Macbook seems to be significantly under performing

Gig Performer on Mac OS X
1

Hi, I recently switched from Windows to Mac, but my new refurbished macbook seems to be under performing. The windows machine it was supposed to replace absolutely leaves it in the dust. I have a lot of plugins running, but not so many that my old laptop struggled.

Is it possible to make the macbook outperform the windows machine, or should I return the macbook? I have 30 days.

I followed the optimization guide as best as I could, but it seems to be written for an older OS. Is there anything else I can try that’s specific to newer operating systems? As far as I can tell the macbook outspecs the windows laptop, so I’m confused as to why it’s performing so poorly.

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Original laptop specs:
Running smoothly, CPU peaking at 85% (in task manager)
2021 Gigabyte G5 GD
Windows 11, 25H2
11th Gen Intel Core i5-11400H @ 2.70GHz (2.69 GHz)
16gb RAM
Also has all my day to day and work stuff installed, settings not fully optimized for GP.

Gig Performer settings:
64 samples at 44100 hz

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New Macbook specs:
Clicks and pops, CPU consistently hits 100% (in activity monitor) on complex rackspaces
2020 13 inch MacBook Pro
Tahoe 26.4.1
2.3 GHz Quad-Core intel Core i7
32gb RAM
New clean system install, running nothing in the background as far as I know.

Gig Performer settings:
128 samples at 44100 hz

3

What audio interface are you running?

4

The same in both tests: Scarlet 4i4 G4.

5

Mistrust the obvious! :slight_smile: In this particular case, the PC is better.

So although “i7 + 32 GB” sounds substantially better than “i5 + 16 GB”, the Gigabyte actually has a newer 6-core H-series CPU designed for substantially higher sustained power consumption.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro’s Intel CPU is a low-power 4-core chip in a very thin chassis.

6

Thanks! I’ll return it.

Is there an easy way for someone who doesn’t really know CPUs to identify which CPU is better suited for GP?

7

I don’t know much about computer, but I would say…try to get a M-mac chip, even the M1 is crazy fast :slight_smile: