Apple Seeds Fourth Beta of macOS Big Sur 11.3 to Developers [Update: Public Beta Available]

[iLog.Genius]

I like to see the memory warnings when using Safari be fixed in this beta 4.

I would like to see memory controlled a lot better with this and kinda skeptical as it's not mentioned anywhere in this release. Right now my MBP has turned into a pretty and expensive Netbook as I can't do much without RAM being consumed for no reason and Safari refreshing because of it. As of right now just having this tab open and typing out this response, used RAM is 6GB...what a joke.

 

[hvfsl]

Have they fixed the issue where external monitors don't work or don't display the correct resolution (mainly seems to affect DisplayPort monitors)? Was introduced in 11.1 and it is taking Apple their time to fix.

 

[Kylo83]

HomePods now show correct picture as stereo HomePods mini show the icon

 

[sofakng]

is side loading on m1 Macs still disabled on 11.3 beta?

I'm also wondering this ... Can anybody test it?

 

[MauiPa]

I would like to see memory controlled a lot better with this and kinda skeptical as it's not mentioned anywhere in this release. Right now my MBP has turned into a pretty and expensive Netbook as I can't do much without RAM being consumed for no reason and Safari refreshing because of it. As of right now just having this tab open and typing out this response, used RAM is 6GB...what a joke.

Are there any specifics associated with your “problem”. I do not have any issues with my 2014 MBP, don’t use chrome anymore because of the security breaches and bad memory usage. I have 16 gb of ram but very seldom use much at all.
I did have a safari crashing issue a few betas back. As it was not a universal issue, I decided to do a clean install, in case some crap created in from somewhere. (Probably a good idea for anyone who beta tests). Anyway completely fixed issue

so if you are having a random glitchy experience, try it. Unless your MBP has only 4gb of ram, can’t see any issues you should be having. Unless you run chrome and suck up all your ram. No kidding I know I guy who never closes chrome, runs with over 20 tabs open all the time and complains his computer is slow and he can’t do anything. Dah, ya think?

 

[iLog.Genius]

Are there any specifics associated with your “problem”. I do not have any issues with my 2014 MBP, don’t use chrome anymore because of the security breaches and bad memory usage. I have 16 gb of ram but very seldom use much at all.
I did have a safari crashing issue a few betas back. As it was not a universal issue, I decided to do a clean install, in case some crap created in from somewhere. (Probably a good idea for anyone who beta tests). Anyway completely fixed issue

so if you are having a random glitchy experience, try it. Unless your MBP has only 4gb of ram, can’t see any issues you should be having. Unless you run chrome and suck up all your ram. No kidding I know I guy who never closes chrome, runs with over 20 tabs open all the time and complains his computer is slow and he can’t do anything. Dah, ya think?

Nothing special. My Mac is pretty stock in terms of apps, the only third-party apps is Microsoft Office, Slack and VMWare Fusion. I never had this issue until 11.2 - release day Big Sur ran better. If Apple can't fix this with an update, I might just go back to Catalina.

Even on cold start, Big Sur will boot up and use 4GB before I even load anything.

 

[Apple_Robert]

The most notable feature is the possible removal of Rosetta.

If you are in the U.S., I don't think you need to worry about that.

 

[blazerunner]

Why? There is no reason to use RDNA2 consumer cards in a Mac Pro. Vega20 with its high bandwidth memory is superior in most compute tasks.
And just because they aren't introducing support for new AMD GPUs doesn't mean there won't be future upgrade options. I am 100% sure we will see MPX modules with Apple's own GPUs within the next two years.

Speak for yourself, thank you. You don't get any say as to what hardware creative professionals need or don't need.

As if significantly faster rendering from the new AMD GPUs is supposed to be useless... sigh.

 

[Jamesehale]

This beta fixed a strange issue that was present for me in the last beta. Mouseclicks (trackpad taps) seem to require repeating to be registered. Keypresses would go missing. Intriguingly in using screen sharing to access my server (running Catalina) none of these missing clicks or keypresses were present. They only affected interacting with the Mac running the last beta.
Anyway, whatever it was has now disappeared and I can type as quickly as I like without fear of losing more than half the letters.

 

[icerabbit]

My MBA battery drains still itself to death over the course of a week, while it is supposed to go to sleep ( with display sleep 15 min, powernap off, do not wake for wan, sleep drives when possible , ... ) and go into deep sleep, which should be after three hours of sleep ...

 

[AstroRexaur]

Somebody having this issue?

Safari stutters/lags at 75hz while browsing.

Mac mini M1 16gb with Big Sur 11.2.3. My monitor is Asus ProArt Display PA278QV. Connected using USB C to DisplayPort. Safari stutters/lags while browsing the internet at 75hz. Everything else (any app) runs smoothly. I tried with chrome and stutters/lags also at 75hz. But, when i down the Hz to 60Hz, everything runs smoothly including safari/chrome. I talked to Apple support but they told me that “maximum rate is 60Hz” and got confused cuz safari/chrome (AKA web browsing) is the only thing that I’m having problems at 75hz. Everything else (PDF, word, App Store) runs smoothly. I activated and deactivated inertia and didn’t bring any solutions. Also, booted in safe mode and the problems persist. Any help will be appreciated!

 

[Tev11]

Edge (and by extension Chrome) on M1 Macs still uses much less RAM than Safari because of Safari’s inefficient RAM usage and it’s excessive caching on this newest update.

From reboot, 0 SWAP usage on my 8 GB M1 MBA when using Edge on eight different websites I visit.

Quitting Edge and putting on Safari for the same 8 Tabs, 1.9 GB of SWAP. YouTube using 1.2 of RAM, Reddit another 1.3 GB of RAM. Facebook another 978 MB.

No extension is running on Safari.
Why the hell is Safari on M1 Macs aggressively using so much RAM and therefore SWAP? This is attributing to the SSD issue with M1 Macs. My Intel Mac Safari is performing much better than this.

 

[itrends]

Since all these updates always happen simultaneously, why not create one big article with all the OS updates instead of clogging the blog with an article for every damn OS ?

Simple answer - because comments are attached to articles.

I do NOT want to be going through hundreds of iPhone related comments when trying to understand/discuss the Mac OS comments.

Beyond that, links, sharability, clicks, revenue, the ability to keep producing content for us etc.

 

[Kissmo1980]

It may be off topic - but anyone knows where I can get that Blue wallpaper? I am googling it since yesterday and nothing.

 

[MCKLMT]

It's only me of the update takes longer than usually?

 

[Bfarmer38119]

So with this beta, I now have the the bluetooth lag and safari issues that others have previously experienced, For me, this is the worst beta I have had in a long while.

Update: Rebooted and installed Edge and problems are gone as others have indicated. Using less memory as mentioned, too.

 

[DKthe1st]

Has anyone solved the Finder SMB issues?

 

[Tev11]

So with this beta, I now have the the bluetooth lag and safari issues that others have previously experienced, For me, this is the worst beta I have had in a long while.

Update: Rebooted and installed Edge and problems are gone as others have indicated. Using less memory as mentioned, too.

If you wish to use Edge as your main browser, I do recommend installing the h264ify extension. The stable Edge does not support VP9 decoding, which is why you’ll notice high CPU usage when viewing 4K Content (it will be supported on Edge 90 to be released in April). This extension, unfortunately, will disable 4K playback. However, if you truly need 4K on YouTube, you can always use Safari for that reason alone.

Netflix requires Safari for 1080p for the internal display or 4K when connected to 4K monitor.

 

[mi7chy]

Hopefully it fixes the SSD killing feature so people with M1 Macbooks/Macs can safely turn them back on.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1366131394297012226

 

[macintoshmac]

@MauiPa For your query in the iOS thread, here is my response. I do not want to post macOS stuff there and risk getting reported.

There are two bugs that I come across in all apps, wherein the Save As dialog box or any other dialog box that contains a sidebar, the sidebar is crushed to the left and titles are not shown in full. I have to resize manually. Sometimes it stays and sometimes I have to do it again upon next launch. This particular bug seems to be fixed, more or less.

The second bug is that the entire dialog box gets resized automatically, even goes behind (or under) the dock. Click Save As or Export or anything that brings up these dialog boxes, in any app. Either complete the process or click Cancel. Do it again, you will see the dialog box was resized. You can reshape it and do it again, it will have changed its size again.

I keep changing the dialog box size back to normal, but the jaws keep dropping again right down to the dock, and in some apps such as Affinity, the dialog box's jaws drop even lower. Even when I click Attach Files button here in MR forums, the dialog box is anchored to the dock and the "jaws are dropped" so to speak.

Feedback was provided to Apple and they got back for the first bug saying that changes were made that may have fixed the bug, and it seems to be so more or less. They are yet to get back to me for the second bug.

 

[Minuteman3]

This build introduced a significant problem with my M1 Air which is running an attached 4k LG display. Prior to this build, I've had no display issues at all. But today, every time I place the Air in SLEEP, when I "wake it up" the monitor is washed out, fuzzy, and flickers occasionally. I tried to capture the two views on the attached images. Again, prior to this build I have not had a problem with my external monitor. A reboot is necessary every time to return the monitor to proper operations.

I submitted a Bug Report, FWIW.

My "normal" view...

After waking from "sleep" ...

Ken

 

[Takeo Apple]

Somebody having this issue?

Safari stutters/lags at 75hz while browsing.

Mac mini M1 16gb with Big Sur 11.2.3. My monitor is Asus ProArt Display PA278QV. Connected using USB C to DisplayPort. Safari stutters/lags while browsing the internet at 75hz. Everything else (any app) runs smoothly. I tried with chrome and stutters/lags also at 75hz. But, when i down the Hz to 60Hz, everything runs smoothly including safari/chrome. I talked to Apple support but they told me that “maximum rate is 60Hz” and got confused cuz safari/chrome (AKA web browsing) is the only thing that I’m having problems at 75hz. Everything else (PDF, word, App Store) runs smoothly. I activated and deactivated inertia and didn’t bring any solutions. Also, booted in safe mode and the problems persist. Any help will be appreciated!

You cannot run the screen with 75Hz. That is what Apple tried to tell you. The settings might show it, but the adatpter does not support 75Hz. Go back to 60Hz. There is no real benefit to set to 75Hz if you cannot actually do it - and that might cause the entire issue at hand.

 

[Takeo Apple]

Nothing special. My Mac is pretty stock in terms of apps, the only third-party apps is Microsoft Office, Slack and VMWare Fusion. I never had this issue until 11.2 - release day Big Sur ran better. If Apple can't fix this with an update, I might just go back to Catalina.

Even on cold start, Big Sur will boot up and use 4GB before I even load anything.

How much physical RAM do you have and why are you complaining? RAM is supposed to be used, not "saved up"... the more the system uses (smartly) the better.
Here is my MBP 16 after cold boot and Safari, Teams, Outlook, Mail are open:

 

[JippaLippa]

This build introduced a significant problem with my M1 Air which is running an attached 4k LG display. Prior to this build, I've had no display issues at all. But today, every time I place the Air in SLEEP, when I "wake it up" the monitor is washed out, fuzzy, and flickers occasionally. I tried to capture the two views on the attached images. Again, prior to this build I have not had a problem with my external monitor. A reboot is necessary every time to return the monitor to proper operations.

I submitted a Bug Report, FWIW.

My "normal" view...
View attachment 1744856
After waking from "sleep" ...
View attachment 1744855

Ken

Sorry for the mild off-topic, but I have the same display (I imagine it is the 27UL850 4K HDR400).

I'd like to know what do you think of the colors paired with the m1.
By default it seemed the colours were way too warm and I had to manually change the temperature to "neutral" in the menu.

Also, what do you think of the HDR performance of the display on M1?
I tested it with HDR MKV files and aomw youtube HDR videos.
It doesn't look bad, but it seems there's an everpresent magenta tone, especially in the whites.
Did you experience the same thing?

Thank you very much

 

[Nixobilly]

Airplay Stereo Homepods still dont show up as Sound output option. Apple TVs show up fine (still).