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The 2016 MacBook m5 is really slowing down :(

LionTeeth

LionTeeth

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 8, 2022
224
461
We’ve had this “early 2016“ MacBook 12 since it launched, it’s been an amazing device. Been trying to use it for work lately it’s gotten so slow
To open Edge and go to outlook.com takes about… 1-3 minutes. I go to my insurance website. Loads eternally. Restart it and it loads in about one full minute. And just using the OS in general it is stuttery, chunks along etc.

Really too bad, it was a terrific little machine. Not sure how much longer we can use it like this. I was hoping it would last a bit longer than seven years, but in hindsight that’s pretty good life for a dual core m5. I guess.
 
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I am sad to hear that your machine is slowing down, It seems like it served you well all these years. What upgrade path are you considering, Apple doesn't really sell anything that small and portable anymore? (If you are looking for an upgrade, in the first place)
 
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Have you tried doing a clean MacOS install? A couple of years ago my early 2016 M3 12" MacBook slowed down to a crawl, taking minutes just to open Chrome. I did a clean install using the internet recovery option after formatting the drive. After that, performance was back to super snappy.

Still using it today. I recently installed Visual Studio and a bunch of Azure tools so I could support some of my projects whilst on holiday. Obviously slower but got the job done admirably.

Or maybe the SSD is wearing out. No idea if these things are user replaceable.
 
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I had similar issues to you, and the option I decided upon was a M2 MacBook Air 8/512 version. It beats my wee MacBook in all areas apart from portability.
 
sam_dean said:
Makes one wish the Apple would come out with a Macbook 12" that uses a A16 Bionic 5nm chip from an iPhone 14 Pro.
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Yeah - 4nm even! I do think a 12" MacBook would fly on an A16. The 14 Pro Max has 3.6m pixels, the 12" MacBook has just 3.3m. So they could even get away with giving it a resolution boost (maybe 2560x1600) and it would still have similar pixels to the iPhone. I do think apple are missing a trick by making the M1 the lowest TDP Mac chip - there are plenty of users (myself included) for which the 12" MacBook had enough power for their needs. I wrote my entire dissertation on this little thing, including a ton of coding/simulations - sure it wasn't as fast as my iMac, but it always got the job done. For simple word processing/browsing/light media work, an A16 would be more than enough while still being snappy. Really hope they do this one day in an M3 "Light" and bring back this amazing 12" form factor. With MBP style bezels you could probably get close to a 13 inch screen as well. We can dream :)
 
Which OS is in use?
I'm going to try to get as much use out of my machine as possible, and have decided to stick with the OS it originally came with. I always feel newer releases are targeted at the latest models first and foremost, and just aim to slow down older models to tempt that upgrade! I have a relatively new machine anyways, so will be rolling with Monterey for a good while yet!
 
sam_dean said:
Makes one wish the Apple would come out with a Macbook 12"
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Fully agree!

I can’t believe Apple hasn’t released a tiny laptop if for no other reason just for the bragging rights and showing off what Apple Silicon can do.

(Of course this is colored by the fact that this would be my dream computer, all the things my 12” PowerBook and 11” MacBook Air could not quite be, and that the 12” MacBook definitely was not.)
 
Arctic Moose said:
Fully agree!

I can’t believe Apple hasn’t released a tiny laptop if for no other reason just for the bragging rights and showing off what Apple Silicon can do.

(Of course this is colored by the fact that this would be my dream computer, all the things my 12” PowerBook and 11” MacBook Air could not be.)
Click to expand...
A16 Bionic with 16 billion transistors can easily do a puny Macbook 12".

Back Between 2015-2019 it ran on an Intel 14nm 4.5W chip. It was soooo bad that it makes any iPhone chip within the last 5 years look like a rocket ship
 
sam_dean said:
A16 Bionic with 16 billion transistors can easily do a puny Macbook 12".

Back Between 2015-2019 it ran on an Intel 14nm 4.5W chip. It was soooo bad that it makes any iPhone chip within the last 5 years look like a rocket ship
Click to expand...
Yeah agree the A16 would be more than enough. I think the A17 might be close to the M1 on CPU/GPU if the jump to 3nm is as significant as we think it could be. Come on Apple…
 
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Onimusha370 said:
Yeah agree the A16 would be more than enough. I think the A17 might be close to the M1 on CPU/GPU if the jump to 3nm is as significant as we think it could be. Come on Apple…
Click to expand...
That's why I'm championing iPhone chips in those sub-$700 laptop & sub-$300 desktop.

My 2012 iMac 27" Core i7 22nm has 1.4 billion transistors. The 5nm A16 Bionic from a iPhone 14 Pro is 16 billion transistors.

Puts into perspective what smartphone are relative to any Intel Mac.
 
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My 2017 MacBook is feeling sluggish too. Tempted to do a full re-install and see if that helps. Would love to get a new 12" but wouldn't consider anything less than an M-series for it. The M2 runs fine in an iPad, I just don't see the use of an A-series in a Mac.
 
MacPoulet said:
My 2017 MacBook is feeling sluggish too. Tempted to do a full re-install and see if that helps. Would love to get a new 12" but wouldn't consider anything less than an M-series for it. The M2 runs fine in an iPad, I just don't see the use of an A-series in a Mac.
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Yes I had to move to M2 air after using Microsoft teams and other modern apps on Macbook..they are just too energy intensive now
 
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Yeah I’m in a similar boat to others - my base 2015 MacBook is still great for word processing and basic tasks, but just doesn’t cut it for anything intensive. I’ll keep praying for an M3 12 inch rerelease :cool:
 
My 2016 M3 Macbook is also quite slow by now. But it also really needs a new battery, and the display is showing funky colors (Expanding battery pushing on the display cable or damaged display cable?), so I don't think it is worth spending any money on it. It is useable for simple things, but it isn't really a joy to use anymore, but at least it is portable.

So personally, I am waiting for an M3 MacBook Air now. I guess it hits around November.
 
Quddy said:
Have you tried doing a clean MacOS install? A couple of years ago my early 2016 M3 12" MacBook slowed down to a crawl, taking minutes just to open Chrome. I did a clean install using the internet recovery option after formatting the drive. After that, performance was back to super snappy.
Click to expand...
I did that for mine half a year ago, and it had pretty much no effect.
 
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LionTeeth said:
We’ve had this “early 2016“ MacBook 12 since it launched, it’s been an amazing device. Been trying to use it for work lately it’s gotten so slow
To open Edge and go to outlook.com takes about… 1-3 minutes. I go to my insurance website. Loads eternally. Restart it and it loads in about one full minute. And just using the OS in general it is stuttery, chunks along etc.

Really too bad, it was a terrific little machine. Not sure how much longer we can use it like this. I was hoping it would last a bit longer than seven years, but in hindsight that’s pretty good life for a dual core m5. I guess.
Click to expand...
i expected that long time ago, i owned the 2015 and 2016 macbook and i sold them off becos the processor just simply cannot make it.

if the same form factor to match with the new m series chip that apple has now will be perfect.

intel processors are simply trashes.
 
Try to reinstall the OS. Your 2016 works with Monterrey but maybe Catalina? It's a little old but it works well with this machine.

It's sad but we all now what this machines are for: light work and light browsing. Your problem looks like a bad OS
 
Even my MBP 16” intel is sluggish on the latest macOS. Rolling back to Catalina is the way to go.
 
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