16" MacBook Pro lagging whilst typing

[pshufd]

How to Adjust or Disable Font Smoothing in macOS Big Sur

If you recently installed macOS Big Sur and you're wondering why the text looks blurry on your display, it could be because font smoothing is...

www.macrumors.com

Sluggish Safari on new MBP 16

System Preferences > General > Use font smoothing when available > OFF. Changing that took care of ~80% of lags on my new 16" MacBookPro. The other 20% was fixed by disabling graphic card switching. Before turning off the font smoothing I couldn't browse on Chrome or edit text while coding. Now...

forums.macrumors.com

That's one wild thread. I'm glad I just stick with Firefox. I'm quite surprised that those problems aren't quickly fixed.

 

[ahostmadsen]

Suddenly typing is totally fine! I did not change any settings, or even restart the computer. I have no idea what happened.

 

[mbigras]

I'm on a 16-inch 2019 MacBook Pro running 11.4 and the typing lag after upgrading to 11.4 was a major pain while running my text editor and terminal. The suggest from @Kung gu at https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t-typing.2300340/?post=30012694#post-30012694 to turn off Automatic graphics switching worked for me without a reboot. The menu item is at:

System Preferences > Battery > Battery > Automatic graphics switching

The problem appears to have gone away. If it comes back then I'll try:

How to Adjust or Disable Font Smoothing in macOS Big Sur

If you recently installed macOS Big Sur and you're wondering why the text looks blurry on your display, it could be because font smoothing is...

www.macrumors.com

 

[aaronf15]

First, I would recommend checking if you are being thermally throttled.

Run:

sudo watch -d -t -n1 thermal levels

If CPU >100 then you are being thermally throttled.

Run

sudo powermetrics --samplers smc |grep -i "CPU die temperature"

What is your CPU temperature? If it is <90, its your VRM.

Best non-invasive fix is to disable TurboBoost.

Also, what is your ambient room temperature?

Unless you do the VRM thermal mod you are going to really struggle to do video editing on external displays.

Also try cleaning your fans.

Command not found. There is no need to clean my fans as the computer is 3 days old.

 

[aaronf15]

I'm on a 16-inch 2019 MacBook Pro running 11.4 and the typing lag after upgrading to 11.4 was a major pain while running my text editor and terminal. The suggest from @Kung gu at https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t-typing.2300340/?post=30012694#post-30012694 to turn off Automatic graphics switching worked for me without a reboot. The menu item is at:

System Preferences > Battery > Battery > Automatic graphics switching

View attachment 1793319

The problem appears to have gone away. If it comes back then I'll try:

How to Adjust or Disable Font Smoothing in macOS Big Sur

If you recently installed macOS Big Sur and you're wondering why the text looks blurry on your display, it could be because font smoothing is...

www.macrumors.com

Thank you I will give that a go!

 

[make_mac_fast_again]

Did you install any software?

See my post here to check its not event taps. Doubtful though because its a new machine.

MacBook Pro 16" lagging when clicking/typing with integrated GPU but not with discreet GPU

Okay so definitely not thermal problems. Sometimes this can be caused by event taps on keyboard input. They are blocking so that if there is a delay in one of them then your keyboard input will be slow. If one is slow it will be removed though. To see what event taps are installed: Install...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[make_mac_fast_again]

Command not found. There is no need to clean my fans as the computer is 3 days old.

Try just

sudo thermal levels

 

[smsmart]

I've had the same typing lag with my MBP 16" that I got back in January. I can't compare it to how it ran with Catalina because I ended up upgrading it to Big Sur almost immediately after I first set it up, but since then have noticed typing lag at all kinds of times. I've since updated to 11.4 and it seems like it might better now, but can't say for sure.

For me at least, the lag doesn't seem to appear after I restart the system, but starts appearing after some usage. At first I thought it might have to do with Safari because it seemed to be the worst there, but I've noticed it in other browsers as well like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc. It appears in other applications as well such as Slack or Excel.

I tried some of the suggested fixes mentioned here and these haven't improved the problem for me. In fact, turning Automatic Graphic Switching off actually made things a bit worse, and also for some bizzare reason made watching videos worse, seemingly lowering the FPS when watching Youtube or local video files.

But... I've been running 11.4 for a few days and so far it seems to performing better with regard to the lag, so fingers crossed... it does make me think this is a software issue related specifically to the latest gen Intel-based MBP's

 

[ahostmadsen]

Suddenly typing is totally fine! I did not change any settings, or even restart the computer. I have no idea what happened.

And... the typing lag is back! So, it's not a constant thing.

 

[ahostmadsen]

And... the typing lag is back! So, it's not a constant thing.

This is so frustrating. Now there is NO lag again. I have no idea why it flips back and forth. It has nothing to do with load. Right now the computer is using 1200% CPU on some computations, yet there is zero lag. Other times, the computer is idling along, and there is a long lag.

 

[Fishrrman]

Suggestion:

You might try creating a temporary "test account" using the "Users & groups" pref pane.

Give the test account administrative privileges.
Also, an easy-to-remember name and password.

Then, log out of your "regular" account and log into the new account.
DON'T add anything to it, just keep it "bare bones", for test purposes only.

Does typing go any better when using the "temporary" account?

 

[nullptr00]

I have this exact same issue with my 2019 MBP 16"

- It happened only after upgrading to Big Sur, never on Catalina. (I temporarily rolled back to Catalina from Big Sur, and the issue went away.)

- Persists after a complete format and reinstall of Big Sur, with no third-party apps installed.

- Affects ALL applications but is noticeably worse in Electron apps (Slack, etc)

- Does NOT happen on my other Macs that are running Big Sur (an MB Air M1 and an iMac Pro 2017), ONLY the MBP 16"

- I can demonstrate it by simply typing into a TextEdit document, as shown in these videos. They are the same video shot in slow-motion on an iPhone. One is real-time, the other is the slow-motion version. I'm typing the words "operating system" into TextEdit and you can see it noticeably lag on the last 2 letters ("em").

I filed an issue with Feedback Assistant (FB8922549) with these videos attached in November 2020. No response so far.

Of all the other workarounds I've heard mentioned, the only one that has seemed to help is disabling Automatic Graphics Switching. However, this is not really a solution since, as previously mentioned, it has a really negative impact on battery life.

 

[pshufd]

I have this exact same issue with my 2019 MBP 16"

- It happened only after upgrading to Big Sur, never on Catalina. (I temporarily rolled back to Catalina from Big Sur, and the issue went away.)

- Persists after a complete format and reinstall of Big Sur, with no third-party apps installed.

- Affects ALL applications but is noticeably worse in Electron apps (Slack, etc)

- Does NOT happen on my other Macs that are running Big Sur (an MB Air M1 and an iMac Pro 2017), ONLY the MBP 16"

- I can demonstrate it by simply typing into a TextEdit document, as shown in these videos. They are the same video shot in slow-motion on an iPhone. One is real-time, the other is the slow-motion version. I'm typing the words "operating system" into TextEdit and you can see it noticeably lag on the last 2 letters ("em").

I filed an issue with Feedback Assistant (FB8922549) with these videos attached in November 2020. No response so far.

Of all the other workarounds I've heard mentioned, the only one that has seemed to help is disabling Automatic Graphics Switching. However, this is not really a solution since, as previously mentioned, it has a really negative impact on battery life.

View attachment 1811282

View attachment 1811283

There seems to be a lot of UI overhead in Big Sur.

Big Sur runs fine on the M1 though. Could you try Monterey Beta? I saw this problem on Big Sur but not Monterey.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

For me its happening in all apps, some are worse than others but its still very noticeable in all.

Yes

 

[ignatius345]

But surely the keyboard lag will just get a fix with a software update?

Absolutely no guarantee of that! In my experience the OS just gets more and more demanding over time.

If I was having problems with something as basic as typing this early on with this machine, I'd return it immediately while it's still in the grace period. Check around for reviews of M1 Macs, but I have a feeling you'd be better served by one of those. They're really really quick.

 

[empersance]

I have this exact same issue with my 2019 MBP 16"

- It happened only after upgrading to Big Sur, never on Catalina. (I temporarily rolled back to Catalina from Big Sur, and the issue went away.)

- Persists after a complete format and reinstall of Big Sur, with no third-party apps installed.

- Affects ALL applications but is noticeably worse in Electron apps (Slack, etc)

- Does NOT happen on my other Macs that are running Big Sur (an MB Air M1 and an iMac Pro 2017), ONLY the MBP 16"

- I can demonstrate it by simply typing into a TextEdit document, as shown in these videos. They are the same video shot in slow-motion on an iPhone. One is real-time, the other is the slow-motion version. I'm typing the words "operating system" into TextEdit and you can see it noticeably lag on the last 2 letters ("em").

I filed an issue with Feedback Assistant (FB8922549) with these videos attached in November 2020. No response so far.

Of all the other workarounds I've heard mentioned, the only one that has seemed to help is disabling Automatic Graphics Switching. However, this is not really a solution since, as previously mentioned, it has a really negative impact on battery life.

View attachment 1811282

View attachment 1811283

The problem is software 100%, it's crazy that is not solved as of now.

I can't try Monterey because is woking laptop, maybe someone here have tried it.

 

[pshufd]

The problem is software 100%, it's crazy that is not solved as of now.

I can't try Monterey because is woking laptop, maybe someone here have tried it.

We are getting one of these systems within two weeks and I’ll give it a try when we get it. If someone else has a spare external SSD, they could try an install there. You could also ask in the Monterey forum.

 

[ahostmadsen]

This is so frustrating. Now there is NO lag again. I have no idea why it flips back and forth. It has nothing to do with load. Right now the computer is using 1200% CPU on some computations, yet there is zero lag. Other times, the computer is idling along, and there is a long lag.

And the lack is back again. It seems for long periods there's no lag, and for long periods there's lag. Updated to the latest version, 11.5.1, but didn't solve anything.

It definitely affects my productivity. Writing is much slower because I have to wait and see what comes out. In particular, using the delete key is bad: you never know how long back it deletes.

 

[detective-riley]

I bought a brand new 16" MacBook Pro 1 TB on Tuesday, When I am typing it seems to freeze for a split second then carry on. So yesterday I went back to the apple store I bought it from and they decided to give me a replacement. And now on the replacement I am facing the same issue. I have tried doing a SMC and PRAM reset but still no difference, and also when I got the replacement I set up the computer as a new machine and manually transferred all my files over, so there was no time machine backup etc.

I booked a genius bar appointment again for today, they advised me to reinstall Big Sur and try the computer with a fresh install. I still get the exact same issue with a proper fresh install....



When I first got them they were running macOS Catalina and I updated them to Big Sur - 11.4 .

Can the 16" run Big sur? My 2019 iMac runs it fine and that only has an i5.



Any suggestions would very much be appreciated!

This happens because of the Intel Graphics, in an attempt to prolong battery life and cooling, the iGPU is extremely aggressive to reduce system level FPS which feels like lag, much like the concept of lag when gaming on pcs. Switch to the AMD gpu by disabling Automatic Graphics Switching under System Preferences, Battery, Power Adapter (doesnt matter if its Battery, they both toggle, which is a bug). This will reduce the perceived lag because the image is running at a constant 60hz now but this will eventually increase heat due to the simple nature of using a dedicated GPU. This has been the case since Catalina as well on the 16, this issue has been identified to be an issue with the Intel iGPU for this specific machine unfortunately. Hope this clears things up.

 

[BeatYourCompetitionOnline]

I bought a brand new 16" MacBook Pro 1 TB on Tuesday, When I am typing it seems to freeze for a split second then carry on. So yesterday I went back to the apple store I bought it from and they decided to give me a replacement. And now on the replacement I am facing the same issue. I have tried doing a SMC and PRAM reset but still no difference, and also when I got the replacement I set up the computer as a new machine and manually transferred all my files over, so there was no time machine backup etc.

I booked a genius bar appointment again for today, they advised me to reinstall Big Sur and try the computer with a fresh install. I still get the exact same issue with a proper fresh install....



When I first got them they were running macOS Catalina and I updated them to Big Sur - 11.4 .

Can the 16" run Big sur? My 2019 iMac runs it fine and that only has an i5.



Any suggestions would very much be appreciated!

You may not love this response, but as a former Apple employee (I've been gone a long time), I would strongly recommend you return the device, and try a non-Mac device until Apple sorts its **** out, or if you have to have an Apple device, try the 13" MacBook Pro. It sucks that Apple offers no good larger laptop options, but that's the part of the huge price you pay for getting into the Apple ecosystem. You would think that a "successful" company would be better with product, but both of my last 2 Apple laptops had service recalls. Quite honestly, the company is too big now, and suffers from very poor product and support decisions, and it's just worse the further out we are from the Steve Jobs era. The company has lost its ethos, they cannot hire the management talent they need, and I am sad to have to write it.

 

[empersance]

This happens because of the Intel Graphics, in an attempt to prolong battery life and cooling, the iGPU is extremely aggressive to reduce system level FPS which feels like lag, much like the concept of lag when gaming on pcs. Switch to the AMD gpu by disabling Automatic Graphics Switching under System Preferences, Battery, Power Adapter (doesnt matter if its Battery, they both toggle, which is a bug). This will reduce the perceived lag because the image is running at a constant 60hz now but this will eventually increase heat due to the simple nature of using a dedicated GPU. This has been the case since Catalina as well on the 16, this issue has been identified to be an issue with the Intel iGPU for this specific machine unfortunately. Hope this clears things up.

The issue was not present on Catalina, as confirmed by @nullptr00 and also for me when I had Catalina, as far as I remember

It must be software problem, not hardware

Probably the iGPU is too conservative and doesn't push enough to run the UI (which is crazy...)

 

[ahostmadsen]

This happens because of the Intel Graphics, in an attempt to prolong battery life and cooling, the iGPU is extremely aggressive to reduce system level FPS which feels like lag, much like the concept of lag when gaming on pcs. Switch to the AMD gpu by disabling Automatic Graphics Switching under System Preferences, Battery, Power Adapter (doesnt matter if its Battery, they both toggle, which is a bug). This will reduce the perceived lag because the image is running at a constant 60hz now but this will eventually increase heat due to the simple nature of using a dedicated GPU. This has been the case since Catalina as well on the 16, this issue has been identified to be an issue with the Intel iGPU for this specific machine unfortunately. Hope this clears things up.

Tried to switch off automatic graphics switching. Made zero difference.

 

[stephenll]

I read somewhere that the typing lag could be caused just by having Chrome installed. You don't even need to be using chrome to see the typing lag.

I ended up uninstalling chrome completely including the keystone software, and I think the lag is gone. I haven't seen it in a while when typing in Sublime Text. I'm working off the battery, and graphics switching is turned on. Might be worth a try.

 

[ahostmadsen]

I read somewhere that the typing lag could be caused just by having Chrome installed. You don't even need to be using chrome to see the typing lag.

I ended up uninstalling chrome completely including the keystone software, and I think the lag is gone. I haven't seen it in a while when typing in Sublime Text. I'm working off the battery, and graphics switching is turned on. Might be worth a try.

I never have installed Chrome -- so much of a resource hog in many ways. So, it's not Chrome.

Notice as I said above, at least in my machine the lag comes and goes randomly. So, you might do something, and think that removed the lag, but actually it was just a coincidence.

 

[pshufd]

This is a bizarre thread to read. I can use my Late 2009 iMac for office stuff and it doesn't do this and the CPU and GPU are a fraction of the power of the MBP 16. The GPU isn't even listed in Geekbench 5 - probably because the system can't even finish the benchmark. If it is the OS, is running Catalina a viable option?