2014 rMBP 13" cursor stuttering issue

I just purchased a 13" rMBP and have been using it for maybe an hour or so and I immediately started noticing a weird sort of cursor stutter. Basically, if I leave the cursor still for around 5+ seconds and then move it, it skips across the screen. It does this every time the cursor sits in one place for longer than 5 seconds, it's fairly frustrating -- especially when scrolling down a webpage. Besides this very specific situation, there is no general stuttering or trackpad skipping.

I did some searching and I only found one person with my exact problem, he posted here: http://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/25igpc/2013_rmbp_cursortrackpad_stuttering/

Has anyone else had this problem? The idea of taking my 1 hour old rMBP into an Apple store (nearest one is 2 hours away) to fix this or get it replaced is insanely annoying. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Already have an update. I tried resetting the PRAM and SMC, neither helped. I then decided to restore Mavericks using the restore partition, this encountered a problem so I made a bootable Mavericks USB and booted into it for a fresh wipe and install.

The cursor stuttering was not occurring while actually reinstalling Mavericks. I could not reproduce the stutter at the "Installing Mavericks" progress bar screen. I also still cannot seem to reproduce it in recovery mode OR before I login (at the user selection screen, cannot cause the stutter here either). As soon as the desktop appears I can start reproducing the stutter with near 100% accuracy (so I know it's not entirely mind tricks...).

This is very confusing! I guess my easiest option may be just to suck it up and return this one. What a bad experience thus far.

 

I have an appointment with my nearest Apple store for the end of the day today. I actually got in touch with the other guy who originally posted this same problem to Reddit and his response was interesting.

He said he got 3 units replaced through Apple for this same problem, and on every device the same odd specific stuttering persisted. I'm now wondering if this is a problem rooted in the OS, trackpad drivers, or a general manufacturing default for the 13" rMBP.

If you read this post and haven't experienced any issues with your rMBP, try to reproduce it anyways. Let the cursor sit for around 5 seconds then move it fairly quickly from its original spot. It skips across the distance traveled in the first ~1 second of finger movement on the trackpad. It is a very specific problem, but once you realize it it's quite annoying and always apparent.

I'll, of course, post back here my experience with Apple and the new unit (if they decide to replace it).

 

I have returned from exchanging my rMBP and here's what I can tell you in a synopsis: all 13" rMBPs with the i5 have this problem.

I could replicate the issue on every single display i5 13" rMBP. The sales rep even admitted that his own personal rMBP (2.6 i5/8gb/256gb SSD) had this same problem and he recognized it himself. I even exchanged for an upgrade on the 2.8Ghz i5 13" (the only one they didn't have on display) and after returning home I could instantly reproduce the issue. I'll be posting on Apple's official forums and calling tech support to bring light to this issue. I believe this is an issue on every single i5 from the responses I've received here, as well as the Mac subreddit. My trip to the Apple store confirmed it.

Bummer, now I'm left with what to do. I'll most likely exchange this laptop and look at some HD+ display Windows laptops.

 

Yeah, you're very right. I feel like it's not a hardware issue as the trackpad works flawlessly besides this one very specific issue. I don't want to make any hasty decisions because I do absolutely love the laptop, but this type of annoyance will never fall out of consciousness.

I hope that Apple can respond quickly and this can be resolved, because I do honestly believe it can be with a software update.

 

Logically this makes sense, and how the cursor responds seems like this very well may be the issue. Solid find, any idea how that may be disabled/altered?

 

Consider yourself lucky. The trackpad issues with the late 2013 model are well documented and required 3 official firmware releases from Apple, as well as them receiving a lot of attention from tech-blogs about the blatant issues.

It seems these problems have been largely mitigated, but still exists in this form for the 2014 model. Not sure if they're going to release another official firmware update but while I'm interested to see what they'll do, I don't think I'll wait around in hopes for it.

 

https://discussions.apple.com/message/24405578

http://www.avforums.com/threads/13-rmbp-haswell-freezing-unresponsive-issues.1825969/

You can see at those links any many more if you search rMBP trackpad issues that these are well documented. Apple released 3 official firmware updates for the 2013 model, which fixed some of the issues but this is still a form of the same firmware issues. It's not specific to my device, it's been happening with the rMBPs and Apple has taken quite a bit of heat for it. Here's a few of the blogs criticizing the various trackpad issues:

http://www.macnn.com/articles/12/06/12/trackpad.update.fixes.unresponsive.control/

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=_rbOhMN6WRLGpUuVtHjadA&bvm=bv.73612305,d.b2U

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=xNH6lUFGnfMn8RuoefvSzw&bvm=bv.73612305,d.b2U

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=cIZCABkzOHjTC-VVUVRJjQ&bvm=bv.73612305,d.b2U

I'm not wondering if it's a problem just with my device, as it's a very widespread problem. Those that can't get it to reproduce are either one of the lucky fews, or most likely still aren't noticing it. You can open up your system logs to actually confirm if it's happening or not, the above error message will generate EVERY time you move your cursor after taking your hands off the trackpad for at least 5 seconds.

 

Nope, this is with nothing plugged in. The problem cannot be replicated with a USB mouse, however, implying the problem is inherent of the trackpad or trackpad driver.

 

How is it very likely to be fixed in a future update? These problems have existed since October 2013 and when they originated they were completely debilitating MacBooks by locking them up to the point of needing a hard reboot every time it happened. This problem has been around in one form or another and Apple has been slow to respond. It's not a minute problem, it's a problem in the drivers for their own trackpad. Considering Apple has always led the way in trackpad drivers, I'm going to assume their long delay in finding a fix is because the problem is rooted deep in the product.

It may seem insignificant in day to day use, but what it implies is that there's something fundamentally wrong with the product line. That's fine if you can live with it, but rarely do I drop $1500 on a product that's flawed at a very basic level.