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New M1 iMac keyboard lagging

BasilFawlty

BasilFawlty

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 20, 2009
1,082
3,036
New Mexico
I have a new 24" iMac (8/8 16GB 2TB) with the extended keyboard (has number pad). I have noticed very often my keyboard is very laggy. I will type in a sentence, like this sentence, and the letters don't show up right away on the screen. I don't have much open and lots of free memory. CPU usage is low also. It is very annoying. Has anyone else experience keyboard lag with their new M1 iMac?
 
I experience it sometimes with my Intel MBP. Try switching off the keyboard, wait a few seconds, switch it back on again and let it reconnect.
 
Try to reset the BT module.

Holding the option and shift key press the bluetooth icon on Menu Bar. Them select Reset the Bluetooth module.

Screen Shot 2021-06-21 at 12.20.31.png
 
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If this were a mini, 2.4 interference is why. Probably not the case here but if nothing else works, disable WiFi and unplug usb to confirm.
 
robco74 said:
I experience it sometimes with my Intel MBP. Try switching off the keyboard, wait a few seconds, switch it back on again and let it reconnect.
Click to expand...

Fravin said:
Try to reset the BT module.

Holding the option and shift key press the bluetooth icon on Menu Bar. Them select Reset the Bluetooth module.

View attachment 1796057
Click to expand...

ElectronGuru said:
If this were a mini, 2.4 interference is why. Probably not the case here but if nothing else works, disable WiFi and unplug usb to confirm.
Click to expand...
Thanks for these ideas. I will try these next time it happens. (I did a reboot and seems to be working for now)
 
I had horrible bluetooth issues on the M1 Mac mini, so bad that I returned it. Haven't had any issues on the M1 iMac though
 
BasilFawlty said:
I have a new 24" iMac (8/8 16GB 2TB) with the extended keyboard (has number pad). I have noticed very often my keyboard is very laggy. I will type in a sentence, like this sentence, and the letters don't show up right away on the screen. I don't have much open and lots of free memory. CPU usage is low also. It is very annoying. Has anyone else experience keyboard lag with their new M1 iMac?
Click to expand...
I have the same problem. I bought the iMac at the end of July. I noticed problem with keyboard lagging afer week or so. Opened case with Apple Support, so far no solution. I tried whole bunch of stuff to pinpoint the issue and noticed, that if I turn the Magic Mouse off for a second and turn it back on, everything comes back to normal. Tried also another good-know Magic Mouse and (sadly) it acts up the same way. It is very frustrating! Usually it takes about 2-3 days until the problem shows up. Just to add, I do not turn off the computer over the night, only display is off. It also fix the keyboard lag itself, if I put it to sleep and wake up.
 
AppleM1 said:
I have the same problem. I bought the iMac at the end of July. I noticed problem with keyboard lagging afer week or so. Opened case with Apple Support, so far no solution. I tried whole bunch of stuff to pinpoint the issue and noticed, that if I turn the Magic Mouse off for a second and turn it back on, everything comes back to normal. Tried also another good-know Magic Mouse and (sadly) it acts up the same way. It is very frustrating! Usually it takes about 2-3 days until the problem shows up. Just to add, I do not turn off the computer over the night, only display is off. It also fix the keyboard lag itself, if I put it to sleep and wake up.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I will try turning off my Magic Mouse and back on next time I experience this lag. If this persists I’ll probably open a case as well. If enough people do that who are having the issue, Apple might take it seriously.
 
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I had this too. But I do now drive off my iMac every nite.

I think my iMac with Always On M1 Processor was took to much engine. When it sleeps complete around 3-4 Watt. But mostly on a day this mode was not there. So the iMac takes around 8-9 Watt this is for a year and in eco thinking a bit to much (Deep Sleep maybe 1 h and the other time the iMac was in wake up mode) . So I let drive the iMac every nite off. Around 23:30 and than I have an autostart around 16:30 when I am back from work etc. So than the system starts very fast. So it use in the 17 h only 0,8 Watt or so.

I think that is ok. And I do not have this effect since I do this.
 
I've had the same issue, but it seems to only occur when I leave the M1 iMac logged in for more than a day. When I return back to my office the next day and try to login to it, the keyboard is very sluggish and unable to login. I end up having to force a reboot of the computer. I've tried turn off/on with the keyboard, but that didn't seem to help.
 
Probably bluetooth interference. Try a keyboard with Logitech Lightspeed wireless tech like the G915 TKL that I've had zero issue with.

Here's a video of the rigorous interference testing they put wireless through.

 
Haha, but it sounds like a bad joke.
The Magic Keyboard and for example Magic Trackpad have around over 300 USD or Euro. So apple has to do anything to get these things running. Without any problem.
 
I did recently get a new bluetooth mouse and keyboard for my work PC (work from home); I'll turn it off and see if it keeps happening.
 
jfx-2021 said:
I had this too. But I do now drive off my iMac every nite.

I think my iMac with Always On M1 Processor was took to much engine. When it sleeps complete around 3-4 Watt. But mostly on a day this mode was not there. So the iMac takes around 8-9 Watt this is for a year and in eco thinking a bit to much (Deep Sleep maybe 1 h and the other time the iMac was in wake up mode) . So I let drive the iMac every nite off. Around 23:30 and than I have an autostart around 16:30 when I am back from work etc. So than the system starts very fast. So it use in the 17 h only 0,8 Watt or so.

I think that is ok. And I do not have this effect since I do this.
Click to expand...
I was thinking about it, when I figured out that putting iMac to sleep and waking up fixed the issue with keyboard. I changed settings for energy saver. I will test it and see if that helps. BTW - no help from Apple Support so far.
 

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We have 3 M1 macs that all exibit this issue. Very intermittent, usually we experience it in the morning when the computers have been sitting idle over night. Same problem on two M1 Macbook Airs and an M1 iMac. All using different versions of apples wireless keyboards (1 using the previous gen magic keyboard, 1 using the new with touchID and one using the new full size with touchID). A reboot seems to be the only surefire way of solving it. 🤔
 
I have this on my 2020 27” iMac (also had it on my 2015 iMac), so I don’t think it’s M1 related, but maybe more widespread.
 
Buy a BT dongle. Connect it with a usb 2 dongle (or usb 2 on the keyboard or display). Kill the internal module (command specific to your hardware and OS, it changes). No more problems with usb 3 interfering with BT.
 
AppleM1 said:
I was thinking about it, when I figured out that putting iMac to sleep and waking up fixed the issue with keyboard. I changed settings for energy saver. I will test it and see if that helps. BTW - no help from Apple Support so far.
Click to expand...
I have a little update. My iMac has been working fine for 10 days with settings from message above. What's more, I have BNIB iMac at work and I decided to put it on test with "original settings" I had when my iMac was acting up. After 2 days keyboard started lagging the same way I experienced it at home. So - "putting unit to sleep when not used" and "turning off the HDD when possible "cures the issue.
 
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My M1 air started doing this a few updates ago - keyboard is laggy when the machine wakes from sleep sometimes. Turning off then on the trackpad cures it. It's usually hooked up to a monitor and a trackpad/magic keyboard during the week. Never noticed it doing it when used on its own...
 
AppleM1 said:
I have a little update. My iMac has been working fine for 10 days with settings from message above. What's more, I have BNIB iMac at work and I decided to put it on test with "original settings" I had when my iMac was acting up. After 2 days keyboard started lagging the same way I experienced it at home. So - "putting unit to sleep when not used" and "turning off the HDD when possible "cures the issue.
Click to expand...
Update after 30 days: iMac has been working fine since I changed settings as listed above. I have been also testing another iMac at work - it acted up twice, then I upgraded OS to Monterey (beta) and is's been running fine for 6 days already. It seems to be a glitch in Big Sur.
 
Hello, this is a huge necro but I made an account just to post this. I've been experiencing this very issue for months on the M1 iMac. I'm a total Mac noob who began on Big Sur.

The problem happened in Big Sur, I thought it was going to be amended in Monterey, but it didn't.

On Big Sur, you have to Factory reset all connected devices. Go to the advanced bluetooth menu via "shift-option-bluetoothicon", and "debug bluetooth > reset the bluetooth module" and/or "> factory reset all Apple-connected devices".

Sadly, this option got removed in Monterey. So for Monterey the solution is to turn off the Magic Mouse for a few seconds, and then turn it on again. Completely unintuitive, I know. If you have some text-input access without the mouse you'll notice that the problem is gone while the Magic Mouse is off.

I think the source of the problem might be Bluetooth interference. Which is odd because these peripherals cost a lot of money, but it is what it is...

Hope you have a nice day
 
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After upgrading my Mac mini m1 to Monterey 12,2, worked for some day's without any problem then my magic KB en touchpad aren't recognized any more, can't connect and Bluetooth control panel won't see them. Have to use a wired keyboard and mouse to get working with the Mac mini M1!!! More people have that problem
 
Bobbesteijn said:
After upgrading my Mac mini m1 to Monterey 12,2, worked for some day's without any problem then my magic KB en touchpad aren't recognized any more, can't connect and Bluetooth control panel won't see them. Have to use a wired keyboard and mouse to get working with the Mac mini M1!!! More people have that problem
Click to expand...
You might want to talk to Apple about that, sounds like a hardware issue.
 
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