Forum Discussion
Why Teams is slowing down my Mac?
2 of my colleagues mine experienced warped MAC batteries (and cases) as a result of their machines overheating - caused by Teams. Indication is fan staying on for a long time (all day?) which cant be healthy. Im told the solution they found (probably through online search) was to change the setting in Teams to disable GPU hardware acceleration. Worked for me! KHartman
I suffered this problem in 2020 and at some stage it went away, perhaps due to a software upgrade. Then recently in 2022 when I upgraded to Ventura it all came back again. The common issue for me is the use of an external screen when on a Teams call, with the worst performance experienced with more people participating in the Teams call.
I have found a potential solution: to use Teams as an app within Microsoft Edge for Mac.
- First download and install Edge
- Run Teams as a web app within Edge, log in to Teams
- Press the three dots at the top right corner of the Edge window, select Apps and then choose "Install page as app" or similar prompt
This creates a free-standing Teams app on your Mac. Each time you run it, it will also run Edge. You can safely ignore Edge, and just use the free-standing Teams app. This may seem a bloated sledgehammer to crack a nut, but I have not been able to sort out Teams any other way. So far this has worked for me - it seems to have all the Teams features and so far hasn't killed the processor or performance when using multiple screens.
AlastairLord I spoke too soon on this fix. The Edge-based Teams app has its own share of problems.
The only sure-fire solution I have at the moment is to disconnect my external monitor and run the native MacOS Teams app. It shakes a bit but is just about good enough for calls. So frustrating.
AlastairLordI found a physical solution which is not elegant but works most of the time. I've bought a laptop stand with two big fans built-in. So the Mac is not overheating too much since the external fans cool the MacBook's enclosure - which leads to less work for the Mac's internal fans. And in the end the macOS kernel process is not triggered to "create" too much IDLE / cpu time consumption (which slows or freeze macOS).
So with the laptop stand's fans turned on I can use Teams (or whatever other video-call software) and an external monitor connected via a USB-C->DisplayPort cable.
Works in 85% of the cases.- Yes I have done the same, jacking up the laptop on three erasers of all things... and pointing a fan to blow from the back to the front of the laptop. For me this helps sometimes, but when I get >2 people on the call, I usually have to disconnect the screen or at all goes to hell in the end. It drives me nuts that this problem has been around for years, and Apple/MS have seen fit not to address it properly. Argh.
