.