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Safari scrolling performance vs Intel

gtg465x

gtg465x

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 12, 2016
754
883
I had my first experience with an M1 machine at Costco today, and I’m pretty disappointed. The first thing I tried on an M1 MacBook Air was going to theverge.com in Safari and scrolling around, and it was a somewhat choppy experience. I then tried the same thing on a 13” MacBook Pro with i7 right next to it, and it was noticeably smoother. Finally, I tried the same thing on a 16” MacBook Pro and that was the smoothest of them all.

Someone please tell me there was something wrong with that machine, because if the M1 can’t even scroll web pages smoothly then we’ve got a major problem. I don’t care about benchmarks, I care about a fluid real world experience.

Are there any M1 owners here who have a discerning eye for smoothness / stutter and can confirm or deny whether this is true of their machines?
 
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Supposedly the unrelated beta of safari is better at scrolling. I find Facebook horrible so I use Chrome for that and its much smoother. MBP M1/16/1T.
 
My almost 9yr old MBA scrolls the verge fine. That M1 machine was being weird, or something wasnt right. Of course scrolling isnt going to be an issue
 
gtg465x said:
Are there any M1 owners here who have a discerning eye for smoothness / stutter and can confirm or deny whether this is true of their machines?
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Tbh, I have noticed this as well. It’s not nearly as bad as one would think, but on more complicated websites, I see ever so slight stuttering using Safari. Having said that, hands down the M1 is a fantastic package, and I am definitely keeping mine (at least until v2 is released ;) )
 
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revs said:
My almost 9yr old MBA scrolls the verge fine. That M1 machine was being weird, or something wasnt right. Of course scrolling isnt going to be an issue
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Old MBAs have typically always been very smooth because they have low res screens with not many pixels to push.
 
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Must have been poor internet connection at Costco, Safari is noticeable smoother on my M1 MBA that my 15"MBP. I know you tested another machine, but it might be situated closer to the router, or the Mac was connected to a slower band / more congested channel on the router. A shop is a bad place to test for internet responsiveness as they have so many machines connected to the same router.
 
I have been using an M1 MBA (1TB/16GB) for a week. Safari is quite smooth, and i'm a total safari snappiness/smoothness snob. I didn't use Firefox for YEARS back in the day because it didn't have 'smooth scrolling'.

That said, I'm sure there are some early bugs that need to be worked out and will be addressed promptly by Apple. The M1 is their new baby.
 
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This has always been an issue for me. I find scrolling has improved on Windows (Firefox and Edge particularly) to the extent that is is buttery smooth. I moved to the Mac Mini and found Safari stutters too much on certain sites. Chrome is much better, though not as good as I experienced on Windows. I will use Chrome until there is an Apple Silicon version of Edge. I have a Mac Mini and an Apple Magic Mouse 2.
 
I often wonder just what the hell people do to their computers. I use Safari on multiple Macs M1 and Intel and the scrolling is always perfectly smooth and fast on every site I visit.
 
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I’ve noticed this issue on mine. It would make nearly zero sense for it to be on some systems and not others. More likely some people just don’t notice it.

I think I’m still keeping mine it’s quite amazing what this fabless machine can do. But still the stutter while scrolling is there for me it depends on the page and how fast I try to scroll. If I scroll slowly it’s smooth almost all the time.
 
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Just tried theverge.com on my M1 MBA. Complete butter. Must have been the internet connection at Costco.

Anyway, M1 blows the Intel models away for all the reasons already noted, but you do you. :)
 
DemNoir said:
I often wonder just what the hell people do to their computers. I use Safari on multiple Macs M1 and Intel and the scrolling is always perfectly smooth and fast on every site I visit.
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If I scroll slowly I can achieve a smooth scroll, once I up the speed some busy sites are slightly jittery - I'm thinking Reddit and Facebook.
 
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Pretty choppy here (macrumors site included, only extension is Wipr adblocker which helps), rest of the system is smooth scrolling (even chrome) so looks like a waiting game for an update for us experiencing/noticing it. I have the Air M1 and 2020 i3 base Air.

However I'm on Catalina on Intel and some say the stutter scrolling is a 11.0.1 thing and not on 11.0

Still choppy on the M1 with 11.1 Beta.
 
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Had a 2020 mbp 16gb (returned for m1). Scrolling was butter but then they release a update to safari that made it choppy. The safari update was the culprit.
 
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Ahh, just re-read this thread and you guys are talking about the new M1 laptops. I have a Mac Mini M1 and use an Apple Magic Mouse. Apple trackpads have always been pretty smooth. Connect a mouse and see how scrolling is then . . . I'd be interested to know if it's any different.
 
James_C said:
Must have been poor internet connection at Costco, Safari is noticeable smoother on my M1 MBA that my 15"MBP. I know you tested another machine, but it might be situated closer to the router, or the Mac was connected to a slower band / more congested channel on the router. A shop is a bad place to test for internet responsiveness as they have so many machines connected to the same router.
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This!
 
Safari scrolling is choppy on lots of websites on my 2019 Air. Firefox is much better in this regard. I would expect the M1 to be much better at this, but if the software is not good enough, then the processor doesn’t matter.
 
KShopper said:
Just tried theverge.com on my M1 MBA. Complete butter. Must have been the internet connection at Costco.

Anyway, M1 blows the Intel models away for all the reasons already noted, but you do you. :)
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Do you have an ad blocker? If so, maybe try without that since the one at Costco didn't.
 
scgf said:
If I scroll slowly I can achieve a smooth scroll, once I up the speed some busy sites are slightly jittery - I'm thinking Reddit and Facebook.
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Yeah, when I was testing, I was scrolling somewhat fast. I'm sure some people only scroll very slowly so they can read while they scroll, but I tend to read, then flick and catch to get to another part of the page quickly.
 
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