Compared to Mavericks, last 3 generations are a joke

[Shackss]

I've been a Windows user for many years until 2 years ago when I decided switching to a Mac.
So my roommate had this Macbook Pro 2012, beautiful machine, was running Mavericks and we were both working in our living room as freelancers. I was constantly checking out his display, seeing how smooth he was operating everything.

So after one year I go in and purchase a Retina 13 2014, it was running Mavericks, I update it to Yosemite and first thing I notice is lag, framerate drops, nothing compared to Mavericks.

Years go by and now I was running Sierra and felt like my Macbook needed a fresh install, so I go ahead, install a fresh Sierra and there I am, happy that things are like brand new again.

Well, I'm one month in and to be honest this thing feels sluggish. Not sure about smoothness, but it literally takes about one second or half a second to open almost everything. I don't know, I just installed Windows on Bootcamp a few weeks ago and I realised I forgot how it is to move fast between folder/files and opening/closing things. Checked activity monitor, all looks good, no malware, no viruses, nothing. In fact at first glance the OS seems like its doing fine, but once you start going through Finder especially, everything is slow.

Am I the only one noticing this? I'm seriously considering ditching Apple because I'm also not a fan of my iPhone after I switched from Android. For the price you pay on these products, I might as well get something cheaper and expect such problems.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Have you tried turning it off and on again? Not joking. Restart every few days with reopen windows when logging back in unchecked. Might do the trick.

You can also try a PRAM reset, ensure Sierra is fully up to date (10.12.3 as of the time of writing), and run volume repairs through DiskWarrior 5. There are many other simple things such as closing your apps properly with CMD+Q rather than just closing the window (you'd be amazed how many people don't know the difference).

If you've tried all of the above; well there are still things other people can suggest, like a scan through MWB for Mac to be sure or a quick blast through Etrecheck to identify any weird items. Somebody smarter than me can help decipher the latter.

Sorry you're having issues with it, but your experience certainly isn't the norm. Sierra's a solid OS. Hopefully we can get it running a bit better for you.

 

[CoastalOR]

So after one year I go in and purchase a Retina 13 2014, it was running Mavericks, I update it to Yosemite and first thing I notice is lag, framerate drops, nothing compared to Mavericks.
Years go by and now I was running Sierra and felt like my Macbook needed a fresh install, so I go ahead, install a fresh Sierra and there I am, happy that things are like brand new again.

Am I the only one noticing this?

I'm using Sierra and it is working fine for me. Your 2014 13" MBP should be able to handle Sierra fine. There might be some old leftover startup items that might be causing increased CPU usage. Have you checked the Activity Monitor?

Another would be to download and run Etrecheck. Post the results here to see if we can see any problems.

You could try returning to using Mavericks if you were happier with that OS.

 

[Shackss]

Etrecheck seems like an interesting software. Thanks guys, here is the report. It says Excellent Performance. I wouldn't count on that though.

EtreCheck version: 3.1.5 (343)
Report generated 2017-03-07 21:27:28
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime 2:06
Performance: Excellent

Problem: Computer is too slow

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014)
[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro11,1
1 2,6 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-4278U) CPU: 2-core
8 GB RAM Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 137


Video Information: ⓘ
Intel Iris
DELL U2515H 2560 x 1440 @ 59 Hz

System Software: ⓘ
macOS Sierra 10.12.3 (16D32) - Time since boot: about 13 days

Disk Information: ⓘ
APPLE SSD SM0256F disk0 : (251 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)
[Show SMART report]
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Recovery HD (disk0s4) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
Untitled (disk1) / [Startup]: 249.77 GB (148.79 GB free)
Core Storage: disk0s2 250.14 GB Online


USB Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Seagate Portable
Logitech Gaming Mouse G600
Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub
Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard


Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus


Configuration files: ⓘ

/etc/hosts - Count: 6


Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Anywhere


Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Library/Extensions
[loaded] com.driver.LogJoystick (2.0 - SDK 10.10 - 2017-03-05) [Support]
[loaded] com.logitech.driver.LogiGamingMouseFilter (1.0 - SDK 10.10 - 2017-03-05) [Support]
[not loaded] com.logitech.driver.LogiWheelDriver (1.0 - SDK 10.10 - 2017-03-05) [Support]



/System/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] com.logitech.LogiWheelForceFeedback (1.0 - SDK 10.10 - 2017-03-05) [Support]



System Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks
[loaded] 159 Apple tasks
[running] 95 Apple tasks
[killed] 19 Apple tasks
19 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


System Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[not loaded] 40 Apple tasks
[loaded] 159 Apple tasks
[running] 92 Apple tasks
[killed] 19 Apple tasks
19 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


Launch Agents: ⓘ
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2017-02-10) [Support]
[loaded] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (2017-02-10) [Support]
[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist (2017-02-10) [Support]
[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist (2016-12-21) [Support]


Launch Daemons: ⓘ
[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (2017-02-10) [Support]
[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (2017-02-10) [Support]
[running] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (2017-02-10) [Support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (2016-06-11) [Support]
[loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist (2016-12-21) [Support]
[not loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist (2017-02-10) [Support]


User Launch Agents: ⓘ
[failed] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2017-02-23) [Support]

User Login Items: ⓘ
Flux Application
(/Applications/Flux.app)
RightFont Application
(/Applications/RightFont.app)
Magnet Application
(/Applications/Magnet.app)
iTunesHelper Application (2017-02-09)
(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Dropbox Application
(/Applications/Dropbox.app)
Alfred 3 Application
(/Applications/Alfred 3.app)
LastPass Application
(/Applications/LastPass.app)
LittleIpsum Application
(/Applications/LittleIpsum.app)
BarTunes Application
(/Applications/BarTunes.app)
TogglDesktop Application
(/Applications/TogglDesktop.app)
Sip Application
(/Applications/Sip.app)
Quitter Application
(/Applications/Quitter.app)
Unified Remote Application
(/Applications/Unified Remote.app)
Logitech Gaming Software Application Hidden
(/Applications/Logitech/Logitech Gaming Software.app)


Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ
AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 - SDK 10.9 (2017-02-10) [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2017-01-13)



Safari Extensions: ⓘ
uBlock - Chris Aljoudi - https://chrismatic.io/ (2017-02-09)
Fontface Ninja - Creaktif - http://www.fontface.ninja/ (2017-02-09)
Pin It Button - Pinterest, Inc. - http://www.pinterest.com/ (2017-02-09)
Evernote Web Clipper - Evernote Corp. - http://evernote.com (2017-03-02)
Reddit Enhancement Suite - Steve Sobel - http://redditenhancementsuite.com/ (2017-02-10)
Feedly Notifier - Oleg Shevchenko - http://olsh.github.io/Feedly-Notifier/ (2017-02-09)
MeasureIt - Kevin Freitas - http://frayd.us/extensions/measureit/ (2017-02-09)


3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ
None


Time Machine: ⓘ
Skip System Files: NO
Auto backup: YES
Volumes being backed up:
Untitled: Disk size: 249.77 GB Disk used: 100.98 GB
Destinations:
TMB [Local]
Total size: 249.93 GB
Total number of backups: 48
Oldest backup: 10/02/2017, 23:17
Last backup: 07/03/2017, 20:38
Size of backup disk: Too small
Backup size 249.93 GB < (Disk used 100.98 GB X 3)


Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ
20% mdworker(8)
7% WindowServer
6% kernel_task
4% trustd(3)
1% fontd


Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ
1.19 GB kernel_task
975 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(5)
410 MB CEPHtmlEngine Helper(11)
319 MB Safari
246 MB CEPHtmlEngine(6)


Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ
1.16 GB Available RAM
20 MB Free RAM
6.84 GB Used RAM
1.14 GB Cached files
665 MB Swap Used


Diagnostics Information: ⓘ
Mar 7, 2017, 08:50:07 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-205007_[redacted].crash

com.google.Keystone.Agent - /Users/[redacted]/Library/Google/*/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent

Mar 7, 2017, 07:49:42 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-194942_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 06:49:19 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-184919_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:48:50 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-174850_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:46:39 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/CEPHtmlEngine_2017-03-07-174639_[redacted].crash

com.adobe.cep.CEPHtmlEngine - /Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017.app/Contents/MacOS/CEPHtmlEngine.app/Contents/MacOS/CEPHtmlEngine

Mar 7, 2017, 05:42:37 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174237_[redacted].crash

com.adobe.CCLibrary - /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud/*/CCLibrary.app/Contents/MacOS/CCLibrary

Mar 7, 2017, 05:42:31 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174231_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:42:26 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174226_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:42:21 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174221_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:41:56 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174156_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:41:51 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174151_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:41:47 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174147_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:41:36 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174136_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:41:32 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174132_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:41:11 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174111_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:41:06 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174106_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:40:56 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174056_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:40:51 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174051_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:40:41 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174041_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:40:36 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174036_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:40:27 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174027_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:40:11 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174011_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:40:06 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-174006_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:39:51 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-173951_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 05:39:46 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-07-173946_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 04:48:01 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-164801_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 03:47:33 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-154733_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 02:47:08 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-144708_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 01:27:37 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-132737_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 12:27:12 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-122712_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 11:26:45 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-112645_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 10:26:17 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-102617_[redacted].crash

Mar 7, 2017, 09:25:50 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-07-092550_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 11:25:25 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-06-232525_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 10:25:01 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-06-222501_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 09:24:34 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-06-212434_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 08:24:09 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-06-202409_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 07:23:44 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-06-192344_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 06:23:19 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-06-182319_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 05:22:54 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-06-172254_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 03:04:00 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent_2017-03-06-150400_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 10:50:41 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/CEPHtmlEngine_2017-03-06-105041_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 10:49:21 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/CEPHtmlEngine_2017-03-06-104921_[redacted].crash

Mar 6, 2017, 10:38:32 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mds_2017-03-06-103832_[redacted].crash

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Metadata.framework/Versions/A/Support/mds

Mar 5, 2017, 11:16:27 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/node_2017-03-05-231627_[redacted].crash

Mar 5, 2017, 09:17:52 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/mds_2017-03-05-211752_[redacted].crash

 

[keysofanxiety]

Etrecheck seems like an interesting software. Thanks guys, here is the report. It says Excellent Performance. I wouldn't count on that though.

For starters, you haven't shut the computer down in a fortnight. Shut it down whenever you're not using it.

Again, restarting with reopen windows disabled will make a massively positive difference. Shutting down will clear the RAM. Disabling reopen windows will prevent potentially memory-heavy background tasks during your last session from reopening.

People always scoff at the idea, but it helps more often than you'd believe. Try a PRAM reset after you've restarted the computer and also run some volume repairs through DiskWarrior, or run a volume verification through Disk Utility to see if that picks up any errors.

 

[TurboPGT!]

Am I the only one noticing this?

Yes.

Obviously this is not the way it is for everyone else.

 

[fisherking]

i'd hate to go back to mavericks. what's happening for you isn't global, it's happening for you... and worth investigating. are you using filevault? do you have icloud drive running, sharing your docs & desktop in the cloud? what's set to open in Login Items (in the User & Groups preference pane). and perhaps try setting up a 'test' admin account, see how things behave there...

am an apple fan, not a fanboy. i have my own list of things i wish were different. but here sierra is running great.

also, how much ram does your mac have?

 

[CoastalOR]

Etrecheck seems like an interesting software. Thanks guys, here is the report.

There sure are many crashes. It would be worth taking a look at those Search for .crash files.

You also have had a RAM shortage, possibly due to having many apps running at same time over long periods.
"Virtual Memory Information:
1.16 GB Available RAM
20 MB Free RAM
6.84 GB Used RAM
1.14 GB Cached files
665 MB Swap Used"

It looks like mdworker (spotlight indexing) has been running and using more CPU percent.
"Top Processes by CPU:
20% mdworker(8)"

 

[stooovie]

OP: one man's "fine" is another man's "unusable". You won't gain meaningful insight on a forum. I'm experiencing choppiness too (on a high end 2015 5k iMac), but it HAS been improved in Sierra over El Capitan, by a big margin. Choppiness is mostly due to GPU performance. Try disabling transparency in Accessibility. That is guaranteed to help. Some also suggest switching your display to sRGB color profile. With SSD, there's nothing holding back your performance. Sierra on my 2012 MBA is smoother than on my iMac. It's all mostly due to Apple's poor GPU and UI choices - they use techniques like blurring and transparency in high retina resolutions for which they simply don't have enough graphical horsepower.

 

[cynics]

I'm still happy with performance. More so with Sierra then any other OS since Mavericks/Mountain Lion.

But use what works best for you. If Windows works good for you then save yourself the money and just use bootcamp exclusively.

You mention paying a premium for Apple products. You're MBP is nearing 3 years old, which isn't and shouldn't be obsolete however I think you'd be buying a fairly premium Windows laptop to get 3 years out if it. I was price shopping laptops recently I felt were close in quality (Razer and XPS) but got them over the 2k mark. The MBP was definitely more but compromises went both directions since its hard to compare them spec for spec. In the end I just couldn't justify 2k-2.5k for a Windows laptop or 3k for an Apple laptop lol.

 

[Shackss]

So I did a restart, turned off transparency and I think the transparency thing was eating a lot of memory of my GPU. Anyway, things look way better now, it runs smooth.

This Macbook has 8GB of RAM and I have Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign running all the time. Have to be honest, Adobe is crap with their software optimisation. Always slow, same problems on Windows too, so I didn't count it, so to say.

Anyway, thanks guys, especially the transparency thing, very good idea.

L.E. For anyone having the same problems. I went ahead and installed 2014 version of the CC apps from Adobe and they perform WAY BETTER than 2017 apps. I almost forgot how it was like to smoothly edit text in Photoshop.

 

[stooovie]

Yes, transparency is super expensive on CPU and GPU. They have to render more stuff (at least two planes instead of one) AND then do a super mathematically complex blurring, 60x per second. That just kills performance. Glad it helped you out.

 

[gsahli]

Another idea - do you need all those User Login apps? That many is unusual.

 

[fisherking]

Another idea - do you need all those User Login apps? That many is unusual.

that's a good point. you have a number of apps that interact with the OS; perhaps try testing how things run disabling them (ie one at a time)...

 

[R2FX]

Yes, transparency is super expensive on CPU and GPU. They have to render more stuff (at least two planes instead of one) AND then do a super mathematically complex blurring, 60x per second. That just kills performance. Glad it helped you out.

Not to sound bitchy, but the benefit of this was what exactly? The translucency switch is all ON or OFF - I could live without transparent windows, but can't stand looking at a Dock in a light shade of grey (or dark grey)... running 10.10 and higher in VMware is really visual torture, because the blurring doesn't work and whole OS looks like ****

if Steve was around he would have kicked that moron, who design it this way, through closed door... along with another bozo that used Microsoft Word for UI layout in iTunes 12

 

[darkmaxdevil]

Why do you have Flux as a login process?

 

[fisherking]

Why do you have Flux as a login process?

i always had it as a login item (so it would do it's thing when the time came); for me, nightshift has now taken it's place (after years). it's perfectly logical to have it as a login item.

 

[Tozovac]

Not to sound bitchy, but the benefit of this was what exactly? The translucency switch is all ON or OFF - I could live without transparent windows, but can't stand looking at a Dock in a light shade of grey (or dark grey)... running 10.10 and higher in VMware is really visual torture, because the blurring doesn't work and whole OS looks like ****

if Steve was around he would have kicked that moron, who design it this way, through closed door... along with another bozo that used Microsoft Word for UI layout in iTunes 12

Agree, I DESPISE translucency & blur on an already battery-taxed system suffering from Apple's obsession with thinness, as my eyes tend to want to un-focus anything translucent & blurred. And, so ironically, the single place where translucency would make the most sense is not made translucent - change the volume using side buttons while watching a video and then painfully wait 2 seconds for the greyed-out non-see-thru volume indicator to fade away...

I keep waiting for an Apple exec to show his desk covered with translucent papers stacked on each other, or a book with translucent pages, as evidence of the value of transparency... Otherwise it's all just Apple being a lemming to Windows being a lemming to Google, as usual.