Anybody else feel the same way I do?

[thewusman]

I have had a total of 3 rMB's all the base 1.1/256. The first one was "OK". There was noticeable lag to the point of being annoying. The second one was atrocious, and is what I made videos of. This most recent one is buttery smooth by comparison to the first two. There is very slight studder, but what I see is the same as the Air/rMBP.

All 3 were fully set up with FV2 and all applications/processes fully completed. I have no idea why they would be so drastically difference. I can only think it has to do with quality control and possibly overheating on the first two. It almost felt like the originals were being throttled way too early and it was causing immense lag.

I will post a video later today of the new rMB just so you can see how different it actually is from the prior video. This one is silver and the other two were Space Gray, but I cannot see that being a factor.

You may be on to something - SoC / CPU die not seated properly on the logic board, leading to more aggressive thermal throttling behaviour.

Think about it on a full blown desktop - I've built my own gaming rigs before with i7 CPU's and custom coolers (air and water). If you don't get the CPU and cooling device seated 110% with just the right amount of thermal paste and positioning, you simply cannot try overclock or push the limits of your rig, and you will get instability and system OS crashes.

Same holds true for the Core M (and all core mobile parts) which essentially clock/turbo up and down all the time. I would imagine board contact and seating is even more critical and the tolerances even smaller in this application.

 

[Cape Dave]

Keyboard love! I want one for my desktop!

 

[lambertjohn]

Not that anyone cares, but I don't like it all. It's underpowered, the keyboard sucks, there's zero ports, and it's way too expensive for what you get. Add a USB port, double the CPU speed, lower the price by a few hundred dollars, and you got me. Otherwise, I'm sticking with my old Macbook Pro 15", five years old and still purring like new. A hell of a machine!

 

[mattopotamus]

here is the video with no UI lag. Way different than my previous video with the exact same conditions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJnjg-H9euc&feature=youtu.be

 

[Traverse]

here is the video with no UI lag. Way different than my previous video with the exact same conditions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJnjg-H9euc&feature=youtu.be

Impressive change. The 2015 13" MBP had graphics issues as well. Apple really should have optimized OS X for these graphics cards before release.

 

[Macbuyer7]

here is the video with no UI lag. Way different than my previous video with the exact same conditions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJnjg-H9euc&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for doing this man, appreciate it. This is both encouraging and frustrating. It's good to know that there are MacBooks out there that perform well, but I feel like getting one of those is a crapshoot. Can I technically just keep exchanging in until I get one that doesn't lag?

 

[TidyWorks]

I'm blown away.

Keyboard: I actually quite like it, it feels solid, yet fluid.
Trackpad: This feels like you're clicking, its awesome.
Performance: More than expected. I can code using Coda 2 without any issues. Various development processes seem fine, general use is great too.
Games: Minecraft runs fine on fast/low. Once I've tried a few more games I will update.
Screen: This is such a nice upgrade over my 2014 MBA.

I'm so happy I went with this over the 2015 13 MBPR.

I used both in store and browsing the web noticed next to no difference in performance, UI lag was more noticeable on the MBPR (both using more space setting)

 

[3bs]

I had the same problem the first few days of owning the rMB as well; the lag was pretty bad and I almost returned it. After the 2nd or 3rd day, everything was fine and it has worked out very well since then. There's a few bouts of lag here and there, but not as bad as the first few days when I used it.

I read an encouraging post (https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/21230377/) that OS X 10.10.4 (currently beta) seems to have fixed more of the UI lag issues. Something to look forward to.

I am pretty sure things have improved and most of the lag has disappeared

 

[Kiwi 99]

Just a few thoughts about any lag that some people have noticed.
-Remember that a new Mac will always be busy for a day or two (Spotlight indexing, iCloud syncing, etc)... and if you've got photos in the cloud even more so.
-Try Activity Monitor to get rid of any energy hogging programs. (Or at least see what's happening)
-And one change that really does seem to speed things up is:
System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > Reduce Transparency
With "Reduce Transparency" ticked, it saves the graphics having to constantly merge different layers.
And now... this machine is really humming, and in answer to the OP, yep I feel like you do too. Totally love it.

 

[mattopotamus]

Thanks for doing this man, appreciate it. This is both encouraging and frustrating. It's good to know that there are MacBooks out there that perform well, but I feel like getting one of those is a crapshoot. Can I technically just keep exchanging in until I get one that doesn't lag?

Yes and no. At some point I am sure a retailer is bound to cut you off. In my case I spend a lot of money at best buy (they actually know me by name), so they did not care.

Just a few thoughts about any lag that some people have noticed.
-Remember that a new Mac will always be busy for a day or two (Spotlight indexing, iCloud syncing, etc)... and if you've got photos in the cloud even more so.
-Try Activity Monitor to get rid of any energy hogging programs. (Or at least see what's happening)
-And one change that really does seem to speed things up is:
System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > Reduce Transparency
With "Reduce Transparency" ticked, it saves the graphics having to constantly merge different layers.
And now... this machine is really humming, and in answer to the OP, yep I feel like you do too. Totally love it.

In my case I made sure everything was completed.

 

[MacManTexas56]

Hey y'all! I just wanted to give my thoughts on the rmb. I think it's an amazing little machine and well worth the $1299 price tag. I was in the market for a MacBook Air just a few months ago. An 11" MacBook Air with 8GB's of ram and a 256GB flash drive costs $1199. A 13" MacBook Air similarly spec'd out costs $1299. Am I missing something as to why there is so much negativity towards this little beauty? I would say the form factor, IPS retina display, and space gray color option more than make up for the $100 extra added cost and for the MacBook's lack of ports. I really do think this is the best designed laptop Apple has ever made. It's a joy to use and perfect for a student in college. Does anybody else feel the same way I do?

i don't think it's negativity....just differing opinions. Not everyone is going to like the same thing etc. I have owned pretty much every laptop apple has come out with since the iBook. I owned the new rMB for a couple days before selling it.

I think the differing opinions that you are thinking are negativity are from several things.

IMO...people are acting like this is some revolutionary laptop that has never been done in this size footprint. The 11inch MBA is the same footprint. Sure the rMB is thinner etc and has a lot better screen, but size wise it's not that different from the 11inch MBA.

2nd...the MacBook has always been the cheaper alternative to MBA and MBP. So when people hear MacBook they think a cheaper price tag...regardless of what the other machines are priced at. So when they price it at $1,299 and throw in a 256gb SSD...that doesn't make sense with how they've priced the other laptops at the lower level. Why couldn't they drop a 128gb in it and make it $1,099?

3rd...all the sudden everyone is calling it an iPad killer and i have no need for an iPad anymore. Again, the footprint isn't much of a change from the 11inch MBA and now everyone is freaking out selling sell all iPad's etc. This isn't a touch screen laptop. Still 2 totally different products.

Again, I think it's a great design and i like the look, but personally not for $1,299. Doesn't mean i'm being negative...just a different opinion!