MBP performance on Expose' in Spaces

[lordthistle]

This morning I was in a shop where these two laptops (among others) were available for test:
1) The latest 'middle' MB: 2.4GHz 2GB 160GB-hd etc. etc.
2) An old 'middle' MBP: 2.4 GHz, 2GB, 160GB-hd, GeForce 8600 with 256MB etc.

(1) had Leopard 10.5.2
(2) had Leopard 10.5, no release specified. I assume it is 10.5.0?

(1) was much smoother than (2) on:
- going into "Spaces mode";
- performing a global Expose' in "Spaces mode".

Forgive me for the "Spaces mode", it is just to indicate the status in which both the laptops were showing four virtual desktops.

Basically (1) was smooth, (2) was very very very disappointing.

I was thinking to purchase a MBP, but now I need your advice. I searched this forum and the internet but was not able to find anything relevant.

Is the 2D performance of your MBPs that bad? Was it caused by the drivers in 10.5.0? Is it caused by the current implementation of Quartz GL (but, to be honest, I still have to understand how it works in Leopard).

I still think that such a bad performance would be impossible on a MBP. My disappointment was so great that I went to pick up a friend of mine and brought him to the shop in order to be assured I was not having a nightmare.

Thanks to everyone willing to help me.
Ciao,
lordthistle

 

[kockgunner]

was the battery removed on the MBP? if it is, the clock speed reduces to 1 GHz for some reason. That may be why it's slower

 

[FleurDuMal]

Tbh, I find the performance of a quite a few of the display models a bit slow at time.

 

[chris315]

i think apple did a driver update after 10.5.2. so the 10.5 mbp wouldn't have the driver update. also let us know about the battery.

 

[Animalk]

Yes there was a significant graphics drivers update with 10.5.2 and is a factor you should consider. My older MBP in my signature is completely smooth in all 2D effects in OS X.

 

[johnnyjibbs]

I wouldn't trust the speed of display models. People trash the *&?@£ out of them and they are likely to be clogged full of things slowing them down.

A MacBook Pro is faster than a MacBook in every way. They have the same processors but MBP has faster. MBP has a decent graphics card, the MacBook has poor graphics support. In terms of 3D performance, the MBP blows the MacBook away. In terms of 2D performance, it is closer, but still faster.

Most likely, MBP was on 10.5.0. That would explain a lot.

Whatever you do, don't buy a MacBook instead of a MacBook Pro because you think it will be faster...

 

[lordthistle]

Thank you for your answer. I knew and am still strongly convinced that the MBP should be faster in any single aspect.

Even if I did not check if the battery was removed, I think it is quite likely. They were computers on display and the MBP had been running for eight hours. Just out of curiosity: the MBP, that was the old 'middle' MBP, was priced 2400 euro, when the entry-level one now costs 1800 euro. I think it is the same MBP I saw months ago in the same spot.

Anyway, yesterday I made a better web search and I found many posts regarding the bad performance of MBPs on the system 2D animations. It is quite discouraging:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1352573&tstart=30
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/388317/

And this one:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/375482/
and
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1234146

It looks like that MBPs with nVidia cards DO NOT have smooth graphics. MBPs with ATI cards DO HAVE smooth animations. It is a driver problem, so it will be eventually fixed.

-- thistl

 

[chriscl]

Hmm... not sure about that?

My MBP (2.2 Santa Rosa, running 10.5.2 with the Leopard Graphics Update) is as smooth as anything switching between spaces 'desktops', and I tend to keep a few apps open in each window?

How were you switching between the spaces Windows? Either using CTRL-Arrow Key or selecting a Space from the 'Menulet' I don't see any lag?

My MBP has 4GB of RAM, so hat may be an issue, especially when running with a number of apps open, but of course my Video Card "only" has 128MB of VRAM...

 

[lordthistle]

How were you switching between the spaces Windows? Either using CTRL-Arrow Key or selecting a Space from the 'Menulet' I don't see any lag?

Thank you for your answer.

Expose performance was fine on both of them.

When I opened spaces, clicking on the application icon in the dock:
- MB was smooth
- MBP was not smooth at all. It was jerky, especially toward the end of the animation.

When I called Expose by clicking the correct F-keys while the notebooks were showing the four virtual desktops:
- MB was perfect;
- MBP was jerky and sluggish, in an unbelievable way, I would dare to say.

There were no more than 10 windows per desktops in two desktops. All of the windows belonging to Finder or Safari.

MB was smooth even when there were a plenty of other application running (iPhoto - showing no photo, text editors, iMovie, etc.)

It cannot NOT be a software problem, but you know...

I did not check the battery because the two notebooks were tied on the table.

thistle

 

[EvryDayImShufln]

Do the 10.5.2 update on the MBP and see if it fixes the problem.

And by see, I mean it WILL fix the problem.

There is a graphics component to the 10.5.2 that you have to install after installing 10.5.2. Thats what should fix it.