Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

David Jesús

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 5, 2020
5
1
Ecuador, Quito
Opinion based on owning a MacBook Pro 16" 2019 model bought on July 2020; i9, 16GB memory, 1TB storage.

My MacBook has been a mess pretty much since I got it. I couldn't return it because I got it abroad, and even though on my local Apple service they did change the screen and consequently the motherboard under warranty, the laptop was a mess with no solution.

Random occasional color pixels on the screen together with various graphical anomalies; a random, strange, almost unnoticeable number 9 flickering on-screen, image on Photo Booth continuously freezing every minute or so when recording a video, video playback on safari with a lot of lag when on mission control (when showing all apps on screen to decide where to go), popping sounds on speaker when closing a video... a real mess of a GPU. Along with incredible heat a very poor battery performance. A mess.

Things got a little bit better when BigSur came to the table, with all the anomalies remaining, except for the most unbearable; color pixels and that 9 number.

I've been using MacOS Monterey since Monday and the laptop has finally been fixed completely. I feel I've got a new laptop.

No more freezing on Photo Booth.
No more video lagging while on mission control.
Fans are smart now and keep themselves at the level they need to when they need to; no more excessive heat.
No more popping sound when closing a video.

Poor battery performance is still here, but it has never bothered me that much as the other issues had.

It took Apple two full years to address all these issues; we can't say they've forgotten Intel-Based Macs after releasing M1... all the contrary, they finally decided to accept and fix (just as bringing back useful ports to new MacBook Pros) this Intel-based MacBook.

Have you noticed improvements from Monterey with your Intel-based Mac?
 

skardvin

macrumors 6502
Nov 15, 2015
259
284
Opinion based on owning a MacBook Pro 16" 2019 model bought on July 2020; i9, 16GB memory, 1TB storage.

My MacBook has been a mess pretty much since I got it. I couldn't return it because I got it abroad, and even though on my local Apple service they did change the screen and consequently the motherboard under warranty, the laptop was a mess with no solution.

Random occasional color pixels on the screen together with various graphical anomalies; a random, strange, almost unnoticeable number 9 flickering on-screen, image on Photo Booth continuously freezing every minute or so when recording a video, video playback on safari with a lot of lag when on mission control (when showing all apps on screen to decide where to go), popping sounds on speaker when closing a video... a real mess of a GPU. Along with incredible heat a very poor battery performance. A mess.

Things got a little bit better when BigSur came to the table, with all the anomalies remaining, except for the most unbearable; color pixels and that 9 number.

I've been using MacOS Monterey since Monday and the laptop has finally been fixed completely. I feel I've got a new laptop.

No more freezing on Photo Booth.
No more video lagging while on mission control.
Fans are smart now and keep themselves at the level they need to when they need to; no more excessive heat.
No more popping sound when closing a video.

Poor battery performance is still here, but it has never bothered me that much as the other issues had.

It took Apple two full years to address all these issues; we can't say they've forgotten Intel-Based Macs after releasing M1... all the contrary, they finally decided to accept and fix (just as bringing back useful ports to new MacBook Pros) this Intel-based MacBook.

Have you noticed improvements from Monterey with your Intel-based Mac?
Yes, I no longer have any popping sounds (except in Firefox). Also, it seems a bit smoother when swiping between apps and scrolling in Safari.

MacBook Pro 16" 2019
 
  • Like
Reactions: David Jesús
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.