MBP 2019 16" - Stuttering desktop animations

[imrazor]

This is a really minor issue, but I was wondering if anyone else had run into it. When the MBP displays desktop animations (e.g., clicking on a folder icon on the dock) animations don't seem smooth, but have some noticeable stutter instead. Forcing the MBP to use the AMD dGPU completely fixed the problem, but that could cause issues if I ever need to run on battery.

Anyone have a better solution, or do I just need to suck it up and live with it?

 

[aonurozcan]

Yes, I'm exactly having the same issue, especially while switching between desktops and scrolling in browser. I was thinking that I bought powerful macbook pro so far. However, I'm so disapponted.

 

[imrazor]

@aonurozcan Well if your MBP has a dedicated GPU you can go into System Preferences>Energy Saver and disable graphics switching. That'll force the desktop to render with the AMD GPU instead of the much weaker GPU baked into the Intel CPU. But if you do, it'll suck your battery dry fast if you're away from an outlet.

 

[aonurozcan]

I know that method actually but as you said it'll suck the battery so it's not a solution.

 

[PyerCoffin]

Hello,
Are any of you having desktop stutters using a Wacom tablet? The latest drivers suck and actually slow down the whole interface making it all stuttery, whether a tablet is actually connected or not.
If that's your case you have to revert back to an older version of the driver (6.3.36-2).
That being said, I still do feel a very subtle lack of smoothness when using the integrated graphics card, but it's not all the time...
Highly annoying.

 

[gsapienza]

The integrated GPU in the 16in MBP is sadly the weakest in the lineup (blame intel). I believe the new Air has a significantly higher metal score than it. of course the discrete GPU is quite powerful

 

[talhak]

Is this issue common as I haven't heard this before? Maybe it could be device-specific? And have you contacted with the Apple?

 

[mikethebigo]

You know where I get stuttering is scrolling Apple News, while using the dGPU makes it buttery smooth. To be fair, I tried scrolling Apple News on my 2018 13" with Iris Plus graphics, and it was a little better, but it still stuttered 😂

 

[recoil80]

I'm running on battery at the moment and I don't notice stuttering animations in Finder or other apps, I'm scrolling a web page full of products and it is fast and smooth

 

[aonurozcan]

I'm running on battery at the moment and I don't notice stuttering animations in Finder or other apps, I'm scrolling a web page full of products and it is fast and smooth

Could you please check which graphics card you're using in activity monitor energy tab?

 

[recoil80]

Could you please check which graphics card you're using in activity monitor energy tab?

Integrated.
I have the automatic graphics switching check enabled in settings.

I have installed the latest update of Catalina last week

 

[stevemiller]

i'm on a 2018 macbook pro connected to an egpu and a 4k monitor, so i'm assuming i *should* be on discrete/egpu graphics. on a fresh boot with nothing else running, it will sometimes have choppy UI even just dragging around finder windows. but then randomly at other moments with the exact same setup, it'll be fairly smooth.

in fact, over the course of typing this post, it went from choppy to smooth.

 

[Matmania]

This might be a specific issue to only a few. I have 16 inch 5300m and in finder everything smooth and fast. No stutter with any animations. Look in activity monitor? Anything sucking CPU cycles?

 

[stevemiller]

so far as i can tell the change from choppy to smooth is totally random. lots running vs nothing running, fresh boot vs long uptime, monitor connected vs monitor disconnected - none of these things can reliably control the behaviour. its very frustrating that at random the quality of the UI will degrade to something so choppy it gives a headache after a period of use.

 

[imrazor]

I've made an interesting discovery regarding this phenomenon. If I go into System Preferences->Displays->Display, then select Scaled, and choose More Space, the stuttering is less pronounced. However, if I take the option to the left of Default, the stuttering completely vanishes.

I'd take More Space, but there's still a bit of stuttering. So I'll just deal with slightly larger windows and text...