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In 2026 Why does it take so much time to launch an app in M2 Max with Mac OS Tahoe?

emraha06

emraha06

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Hi everyone, I’m using a MacBook Pro M2 Max 14 inches. I have macOS 26.5.1 installed and the latest versions of the MS Office programs, and I’m also using the latest version of the Chrome browser. I’ve noticed a problem: after restarting the computer and waiting a sufficient amount of time, when I try to open Chrome or an MS Office program for the first time, I have to wait a very long time.

For example when I try to open the:
Photoshop 27.7.0 13.2 seconds
Chrome app from scratch, I have to wait about 4.5 seconds.
To open a standard-sized PowerPoint file, I have to wait 7.4 seconds,
To open a standard-sized Word file containing only text, I have to wait 8.5 seconds.

Once I’ve opened and closed the applications, they open very quickly the second time within the same session, but the initial openings take a very long time.

Why is this happening? Is it due to a wrong setting on my device, or what is the issue? Has anyone else experienced something similar?
 
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My apps were downloaded from Microsoft directly but now i have uninstalled them and downloaded from App Store and the result is same. All apps launch very slowly. And also Chrome launches slowly too
 
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My MBP M1 Pro is very slow to open any app the first time after powering it on. I even did a full factory reset a while back and it didn't help. Been like this always if I remember correctly.
 
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I suspect this behavior can be explained by caching. When initially starting an application the code needs to be read from SSD, which takes time.

On subsequent launches the applications code is typically retrieved from RAM which is much faster.

When you restart the computer the cache is cleared this the initial load takes longer. The application code can also be purged from the cache if RAM utilization is high and the system needs to reclaim it for other purposes.

IOW the behavior is perfectly normal.
 
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I have formatted the whole system and installed the OS again (clean install) but nothing changes. It takes serious time to launch apps on first attempt
 
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emraha06 said:
Hi everyone, I’m using a MacBook Pro M2 Max 14 inches. I have macOS 26.5.1 installed and the latest versions of the MS Office programs, and I’m also using the latest version of the Chrome browser. I’ve noticed a problem: after restarting the computer and waiting a sufficient amount of time, when I try to open Chrome or an MS Office program for the first time, I have to wait a very long time.

For example when I try to open the:
Chrome app from scratch, I have to wait about 4.5 seconds.
To open a standard-sized PowerPoint file, I have to wait 7.4 seconds,
To open a standard-sized Word file containing only text, I have to wait 8.5 seconds.

Once I’ve opened and closed the applications, they open very quickly the second time within the same session, but the initial openings take a very long time.

Why is this happening? Is it due to a wrong setting on my device, or what is the issue? Has anyone else experienced something similar?
Click to expand...
M1Max Studio, 64GB, 4TB. I'm on the latest Office 365 or whatever it's called, and I have the AI disabled.
after just installing 26.5.1 I waited ~2 min after login.
Starting excel without opening a file ~ 2 sec
Starting Word without opening a file ~1.5 sec
Starting PPT without opening a file ~1.5 sec
Loading Firefox to a blank page ~10sec (I do not have Chrome installed)

Seems reasonable to me
 
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I would think that you don't need to reboot the computer. I think you would see the same behavior if you closed the app using CRTL+Q vs. CTRL+W. +Q closes the app and +W just closed the document you are working on.

However, I have wondered the same think coming from a Windows PC where apps opens much faster than the initial load on a Mac. It doesn't have to be Office, but can be any app. It just takes longer for the initial program loand on a Mac. Don't really know who it is slower with tghe initial program load compared to a PC.
 
emraha06 said:
Hi everyone, I’m using a MacBook Pro M2 Max 14 inches. I have macOS 26.5.1 installed and the latest versions of the MS Office programs, and I’m also using the latest version of the Chrome browser. I’ve noticed a problem: after restarting the computer and waiting a sufficient amount of time, when I try to open Chrome or an MS Office program for the first time, I have to wait a very long time.

For example when I try to open the:
Chrome app from scratch, I have to wait about 4.5 seconds.
To open a standard-sized PowerPoint file, I have to wait 7.4 seconds,
To open a standard-sized Word file containing only text, I have to wait 8.5 seconds.

Once I’ve opened and closed the applications, they open very quickly the second time within the same session, but the initial openings take a very long time.

Why is this happening? Is it due to a wrong setting on my device, or what is the issue? Has anyone else experienced something similar?
Click to expand...
I have the same sluggishness on 26.5.x too. My configuration is 14" MacBook Pro M2 Pro.

Did you notice it when you were on Sequoia?
 
Hajj.david said:
Did you install office from the app store, or manually downloaded from Microsoft directly.
Click to expand...
I installed directly from Microsoft. Given that my system is slower to load the icons in the Application folder, I would guess that it's not the source of the bits installed, but rather a Tahoe "thing".
 
You could try these steps 1-6 to see what happens:
1) reboot.
2) wait for system to settle.
3) fire up Activity Monitor.
4) Launch an app.
5) Monitor processes in activity monitor; see if anything looks kooky.
6) Clean install Sequoia.
 
emraha06 said:
For example when I try to open the:
Chrome app from scratch, I have to wait about 4.5 seconds.
To open a standard-sized PowerPoint file, I have to wait 7.4 seconds,
To open a standard-sized Word file containing only text, I have to wait 8.5 seconds.
Click to expand...
None of this sounds out of the ordinary to me. Two of your three examples are huge, full-featured Microsoft programs that load gobs of resources and connections when they start up. Honestly 7-10 seconds sounds about right.

When I launch Photoshop cold on my M4 iMac, I might wait the better part of 10 seconds before it’s up and responsive because it’s loading god knows how many unwanted AI resources, connections to Adobe servers, libraries of filters and action and yada yada yada. By contrast, something super lean like TextEdit will pop open more or less instantly.

Unless there’s some other concern, I don’t think anything you’re reporting here warrants doing any troubleshooting steps.
 
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emraha06 said:
Hi everyone, I’m using a MacBook Pro M2 Max 14 inches. I have macOS 26.5.1 installed and the latest versions of the MS Office programs, and I’m also using the latest version of the Chrome browser. I’ve noticed a problem: after restarting the computer and waiting a sufficient amount of time, when I try to open Chrome or an MS Office program for the first time, I have to wait a very long time.

For example when I try to open the:
Chrome app from scratch, I have to wait about 4.5 seconds.
To open a standard-sized PowerPoint file, I have to wait 7.4 seconds,
To open a standard-sized Word file containing only text, I have to wait 8.5 seconds.

Once I’ve opened and closed the applications, they open very quickly the second time within the same session, but the initial openings take a very long time.

Why is this happening? Is it due to a wrong setting on my device, or what is the issue? Has anyone else experienced something similar?
Click to expand...
Apps use code from Apple frameworks. I would assume that after a clean reboot these frameworks are not loaded in memory yet. That's why the first launch takes a while. Once loaded, macOS probably keeps these frameworks in memory or they stay in memory because other apps are using them too. That's why the second time your browser or whatever loads faster.
 
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emraha06 said:
Hi everyone, I’m using a MacBook Pro M2 Max 14 inches. I have macOS 26.5.1 installed and the latest versions of the MS Office programs, and I’m also using the latest version of the Chrome browser. I’ve noticed a problem: after restarting the computer and waiting a sufficient amount of time, when I try to open Chrome or an MS Office program for the first time, I have to wait a very long time.

For example when I try to open the:
Chrome app from scratch, I have to wait about 4.5 seconds.
To open a standard-sized PowerPoint file, I have to wait 7.4 seconds,
To open a standard-sized Word file containing only text, I have to wait 8.5 seconds.

Once I’ve opened and closed the applications, they open very quickly the second time within the same session, but the initial openings take a very long time.

Why is this happening? Is it due to a wrong setting on my device, or what is the issue? Has anyone else experienced something similar?
Click to expand...
I’ve experienced this on each Mac I’ve used since ~2009; the first load of an app is always the longest wait. Seems a RAM/SSD thing to me but I don’t know. It also seems to get progressively worse with each macOS update, but those slow everything down a bit.
 
DCIFRTHS said:
Ben de 26.5.x sürümünde aynı yavaşlığı yaşıyorum. Benim sistemim 14 inç MacBook Pro M2 Pro.

Sequoia'da olduğunuzda bunu fark ettiniz mi?
Click to expand...

Could you please share the numeric results of latest v of MS word opening time, Powerpoint opening time , chrome opening time and photoshop (latest) opening time in your m2 pro with Tahoe 26.5.1 🙏
 
It’s likely because those apps are built on Electron instead of Apple frameworks. I noticed they tend to open and close slowly even on a warm boot. Same applies to Discord. And I’ve switched to Safari exactly because of this sluggishness in Chrome.
 
jz0309 said:
M1Max Studio, 64GB, 4TB. I'm on the latest Office 365 or whatever it's called, and I have the AI disabled.
after just installing 26.5.1 I waited ~2 min after login.
Starting excel without opening a file ~ 2 sec
Starting Word without opening a file ~1.5 sec
Starting PPT without opening a file ~1.5 sec
Loading Firefox to a blank page ~10sec (I do not have Chrome installed)

Seems reasonable to me
Click to expand...
are you sure about the first launch of your applications after clean restart of your mac. why these numbers are so different from me
 
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