Stuck with Macbook 12 2016 / Should I upgrade?

[caner0]

I have bought a Macbook 12 inch - 2016 with custom M7 processor few years ago. Actually I am very happy with the form factor and battery life, and after 2 keyboard replacement right now all of my keyboard issues has been resolved. I have considered iPad Pro but due to my workflows it is not suitable for me - I also don't have the budget right now.

Problem is - right now I am on Mojave but some apps are running very slow (like Webex with few video users, or Teams) and even browsing a website with a lot of ads becomes a pain. I am wondering - if upgrading to newest version of Mac OS will improve my experience? Or is this problem might be a underlying hardware problem? Or is it just aging and cannot cope with todays requirements?
Thanks for reading.

 

[giv-as-a-ciggy-kent]

even browsing a website with a lot of ads becomes a pain.

WTF. Why are you not running an ad blocker? Web is unusable on my old MacBook Pro without an adblocker of some kind, completely usable with it installed.

I would tough it out and wait for the ARM release. Otherwise new quad core MacBook Air would be closest bet. Since 12" is massively cooled, can you maybe really thermal paste between cpu die and whatever serves as a heatsink? 4 years is plenty of time for thermal paste to start hardening. Check fixit though because maybe this does not apply.

 

[4sallypat]

Do a fresh install (wipe) of Catalina.
The 12" rMB runs well (with adblockers) on all browsers.

 

[mj_]

The 12" MacBook should be able to handle those basic tasks with ease! I run much more demanding applications on mine and it never slows down. Granted, I own the 2017 MacBook but it's the base model so your 2016 m7 should in theory run circles around my 2017 m3.

First things first: it's 2020. You need an ad blocker. Period. The web has become completely unusable with with a high-performance octa-core workstation. What browser are you using? The ad blocker to choose depends on your choice of browser. Second, are you running any system optimizers such as Clean My Mac or any other kind of tune-up utilities? If so remove them immediately as they cause more harm than good. Third, are you running antivirus software of any kind? If so see previous point - they tend to slow down macOS a lot and are basically useless on a Mac.

 

[EugW]

The 12" MacBook should be able to handle those basic tasks with ease! I run much more demanding applications on mine and it never slows down. Granted, I own the 2017 MacBook but it's the base model so your 2016 m7 should in theory run circles around my 2017 m3.

2017 m3 is very similar speed to 2016 m7, within about 5% or so.

First things first: it's 2020. You need an ad blocker. Period. The web has become completely unusable with with a high-performance octa-core workstation. What browser are you using? The ad blocker to choose depends on your choice of browser. Second, are you running any system optimizers such as Clean My Mac or any other kind of tune-up utilities? If so remove them immediately as they cause more harm than good. Third, are you running antivirus software of any kind? If so see previous point - they tend to slow down macOS a lot and are basically useless on a Mac.

I don't use an ad blocker on my 2017 m3 MacBook as I find it unnecessary performance-wise, and more importantly, because it causes compatibility problems. Same goes for my 2017 i5-7600 iMac. I have tried many ad blockers and they all have the same issues. I also run anti-virus, but I find its performance impact in most situations is minimal. Anti-virus is important because yes, Macs do get viruses, but even more importantly, they can act as carriers for Windows machines.

That said, if I look for it, I do notice the 2017 m3 doesn't feel quite as peppy as some machines like the iMac. For me that's fine, esp. since it's a secondary machine, but for others that could be more significant.