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How to 'fix' ML UI Lag!

P

Panini

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 12, 2012
204
0
Palo Alto, CA
All credit goes to icowboy for discovering this on another thread!
Thought I would repost as a thread since a lot of people are still asking the same question.

Solution:
Don't keep any stacks in your dock. Change them all to folders.
If you must keep stacks, auto-hide the dock for improved performance.
 
Last edited:
how are these fixes?

might as well add:

"don't open any programs!"
"don't use spaces!"
"never use mission control!"
 
stevelam said:
how are these fixes?

might as well add:

"don't open any programs!"
"don't use spaces!"
"never use mission control!"
Click to expand...

I'm sure most of the people reporting lag wouldn't mind making such a minor adjustment.

I know I was very happy to find this.
 
the reason why this works: ML actually renders all the icons in a stack when switching spaces. So if you keep an "Applications" stack on your dock, be prepared for MEGA lag because it will render the icons of all your applications when switching spaces. If you keep little/no files in your stacks, then it should not lag very much, if at all.
 
This makes since I have all mine in folders and display 1440x900 Best for retina and have NO lag at all. This is with a base rMPB.
jeff
 
Thanks!

Thank you icowboy and Panini for this, it was annoying the crap out of me.

The lag was very noticeable, not only when switching spaces, but also when using Mission Control. Ran Quartz Debug and it showed the framerate was capped at 30fps. When I set the stacks to show as folders it runs at a full 60fps, even on the IGP.

I'm sure Apple will officially fix this with an update, but in the meantime this is a bearable workaround. It was fine on 10.7.4, everything was butter smooth after the little maintenance update for CPU throttling. This lagging issue was my only regret after installing ML.

Thanks again!
 
Maybe this is why half the people say there is lag while the other half say there isn't.

Half the people use stacks while the other half use folders!
 
No lag, ever... but one of the first things I did when I turned on my rMBP was change the stacks to folders because it's my preference. What quite stupid behavior of Mac OS to render all icons in a folder as part of a stack when you can only discern the top few items anyway. Mac OS should be intelligent enough to only render the last few items placed in the folder, not all of them.
 
What do you mean by stacks exactly? I have applications in the doc. A folder for movies. Folder for downloads. Folder for documents. I don't keep application folder in doc as that's what launch pad is for.

But still unsure what you mean by stacks?
 
angelus512 said:
What do you mean by stacks exactly? I have applications in the doc. A folder for movies. Folder for downloads. Folder for documents. I don't keep application folder in doc as that's what launch pad is for.

But still unsure what you mean by stacks?
Click to expand...

Right-click a "folder" on your dock and look at the "display as" section. Make sure its set to folder and not stack.

The folder display looks like is would in a regular finder window, just an array of icons. The stack display makes them come out from the dock in a curved fashion.
 
I have never understood the advantage to showing the folders as stacks in the first place. How is it beneficial to see a tiny blob of documents or icons instead of a single, immediately obvious icon?
 
Honestly Sounds to je like fake... Why is this not reported in Otter Forums?
Can Anyone make a Youtube Video for this?

Sounds too trivial to be True ^^
 
Panini said:
All credit goes to icowboy for discovering this on another thread!
Thought I would repost as a thread since a lot of people are still asking the same question.

Solution:
Don't keep any stacks in your dock. Change them all to folders.
If you must keep stacks, auto-hide the dock for improved performance.
Click to expand...

oddly enough, I was having UI lag (even without stacks) then all of a sudden one day (weeks after purchase) it just started going super smooth. I don't know why. There is no way it was indexing for 2 weeks straight!
 
beamer8912 said:
Right-click a "folder" on your dock and look at the "display as" section. Make sure its set to folder and not stack.

The folder display looks like is would in a regular finder window, just an array of icons. The stack display makes them come out from the dock in a curved fashion.
Click to expand...

That`s inaccurate, you can display a folder with the following options; Fan, Grid, List or Automatic. All listed under "View content as " If you want a typical windowed folder view choose "Grid".

If you want you can display a "Stack" in "Grid" format, personally my systems has folders, some with Grid format and some with Fan format, no lag
 
i got rid of the stacks and im still getting lag on sites such as Facebook as well the Mac App store. I'm on a maxed out Retina. Shouldn't be doing this..
 
Unbelievable... this worked for me!

derbothaus said:
Why don't the cMBP's suffer because of this then? Placebo?
Click to expand...

You see... they do. I have a 2012 13" MBP, and Launchpad has been relatively choppy for me. That's it- a very, very minor issue that doesn't affect the performance of the system as a whole. But still, if I can fix it, why not? Well, changing the stacks to folders somehow made Launchpad run at a smooth 60 FPS. Weird.
 
ok, so why is there no video on this topic? this kind of fixes are really important, if they are truly working.
 
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