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2015 rMBP problems: 5-6 hours of battery life and major UI lag.

Youhoney said:
Hey.

I just got my fresh 13" rMBP last week with 2,7 ghz i5 and 256 SSD, 8 gb of RAM. I updated from a mid 2011 MBA because of general lagginess and bad battery life. I've now come to realise that I still suffer from both of those problems with my new laptop. It's driving me nuts.

1. UI lag:

Link to video demonstrating it: https://youtu.be/VAbAj8uS07A
The problem is present almost everywhere: in mission control (fps drops to 2-3), opening the Applications-menu from Dock (fps 2-3), launchpad, resizing windows and scrolling web pages (mild to major lag depending on the page). I googled it and it seems that many others are also experiencing this (just google "retina macbook pro ui lag"). I've tried all the usual solutions, resetting PRAM, turning off transparency, turning on high-contrast mode etc.

Out of these only turning on high-contrast mode has given any consistent help. The lag is still clearly untolerable, and resorting to ugly hamperings such as high contrast mode is not a solution I'm happy with. Buying a 1700€ mac, I shouldn't have to be doing things like this.

2. Battery drain

Even with almost all apps closed and one safari tab open, my battery estimate is like 6 hours on full display brightness. Apple promised me at least 10 hours of web browsing, while most of the reviewers were getting even 12-13 hours in their tests. 6 hours is simply horrendous and unacceptable.

I've noticed the WindowServer process jumping my CPU cycles and it seems to be jumping every time there's UI lag. Maybe that's what's draining my battery? I tried to look into fixes for that also. The energy tab in Activity monitor mostly blames Safari and Chrome for the drain. It's not like I'm keeping tens of tabs open with Flash running.

I've also tried repairing disk permissions, resetting the SMC, no help. I've used several hours in searching for solutions on the internet, and tried many things to no avail.

I'm really getting frustrated with these problems. Any ideas what to do? My next guess would be to revert to Mavericks and see if that would help, but that's such a hassle and I'm not sure if it would help, so...

Thanks for any feedback!
Click to expand...


Rotten OS X Yosemite
 
gatesbuster said:
I just got my new MBP 15" retina with AMD graphic card. I don't get more than 3 hours battery life; basically the same battery life as my 2010 MBP. Very disappointing. The screen brightness is not as bright as the non retina, so when I mostly use my new retina on full brightness or 85%; way too dark in a normally lit room. Disappointing; so I have basically to keep it plugged all the time. Anyone has the same issue with the 15" ?
Click to expand...

Install gfxcardstatus and force the iGPU to be on. Sounds like you're running flash heavy websites or other apps that are forcing the dGPU to stay on. That kills the battery life...

Early reports show that the AMD chip is drawing more power than the 750M when running...
 
Having the exact same issues. I bought a fully specced out 15 inch with AMD graphics and returned it because I thought I had a dud since the battery would only last 3-5 hours. I showed them multiple screenshots and they swapped me out for a second machine no problem... only to find out that the computer they replaced it with has the same issues. Cant believe I spent this much money and I get so little battery life. Everything else is great but that battery issue is a bit ridiculous.

@magbarn. I downloaded gfxcardstatus and I see it in my toolbar but I dont understand where you can switch between the iGPU and dGPU?

Thanks for the help!
 
craigcunningham said:
Having the exact same issues. I bought a fully specced out 15 inch with AMD graphics and returned it because I thought I had a dud since the battery would only last 3-5 hours. I showed them multiple screenshots and they swapped me out for a second machine no problem... only to find out that the computer they replaced it with has the same issues. Cant believe I spent this much money and I get so little battery life. Everything else is great but that battery issue is a bit ridiculous.

@magbarn. I downloaded gfxcardstatus and I see it in my toolbar but I dont understand where you can switch between the iGPU and dGPU?

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
Click on the icon at the top of the screen and it should give the options.
 
magbarn said:
Click on the icon at the top of the screen and it should give the options.
Click to expand...

@magbarn This is all I get? Sorry I'm more into editing and never really played around with this stuff. Should I be selecting Integrated Only?
 

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craigcunningham said:
@magbarn This is all I get? Sorry I'm more into editing and never really played around with this stuff. Should I be selecting Integrated Only?
Click to expand...
Yes, you should. Integrated is what the "i" in "iGpu" stands for. Make sure you close out any heavy-duty apps before doing this. Otherwise you'll get a pop-up telling you that you can't change the setting while those apps are running.
 
Ahhh ok, thanks @prospervic. I did this and gave it a few hours... still only 5:09 at 92% though. Better but still not close to the advertised battery life or even my old 2012 Macbook Pro?
 
craigcunningham said:
Ahhh ok, thanks @prospervic. I did this and gave it a few hours... still only 5:09 at 92% though. Better but still not close to the advertised battery life or even my old 2012 Macbook Pro?
Click to expand...
I have the same 2015 model and have also noticed the battery life meter fluctuates much more than my old 2012 rMBP. Right now mine is showing 8:22 remaining at 96%, but other times it displays under 6 hours for the same charge level. (Haven't noticed any UI lag.)

However, actually using it is a different story. Yesterday while out and about I got about 5 hours usage (including a couple of hours of intense work using multiple tabs Safari, along with Evernote, Mail and Pages). At the end of my workday the rMBP still had 30% charge remaining. Not bad. (This would not have been the case for my 2012 rMBP). Maybe you should run your Mac all day on battery to get a better idea of how it holds up.
 
prospervic said:
I have the same 2015 model and have also noticed the battery life meter fluctuates much more than my old 2012 rMBP. Right now mine is showing 8:22 remaining at 96%, but other times it displays under 6 hours for the same charge level. (Haven't noticed any UI lag.)

However, actually using it is a different story. Yesterday while out and about I got about 5 hours usage (including a couple of hours of intense work using multiple tabs Safari, along with Evernote, Mail and Pages). At the end of my workday the rMBP still had 30% charge remaining. Not bad. (This would not have been the case for my 2012 rMBP). Maybe you should run your Mac all day on battery to get a better idea of how it holds up.
Click to expand...

The new CPU and SSD use less power at idle than before. I notice this causes the estimate to jump around more than usual. The estimate is based off draw for the sample size. If your load is not constant then it will jump around.
 
craigcunningham said:
Ahhh ok, thanks @prospervic. I did this and gave it a few hours... still only 5:09 at 92% though. Better but still not close to the advertised battery life or even my old 2012 Macbook Pro?
Click to expand...
Actually, I am noticing problems with the graphics. Whenever the AMD dGPU is running,
nws0291 said:
The new CPU and SSD use less power at idle than before. I notice this causes the estimate to jump around more than usual. The estimate is based off draw for the sample size. If your load is not constant then it will jump around.
Click to expand...
Aha! That makes sense. So, the battery meter is really only good for a "best guess" of how much time you have left.
 
pickaxe said:
The UI lag is not solvable by the user. Apple can no longer do software optimization, and Yosemite is horrendously choppy on just about any hardware, including the nMP.

You'l always have people like GGJstudios who try to downplay the problem, claim it's the user's fault or claim faulty unit. I'm not sure what their motivation is (well I do, I just don't want to get modded).
Click to expand...

When i get UI lag, it's usually because the Intel Iris Pro is activated. Switching to the 750m dedicated gpu solves the UI lag.
 
Yes, the battery life is pretty miserable on the 15" rMBPs. I have a mid 2014 model with the dGPU and I don't think I've ever gotten more than 5 hours of use.
 
Animations seem much smoother with the new 10.10.4 update released today on my 15" 2015 rMBP with the AMD card. I only ever saw choppy OS animations with the Iris Pro and more than 5 windows open, but they are much smoother using the iGPU now after the update even with 10 apps running.

Anyone else notice this?
 
I've been able to get 10 hours of battery life on 13" 2015 rMBP, however I only use Safari for web browsing and don't have Flash installed and haven't messed about with any settings, everything is still just default.
 
Just returned a 15" rmbp base model for these and similar issues. 6 hours irl test for battery, ii lag, and screen flickering. What is going on?

Do the mba 13s do this? I like the retina screen, but I want smooth animations and to not need a charger...
 
Hewthetitan said:
Just returned a 15" rmbp base model for these and similar issues. 6 hours irl test for battery, ii lag, and screen flickering. What is going on?

Do the mba 13s do this? I like the retina screen, but I want smooth animations and to not need a charger...
Click to expand...
The mbas don't have the UI lag problem.

Depending on you usage 6 hours of battery life is excellent.
 
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