Strange performance problems

[davekr811]

Hey all,

My wife recently replaced her 2013 Macbook Air with the 2020 Air (i5, 8GB RAM, 512 SSD) and she has had some issues with the new machine.

First, she has had several times where she has gone to do a video chat (with either zoom or FaceTime) and the video camera wouldn't turn on. She would end up connected to the chat but with no video. Rebooting the laptop temporarily fixes the issue.

Second, she's seen ridiculously slow times opening jpg or heic images with Preview. Hitting space bar on an image to preview it results in a spinner that can last several minutes. Double-clicking an image will result in a rainbow spinner and several minutes later the image will finally open. Rebooting the laptop seems to temporarily fix the issue.

Third, she will have times when she goes into the Messages app and before she can even type a message, she will see a rainbow spinner. Again, the only fixe we've found so far is rebooting.

Has anyone else seen these kinds of issues on this machine where they require a reboot to at least fix temporarily? We're not sure what to do because she loves the Air but is getting tired of these performance problems.

By the way, I don't think the computer has too much running when any of this happens. Used memory will be somewhere around 5GB for her typical use both when we are and aren't seeing the problems.

 

[nill1234]

Whats the memory pressure and what does the activity monitor lists under CPU?

 

[IngerMan]

1st thing Apple will do is have you reload the operating system from recovery mode. I think that’s what I would do first.

if it continues then I would get it replaced as it’s under warranty.

 

[davekr811]

Thanks for the suggestions. When one of the issues happens again I'll check the memory pressure and CPU.

I may end up doing a software reinstall to see if that fixes the problems. It is frustrating because when these things happen her 2013 Air performs better than the new one.

 

[inbloomgc]

I'm coming from a 2013 MBA too. And I have the same 2020 specs but 256gb. I don't think those issues are normal. The new MBA is way faster than the 2013, and I have no issues with loading speed for photos or camera not turning on for Zoom/FT. Only thing is the 2020 camera is noticeably worse than the 2013 one.

 

[davekr811]

Thanks for the info inbloomgc. I'm sort of relieved that these don't seem to be common problems with the 2020 Air. I may try reinstalling the OS and seeing if that helps anything. If not, I will contact Apple support.