Samsung M8 "Smart Monitor" being remarkably stupid when connected to MacBook Pro M4 Max

[hardwickj]

I'm a "digital slowmad" spending a few months (or more) in Medellin, Colombia. I could only find 2 4K monitors here and both were Samsung, and the Samsung M8 was the only one I could find that offered USB-C w/ DP-Alt + PD (display + power over a single cable).

Unfortunately, when I connect this monitor to my new MacBook Pro M4 Max, there is a horrible mouse lag. The only way I've found to fix it is to go into settings, turn on "Game Mode" and set Response Time to Extreme. Again, unfortunately, those settings are not persistent (apparently by design), so every time I unplug and then reconnect my laptop, I have to grab the remote and go through this process all over again.

In some corners of the internet some people have commented that this is due to the monitor incorrectly detecting the connected device type, and if you go into the Home app on the TV, then Connected Devices, and set it to "PC" then it should work fine. But mine is in fact being detected as "PC" and no matter how I change it, it still has the mouse lag.

Anyone else have an M8 and M4-based Mac experiencing this issue?

Between this and my 2024 Samsung Frame 55" TV, I'm never buying another Samsung product again. Absolutely miserable software on their devices.

 

[xraydoc]

Are you running a mouse connected through the display, or is it creating a lag by just being connected?

Are you certain it's mouse lag you're seeing? Could it be the display is running at a low refresh rate, like 30Hz, instead of 60Hz? This would give the appearance of mouse lag. If your Mac is detecting the display as a TV and not a computer monitor, it might default to 30Hz. You might be able to change it in macOS's displays preferences, or, depending on exactly how the M8 is presenting itself to your Mac, you might need another utility (SwitchRez or BetterDisplay or something like that).

 

[hardwickj]

Are you running a mouse connected through the display, or is it creating a lag by just being connected?

Are you certain it's mouse lag you're seeing? Could it be the display is running at a low refresh rate, like 30Hz, instead of 60Hz? This would give the appearance of mouse lag. If your Mac is detecting the display as a TV and not a computer monitor, it might default to 30Hz. You might be able to change it in macOS's displays preferences, or, depending on exactly how the M8 is presenting itself to your Mac, you might need another utility (SwitchRez or BetterDisplay or something like that).

It's an Apple Magic Mouse, e.g. wirelessly connected to MacBook Air/Pro. Monitor is indeed running at 60hz. Instead it's like there is a 20-30ms input lag between my physical input and what is represented on screen.

Again, if I go into the monitor settings and enable "Game Mode", the problem goes away. Apparently what that does is it disables certain visual features of the monitor, thus increasing the monitors response time. But the monitor is operating at 60hz either way.