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Adobe Reader lag (Retina Pro)

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Engali

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
82
0
So I got the 2012 Macbook Pro with Retina display (2.6 ghz, 512 gb, 8gb RAM) laptop when it came out and recently had to wipe it and restore to factory settings because I had some bad kernel packets that were causing my machine to take 5 min+ to boot up. After getting it back through the mail (also had the screen replaced due to image retention) I ran through normal setup, downloaded the applications I needed, and started using it.

PDF files lag extremely hard, both in Safari and within Adobe Reader after being downloaded. I recall it being laggy, but not this laggy. I tried looking up some possible solutions online including downloading RightZoom and making sure Adobe was excluded as well as fiddling with Adobe Reader settings. I also checked to make sure I have the latest version of AR (11.0.3). Nothing has helped.

I am just starting my PhD program and I will be doing tons of research, mostly reading PDF files. Any help on how to fix this issue or any workarounds would be greatly appreciated.
 
laurihoefs

laurihoefs

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2013
792
23
Are you absolutely sure you previously had Adobe Reader installed?

As far as I know, AR has been horribly laggy on the rMBP the whole time, which is why I removed it and have mostly been using Preview. Preview only lags with some files, where Adobe Reader lags with absolutely everything.

Maybe you had also noticed the same thing, removed AR and used Preview, then forgot the whole ordeal? At least that's a mistake I could quite easily make :)
 
sarthak

sarthak

macrumors 6502
Nov 19, 2012
467
6
Engali said:
PDF files lag extremely hard, both in Safari and within Adobe Reader after being downloaded.

I am just starting my PhD program and I will be doing tons of research, mostly reading PDF files. Any help on how to fix this issue or any workarounds would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

There is your problem, Adobe Reader. AR is very poorly optimized, just use Preview, it's built right in. It's much smoother and has annotation, notes/comments and form editing tools. You can also show hide toolbars, the sidebar and many other features.

NOT RECOMMENDED WORKAROUND: If you really need to use Adobe Reader, disable Automatic Graphics Switching under Energy Saver (in System Preferences). This will use the NVIDIA Card at all times. It will consume more battery life but should help speed up PDF rendering times in AR.
 
L

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,183
19,029
Adobe reader on OS X should be classified as a malware. Its a horrible, unbearably slow program, extremely poorly coded, which plants itself into multiple locations and does not provide an uninstaller. To actually remove it, you have to delete a number of well-hidden files via the unix shell. If you don't have a compelling reason to use it - avoid it like a pest. Preview is very competent PDF tool and it supports stuff AR does not.
 
E

Engali

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
82
0
I'm guessing that if I used Bootcamp to run Windows that this issue wouldn't occur in Windows, right?
 
E

Engali

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
82
0
mseth said:
There is your problem, Adobe Reader. AR is very poorly optimized, just use Preview, it's built right in. It's much smoother and has annotation, notes/comments and form editing tools. You can also show hide toolbars, the sidebar and many other features.

NOT RECOMMENDED WORKAROUND: If you really need to use Adobe Reader, disable Automatic Graphics Switching under Energy Saver (in System Preferences). This will use the NVIDIA Card at all times. It will consume more battery life but should help speed up PDF rendering times in AR.
Click to expand...


I downloaded gfxcardstatus or whatever it's called to force it to stay on the NVIDIA card. It still lags like crazy.

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saturnotaku said:
Is there any specific reason you can't use Preview?
Click to expand...

It's not that I can't use Preview, it's that I want to be able to use a program I have grown intimate with over the years and most recently during my master's program. I also don't want to deal with any hiccups/formatting issues caused by switching between OSes or devices. I actually like to read PDFs sometimes on my 1st G iPad in Goodreader and then upload it to Dropbox or email it later on.

I dunno, just wish that I didn't have to adapt my program usage to what a nearly $3K laptop can handle.
 
R

ronjon10

macrumors regular
Dec 9, 2009
232
44
The last release or two of AR has been laggy on my work PC as well. Bloat thy name is Adobe.
 
Mr MM

Mr MM

macrumors 65816
Jun 29, 2011
1,116
1
the problem as mentioned is adobe reader, for windows use something like foxit reader

its been a while since I used that thing, but with foxit everything I marked down is there for me to see on preview
 
E

Engali

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
82
0
I used my $275ish netbook today to look up PDF articles in Adobe. Ran pretty smooth. Looks like I'll have to dual boot on my rMBP or just use the netbook.
 
P

peor

macrumors newbie
Feb 12, 2013
20
0
Speaking of Preview and PDF, pretty some people here have problems with PDF on Retina MBP. How does it work on your Retina MBP guys?
 
P

PDFierro

macrumors 68040
Sep 8, 2009
3,932
111
Bring on Mavericks. I need to work with PDF files a ton, so I'm glad I am holding off for the new rMBP which will come with Mavericks.
 
ayeying

ayeying

macrumors 601
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
Use Preview. Adobe Reader lags in OSX regardless of what system you're using. It's really just bad design of the software.
 
T

theuserjohnny

macrumors 6502
Jul 7, 2012
450
7
I have that issue also, I only use it because "preview" won't let me print multiple slides on one paper (unless I'm missing something).

It's really annoying.
 
dastinger

dastinger

macrumors 6502a
Mar 18, 2012
818
3
Engali said:
I downloaded gfxcardstatus or whatever it's called to force it to stay on the NVIDIA card. It still lags like crazy.

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It's not that I can't use Preview, it's that I want to be able to use a program I have grown intimate with over the years and most recently during my master's program. I also don't want to deal with any hiccups/formatting issues caused by switching between OSes or devices. I actually like to read PDFs sometimes on my 1st G iPad in Goodreader and then upload it to Dropbox or email it later on.

I dunno, just wish that I didn't have to adapt my program usage to what a nearly $3K laptop can handle.
Click to expand...

PDFs won't change the formatting when you're reading them using different computers. It's not like other text files.
 
Watabou

Watabou

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
3,425
755
United States
Engali said:
I used my $275ish netbook today to look up PDF articles in Adobe. Ran pretty smooth. Looks like I'll have to dual boot on my rMBP or just use the netbook.
Click to expand...

As it's been already mentioned, it's not the rMBP's fault at all. It's Adobe's fault for making a crappy pdf reader. It may very well work fine on Windows but Preview on the Mac is just so much faster, you'd be mad to use Adobe Reader over it.
 
GermanyChris

GermanyChris

macrumors 601
Jul 3, 2011
4,185
5
Here
Engali said:
I downloaded gfxcardstatus or whatever it's called to force it to stay on the NVIDIA card. It still lags like crazy.

----------



It's not that I can't use Preview, it's that I want to be able to use a program I have grown intimate with over the years and most recently during my master's program. I also don't want to deal with any hiccups/formatting issues caused by switching between OSes or devices. I actually like to read PDFs sometimes on my 1st G iPad in Goodreader and then upload it to Dropbox or email it later on.

I dunno, just wish that I didn't have to adapt my program usage to what a nearly $3K laptop can handle.
Click to expand...

I highly recommend you take the computer back then. You'll be more satisfied in the long term because you are intimately aware of Windows and it's cheaper.
 
E

Engali

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
82
0
GermanyChris said:
I highly recommend you take the computer back then. You'll be more satisfied in the long term because you are intimately aware of Windows and it's cheaper.
Click to expand...

Nah, I'm gonna keep it and dual boot. Like I said, I got it when it came out last year and there's no returning it at this point. It's just a bit sad I can't really use Adobe in OSX, but whatever. I otherwise really like OSX.

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peor said:
Speaking of Preview and PDF, pretty some people here have problems with PDF on Retina MBP. How does it work on your Retina MBP guys?
Click to expand...

...isn't this exactly the topic of this thread?
 
GermanyChris

GermanyChris

macrumors 601
Jul 3, 2011
4,185
5
Here
Engali said:
Nah, I'm gonna keep it and dual boot. Like I said, I got it when it came out last year and there's no returning it at this point. It's just a bit sad I can't really use Adobe in OSX, but whatever. I otherwise really like OSX.

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...isn't this exactly the topic of this thread?
Click to expand...

You can use adobe, I use adobe acrobat pro every day.
 
E

Engali

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
82
0
GermanyChris said:
You can use adobe, I use adobe acrobat pro every day.
Click to expand...

Yes, I CAN use it, but it has lagged responses where scrolling responds 3-5 sec I ask for it to. Adobe reader works better on my netbook. It's a subpar experience in OSX, so I'm dual booting.
 
jafingi

jafingi

macrumors 65816
Apr 3, 2009
1,470
158
Denmark
Engali said:
Yes, I CAN use it, but it has lagged responses where scrolling responds 3-5 sec I ask for it to. Adobe reader works better on my netbook. It's a subpar experience in OSX, so I'm dual booting.
Click to expand...

I still don't understand why you're dual booting.

Use a VM like Parallels or VMWare Fusion, or even VirtualBox (free!) to run Windows right from OSX. You don't have to dual boot, and the performance will be just fine for Adobe Reader.

The problem is not Apple's, but Adobe who made a totally crappy software solution for OSX.

However, why don't you just use the built in reader in OSX? You can read PDFs, search them, write annotations etc. they doesn't look different than in Adobe Reader. That's the whole idea with PDF ;) They look the same regardless of the viewer you use.
 
C

CausticPuppy

macrumors 68000
May 1, 2012
1,536
68
Engali said:
I downloaded gfxcardstatus or whatever it's called to force it to stay on the NVIDIA card. It still lags like crazy.
Click to expand...


That's because laggy UI in applications is bottlenecked by the CPU, not the GPU. Adobe Reader is just not optimized for retina rendering. Preview is much, much better, even with the integrated graphics.
 
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