M1 MacBook Air - Slow Display Refresh Rate

[goro123]

Hi,

I am quite underwhelmed with my M1 MacBook Air (512GB SSD - 8GB RAM) because of that single issue : when available RAM is getting low the display refresh rate drops from 60Hz to ~30Hz (internal display).

I know I only have 8GB RAM and that's shared with the GPU. But I am not even talking about a heavy load here : just having ~10 safari tab + a few standard apps (Mail, Music, Maps…).

Anyone else having that issue? I wonder if there's a hardware issue with that Mac. Any advice would be welcome, thx!

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Hi,

I am quite underwhelmed with my M1 MacBook Air (512GB SSD - 8GB RAM) because of that single issue : when available RAM is getting low the display refresh rate drops from 60Hz to ~30Hz (internal display).

I know I only have 8GB RAM and that's shared with the GPU. But I am not even talking about a heavy load here : just having ~10 safari tab + a few standard apps (Mail, Music, Maps…).

Anyone else having that issue? I wonder if there's a hardware issue with that Mac. Any advice would be welcome, thx!

How do you know it's dipping under 60hz?

 

[eltoslightfoot]

How do you even know it is doing that? I have never heard of that before...

 

[goro123]

Every animations (expose, dragging windows), even the mouse cursor feels unresponsive. Like a game with a very low frame rate.

if I close the screen lid and then reopen it, the refresh rate is back to normal… but not for long (unless I start closing apps and windows).

🙁

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Every animations (expose, dragging windows), even the mouse cursor feels unresponsive. Like a game with a very low frame rate.

if I close the screen lid and then reopen it, the refresh rate is back to normal… but not for long (unless I start closing apps and windows).

🙁

You have something seriously wrong with your M1. That is NOT normal. I would reformat back to factory defaults and/or get it looked at.