Apple care report for **** brand new MBP

[PandaNix]

LTDR: is there a reason why I would be worse off waiting 4 more weeks to report to Apple Care? Because I'm going to be out of the country.

In the end of July this year I upgraded from my 2012 MBP, which was my first one and it was amazing. Main reason to upgrade was that it was becoming slow and very very hot. I put it down to age and the fan being clogged or battery dying.

I was so excited about this upgrade! I've been waiting on a reason to upgrade and finally the specs was what I wanted. I paid a HUGE amount of money to upgrade & future proof the brand new MBP, and it arrived in end if July...and it's just been ****.

It is as slow or slower than the 2012. Reloading a page on the internet takes 3-9 seconds. Sometimes it doesn't connect at all. Same with apps. And I have to click repeatedly for it to open a link or app. I've seen the rainbow ball of death for the first time in years.

Edit to add based on the replies so far: it was setup as brand new laptop, I have only installed VLN as an apps. The only thing I added was an adblocker extension for Safari (which doesn't work, so so many ads).

 

[russell_314]

Have you tried resetting it to factory settings?

It’s likely not a hardware issue so if you go into the Apple Store that’s probably what they’re going to do. They will do a diagnostic as well but they’re not going to just give you a new MacBook

 

[SpitUK]

Did you use migration assistant?

 

[PandaNix]

Did you use migration assistant?

I set it up as brand new.

 

[PandaNix]

Have you tried resetting it to factory settings?

It’s likely not a hardware issue so if you go into the Apple Store that’s probably what they’re going to do. They will do a diagnostic as well but they’re not going to just give you a new MacBook

No I've not tried that, didn't expect to need to with a brand new MBP. I was expecting this to 'just work' like all other Apple products I've had.

 

[russell_314]

No I've not tried that, didn't expect to need to with a brand new MBP. I was expecting this to 'just work' like all other Apple products I've had.

Well obviously that’s the expectation but since it’s not then you have to do some troubleshooting. It’s not going to be like well it’s not working so just give me another one. At least if you try this then you’ll know it must be a hardware issue.

The questions you have to ask yourself when troubleshooting is when did it start and can that be linked to something. For example maybe it started when you installed some software. I’m just guessing because I don’t know. It definitely should not be giving you problems because these laptops are pretty good.

Perhaps go to the Apple store and explain to them that you need your laptop and you’re about to travel so if they can get it fixed quickly. If there’s some hardware issue maybe they will just exchange it. I’ve never had to take a laptop back recently. I remember a long time ago I had a CD drive fail on my MacBook Pro and I was in the same situation about having to leave the country and they had it fixed for me the next day. I’m not sure if they will do that now though.

 

[LinkRS]

LTDR: is there a reason why I would be worse off waiting 4 more weeks to report to Apple Care? Because I'm going to be out of the country.

In the end of July this year I upgraded from my 2012 MBP, which was my first one and it was amazing. Main reason to upgrade was that it was becoming slow and very very hot. I put it down to age and the fan being clogged or battery dying.

I was so excited about this upgrade! I've been waiting on a reason to upgrade and finally the specs was what I wanted. I paid a HUGE amount of money to upgrade & future proof the brand new MBP, and it arrived in end if July...and it's just been ****.

It is as slow or slower than the 2012. Reloading a page on the internet takes 3-9 seconds. Sometimes it doesn't connect at all. Same with apps. And I have to click repeatedly for it to open a link or app. I've seen the rainbow ball of death for the first time in years.

Edit to add based on the replies so far: it was setup as brand new laptop, I have only installed VLN as an apps. The only thing I added was an adblocker extension for Safari (which doesn't work, so so many ads).

Howdy PandaNix,

Need some more info and set some expectations. Computer performance has not been limitation on web site loading speed for years now. Even the least expensive mobile device can load most pages quickly. I said that to ask, is it possible that what is causing your loading delay have something to do with your ISP or Wi-Fi speed? The other thing is, what did you order to replace your 2012? Did you get a 13" MacBook Pro? How much RAM is in it? The only app you have installed is VLN? Is it a native Apple binary, or is it running under Rosetta 2? The ad-blocker could also be causing issues with your page-loading.

You mention you see the beachball often, but that you only have VLN installed? What apps are you running that are causing the beachball issue? Almost any M1-based MacBook (pro or otherwise) should be at least as fast as your older system, but should be a noticeable improvement in day-to-day operations. Since you are not experiencing that, something is wrong.

 

[svenmany]

Malware?

What is VLN and where did you download it from? The same question for the ad blocker.

I do think you should reset to factory defaults, install absolutely nothing, and then test.

 

[kasakka]

Reloading a page on the internet takes 3-9 seconds. Sometimes it doesn't connect at all.

Try rebooting your wifi router first. Issues like these are often caused by the connection to the internet rather than anything your computer is doing.

 

[PandaNix]

Malware?

What is VLN and where did you download it from? The same question for the ad blocker.

I do think you should reset to factory defaults, install absolutely nothing, and then test.

Ad-blocker from safari extension the other one I don’t remember

 

[wilberforce]

Ad-blocker from safari extension the other one I don’t remember

VLN?? Do you mean VPN (virtual private network)? If so, that could explain a lot

 

[PandaNix]

VLN?? Do you mean VPN (virtual private network)? If so, that could explain a lot

No I don't use VPN.

VLC is what I meant. And I’ve used that app for 10 years with my 2012 MBP.

 

[wilberforce]

No I don't use VPN.

VLC is what I meant. And I’ve used that app for 10 years with my 2012 MBP.

Ah OK. Yes VLC should be no problem, I use it myself. VLC 3.0.12.1 has native support for M1, hopefully you are on that version (not VLC 3.0.12)

 

[PandaNix]

Howdy PandaNix,

Need some more info and set some expectations. Computer performance has not been limitation on web site loading speed for years now. Even the least expensive mobile device can load most pages quickly. I said that to ask, is it possible that what is causing your loading delay have something to do with your ISP or Wi-Fi speed? The other thing is, what did you order to replace your 2012? Did you get a 13" MacBook Pro? How much RAM is in it? The only app you have installed is VLN? Is it a native Apple binary, or is it running under Rosetta 2? The ad-blocker could also be causing issues with your page-loading.

You mention you see the beachball often, but that you only have VLN installed? What apps are you running that are causing the beachball issue? Almost any M1-based MacBook (pro or otherwise) should be at least as fast as your older system, but should be a noticeable improvement in day-to-day operations. Since you are not experiencing that, something is wrong.

I have amongst the fastest internet you can get here. 140/40 and fibre to premise.

The beach-ball of death comes up just surfing the internet, or apps like Books, Kindle, WhatsApp etc.

2012: MacBook Pro 15″, Memory: 8
2022: MacBook Pro 16″, Memory: 64

 

[wilberforce]

I suggest you at least contact Apple Support (About This Mac, Support).
MR forum is just going to give you random ideas

 

[Premal212]

How is the rest of the performance, if it's just limited to Safari / using the internet then its evidently going to be the ad-blocker that you have installed, irrelevant of it working on previous devices, this is a different chipset and the developers may have not ported the app across yet.

I would highly recommend removing this app.

No Mac should be behaving like this out of the box, and VLC sounds like a pretty standard app.

Yeah I wouldn't continue with this forum for finding out ideas of why it's not working, best to head to Apple Support.

 

[svenmany]

Call Apple support for sure. I had an issue the other day and had someone on the line in under 5 minutes. It might be a bit of a grind since first-level support can't solve things that are out of the ordinary. And, they might have you go through lengthy processes (e.g. reinstalling) as first steps.

Do you have any misbehaving apps that don't use the internet? If you were to completely disconnect (unplug Ethernet and turn off Wi-Fi), can you then run some app successfully but have them occasionally hang?

If you only use Wi-Fi can you switch to Ethernet to see if you still have problems?

Your machine is fast but it's waiting on something. Probably the delay is networking related (hardware or software).

 

[Squidy666]

I had a 2019 MacBook Pro and upgraded to the m1 max and had the exact same issue. I rebooted the router and it fixed it. I thought as the router was working fine it couldn't possibly be the issue, but a reboot actually fixed it. I've got no idea how that even happened, but full speed when browsing again since rebooting.

May not be your issue, but its what fixed it for me at least.

 

[LinkRS]

I had a 2019 MacBook Pro and upgraded to the m1 max and had the exact same issue. I rebooted the router and it fixed it. I thought as the router was working fine it couldn't possibly be the issue, but a reboot actually fixed it. I've got no idea how that even happened, but full speed when browsing again since rebooting.

May not be your issue, but its what fixed it for me at least.

Howdy Squidy666,

I think I know what issue you are describing. I have personally experienced this same issue on MBPs, iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads. Something about the way certain routers interact with the Apple radios cause spurious issues, that are often temporarily cleared by rebooting the router. The primary symptom was what appeared to be a strong Wi-Fi connection, but almost 100% of the network packets would be dropping. Meaning pages fail to load, or load incredibly slow. I have seen this particularly issue with Netgear routers, and was finally able to solve it permanently by switching to an Asus Router. This problem plagued me for years, and only happened with Apple devices, all my other Windows and Android based devices did not have the issue. If this what you are talking about, if it comes back, just make a habit of rebooting your router. Good luck!