macOS Monterey Beta 4 Extremely Slow?

[fishcharlie]

Ever since updating to macOS Monterey Beta 4 (from Beta 3) my entire computer has felt extremely slow. Switching window focus, typing and having a major delay before letters show up, etc etc.

According to Activity Monitor, WindowServer is taking up 80-110% CPU consistently.

Has anyone else run into this?

 

[ArPe]

It’s the same speed as any modern OS. The only thing that can slow it down:

- if you use an old unsupported computer
- it’s spotlight indexing
- it‘s a third party process eating your CPU
- it’s a ton of junk in your user folders in library/cache, library/application saved states, etc. You can flush those folders manually.

 

[fishcharlie]

It’s the same speed as any modern OS. The only thing that can slow it down:

- if you use an old unsupported computer
- it’s spotlight indexing
- it‘s a third party process eating your CPU
- it’s a ton of junk in your user folders in library/cache, library/application saved states, etc. You can flush those folders manually.

@ArPe Couple of things.

1. Just because you aren’t experiencing any differences in speed or performance, does not mean that ”it’s the same speed as any modern OS”. Bugs that impact performance/speed DO exist.
2. As mentioned in the original post this only started occurring after upgrading from beta 3 to beta 4. Therefore I highly doubt it has to do with old unsupported computer. My computer is compatible with Monterey.
3. I made it clear that WindowServer is taking up 80-110% CPU consistently. Which is unrelated to Spotlight indexing, and is not a 3rd party process.

I don’t think that you have any evidence that there are no bugs in the WindowServer process that could be causing this. Software bugs do exist, even more so in beta versions. Therefore I’m really confused about why you don’t seem to recognize this as a legitimate reason.

The purpose of this post was to gauge if other users are running into similar problems.

 

[jdb8167]

Ever since updating to macOS Monterey Beta 4 (from Beta 3) my entire computer has felt extremely slow. Switching window focus, typing and having a major delay before letters show up, etc etc.

According to Activity Monitor, WindowServer is taking up 80-110% CPU consistently.

Has anyone else run into this?

I'm not seeing it. If it persists after a restart then I suspect that you might have to reinstall Beta 4. My WindowServer process in Activity Monitor is at about 12%-13%.

Edit: M1 MacBook Air 16 GB.

 

[fishcharlie]

I'm not seeing it. If it persists after a restart then I suspect that you might have to reinstall Beta 4. My WindowServer process in Activity Monitor is at about 12%-13%.

Edit: M1 MacBook Air 16 GB.

@jdb8167 Good to know. I’m still running an Intel MacBook Pro. So not sure if that impacts things. Gonna need to figure out how to reinstall and if I’ll lose data from that.

 

[carld]

@jdb8167 Good to know. I’m still running an Intel MacBook Pro. So not sure if that impacts things. Gonna need to figure out how to reinstall and if I’ll lose data from that.

Also seeing this behavior on one Intel MBP but not the other. Currently pegged at 97%, haven't gotten around to investigating.

 

[fishcharlie]

Also seeing this behavior on one Intel MBP but not the other. Currently pegged at 97%, haven't gotten around to investigating.

@carld If you happen to discover anything when you find time to investigate it’d be awesome if you could let me know. I did submit a Feedback Assistant report to Apple, but the more information to provide them the better.

 

[ArPe]

@ArPe Couple of things.

1. Just because you aren’t experiencing any differences in speed or performance, does not mean that ”it’s the same speed as any modern OS”. Bugs that impact performance/speed DO exist.
2. As mentioned in the original post this only started occurring after upgrading from beta 3 to beta 4. Therefore I highly doubt it has to do with old unsupported computer. My computer is compatible with Monterey.
3. I made it clear that WindowServer is taking up 80-110% CPU consistently. Which is unrelated to Spotlight indexing, and is not a 3rd party process.

I don’t think that you have any evidence that there are no bugs in the WindowServer process that could be causing this. Software bugs do exist, even more so in beta versions. Therefore I’m really confused about why you don’t seem to recognize this as a legitimate reason.

The purpose of this post was to gauge if other users are running into similar problems.

Thanks after 30 years of 30 Macs I’m not going to read all that. You’re using a beta. Learn how to beta test. Good luck.

 

[allan.nyholm]

Apple has forgotten to remove the "Build with Debugging" checkbox in Xcode if such a checkbox exists. Wouldn't that be grand.

 

[daabido]

Thanks after 30 years of 30 Macs I’m not going to read all that. You’re using a beta. Learn how to beta test. Good luck.

Only 30 years? What a newb. I also think Developer 4 is slower and a bit buggier.

 

[Mac Arthur1]

I did a clean install after years of just upgrading (from HS to Mjave and so on...).
Amazing speed up of the system.
ß4 as fast as ß3

 

[maternidad]

I've had brief, and exceptionally high WindowServer CPU usage upon pressing the Caps Lock key since updating to macOS Big Sur 11.5

 

[jz0309]

For me I see no difference in speed between beta 3 and 4, snappy and stable

 

[Lucas Curious]

MBP 16 here. was about to update. Thanks for the discouragement.

 

[WizMeister]

I am facing exactly the same issue. Beta 3 was very smooth, beta 4 really sluggish and WindowServer is having a resource party.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Make sure you file a bug report and post your findings on social media since others might have the same experience. Thanks for beta testing too. Even though my M1 could be used as a spare Mac to test it, just not feeling it. If I have the cash next year, I pick up an Air so I can start testing macOS betas. Windows on the other hand, I love beta testing Windows, even had the leaked build of Windows 11 installed.

 

[vanhaze2020]

Just updated to Monterey beta 4, from beta 3.
Did this on my intel mac mini 2018 and macbook air M1.
Both are running very smooth, no slugginess at all.

 

[hagjohn]

B4 is running better on my M1 Mini than B3. No issue here.

 

[bbfc]

Beta 4 running perfectly fine on my Intel MBP.

 

[AlanShutko]

I just reported FB9435206 before seeing this thread. For me, it seems to show up after 4-8 hours of runtime. macOS starts generating spin reports with the reason "Slow response to HID event". Reboot fixes it temporarily. I also see elevated WindowServer CPU usage. Pretty sure there's a bug.

When it takes a few seconds for iStat Menus to pop up the dropdown, I know it's time to reboot.

Intel 16" MBP

 

[grangej]

I am also experiencing this issue on my iMac Pro, but I am not having the issue on my M1 MacBook Pro. Rebooting the iMac makes the issue go away for a few mins but it steadily gets worse until the system is more or less unusable. Has anyone found a way to fix / work around the issue on affected systems? I have already filed a bug report with Apple.

 

[ewu]

it is reasonable that OS make your hardware slow down, because it is a modern and good-looking OS

 

[srbNYC]

I'm not seeing it. If it persists after a restart then I suspect that you might have to reinstall Beta 4. My WindowServer process in Activity Monitor is at about 12%-13%.

Edit: M1 MacBook Air 16 GB.

That process is hovering just below 20% for me on same MBA config.

 

[fishcharlie]

I just reported FB9435206 before seeing this thread. For me, it seems to show up after 4-8 hours of runtime. macOS starts generating spin reports with the reason "Slow response to HID event". Reboot fixes it temporarily. I also see elevated WindowServer CPU usage. Pretty sure there's a bug.

When it takes a few seconds for iStat Menus to pop up the dropdown, I know it's time to reboot.

Intel 16" MBP

@AlanShutko Just want to mention that I reported FB9426539 as well. Sounds like you went further into the investigation than I did tho.

 

[Indrajith]

Ever since updating to macOS Monterey Beta 4 (from Beta 3) my entire computer has felt extremely slow. Switching window focus, typing and having a major delay before letters show up, etc etc.

According to Activity Monitor, WindowServer is taking up 80-110% CPU consistently.

Has anyone else run into this?

Ive run into the same problem in my m1 mac. loading of apps and opening sites in google chrome takes up a lot of time...