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I was using my MacBook Pro (Mac 1) to control another Mac (Mac 2) using the "Remote Management" feature in System Preferences > Sharing. This allowed me to control Mac 2 from Mac 1 if I was on the same WiFi network on both Macs.

I noticed that screen sharing was quite laggy with some latency. Furthermore, file transfers did not exceed 4-5 MB/s. I presumed this was due to poor WiFi connectivity. During screen sharing the upload speed on Mac 2 never exceeded 3 MB/s, confirming this.

I decided to connect the Macs using an Ethernet cable, hoping that this would improve file transfer and screens sharing capability. The file transfer rate increased to 100-110 MB/s. However, screen sharing seems to be just as bad as before with upload speeds not increasing beyond 3-4 MB/s, suggesting it was still using WiFi to screen share. I was able to confirm this by turning off WiFi on Mac 2, which dropped the screen sharing connection (but still kept the filesystem connected and allowed me to transfer files via the ethernet cable).

Is there any way to force the Macs to use my high bandwidth ethernet connection for remote management/screen sharing? This would allow me to benefit from lower latency and higher frame rate when controlling Mac 2.

I have tried all of the solutions from this answer, but nothing has worked.

Oion Akif
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2 Answers2

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You will need to use a third party product that does not use VNC protocol - most likely a proprietary protocol. It is unlikely you will be satisfied with any free product.

I use Jump Desktop which has both client software ($$$) for your Mac1 and server software (free) for your Mac 2. Using Jump's 'Fluid' protocol, I find the lag minimal using my MacBook (wifi client) and my iMac (ethernet server) on my home LAN.

Jump is acceptable over the Internet too, but don't expect miracles.

There are other products - Jump is my favourite.

Gilby
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I found VNC is laggy compared to other solutions. It is kind of OK using realVNCs free viewer (you can buy their server too for even faster performance). You also may have better luck with a 3rd-party vnc server like libVNCserver or turboVNC

RealVNC viewer (free): https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/download/viewer/

RealVNC Server (paid): https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/download/vnc/

TurboVNC: https://www.turbovnc.org

libVNCserver: brew install libvncserver

anonymous
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    Can you be a bit more specific on the products you recommend, including a link to their web site? – nohillside Jun 09 '21 at 22:48
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    My experience (admittedly some years ago) showed only marginal improvements in responsiveness for any product using VNC protocol. All they can do is tweak some of VNC's parameters. – Gilby Jun 09 '21 at 23:31
  • @Gilby Yeah, I agree with that. Im just the kind of person who prefers free alternatives. I don't doubt that Jump Desktop is better. – anonymous Jun 09 '21 at 23:32