Macbook fans running full speed with Figma + 5K display

It may also depend on what is in the files lots of raster processing is going to make more CPU/GPU demand. It may also be what is also running on your machine at the same time. What does the activity monitor show? I’ve ran Figma day to day on a 4/5K display with the same hardware and didn’t have any fan issues, I was designing web pages and mobile apps. So I would identify what’s the cause of your processing demand as step 1. What about an empty file - does that do it?

Hi there,

I did experience some issues like yours, even on 1920 monitors with huge (like ultra huge) project files.

Performance and memory are impacted by the number of layers you have in your project. It is even more true with complex and nested components. If you are adding prototyping in the mix, well you know…

I could not retrieve the conversation about this, they were saying that can reduce memory overload and improve performance by doing the following:

• Reduce the number of Figma tabs opened at the same time
• Split into pages when you can - try having less layer displayed on the same page, as the app/browser will have to render them all and cache them to allow smoother response.
• If you are using the Figma Desktop app, you are then “using” a Chrome window of some sort. Having less Chrome tabs opened in your browser will help reduce memory.
• Try with Firefox - I’ve heard that it is slightly better with Firefox. I’ve never tried myself, but it is worth a try.

Hope that helps!

Thanks both for good tips! I’m experimenting with file size now and it seems to at least be part of the problem.

I’m not sure if it’s related, but I have even more severe problem: since the last Figma desktop app update a few days ago my Macbook Pro 2017 is restarting because of kernel panic. It happens only when I use Figma. I tested with both desktop app and in-browser (Chrome). I can use all my other heavy applications like InDesign on my 4K monitor while watching YouTube on a Macbook’s display and it’s fine. After a few minutes of using Figma it crashed again. I specifically open one of my files with just a few frames and started to zoom in and out. After 15 or so seconds my computer crashed.

I’ve got another Macbook Air 2018 from office and I’m going to test Figma performance on it later.