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Retina Macbook Pro Scrolling Lag Fix

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Daniel L

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 15, 2009
525
270
I thought this deserved it's own thread.


pgiguere1 said:
Lag/scrolling issues simply mean bad optimization of Safari (and other browsers) that handle most load on a single CPU thread.

This is a shame when we have computers with 4 cores and 8 threads, but there was previously no pressure to optimize browser CPU usage since performance at non-Retina resolutions have always been pretty good.

Apple saw the need to improve Safari's performance for Retina displays, and that's why they though about using CoreAnimation for GPU-accelerated scrolling in Safari 6. They may have though that it would have been enough to avoid lag, but it was not.

A single CPU thread still gets most of the load and that's where the bottleneck seems to be. Apple is currently working on a new version of Safari with much better optimization. You can already get an early taste of it by downloading WebKit's nightly build. It's an in-progress, open-source version of Safari's next version.

WebKit fixed the lag perfectly for me, and it's just a matter of time before it gets a stable release which will probably be Safari 6.1. It's unclear whether Apple has improved CPU threading or GPU acceleration with it (or both), but it works.
Click to expand...

Whatever they did has completely fixed the scrolling lag for me on image heavy websites.
 
M

Michason

macrumors newbie
Oct 11, 2012
24
16
The only time I have noticed scrolling lag is on The Verge. I tried the webkit and scrolling lag was now non existent. Though, it's not a big issue for me as it is for others so I'll keep on using safari.
 
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conkerbot

macrumors member
Nov 26, 2010
51
24
Safari was pretty flawless outside of Facebook for me, but this makes even FB run at 30FPS+ thanks :D

Now lets hope they can remove the odd jutters that occur with 10.9!
 
Z

zainiak

macrumors regular
Aug 1, 2012
109
1
just saw this in another thread. its AMAZING. It makes this machine much more useable. Sites like the verge, and engadget lagged a ton, and now its smooth as butter
 
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AirThis

macrumors 6502a
Mar 6, 2012
518
14
I'm not a fan of the Webkit solution in its current state. It actually slows OSX down and that lag remains even after you quit the browser. It's noticeable to the naked eye. Just run a few benchmarks and you'll see what I mean. Unigine and cinebench both yield significantly lower FPS after running the webkit. You need to reboot or log out in order to get rid of the lag. I think I'll pass until it's ready for prime time. Promising but not quite yet there.
 
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scenox

macrumors member
Oct 20, 2012
34
0
AirThis said:
I'm not a fan of the Webkit solution in its current state. It actually slows OSX down and that lag remains even after you quit the browser. It's noticeable to the naked eye. Just run a few benchmarks and you'll see what I mean. Unigine and cinebench both yield significantly lower FPS after running the webkit. You need to reboot or log out in order to get rid of the lag. I think I'll pass until it's ready for prime time. Promising but not quite yet there.
Click to expand...
That's due to memory leak bugs, report them!
http://www.webkit.org/quality/leakhunting.html
 
Jare

Jare

macrumors 65816
Jun 17, 2010
1,190
1
Canada
I don't understand you people. What is this "scrolling lag" you're talking about?

I've had this RMBP since their launch and have NEVER experienced "scrolling lag".
 
nanolife

nanolife

macrumors 6502
Sep 20, 2011
422
0
Pasadena
Jare said:
I don't understand you people. What is this "scrolling lag" you're talking about?

I've had this RMBP since their launch and have NEVER experienced "scrolling lag".
Click to expand...

Me neither. Apparently only a few users found this on their machines. The same with the many others issues stated here on the forum.
 
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scenox

macrumors member
Oct 20, 2012
34
0
I've checked in 2 macstores and every single rMBP had this issue at the same level. If you think it's not there, you either visit only websites with simple layout or you don't know what 'real smoothiness' means ;)
 
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stevelam

macrumors 65816
Nov 4, 2010
1,215
3
Jare said:
I don't understand you people. What is this "scrolling lag" you're talking about?

I've had this RMBP since their launch and have NEVER experienced "scrolling lag".
Click to expand...

it means you have absolutely no idea what lag is. good for you, but not for the rest of us.
 
nanolife

nanolife

macrumors 6502
Sep 20, 2011
422
0
Pasadena
scenox said:
I've checked in 2 macstores and every single rMBP had this issue at the same level. If you think it's not there, you either visit only websites with simple layout or you don't know what 'real smoothiness' means ;)
Click to expand...

I also have checked in a few rMBP, not just mine and it doesn't appear in any of them. Or maybe we are all wrong here and you have the right call. Because you also checked my machine and the ones I tested here right?

Just wondering. ;)
 
nontroppo

nontroppo

macrumors 6502
Mar 11, 2009
430
22
Mac Rules

Mac Rules

macrumors 6502a
Jul 15, 2006
630
665
Europe
Having used Quartz Debug on both of these it does seem that CPU usage is around 30% higher which looks to (hopefully) suggest that multicore processing is being used.

I notice still some lag with scrolling twitter quickly and the top section of The Verge does also seem to slow right down; Facebook however is silky smooth. Finally.
 
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bwapod

macrumors member
Jun 29, 2010
48
0
Jare said:
I don't understand you people. What is this "scrolling lag" you're talking about?

I've had this RMBP since their launch and have NEVER experienced "scrolling lag".
Click to expand...

Use Safari in full screen.

Visit the NY Times : http://www.nytimes.com

Click on any article.

Double-tap to zoom (don't use the text-zoom buttons).

Scroll up and down quickly (two finger scroll).

Watch Safari trod through molasses.

If that doesn't do it for you on your rMBP, then I simply don't know what to say...
 
B

bill-p

macrumors 68030
Jul 23, 2011
2,886
1,548
pgiguere1 said:
Credit goes to bill-p, he's the one who made me discover this.
Click to expand...

And I almost thought it was common for people who try WebKit nightly often (to check for new HTML5 features implemented or fixes to current layout issues).

Now, if only Apple would implement the same fix across all OSX views so that other apps can take advantage of it as well.
 
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