fp.

FIRST: if you feel the urge to say "get a PC" or "try linux" please don't. This is about apple/mac/macos hardware. suggestions to linux or other things isn't helpful.

I have a macbook pro, 32G ram, lightning fast nvme drive. There is NO REASON to upgrade the hardware.

I've followed the upgrade path to their latest (Tahoe) and they announced this is the last.

But it has become UNBEARABLY slow and painful for some operations. Most notably screen sharing drives it into the ground.

I've tried all sorts of things from os settings to whatever--short of redoing the heat paste on the CPU itself. I even installed Fedora on a generation before mine without the security chip (the first gen touch bar). Fedora was /lightning/ fast. (I even re-installed fresh from Tahoe, no difference).

It is undeniable: Apple has made the newer MacOS run slower on Intel.

I downgraded two steps to Sonoma. And it's back to running in a bearable manner.

I'm absolutely confident Apple will have all sorts of plausible deniability around "we didn't nerf it on purpose" but whether it was with intent or "oooops did that little thing happen?" doesn't matter.

Just for context: prior to upgrading my mac would average around 74°c. If I started zoom it would spike up to 100°c and then start throttling, making everything unusable. But it wasn't just zoom. Some other apps (especially those in the node world) also would be come dog slow over time.

Now that I'm on Sonoma, and what's so frustrating about this situation, is how blatant it is. I started a screenshare in zoom, there was a small spike to the temperature, then it trended DOWN even lower than when I started. Why? No idea. This is entirely circumstantial, but the real key here is that it didn't go UP.

What do I want? Maybe Apple just needs to stop trying to push people to an OS that is nerfed so they'll feel like buying new hardware.

And I'm curious what others think about the whole situation, or your own experiences.

Steps off soapbox.

(Context: MacBook Pro16, 2019, 32G ram, AMD gpu). And again: i've tried all sorts of setting changes from enabling gpu/disabling/etc. The heart of it is the windowing system runs everything dog slow.

TL;DR: if on intel stop at Sonoma, do not go past that.

Comments

jrsmith1279•1h ago

I have (and still use) a 2019 mbp and it has had CPU thermal throttling issues since very early after I bought it new. Intel macs from that year were notorious for thermal throttling.

vsgherzi•1h ago

Tahoe seems to have slowed down the OS a bit but I don't think it is as extreme as you're seeing here. I don't have any intel chips to test with myself but personally I'd try running some benchmarks both CPU and GPU to see if your scores match up with other people running your hardware. After that maybe check to see if you're throwing errors in your console. Maybe it'll lead to a hint.

It seems like a bad bug somewhere rather than a purposeful event

srevenant•1h ago

I'm confident it isn't purposeful. But no hardware errors can be found.

Virgin install Tahoe: grinds from 74-C up to 100-C within a minute and then throttles. Virgin install Sonoma: runs fine. No temperature change of note.

This isn't indicative of a hardware problem.

bigyabai•1h ago

> There is NO REASON to upgrade the hardware.

> Just for context: prior to upgrading my mac would average around 74°c

If you refuse to use lighter-weight software, then yeah, it's time to upgrade your hardware. An average of 74°c means that you have ~20°c of headroom before hitting the Intel chip's junction temp and shutting off the hardware (or causing permanent damage). Your laptop should be idling much cooler even if it's one of those godawful Intel i9 16" models that runs hotter than Satan's jacuzzi.

Eventually MacOS will switch away from ACPI/UEFI power/temp management to use their custom devicetree drivers. Even the hacky Opencore workarounds won't fix the experience on your laptop, it will likely only be worse-supported from here on out. Backend architecture like libdispatch has probably already begun this process on Tahoe.

You've either got to downgrade macOS, get a new laptop or switch to an Intel-friendly OS. I'll leave the choice up to you.