MacBook Pro 16" 2019 + Studio Display performance issue

[conmee]

Tahoe is definitely at your own risk on Intel Macs. I think in OP’s case, the InDesign issue may be the Performance/Quality setting in the app causing the problem. Especially with ASD. I think it’s overwhelming the 5300M with only 4GB VRAM. And then add in Tahoe on top of all that…

 

[SDAVE]

Tahoe is definitely at your own risk on Intel Macs. I think in OP’s case, the InDesign issue may be the Performance/Quality setting in the app causing the problem. Especially with ASD. I think it’s overwhelming the 5300M with only 4GB VRAM. And then add in Tahoe on top of all that…

Yeah I agree. To be fair InDesign always ran bad for years and hasn't seen any improvements in performance over the years.

5300M is not a good GPU either, for sure.

Honestly the M5 base 14" MBP is a faster machine and it's only $1400. OP might want to consider it, or wait for M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pros around the corner...if you are a graphic designer and make money with these machines, it's totally worth buying. The 2019 Intel CPU is a huge throttler in general. But I think OP can squeeze some more life out of it by going back to Sequoia.

 

[scheylon]

Wow a lot has happened in here! Thanks everyone for the feedbacks. I've been reading all of them, and for sure Tahoe felt like a painful upgrade. I could downgrade, but it's a lot of work considering I've already spend a day resetting a reinstalling MacOS from scratch after a failed Tahoe update.
I will drive through the different options for a new Mac, and wait next week presentation.
I've been considering the Mac Mini as it is extremely cheap for what it has to offer, especially today with the Memory/RAM inflation. Since I have all my files synced on iCloud, working with my MacBook on the go, and on the Mac Mini at the office could absolutely work.
Not that I don't want to buy a Macbook, but outside of being very much more expensive (it's a all-in-one package in the end), I really don't enjoy the bulky design and the notch on the current lineup. As it is an investment for years to come (7-8 years at least), maybe the next design will be worth the wait, at least for me.

 

[SDAVE]

Wow a lot has happened in here! Thanks everyone for the feedbacks. I've been reading all of them, and for sure Tahoe felt like a painful upgrade. I could downgrade, but it's a lot of work considering I've already spend a day resetting a reinstalling MacOS from scratch after a failed Tahoe update.
I will drive through the different options for a new Mac, and wait next week presentation.
I've been considering the Mac Mini as it is extremely cheap for what it has to offer, especially today with the Memory/RAM inflation. Since I have all my files synced on iCloud, working with my MacBook on the go, and on the Mac Mini at the office could absolutely work.
Not that I don't want to buy a Macbook, but outside of being very much more expensive (it's a all-in-one package in the end), I really don't enjoy the bulky design and the notch on the current lineup. As it is an investment for years to come (7-8 years at least), maybe the next design will be worth the wait, at least for me.

Don't get a Mac Mini, you'll be locked down if it's your main machine and you cant be mobile. Wait for a M5 Pro it will be a super machine (March 4 announcement is imminent). Perhaps you can find a M4 Pro MBP on sale when it comes out if you want to save some money.

The M6 is rumored to have a smaller notch, but that will be a pricey machine since it will have OLED.

The notch is not really a big deal, I'm a designer as well, and you forget about the notch after a few days. There are also tools to hide it and move down the menu bar so you never see it, but that extra few pixels at the top is a good place to put the menu bar.

Apple hasn't been really hit with the RAM prices since they've been overcharging RAM forever now 🙂

But overall if you want to save money, I recommend installing Sequoia 15.7.4 on an extra volume (you can make a new volume in Disk Utility) and install your tools of choice and do a performance review, and if it's much better, maybe move down to Sequoia. Unfortunately you can't "Move" stuff over with Time Machine or "Transfer to a New Mac" functions from New > Old OS, so it has to be a fresh install and manual move over.

I personally made a mistake and upgraded to Tahoe 26.0 when it first came out on my Mac Pro and I was in pain for 4 months, when, like you, I had a lot of files to move over if I wanted to go back to Sequoia. It took me several days to move all plugins and how I work set up and I'm pretty happy now because Tahoe really angered me. Every little click anywhere had a delay, including apps stuttering and major delays in Creative Cloud apps.

 

[scheylon]

Lil update:
I took my MacBook to the Apple Store where I got the inside cleaned. In the diagnosis, beside the battery, everything was working well. The technician showed me before-and-after photos, it was quite intense. The fans were completely covered in dust. It’s surprising how quickly it builds up, especially since I had it cleaned 3–4 years ago and always carry it in a backpack.

I can already notice a difference. The fans used to run almost constantly at maximum speed (and somehow remained relatively quiet). Now the airflow sounds different: stronger, more efficient – and the bursts are shorter. For now, Ialso did not experienced any crazy sudden slow-down.

Still, I'll look for a new MacBook the following months, while pushing this Macbook as far as it can still go.