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bobbytallant

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 6, 2010
375
38
Hi guys - just wondering if this is just me.

I feel I have settled now with the 1920x1200 resolution. I like having a lot of windows open at a time (usually several windows of my browser, either safari or firefox nightly), and I feel the text is readable etc etc with this resolution setting.

I am however frequently experiencing issues with my rMBP when I have it on this setting - windows frequently become 'glitchy' - text and images become blocky and then do not show at all (blank pages). I have to restart the application and then the images and text go back to normal - I have to do this fairly frequently and its annoying. I dont know if its just me - but it seems to be brought on more when I switch between two desktops on the mac (not an external monitor).

I would usually say, well you are pushing the screen too hard on this setting - too many windows etc - but frankly I paid A LOT for this mac and I expect it to be able to handle my demands, which I didnt think were too great tbh..

Anyone else experienced/experiencing this?
 

nontroppo

macrumors 6502
Mar 11, 2009
430
22
HiDPI1920x1200 is my default resolution, absolutely no problems running large numbers of power applications simultaneously over 3 spaces, switching between them (via mission control, direct switching using ⌘⇥ or via spaces) etc. My biggest problem is I prefer reading scientific papers at HiDPI1440x900, and though switching to 1440 using SwitchResX is quick, rearranging some windows can be a pain, but don't see glitches in window contents drawing. Does this affect specific apps?
 

blaake

macrumors regular
Nov 3, 2012
129
0
Florida
Hi guys - just wondering if this is just me.

I feel I have settled now with the 1920x1200 resolution. I like having a lot of windows open at a time (usually several windows of my browser, either safari or firefox nightly), and I feel the text is readable etc etc with this resolution setting.

I am however frequently experiencing issues with my rMBP when I have it on this setting - windows frequently become 'glitchy' - text and images become blocky and then do not show at all (blank pages). I have to restart the application and then the images and text go back to normal - I have to do this fairly frequently and its annoying. I dont know if its just me - but it seems to be brought on more when I switch between two desktops on the mac (not an external monitor).

I would usually say, well you are pushing the screen too hard on this setting - too many windows etc - but frankly I paid A LOT for this mac and I expect it to be able to handle my demands, which I didnt think were too great tbh..

Anyone else experienced/experiencing this?

I have read about this complaint many times in this past week. It was my turning point to go with the cMBP
 

bobbytallant

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 6, 2010
375
38
The problem has become more frequent (I think) over the past week when I switched from 1680x1050 (which I have been using since I got the rMBP a couple of months ago) - but I just love the 1920x1200 now, I can do so much more with the space.. I am just putting up with this issues at this stage, just closing down safari and reopening. Again, it appears to happen more when I move from one desktop to another (which is an excellent feature of ML that I have also only recently started to use but now love). I guess again I just expect more from a machine that I spent big bucks on.
 

vpro

macrumors 65816
Jun 8, 2012
1,195
65
It looks better and feels more natural on the 17" MBP

It will look and feel better more natural on the 17" MacBook Pro.
 

xxcysxx

macrumors 6502
Oct 12, 2011
264
1
Perhaps it's video artifacting, have you tried to run some stress test on the video card to see if you get artifacts?
Viseo artifacts can be from bad video memory, bad graphic cores, or unstable overclocks, insufficient voltage for given clock frequency. But more voltage is not always desirable, since produce heat and reduce efficiency.
On a PC this would be an easy fix, but on a Mac there is not much you can do in regards to adjusting hardware parameters. Perhaps you should give the Genius Bar a visit.
 

hawon

macrumors member
Sep 8, 2009
86
11
i got to love 1920 x 1200 and haven't had much problem yet. only time i have problem is when i play a game in that resolution.
 

stormslayer

macrumors newbie
Nov 3, 2012
8
0
Perhaps it's video artifacting, have you tried to run some stress test on the video card to see if you get artifacts?
Viseo artifacts can be from bad video memory, bad graphic cores, or unstable overclocks, insufficient voltage for given clock frequency. But more voltage is not always desirable, since produce heat and reduce efficiency.
On a PC this would be an easy fix, but on a Mac there is not much you can do in regards to adjusting hardware parameters. Perhaps you should give the Genius Bar a visit.

Oh heavens to betsy. It IS a hardware issue, but it's not a flaw in any single individual's box. Everyone has scrolling problems under replicable conditions.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1484323/
 

zakee00

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2004
244
0
The problem has become more frequent (I think) over the past week when I switched from 1680x1050 (which I have been using since I got the rMBP a couple of months ago) - but I just love the 1920x1200 now, I can do so much more with the space.. I am just putting up with this issues at this stage, just closing down safari and reopening. Again, it appears to happen more when I move from one desktop to another (which is an excellent feature of ML that I have also only recently started to use but now love). I guess again I just expect more from a machine that I spent big bucks on.

Safari has known rendering glitches in Mountain Lion. Are any other applications experiencing problems? If not, use Chrome if it's really bugging you. In my experience Chrome isn't quite as smooth in ML (due to software issues again, supposedly) but it is not glitchy. I used scaled resolutions for a while with no problems but settled down on best for Retina.
 

nontroppo

macrumors 6502
Mar 11, 2009
430
22
Oh heavens to betsy. It IS a hardware issue, but it's not a flaw in any single individual's box. Everyone has scrolling problems under replicable conditions.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1484323/

Did I miss your sarcasm filter? :eek: The Chrome bug clearly shows this is software related, and what I suspected, cacheing of image decoding is the problem.

To the OP, your problem is with Apple's software. Try using Chrome / Chromium / Firefox / Opera and wait for Safari bugs to be ironed out...
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,147
18,871
I am however frequently experiencing issues with my rMBP when I have it on this setting - windows frequently become 'glitchy' - text and images become blocky and then do not show at all (blank pages). I have to restart the application and then the images and text go back to normal - I have to do this fairly frequently and its annoying. I dont know if its just me - but it seems to be brought on more when I switch between two desktops on the mac (not an external monitor).

I just tried it out by opening 15 safari windows on one space and Xcode + 10 other windows on another space and switch between several times. So far I didn't see any glitch. Is there a reliable way to replicate this?

It could be a hardware problem though (some small defect in the HD 4000 GPU).

P.S. Forums glitched out and my post seems to have been submitted 4 times :/
 
Last edited:

tau101

macrumors member
Jul 28, 2012
58
1
The rMBP definitely struggles at the highest resolution setting. I have a maxed out one and when running at 1920x1200 a 60fps HD video in VLC will skip a frame without stuttering occasionally. It's barely noticeable, but this never happens at 1680x1050. I have settled on this resolution now for this reason. Everything seems buttery smooth at this resolution after using 1920x1200 for several months.
 

Moshe1010

macrumors 6502a
Jun 27, 2010
874
99
The rMBP definitely struggles at the highest resolution setting. I have a maxed out one and when running at 1920x1200 a 60fps HD video in VLC will skip occasionally. It's barely noticeable, but this never happens at 1680x1050. I have settled on this resolution now for this reason.
It's not an hardware problem, it's a software problem. Open the same video in a virtual machine, let's say Windows 8, and you see that it plays fluently.
 

tau101

macrumors member
Jul 28, 2012
58
1
It's not an hardware problem, it's a software problem. Open the same video in a virtual machine, let's say Windows 8, and you see that it plays fluently.

I was under the impression that it was a hardware problem. I thought that the Windows virtual machine renders the desktop at the actual resolution you set the OS X desktop to virtualise (assuming you run full-screen). So 1920x1200 pixel frames in a video are converted to 2880x1800, which is the load on the graphics card. In OS X it has to generate 3840x2400 pixel frames then convert to 2880x1880. I thought this accounted for the difference.

Do you have other information?
 
Last edited:

bobbytallant

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 6, 2010
375
38
Replicated at its worst, again on 1920x1200 settings - I have attached a pic of several safari windows open at one time when the problem arises. This is what I see somewhat regularly unfortunately, until I quit the app, re-open it and then everything is fine again. (Don't worry it is not due to the aut-refresh extension, it does this when I don't have this up lol).

I am not 100% sure whether the problem is limited to safari/apple apps - sometimes this week (after switching to this resolution setting), if I open a video in quicktime (which is not often tbh), I just get a black window, the video is running (I can hear it), but sometimes there is just a black screen. I am not sure if this is related to what I am experiencing with safari.

I do sometimes use firefox nightly - which I think inherently is a bit glitchy, given that it is not intended to be a 100% stable public release, so its kind of difficult for me to judge my rmbp based on that.

Is there anything (any test) I can do to find out whether I have an issue?

Thanks
 

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leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,147
18,871
That's definitely a safari bug, I've seen it with other resolutions as well. Try using another browser.
 

dragonev

macrumors member
May 28, 2011
85
0
UK
Well, I do not know why but my rMBP started to work much better after the latest ML update.
 

bobbytallant

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 6, 2010
375
38
That's definitely a safari bug, I've seen it with other resolutions as well. Try using another browser.

Thanks - that is safari 6.0.2, but it was the same with 6.0.1. Surely safari does not run like that on all rMBP's. I am running the base 15" rMBP but still..

If it is a case of 'use another browser' - I think that is a shame, given it is obviously Apple's stock browser lol.
 

tau101

macrumors member
Jul 28, 2012
58
1
A small update on my issues with 1920x1200, since I've found a happy medium that others may be interested in.

Firstly, to my issues are the following:
1) VLC is regularly reporting dropped frames when playing 60fps HD H264 at the top resolution when fullscreened.
2) Scrolling an image intensive site in Chrome (with GPU compositing forced, on a secondary thread) is very low FPS (I like to use senorgif.com to test this).

I switched to 1680x1050 a couple of days ago to mitigate these issues, but have since decided I prefer the extra workspace.

I discovered an application called QuickRes (http://www.quickresapp.com/). This allows you to configure two resolutions to switch between at the click of a button, or with a keyboard shortcut. In my case I have configured 1920x1200(HiDPI) as resolution 1, and 1920x1200 as resolution 2. Both issues are, obviously, completely eliminated when using the low resolution setting.
 

ScholarsInk

macrumors 6502
Apr 3, 2010
365
424
Corrected.

Hi guys - just wondering if this is just me.

I feel I have settled now with the 3840x2400 resolution. I like having a lot of windows open at a time (usually several windows of my browser, either safari or firefox nightly), and I feel the text is readable etc etc with this resolution setting.

You can use QuickRes to get to actual 1920x1200 though; it looks no worse than a native 1200p display to my eyes.
 
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