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The ultimate benchmark for this is the expand/collapse album animation in iTunes (Album View). If you have a larger library it get's worse if you scroll about 50% down your library and then do the expand/collapse.

The animation is so bad it's ridiculous.
-> drag iTunes to external 1440p display > butter smooth
-> drag iTunes to internal display (default scaling) > feels like 2-6 fps

Happens with Intel as well as the 460.

In my opinion this is 100% software related. There is no way even the intel gpu is not capable of those simple animations.

EDIT: weirdly, the issues disappeared after a reboot.... macOS really needs some serious polish.

Yeah all talented apple programmers have been put to work on iOS only, and the interns are responsible to keep macOS barely alive
 
Just turn off translucency and wait for the drivers to be optimised. Never ever in the history of Mac OS has a brand new GPU been given optimal drivers (especially for Quartz) upon release. It usually takes 4-5 software updates and maybe even a full new OS upgrade.
How do you turn off translucency? I was also noticing some slight lag last night and I got the spinning pinwheel too.
 
How do you turn off translucency? I was also noticing some slight lag last night and I got the spinning pinwheel too.

System preferences>Accessibility>Display>Reduce transparency

If that changes lag, let us know. I turn it off because I find it annoying, and haven't had much trouble with lag, but I didn't before either. I'm used to some in Mac OS from before.
 
System preferences>Accessibility>Display>Reduce transparency

If that changes lag, let us know. I turn it off because I find it annoying, and haven't had much trouble with lag, but I didn't before either. I'm used to some in Mac OS from before.
Thanks. I came home for lunch so was playing with the 2016 some and just reduced transparency. I did what that poster dark mark posted that video on the prior page and I opened applications and scrolled up and down and I'm getting some lag it's really gittery not fluid at all. I then opened my 2015 and did the same thing and it's very smooth scrolling. So should I reboot my 2016 after making the setting adjustment to reduce transparency?
 
Just got a new 2016 15 inch, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7, Intel HD Graphics 530 1536 MB in the mail two days ago. Set up as new with the only thing being added since the the setup screen is my Apple ID and iCloud Drive files, and three apps from the App Store.

I am coming from an entry level 2012 non retina (with an addition of a 3rd party solid state hard drive) and with that computer, I have 12 spaces with a few things open on each one with some being major resource consumers like Xcode and Logic Pro, and can whiz through all spaces using three finger swipes. On my new MacBook Pro out of the box I was expecting this thing to fly. I am now beginning to panic as this is not the case at all. There is wayyyyyyy too much gittering and hiccups and freezing when doing things like moving spaces (even if they are empty with no apps running). I am also experiencing the lag in the applications folder like the video shown, and again, these are mainly all stock apps. Coming from a computer that is now 5 years old and being so excited to finally upgrade, I am very let down.

I expected this machine to be buttery smooth (especially out of the box) and am coming to find that I see the beach ball and graphic gitters just as often, if not more than my non retina. I have read every single page of this thread and am wondering if I have a defective machine or if this could be software. I even went as far as creating a 10.12.3 bootable drive and did a complete fresh reinstall and am experiencing the same exact thing.

Is there an answer to this original thread as to whether this is software or that there are too many pixels for the specs to drive effectively? I know I can reduce motion and blur but why should I have to??? Someone please bring me good news as this is the biggest $3500 letdown I have ever purchased. I want to keep it and love using it so bad. But the fact that my 5 year old machine preforms just as well gives me no reason not to return this.
 
Just got a new 2016 15 inch, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7, Intel HD Graphics 530 1536 MB in the mail two days ago. Set up as new with the only thing being added since the the setup screen is my Apple ID and iCloud Drive files, and three apps from the App Store.

I am coming from an entry level 2012 non retina (with an addition of a 3rd party solid state hard drive) and with that computer, I have 12 spaces with a few things open on each one with some being major resource consumers like Xcode and Logic Pro, and can whiz through all spaces using three finger swipes. On my new MacBook Pro out of the box I was expecting this thing to fly. I am now beginning to panic as this is not the case at all. There is wayyyyyyy too much gittering and hiccups and freezing when doing things like moving spaces (even if they are empty with no apps running). I am also experiencing the lag in the applications folder like the video shown, and again, these are mainly all stock apps. Coming from a computer that is now 5 years old and being so excited to finally upgrade, I am very let down.

I expected this machine to be buttery smooth (especially out of the box) and am coming to find that I see the beach ball and graphic gitters just as often, if not more than my non retina. I have read every single page of this thread and am wondering if I have a defective machine or if this could be software. I even went as far as creating a 10.12.3 bootable drive and did a complete fresh reinstall and am experiencing the same exact thing.

Is there an answer to this original thread as to whether this is software or that there are too many pixels for the specs to drive effectively? I know I can reduce motion and blur but why should I have to??? Someone please bring me good news as this is the biggest $3500 letdown I have ever purchased. I want to keep it and love using it so bad. But the fact that my 5 year old machine preforms just as well gives me no reason not to return this.

Pretty sure it's software. This is pure speculation, but it could even be a power-saving thing. One way to make things smooth is to anticipate possible actions and prepare the graphics for them before they're called for. That costs extra power because the machine ends up preparing for things that don't happen sometimes. Programs including OS typically compromise between drain on resources and quickness and smoothness.

Others have said it's particular parts of Mac OS, Quartz or whatever, but I don't know why that would be worse for the 2016 than the 2015.
 
The reason I came to this thread today was because of the lag I got last night and also got the pinwheel twice the first time it went away after 10 seconds on a video waiting to load but then it did it again on another site but this time it hanged up and I couldn't get it to stop until I used the trackpad two fingers to pinch inward and it showed my several webpages I had open in safari side by side and then I click on the one giving me to pinwheel and it stopped the wheel spinning. It was like the cpu was lagging or something. Then I went to that video here to test the scrolling in the apps folder and sure enough there was lag scrolling. I'm going to do some more testing on this tonight to see if it continues to do this.

I wanted to keep this and send back the 2015 but now I'm a bit nervous.
 
The reason I came to this thread today was because of the lag I got last night and also got the pinwheel twice the first time it went away after 10 seconds on a video waiting to load but then it did it again on another site but this time it hanged up and I couldn't get it to stop until I used the trackpad two fingers to pinch inward and it showed my several webpages I had open in safari side by side and then I click on the one giving me to pinwheel and it stopped the wheel spinning. It was like the cpu was lagging or something. Then I went to that video here to test the scrolling in the apps folder and sure enough there was lag scrolling. I'm going to do some more testing on this tonight to see if it continues to do this.

I wanted to keep this and send back the 2015 but now I'm a bit nervous.

The beachball is probably not related to the lag. It's typical to get some beachballing early, as the OS adjusts to what you're doing. In Safari it generally works to close the tab or window that's got the ball going, and then reopen it from the History tab.
 
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Same problem for me. Base model 15". On latest beta.
I've got lots of lag and it's driving me crazy.
I am visiting the Apple Store in the Netherlands tomorrow. Let's hope for a new one.

Oh, and the left side of the spacebar isn't working correctly either.
 
Absolutely zero jittering and 'dropped frames' in the UI as I scroll through folders on mine.

15" 2.9/460/2TB, tested on iGPU, 10.12.3, tested on battery as well as mains.
 
Yeah all talented apple programmers have been put to work on iOS only, and the interns are responsible to keep macOS barely alive

Proof?

They updated all their software to support the Touch Bar which was no easy task, also, Sierra has quite a few nice features including Siri built specifically for Mac, they are working on APFS, and I'm sure we'll get quite a few new features in macOS this year. The focus may be on iOS, but 'barely alive'? Let's not exaggerate things.
 
So I'm still comparing tonight my 2015 to my 2016 and going back and forth watching an HD movie in my iTunes library, each time going back and forth between models, watching for about 10 mins then closing lid (sleep) then opening the other and vice vs each time not closing out of iTunes but just minimizing it. So I've been watching it on each model going back and forth about 3 times and the 4th time I opened the lid to the 2016 launch iTunes go to my movie library and click on the movie, it asks me do I want to resume or play from the beginning, I chose resume and the moment I click resume it force closes iTunes with a window do I want to send a report to Apple unexpected error. So I try to re-open iTunes, same thing the minute I click on resume my movie it force closes.

So then I say ok I'm going to play some of my music in my library to see if it plays and it doesn't but this is what I just noticed. I have lag I didn't notice before. When I'm in my albums library and I click on an album artwork to display the tracks under, it lags loading the tracks below. I'm thinking wait this looks like lag so I keep doing it clicking on the album so it displays the track listing right below and sure enough there is very noticeable lag.

So then I go to my 2015 and try it, go to albums and click on the album and it's very very smooth, no lag, so then I tried other albums and it's the same very smooth transition. Then I go back to my 2016 and try other albums and just as soon as I click on the album it lags loading the tracks below it. I'm posting this because I have not noticed this before.

I just now tried again on the 2016 to start the movie again in iTunes and I still can't get the movie to start playing the moment I hit resume playing it force closes. It's also force closing when I try play the movie from the beginning. I'm not sure how to get the movie to play again. I also have both authorized so that's not it and like I said it's been working back and forth for about 3 times perfectly so why is the 2016 force closing iTunes when I try to play the movie again? And why am I seeing lag in my albums when I click the album cover? I also can't even play any music the moment I click on the song it force closed iTunes.
[doublepost=1486781925][/doublepost]So I just did a restart (2016 model) and opened iTunes and it still is force closing the moment I click on resume or playing movie from the beginning. So then I did a complete shutdown waited a few minutes and then opened iTunes and it is still force closing when I click on either resume movie or play from the beginning and it also won't play my music just force closes. I have no idea what to do other than re-load iTunes which I'm not doing tonight. It's looking like I might be better off sticking with my 2015.
[doublepost=1486782579][/doublepost]Ok so I decided to de authorize the 2016 iTunes account and then sign out of iTunes. I then re- signed in and authorized the 2016 and that fixed it. This is so weird why it forced closed iTunes like that but at least it's fixed and it plays my music and just resumed my movie where I left off.

However I am still seeing lag when in the albums tab and it displays the tracks under the album there is very noticeable lag.
 
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So I'm still comparing tonight my 2015 to my 2016 and going back and forth watching an HD movie in my iTunes library, each time going back and forth between models, watching for about 10 mins then closing lid (sleep) then opening the other and vice vs each time not closing out of iTunes but just minimizing it. So I've been watching it on each model going back and forth about 3 times and the 4th time I opened the lid to the 2016 launch iTunes go to my movie library and click on the movie, it asks me do I want to resume or play from the beginning, I chose resume and the moment I click resume it force closes iTunes with a window do I want to send a report to Apple unexpected error. So I try to re-open iTunes, same thing the minute I click on resume my movie it force closes.

So then I say ok I'm going to play some of my music in my library to see if it plays and it doesn't but this is what I just noticed. I have lag I didn't notice before. When I'm in my albums library and I click on an album artwork to display the tracks under, it lags loading the tracks below. I'm thinking wait this looks like lag so I keep doing it clicking on the album so it displays the track listing right below and sure enough there is very noticeable lag.

So then I go to my 2015 and try it, go to albums and click on the album and it's very very smooth, no lag, so then I tried other albums and it's the same very smooth transition. Then I go back to my 2016 and try other albums and just as soon as I click on the album it lags loading the tracks below it. I'm posting this because I have not noticed this before.

I just now tried again on the 2016 to start the movie again in iTunes and I still can't get the movie to start playing the moment I hit resume playing it force closes. It's also force closing when I try play the movie from the beginning. I'm not sure how to get the movie to play again. I also have both authorized so that's not it and like I said it's been working back and forth for about 3 times perfectly so why is the 2016 force closing iTunes when I try to play the movie again? And why am I seeing lag in my albums when I click the album cover? I also can't even play any music the moment I click on the song it force closed iTunes.
[doublepost=1486781925][/doublepost]So I just did a restart (2016 model) and opened iTunes and it still is force closing the moment I click on resume or playing movie from the beginning. So then I did a complete shutdown waited a few minutes and then opened iTunes and it is still force closing when I click on either resume movie or play from the beginning and it also won't play my music just force closes. I have no idea what to do other than re-load iTunes which I'm not doing tonight. It's looking like I might be better off sticking with my 2015.
[doublepost=1486782579][/doublepost]Ok so I decided to de authorize the 2016 iTunes account and then sign out of iTunes. I then re- signed in and authorized the 2016 and that fixed it. This is so weird why it forced closed iTunes like that but at least it's fixed and it plays my music and just resumed my movie where I left off.

However I am still seeing lag when in the albums tab and it displays the tracks under the album there is very noticeable lag.
Thanks for the detailed post. Will we be seeing the Iris Pro or equivalent iGPU in 2017 models or the same underpowered like with 2016?
 
Thanks for the detailed post. Will we be seeing the Iris Pro or equivalent iGPU in 2017 models or the same underpowered like with 2016?

Doubt that this is a hardware issue. Machines with the same or worse iGPUs don't have these issues.
 
Doubt that this is a hardware issue. Machines with the same or worse iGPUs don't have these issues.

It has not done it again and I went back and forth some more times. It seems de authorizing iTunes and signing out and back in again worked to fix the force close. I am leaning towards this belief as well, this can't be hardware because like I mentioned elsewhere I can't see any difference in the iGPU between these models. So far I've only seen lag in the applications folder scrolling and then tonight I'm still seeing lag in iTunes album view tab. I'm not sure why I got a force close on iTunes like that but nothing like this has happened for me on the 2015 model.

I'm leaning that the software on this 2016 is just not optimized yet and Apple still needs to fix and tweak some of the bugs. I guess it's understandable since its a brand new model with new internals. The 2015 has already had all the tweaks done, the software works and it's like a finished product, buttery smooth. For me the 2016 has got some issues and I've got to make a decision if I want to stay through the long or short haul until Apple irons it all out with software updates (who knows how long that will take) or return and keep the 2015 that has none of these issues I mentioned.
 
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It has not done it again and I went back and forth some more times. It seems de authorizing iTunes and signing out and back in again worked to fix the force close. I am leaning towards this belief as well, this can't be hardware because like I mentioned elsewhere I can't see any difference in the iGPU between these models. So far I've only seen lag in the applications folder scrolling and then tonight I'm still seeing lag in iTunes album view tab. I'm not sure why I got a force close on iTunes like that but nothing like this has happened for me on the 2015 model.

I'm leaning that the software on this 2016 is just not optimized yet and Apple still needs to fix and tweak some of the bugs. I guess it's understandable since its a brand new model with new internals. The 2015 has already had all the tweaks done, the software works and it's like a finished product, buttery smooth. For me the 2016 has got some issues and I've got to make a decision if I want to stay through the long or short haul until Apple irons it all out with software updates (who knows how long that will take) or return and keep the 2015 that has none of these issues I mentioned.
True that. Does your 2015 model have the dGPU? Aren't them now not sold officially?
 
True that. Does your 2015 model have the dGPU? Aren't them now not sold officially?
No, my 2015 only has the Iris Pro graphics. To be honest I don't really need the dGPU and didn't buy the 2016 for that purpose. I wanted the 15" screen and the base 2016 was the only option. The extra money I spent on the 2016 in my opinion goes to the better screen (others say there is not much difference but I can see it) Touch ID is so nice and super quick to sign in, the larger track pad is also nice, the smaller size bezels are so much nicer and there is a difference in weight, each time I go back and forth and pick the other up I'm always saying, I can feel the extra 1/2 lb. The backlighting on the keys are so much nicer on the 2016 than the bleed through from the 2015. So all of these are pluses in my book.

Oh I also forgot I'm getting better battery life on the 2016 as well by at least 1.5 hrs, so all these things in my opinion are worth the extra I paid for the 2016. In all honesty, battery on this 2016 is pretty impressive, I've been doing a lot on this today and I unplugged this morning and I'm at 63% left and activity monitor shows at this rate I'd be getting close to 12.5 hrs that is very nice considering I just got it this past week. The only thing that bugs me is some lag in iTunes and other places but I think they will fix it with a software update if Apple is even aware of it.
 
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Was at 3 different stores yesterday to check out the 15' tbmbpr display models, at all places they had exact same UI lag as mine have.. so i think people here that say they have smooth machines are lying or just dont notice it..
 
Does anyone know if resetting the NVRAM would fix some of the lag? Or would the lag only be corrected from software from Apple?
 
Does anyone know if resetting the NVRAM would fix some of the lag? Or would the lag only be corrected from software from Apple?

only drivers and OS optimizations can fix it, or run on the AMD card all the time ike i have to do, then its smooth
 
only drivers and OS optimizations can fix it, or run on the AMD card all the time ike i have to do, then its smooth
How do I set the system to run on the dGPU all the time? I'd like to see if that fixes the lag I'm seeing.
 
How do I set the system to run on the dGPU all the time? I'd like to see if that fixes the lag I'm seeing.

System Preferences -> Energy saver.
You have the option there. Disable graphics swapping.
 
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