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Safari 18.3 sluggish

E

etaleb

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 7, 2012
665
35
Maine
Symptoms - sluggish Safari 18.3

I'm trying to find when I updated to 18.3 and System Information / Software / Installations just shows Safari 17.0 installed on 10/2/23. How can I find when an individual update was downloaded? I'm interested because on Feb 1, I also connected a 8TB external hard drive to backup data to. Since then I've disconnected it and excluded it from Spotlight. Do I need to remove it from spotlight or redo indexing in case it indexed everything and is quite large? Trying to figure out if it's coincidental but Safari 18.3 is the only sluggish application and even on small websites, it gives me the wait symbol for 3-4 seconds. I know macOS won't allow me to roll back to 18.2. Thanks
 
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Yes Edge and it's very smooth. Problem is I do have quite a bit of sync and use those functions between desktop, laptop & cellphone. Moving browser on all 3 platforms will be a pain. Anything else I can do to troubleshoot? I also disable the 3 3rd party extensions I had, didn't help
 
Did you try just restarting your computer? Sometimes Apple hardware needs a full reboot.

Do you have A.I. turned on in an 8GB Mac? Have you tried turning it off and seeing how Safari performs?

How's the memory pane look in activity monitor? Heavy SWAP usage?

If none of that, probably just bugs. Even at the .3 update, you are basically wide-area beta tester. Apple usually gets a new generation OS mostly cleaned up by about .5 or .6, launched at or around WWDC time or so. Back in the "good old days", the safe time to upgrade was about .2 or .3. Now- IMO- .5 or .6 is about when. I'm still rocking 14.7.3 myself until at least about .5 or .6.
 
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1.39 swap used and I have 8gb total memory - is that ok? Also, how do I turn off automatic updates just on Safari. I want to do that once it auto updates to .6 - thanks

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SWAP means your use is overrunning the amount of actual RAM... so it turns to using internal SSD like extra- but much slower- RAM. My general opinion is that if you see that your system is regularly using SWAP, you chose too little RAM. Unfortunately, to fix that problem requires replacing the entire Mac instead of adding more RAM.

If you are using A.I. in 8GB, that's likely a slow-down driver as Apple has basically acknowledged the need for at least 16GB by finally upping all base Macs to 16GB RAM. 15.3 came with some new Apple A.I. releases, so it's possible that is at least a portion of the cause.

Software updates are managed in the Apple (menu), System Settings, General, Software updates pane. I don't know if there are "automatic updates" for macOS. I believe you have to click to approve macOS updates. They prompt you with a notification but instead of just installing, once can close the notification and stick with what they have. I just got a notification today to "upgrade to 15.3" but closed it to stick with 14.7.3. I'll warm up to 15 by about .5 or .6 when I see all these threads referencing bugs & slow downs seem to moderate. Else, I'll wait for .7 or beyond. There are ALWAYS some bugs so waiting for "just works" perfection is fruitless... but waiting for a more mature version of a macOS generation generally yields a more stable experience.

The rolling nature of A.I. releases may make this year NOT be "normal" in terms of waiting for .5 or .6. It might take .7 or beyond... or perhaps well into macOS 16.something before relative stability is realized again. Note that about 10+ guys who read that line will likely chime in that everything is working perfectly in every way on their Macs but you can hop into macOS threads and see all the posts with all of the references to bugs to know that- while it MIGHT be true for those guys- it's not true for all guys (and gals).
 
Not using AI. I have these apps open all the time on my Mini M2 - Safari with 8-10 tabs, Outlook, Excel, Teams and that's the extent to what I do on this computer. So ideally, if RAM was sufficient, Swap used should be 0GB? I can think of buying a new Mini M3 and pass this onto a child if you think it'll help
 
There's ALWAYS a possibility of using some SWAP. All that takes is opening enough stuff demanding RAM beyond what you have. So occasionally showing some SWAP is not terrible. However, if you are regularly using SWAP, you are regularly writing to the internal SSD and the volume of writes is what wears out SSDs. When the internal SSD conks, it's probably replace-that-Mac time.

If you buy abundant RAM, you're likely to not use SWAP at all. But abundant Apple RAM is a very expensive proposition vs. market rates. I'd take some time here to regularly check SWAP usage. If I see that I'm regularly using it- and with 8GB of RAM that is probable- I'd definitely be looking for a sizable RAM update in my next Mac purchase.

In your screen captures, I see references to the Microsoft Office suite, Adobe and similar. Those kinds of apps can be RAM demanding depending on what you do with this computer. macOS itself is becoming increasingly RAM demanding now that they are pushing A.I. What was base RAM (considered too small by "objective" people among us) at 8GB is now 16GB.

What's to stop Apple A.I. from spreading out into the various Mac apps once the foundational A.I. is in place? Nothing. Do new versions of apps you use like Office or Adobe likely start taking advantage of Apple A.I.? Probably.

So now I would look at 16GB as "the new base" with some scrutiny and probably think 32GB vs. just "I'm doubling what I was using at 8GB (to 16GB). In other words, consider doubling "base" RAM instead of thinking in pure numbers terms. If former base at 8GB was too little for how you use your Mac, new base at 16GB may be too little for you as macOS itself is "fattening up" with A.I., whether you opt to use it or not.

If you need more than base at 8GB now, you will probably need more than base at 16GB soon. So consider the RAM upgrade in the next new purchase. I opted to pay for 64GB RAM in my last Mac and have never noticed it using any SWAP at all. I through some fairly RAM-demanding tasks at it. As I write this, the system is using about 36GB of RAM with NOTHING very RAM-demanding in play.

The main point I'm trying to convey is that if you decide that "base" is not enough for how you use your computer, just because "base" is now twice as much should NOT automatically mean that new base > old base for your purposes. Instead, the suggestion is to step it up in RAM: base PLUS... not "I went from 8GB to 16GB." Else, new base may bump you into the same kind of problem... because the system itself demands more RAM now.
 
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i am not sure what the problem is but you might want to consider Brave Browser. Its like Edge and Chrome but free and open source. Available on all platforms.
 
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