Macbook Pro ‘15 Retina (2015) sluggish UI

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Hello, everyone!

I really hope you can help me out, or at least give me some guidance.

So, the computer that I have is 2015’s Macbook Pro ‘15 with pretty much spec out specs, except there is no dedicated amd’s graphics card. Its a refurbished model, bought from Japan’s Apple store. The machine is currently running MacOS High Sierra latest build.

In general, laptop is working just fine, but what bothers me is UI. Its pretty sluggish. I mean when you open, for an example, launchpad and you swipe to the sides, or opening sub-folders, like “other”, you get edgy, choppy animations... Somehow, it gets sort of fixed when plugging the laptop to an external monitor (but in mirrored mode, if not - the problem persists!). I don’t understand... I’ve downloaded app that helps changing resolutions, so when I change to something, not retina-ish, like 2500x1600 or something like that - it pretty much fixes, but because its not retina resolution, the text looks not so sharp.

Why this is happening? My sister has same macbook, with slower cpu - she said UI runs just fine. Important to mention, she is running Sierra, not High Sierra like me. Is this something to do with OS X?

Appreciated.
 
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Why don't you run EtreCheck, https://etrecheck.com, see what it says? You can also, post it here, for us to see if we can spot an issue.
 
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I've tried cleaning laptop with CleanMyMac app, i've tried deleting some .plst files, reseting NVRAM and SMC to make that UI not so sluggish and etc. - nothing actually helped.

I am attaching EtreCheck report for furthers discussion. Thank You so much for your time, guys. Appreciate this.

View attachment Skirmantas’s MacBook Pro3.zip
 
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I've tried cleaning laptop with CleanMyMac app, i've tried deleting some .plst files, reseting NVRAM and SMC to make that UI not so sluggish and etc. - nothing actually helped.

I am attaching EtreCheck report for furthers discussion. Thank You so much for your time, guys. Appreciate this.
Just copy and paste the text here. If you select Share, you will be given the option to copy the report.
 
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EtreCheck version: 4.1.4 (4A203)
Report generated: 2018-04-29 23:11:42
Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime: 3:13
Performance: Good

Problem: Other problem
Description:
UI is sluggish

Major Issues:
Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.
No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.

Minor Issues:
These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.
32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.

Hardware Information:
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)
MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro11,4
1 2,8 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-4980HQ) CPU: 4-core
16 RAM Not upgradeable
BANK 0/DIMM0
8 GB DDR3 1600 ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
8 GB DDR3 1600 ok
Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 25

Video Information:
Intel Iris Pro - VRAM: 1536 MB
Color LCD

Drives:
disk0 - APPLE SSD SM0512G 500.28 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)
Internal PCI 8.0 GT/s x4 Serial ATA
disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk0s2 500.07 GB
disk1s1 - Macintosh HD (APFS) 500.07 GB 132.40 GB
disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] 500.07 GB 22 MB
disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] 500.07 GB 518 MB
disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] 500.07 GB 4.29 GB

Mounted Volumes:
disk1s1 - Macintosh HD 500.07 GB (362.67 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /
Encrypted

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM] 500.07 GB (362.67 GB free)
APFS
Mount point: /private/var/vm

Network:
Interface en0: Wi-Fi
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
One IPv4 address
Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN
Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge
iCloud Quota: 308 MB available

System Software:
macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 (17E202)
Time since boot: About 5 days
System Load: 1.96 (1 min ago) 2.33 (5 min ago) 2.39 (15 min ago)

Security:
System Status
Gatekeeper Mac App Store and identified developers
System Integrity Protection Enabled

32-bit Applications:
24 32-bit apps

Kernel Extensions:
/System/Library/Extensions
[Not Loaded] NIUSBGuitarRigMobile.kext (2.4.23 (R38))
[Not Loaded] NIUSBAudioDriver.kext (2.4.23 (R38))

~/Downloads/Turbo+Boost+Switcher_2/Turbo Boost Switcher.app
[Not Loaded] DisableTurboBoost.32bits.kext (0.0.1 - SDK 10.7)

System Launch Agents:
[Not Loaded] 8 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 147 Apple tasks
[Running] 137 Apple tasks
[Other] One Apple task

System Launch Daemons:
[Not Loaded] 39 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 166 Apple tasks
[Running] 129 Apple tasks

Launch Agents:
[Loaded] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-04-26)
[Running] com.bjango.istatmenus.agent.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2018-04-10)
[Running] com.bjango.istatmenus.status.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2018-04-10)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-04-07)

Launch Daemons:
[Loaded] com.bjango.istatmenus.installerhelper.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2018-04-10)
[Loaded] com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-04-18)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.acc.installer.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-04-26)
[Running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-04-07)
[Loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Agent.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2018-04-08)
[Running] com.bjango.istatmenus.daemon.plist (Bjango Pty Ltd - installed 2018-04-10)

User Launch Agents:
[Running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (Spotify - installed 2018-03-23)
[Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-02-04)
[Loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Scheduler.plist (MacPaw Inc. - installed 2018-02-09)
[Not Loaded] com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-04-07)

User Login Items:
uTorrent Application (BitTorrent, Inc
(/Applications/uTorrent.app)
NIHardwareAgent Application
(/Library/Application Support/Native Instruments/Hardware/NIHardwareAgent.app)
CleanMyMac 3 Menu Application (installed 2018-02-09)
(/Applications/CleanMyMac 3.app/Contents/MacOS/CleanMyMac 3 Menu.app)
iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2018-04-09)
(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
CleanMyMac 3 Menu Application (installed 2018-02-09)
(/Applications/CleanMyMac 3.app/Contents/MacOS/CleanMyMac 3 Menu.app)

Internet Plug-ins:
AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2018-04-26)
QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-04-29)

3rd Party Preference Panes:
Native Instruments USB Audio (installed 2018-04-08)

Time Machine:
Time Machine Not Configured!

Top Processes by CPU:
Process (count) Source % of CPU
Logic Pro X 20
coreaudiod Apple 9
kernel_task Apple 8
WindowServer Apple 2
iStatMenusDaemon Bjango Pty Ltd 1

Top Processes by Memory:
Process (count) Source RAM usage
Logic Pro X 1.92 GB
kernel_task Apple 1.33 GB
com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (3) Apple 1.11 GB
mdworker (15) Apple 171 MB
MTLCompilerService (22) Apple 140 MB

Top Processes by Network Use:
Process Source Input Output
mDNSResponder Apple 102 MB 19 MB
Spotify Spotify 8 MB 1 MB
com.apple.WebKit.Networking Apple 3 MB 584 KB
Mail Apple 673 KB 133 KB
netbiosd Apple 97 KB 35 KB

Top Processes by Energy Use:
Process (count) Source Energy usage (0-100)
coreaudiod Apple 14
Logic Pro X 12
WindowServer Apple 2
com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (3) Apple 1
Spotify Spotify 1

Virtual Memory Information:
Available RAM 6.82 GB
Free RAM 2.64 GB
Used RAM 9.18 GB
Cached files 4.18 GB
Swap Used 1.93 GB

Software Installs (past 30 days):
Name Version Install Date
iZip Unarchiver 3.0.0 2018-04-09

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):
2018-04-29 21:42:43 cloudd Crash (once)
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInternalInconsistencyException', reason: 'Path /Users/USER/Library/Containers/com.apple.cloudphotosd/*/StagingAssets deleted/renamed, crashing.'
terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException
abort() called

End of report
 

chscag

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You've got a lot going on at once with that machine. Lots of stuff loading and running on an encrypted SSD (FileVault). That's definitely going to slow things down.

We do not recommend running or even having "CleanMyMac" loaded. It's known to be an overzealous app which sometimes causes more problems then it purports to solve. It's really not needed.

Otherwise, Etrecheck says your Mac performance is good.
 
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You've got a lot going on at once with that machine.


And I'd add in uTorrent Application (BitTorrent) that can really use up some Mac power.

And I wonder why you're getting any memory "Swap".




- Patrick
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Some ideas:
You have CleanMyMac installed.
You have uTorrent auto-starting (Login Item). Torrents means your Mac is the "server" for anything you downloaded - it's now available for anyone who signed in to the service after you.
Logic Pro is using a lot of computer power - is it possible you leave it running even when not using it?
 
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Thank you for your replies, guys. I will try to answer one by one. Yeah, utorrent is really starting up whenever the machine is started up. CleanMyMac app I've just installed, so it's not a problem, since I didnt have this app previously. Yeah, I like to leave Logic Pro running in the background, but it also generates heat, cos CPU is constantly working, so now everytime I stop producing music - I quit the app.

But guys, let me remind you an interesting thing with an external monitor. When I plug an external monitor to my macbook, that slugginess suddenly goes away. Maybe this is because it switches to external monitor's resolutions, which is 1920x1080, not a retina-ish resolution? Any thoughts on that?

Im thinking about installing Sierra and seeing if the problem still persists.
 
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I agree that will be an interesting troubleshooting test.
 
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If installing Sierra solves the issue then you have your answer. If not and the issue persists then it looks like it is back to a graphics issue. The fact an external monitor does not have the problem and runs at 1920x1080 versus the MBP's 2880x1800 it might be a resolution issue. Or it might be an issue with the Laptop's display itself not responding correctly - never seen that but anything is possible - bad or loose cable?

I will be interested to see if Sierra makes any difference.

Just a though - If the OP goes back to Sierra and High Sierra has already changed the format of the SSD to APFS, does that create a potential issue?? Just asking.

Lisa
 
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Just a though - If the OP goes back to Sierra and High Sierra has already changed the format of the SSD to APFS, does that create a potential issue?? Just asking.

Lisa



+1. Bang on Lisa and a real extra PITA as far as I would be concerned with all the extra steps and work involved.

But not too bad if one has a proper, current backup, clone preferred I guess.



- Patrick
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I've reinstalled with macOS Sierra, as my sister's running OSX. Still... The problem persists. Maybe this isn't as bad as in High Sierra, but you can definitely feel slugginess and choppiness. The problem is located within sub-folders in launchpad. If you, for an example, demolish those folders by placing apps within it into launchpad, all apps are opened with smooth animations, also those sub-folders, which has up to maybe 5-10 apps, are likely to handle opening animations fine, but heavy loaded sub-folders doesn't open up so smoothly. It irritates me, because my sisters an exact laptop and it runs just fine... also at my work I have iMac 2013 with pretty same igpu and it runs high sierra - everything fine, all animations are smooth, and that machine is not even running on SSD! What?!
 
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When you say "my sisters an exact laptop", what does that mean?

Specs?
Screen Size?
Drive size, both used and free space?
Memory?
Apps?


Try to create a new user account, and see if the issue is still there?
 
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Try to create a new user account, and see if the issue is still there?

Good point Bob.


And/or, maybe even try using Safe Boot Mode, but doing so would also kill any third-party stuff but cold help with some diagnosis.




- Patrick
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Yeah, her laptop is same as mine, except it's not 2.8 Ghz high-end cpu version, but an entry one with 2.2 Ghz. Everything else is the same - 15 inch laptop with 512GB SSD, Intel Iris Pro gpu, 16 GB RAM. Speaking about disk-space and apps, my system is way less loaded. I have pretty much all the SSD space left, only few light apps installed and Logic Pro X. Sister has even double-boot system with WIN 10 on other partition installed, also her system runs heavy cpu/gpu intensive apps, like Archicad and so on, because she is an achitect.

EDIT: I've tried to create and login with new user - the problem persists. When I booted to safe mode, my graphics went crazy and it started with login screen, when I typed password, all suddenly screen got all white-striped, also animations, graphics very artifacty, glitchy.
 
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EDIT: I've tried to create and login with new user - the problem persists. When I booted to safe mode, my graphics went crazy and it started with login screen, when I typed password, all suddenly screen got all white-striped, also animations, graphics very artifacty, glitchy.


As Bob says, there's something goofy going on.

I'd try downloading and running the same version OS X you're running, but using the appropriate Mac OS X COMBO Update.

Right now it seems like your Mac is like a Ferrari getting wiped on the racetrack by a VW Jetta!!!! With nothing suggesting there's anything wrong with a Jetta. ;D






- Patrick
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