2015 rMBP doesn't have WindowServer process?

[neutrak]

I noticed something really interesting at the Apple Store today...

So I bought a 2014 13" rMBP and I've become really quite concerned about how ridiculously laggy the expose animations are. I decided to go to my local store and see if the new Macbook Pro's are better and whether it really is a hardware limitation. Well, first thing I noticed is the new 13" rMBPs are much smoother in expose animations (with fullscreen apps open that uses transparency). But I also noticed that in Activity Monitor, they don't have the WindowServer process at all.

The thing that slows down my computer when swiping between screens is the WindowServer process. It happens when there are apps open that use the new Yosemite transparency effects and I'm swiping between them (e.g. iTunes and Safari). I can watch Activity Monitor while I do it and see the CPU usage of the WindowServer process spike up to 50% at times. It's definitely what's causing the problem and the new Macbook Pro's (which don't have the problem) don't have this process running at all! It's not just reduced in footprint but literally not there at all.

Of course they're just running Yosemite 10.10.2 like every other mac, so how is this possible? And does anyone think this change is on it's way to other macs?

 

[maflynn]

On Activity Monitor, do you see My Processes or All Processes?

I bet when you looked at the computers at the apple store, Activity Monitor defaulted to My Processes, which would hide WindowsServer.

Its part of OSX and needs to be there, so not seeing it on the machines in the store leads me to think that the app was not showing it.

 

[chrfr]

The thing that slows down my computer when swiping between screens is the WindowServer process.

You're misunderstanding the problem. WindowServer is what displays the screens on your computer. Without that, OS X has no GUI, so to say that WindowServer is what slows down your computer is not really correct, and is certainly not the root of your slowness.
All computers running OS X have WindowServer running when there is a user logged in. As stated in the post above, you most likely were not viewing "All Processes" in Activity Monitor.

 

[neutrak]

I'm not sure how you discriminate between my processes and all processes but it appeared to be all, I saw nothing of the WindowServer process at all...

 

[chrfr]

I'm not sure how you discriminate between my processes and all processes but it appeared to be all, I saw nothing of the WindowServer process at all...

In the view menu of Activity Monitor, you select "All Processes". WindowServer was running; there have been no architectural changes to OS X with the 2015 Macs.

 

[neutrak]

Ah, well I stand corrected then. A real shame that the computer I bought a few weeks ago already seems ancient compared to the new lot. I was honestly wondering if I had a defective unit but apparently it's just not powerful enough to push all those pixels. Disappointing.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: To remove personally identifying information not relevant to the thread.

 

[neutrak]

No I was a bit outside of the return period. I'm just surprised that a pro model mac that was brand new a few weeks ago isn't powerful enough to run it's operating system smoothly. Makes me wonder how bad this thing will be a few years down the road after the operating system gets more and more demanding...