What determines how rapidly a Mac can respond graphically to user input (scrolling through long files, Mission Control, window tiling, scrolling through Finder's Gallery View, etc.)—is it the the GPU, the display engine, or both?
For instance, I've read that some Macs can feel sluggish with the last supported OS, because that OS may have graphical features that overtax the device's capabilities—such that it's recommended to turn off additional graphical features (e.g., image transparency). Which of the two above components would determine the device's peformance in this area?
As a concrete example: Let's assume the external display engines Apple uses in the M3 Pro and M3 Max have the same capabilities (they can both drive up to 6k@60Hz over TB and 8k@60Hz/4k@240Hz over HDMI). Suppose it's 2028 and you've just installed MacOS 18 on your M3 Pro, and find that its graphical responsiveness feels a bit sluggish. If that responsiveness is detemined principally by the display engine, then an M3 Max would suffer from the same issues. But if if the GPU plays an important role, then the M3 Max should perform better.
Here's another example: Suppose I'm using Finder's preview (the "eye" icon) while scrolling through the files on my desktop, in order to find a screenshot I took (and that I didn't name). My iMac can't scroll through those as fast as I could examine them, since it can't switch between images quickly enough. Same thing if I instead scroll through them using Finder's Gallery View. Is this limitation because of the display engine or the GPU?
For instance, I've read that some Macs can feel sluggish with the last supported OS, because that OS may have graphical features that overtax the device's capabilities—such that it's recommended to turn off additional graphical features (e.g., image transparency). Which of the two above components would determine the device's peformance in this area?
As a concrete example: Let's assume the external display engines Apple uses in the M3 Pro and M3 Max have the same capabilities (they can both drive up to 6k@60Hz over TB and 8k@60Hz/4k@240Hz over HDMI). Suppose it's 2028 and you've just installed MacOS 18 on your M3 Pro, and find that its graphical responsiveness feels a bit sluggish. If that responsiveness is detemined principally by the display engine, then an M3 Max would suffer from the same issues. But if if the GPU plays an important role, then the M3 Max should perform better.
Here's another example: Suppose I'm using Finder's preview (the "eye" icon) while scrolling through the files on my desktop, in order to find a screenshot I took (and that I didn't name). My iMac can't scroll through those as fast as I could examine them, since it can't switch between images quickly enough. Same thing if I instead scroll through them using Finder's Gallery View. Is this limitation because of the display engine or the GPU?
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