M1 Mac Studio Ultra experiencing performance issues

<< Dropbox as it is my backup but it is only one specific folder that has my work and only syncs once there is a change inside, which isn't often. >>

Non-native File Sync-ers like Dropbox can be enormous resource-hogs. Since they were ported from that other OS environment, they IGNORE the Mac File System Event Store (that could tell them EXACTLY what folders have changed recently) and instead do a a Brute-force read of all your files, and all the files stored on their drive on the Internet. This punishes the ability to get any data (including speed test data) through their enormous and frivolous file reading and re-reading.

They are also 'on the phone' checking and re-checking the synced file stored on the internet. Between constant scanning and constant Internet access, this uses a LOT of resources -- far more than Apple-native File-Syncers like iCloud. Running File-Syncers when not actually needed still consumes a lot of computer resources. You should NOT be launching these at Startup, but instead launch only when needed, and quit when Sync-ing is complete.

You are launching DropBox at login. therefore it is ALWAYS running, using up resources, while doing nothing constructive for you.

User Login Items:

[Running] Dropbox (Dropbox, Inc. - installed 2025-12-10)

Application

/Applications/Dropbox.app

to stop this:

settings > General > Login Items and Extensions ...

select Dropbox and click the delete [-] button under the list.

Then it will only launch when needed.

After use, If you want its resource consumption to stop, Restart your Mac after syncing is complete.

Well, this EtreCheck report looks pretty clean to me, though there is one glaring omission.

That being that you have not set up Time Machine to backup your data. You did say previously that you use external drive for backup so this may not be critical for the safety of your data.

The run time of the report is respectfully quick at 2:43.

I don't see any added anti-virus, cleaning or VPN softwares which very often cause problems with the OS and gums things up.

The write and read speeds of your startup drive look pretty healthy at 3047 and 5797 MB/s respectively.

Your RAM amount is excellent and swaps aren't apparently being used, as it should be.

I do note that you have GlobalProtect enabled for firewall access and security.

Is this computer business owned? Do you really need that particular software?

I don't know anything about it, but the fact that it relates to security and firewalls raises a flag.

I also see reference to Signiant, but that seems to me to simply enable high speed/high capacity data transfers, so it isn't concerning to me.

I do note that your 2 TB startup drive appears to have only about 282 GB free space, as you noted previously. At first glance that seems fine, but a general rule of thumb suggests that one should maintain a minimum of 10%-15% of the total startup drive capacity free at all times. For a 2TB drive that is 200-400 GB. Your free space is in that ballpark at ~12% or so, just barely within the range.

You say you work with "MASSIVE Photoshop files". I wonder if the Mac is feeling the pressure of that relatively low free drive space. If possible it may be worth offloading some of your data from the startup to an external drive to free up another 100-200 GB and check your performance again.

Aside from these things, I might wonder if any or your external drives might be having some health issues. You might consider running a diagnostic utility such as Drive Dx from Binary Fruit to check the overall health of those external drives. If you don't want to run that just now, you might at least disconnect all of those eternal drives as a troubleshooting measure. Reboot and use the computer for a bit and see if performance doesn't improve. Reconnect these one at a time and use the Mac and see how it behaves. Your slowdown may be due to something as simple a a bad connector or cable.

I cannot point a finger at any particular thing in your report that seems problematic.

Perhaps another user here in the community will see something I don't. 🙂

I don't see your Etrecheck report as benign or trouble-free.

You have an External SSD added, but have not enabled TRIM for non-Apple SSD drives.

Samsung PSSD T7 Shield 2.00 TB (Solid State - TRIM: No) 

Use Terminal command:

sudo trimforce enable 

Enter your admin password, which will not be echoed.

The utility will read you the Riot Act, to which you must respond exactly the way it tells you. A programmed Restart will be performed to complete the process.

The setting applies to all non-Apple SSD drives, and is saved in an NVRAM variable, and will be carried forward regardless of what disks are connected or disconnected.

Thank you. Those numbers appear to be just fine. Though I will say it's not surprising that Finder's number is quite different. We see that often. Disk Utility and Terminal will generally report accurate numbers while Finder does not.

For the sake of further troubleshooting without playing 20 Questions, I will ask that you please run an EtreCheck (free) evaluation of your Mac and post the generated report back here in a reply.

EtreCheck is a safe and highly regarded utility from a trusted developer and respected ASC contributor. The report it generates will not include any personal info. It simply gathers specifics about hardware performance and installed software that might be in conflict with the OS.

Please navigate to EtreCheck.com to download the utility. Be sure to Allow Full Disk Access when you install the app. Once you’ve run the app and created your report please post it with your reply to this message. 

Please note: you must upload the full report. To see how, please click >  How to use Add Text when posting… EtreCheck Report.

We’ll use your EtreCheck report to look for the things that may be causing your problem and advise how to correct them.

you appear to a a VPN installed as well as Global Protect, but have not properly authorized Global Protect.

These suggest you are using a corporate VPN to be "present" on a corporate network when needed.

If you are present on a corporate network, why do you have so many non-Apple File Sharing services going at the same time? Can't you store directly on the corporate network, rather than the Cloud?

File providers:

[Loaded] Dropbox - /Applications/Dropbox.app

Share services:

[Loaded] Extension - /Applications/Bluesky.app

[Loaded] Aspera Drive - ~/Applications/Aspera Connect.app

[Loaded] Dropbox Transfer - /Applications/Dropbox.app

Finder sync extensions:

[Not Loaded] Dropbox Finder Extension - /Applications/Dropbox.app

[Loaded] Adobe Content Synchronizer Finder Extension - /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Sync/CoreSync/Core Sync.app

and since you are using some google updaters, that implies google drive might be in use as well.

if you are NOT required to use Chrome, you should completely un-install all things google, as they use non-trivial amounts of resources at all times.

if you MUST use all those file sharing services, at least set them NOT to launch at login, but to launch on demand and quit when done sync-ing, else they will read your files, non-stop, looking for changes to sync.

What is the capacity of the internal startup drive?

And what is the current free space available on that drive?

The Disk Utility app can get you the answers to both those questions.

Get detailed information about a disk in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

Top Processes Snapshot by Network Use:

Process (count) Input / Output (Source - Location)

mDNSResponder 11 MB / 1 MB (Apple)

rapportd 4 MB / 2 MB (Apple)

com.apple.WebKit.Networking 3 MB / 504 KB (Apple)

Messenger 657 KB / 739 KB (App Store)

apsd 156 KB / 265 KB (Apple)

users who find the major network user to be mDNS responder correlate with users who have many file sharing and web-connected services running constantly, consuming resources.

Your Mac is so busy "talking on the phone" it does not have time to be responsive for the work YOU care about.

this section:

Performance:

System Load: 7.63 (1 min ago) 5.15 (5 min ago) 3.77 (15 min ago)

Nominal I/O usage: 0.62 MB/s

File system: 12.07 seconds

Write speed: 3047 MB/s

Read speed: 5797 MB/s

expected read and write speeds should be comparable, and with recent Apple-silicon machines, Writes should be slightly Faster than Reads, (likely die to write buffering).

You are spending way too much background time reading and writing files.

<< The only service I need to have on is Dropbox as it is my backup. >>

"On the cloud" is great for sharing photos, but is not a viable backup solution for everything you have. The stuff is not under your control, and is subject to sloppy handling, arbitrary changes in policy, theft, accidental deletion, data loss [are they making frequent backups using best practices?], and discontinuation or throttling of the service. It can easily take three days to restore it at ordinary Internet speeds.

If you do not have a recent local, disk-based backup, your computer is like a ticking Time bomb. You are only one disk failure, one mainboard failure, one crazy software, or one "oops" away from losing EVERYTHING! Drives do not last forever. It is not a question of IF it will fail, only WHEN it will fail. In addition, you never know when crazy software or Pilot Error throws away far more than you intended.

If you are using another direct-to-disk backup method that you prefer, and you currently have a recent disk-based backup, that is great. If not, you should consider using Built-in Time Machine. Take steps to acquire an external drive as soon as possible. If you buy one, a drive 2 to 3 times or larger than your boot drive is preferable for long term trouble-free operation. Do not pay extra for a drive that is fast.  (You can get by for a while with a "found" smaller drive if necessary, but it will eventually become annoying).

<< Re: TRIM on non-Apple SSD – I had asked about this very thing earlier here and on MacRumors and that was never mentioned. Will that affect the content on it? It's where my Photos Library is stored and has all my photos. >>

¿Where is the BACKUP of all those files?

if you have a Trusted Backup, you have absolutely NOTHING to fear in enabling TRIM on that drive.

That said, we have seen NO reports of issues after enabling TRIM on any drives. I expect this is largely because Apple uses the least aggressive type, asynchronous TRIM. The drive controller can TRIM in the background when not busy.