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Mountain Lion UI Lag on rMBP !!! (Let's Make this thread serious and hope for a fix)
- Thread starter dsciel
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Wow, I just changed all my stacks to folders as suggested, and the difference is massive - it's surreal how smooth everything is now - especially on the iGPU.
Damn.
Damn.
Having spent some time trying all of this...
I've gone back to 2880x1800 res, which has always been the smoothest resolution to run ML on in my (short) experience.
The only problem (small text) is becoming less of a problem as I start to set the preferences on apps for zoom (e.g. Chrome, Path Finder, Evernote etc.) and just for good measure I've done the Stacks->Folders trick. It's all running extremely smoothly on integrated - so much so I don't feel much need for the discrete card under normal (non gaming) use...
I've gone back to 2880x1800 res, which has always been the smoothest resolution to run ML on in my (short) experience.
The only problem (small text) is becoming less of a problem as I start to set the preferences on apps for zoom (e.g. Chrome, Path Finder, Evernote etc.) and just for good measure I've done the Stacks->Folders trick. It's all running extremely smoothly on integrated - so much so I don't feel much need for the discrete card under normal (non gaming) use...
made no difference for me. very noticable framerate drops when switching spaces.
Mission Control is fine. Photoshop and Maya suffer as well. No problems in Mountain Lion.
I wonder whether the buggy shadow drawing (see attached screenshot) behind the stacks is to blame, I see opaque shadows (as if lots of composited shadows are combined, though weird composite mode) behind the dock stacks which I don't see on my 2010MBP. Folders do not show the same opaque shadow.
Attachments
try setting any stacks on your dock to show as folders instead. for some reason it fixed the lag for me. i'm on a 2012 2.6ghz 15 inch non-retina MBP.
I think de UI/Scroll LAG is software related since I read this subject in many forums on the internet. The main cause are probably the GPU drivers or something like that 'cause this is not only happening on MBPr, but also on iMacs and MB Airs. So let's hope Apple can fix it and make an Update.
I am not a developer so I don't access to 10.8.2 Beta to see if this issue is fixed or not, but there is anybody who can confirm it?
The most annoying to me about this issue is the fact that scrolling on Facebook, The Verge it's like I'm on a 20th century computer.
Thank You
MBPr 2.6 / 16 / 512
I am not a developer so I don't access to 10.8.2 Beta to see if this issue is fixed or not, but there is anybody who can confirm it?
The most annoying to me about this issue is the fact that scrolling on Facebook, The Verge it's like I'm on a 20th century computer.
Thank You
MBPr 2.6 / 16 / 512
Last edited:
I am not a developer so I don't access to 10.8.2 Beta to see if this issue is fixed or not, but there is anybody who can confirm it?
The most annoying to me about this issue is the fact that scrolling on Facebook, The Verge it's like I'm on a 20th century computer.
10.8.2 shows an improvement in safari and UI performance. I'm on a 2.6/8/512 rMBP
It's by no means perfect, but it's better. I've since reverted to 10.8.1 due to an issue with 10.8.2 and it's noticeable.
Just to be a bit more technical, it's not just GPU that's involved. The decoding of certain images requires the CPU. GPU can't yet decode many of image formats itself (certain CPU math is required). So it's back and forth between CPU and GPU many times per seconds and that can introduce lags as it can backfire/misfires into a choppy performance.
If Apple can figure out how to offload those image formats and only perform them on GPU, it'll cut down on the lags a lot.
From people said, 10.8.2 made improvements in a lot of performance areas. So Apple's working on it but I think it's going to take 2-3 more updates to get it really good. From what people wrote on MR, each 10.8.2 beta came with further updates to the OpenGL drivers and Safari versions are higher as well.
It's Good to know that
I'm a lot happier now for knowing that Apple is fixing this issue I made the size of the dock smaller (about 20% level), and started using the magnification (mid-level). It takes away the lagginess completely as long ad I don't add to many apps to the dock. Currently it works very smooth with 10 apps and two stacks.
I am leaning towards this being a software problem, that has little to do with the hardware. As pointed out in this thread, some heavy apps like Aparture runs smooth like silky butter, while apps like Mail, iTunes and Safari lags like hell. Also, some sites seems to be good, while other sites are a real pain in the ass, seemingly regardless of how many pictures that is present on the page.
Examples of "bad sites"
- facebook
- http://www.pitchfork.com
- twitter
- web news: http://www.vg.no
Examples of "good sites"
- macrumors
- web news: http://www.nrk.no
- http://www.flickr.com
- http://www.gamereactor.no (full of pictures and ads, still smooth)
Examples of "bad sites"
- http://www.pitchfork.com
- web news: http://www.vg.no
Examples of "good sites"
- macrumors
- web news: http://www.nrk.no
- http://www.flickr.com
- http://www.gamereactor.no (full of pictures and ads, still smooth)
I do not have any lag issues on my retina mac book pro.
The only issue with RMBP is that mountain lion battery time, but rumors say it will be fixed in the next patch of ml...
The only issue with RMBP is that mountain lion battery time, but rumors say it will be fixed in the next patch of ml...
Lag seems to be a software issue
I can make my lag go away completely by doing the following:
In system preferences>General set font smoothing to no.
(This still doesnt disable it completely)
Download tinker tool http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html and under 'Font smoothing' set it to '144 pt'
This basically completely disables the font smoothing. Now restart. Its way way faster for me but text looks like crap.
I can make my lag go away completely by doing the following:
In system preferences>General set font smoothing to no.
(This still doesnt disable it completely)
Download tinker tool http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html and under 'Font smoothing' set it to '144 pt'
This basically completely disables the font smoothing. Now restart. Its way way faster for me but text looks like crap.
So can we confirm that this is a software bug, and not a graphics chip problem?
I really need to know this soon, as I have 2 days to decide if I will recieve a new retina MacBook Pro from Apple, or if I should wait for them to release a software update fixing this.
What do you guys propose I do? I will get a new rMBP completely free of charge.
I really need to know this soon, as I have 2 days to decide if I will recieve a new retina MacBook Pro from Apple, or if I should wait for them to release a software update fixing this.
What do you guys propose I do? I will get a new rMBP completely free of charge.
Its hard to say if it will be fixed in software, I have to also force my rmbp to use the discrete graphics card to get it smooth. There are just so many pixels i guess.
Kind of sounds like the text anti aliasing algorithm was not optimised for the new display. If thats the case then could be fixed in software.
There is no problem with the GPU itself, it's fine. It's an issue in OS X and the immature scaling system they're using is just not fast enough, it's still demanding too much from CPU/GPUs at the moment (the hardware is capable but the code itself isn't optimized for those hardware).
This is the first time Apple has enabled such scaling system in OS X with a Retina display, so there'll be issues and it'll take several months to optimize it.
They're already improving in each software update with better drivers.
If you can wait to get the rMBP next year and you're happy with your current system, then wait it out. It'll be much stable next year with further improvements to both the rMBP but most importantly, an optimized OS for the Retina displays.
Hm, what you say clearly makes sense, but how does the fact that some users are not experiencing the same problems fit in the picture?
Also, now my retina Mac started to make some high frequency noises when opening apps and other things like scrolling and booting the system. Clearly not sounds from the fan. Should I now MacBook and get a new one? It's one phone call away.
Another like with tons of images and runs smooth as butter.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6275/our-apple-iphone-5-live-blog
Because there's a lot of confusion in that area. Some users experienced no problems at the Retina resolution (which works perfectly on my rMBP including Safari's scrolling) but I did notice some lagging at higher scaled resolutions, which is confirmed by many users as well.
I also did notice a lot of scrolling issues in Retina on Lion but that went away when I upgraded to ML. 10.8.1 included more improvements at higher resolutions for me. So, I suspect from what I heard from my buddies that I should have less lags in 10.8.2 with the higher resolutions.
As for the noise, that's not good. You should take it in if you can reproduce it and let the geniuses hear it, they'll replace your rMBP on the spot as long as it is not a custom build.
Can't reproduce the sound, haven't heard it on a 12 hours now, even on heavy tasks like Aperture. Curious what the sound came from though, a brand new machine should not make sounds like that. Not trying to make this thread about my own computer, but it would be great to know if I should get a new Mac it or not. If the sound returns in a week I'm stuck with repairng it which could easily take up to a month, if not more..
On my computer I noticed some improvements when not running apps fullscreen. I'm used to running Safari and iTunes fullscreen, while mail and such is running normal desktop mode. Switching Safari and iTunes to desktop mode seemed to improve overall "fluidness" noticeably. Facebook still lags, but it seems like browsing through covers in iTunes much, much better.
However, some serious, SERIOUS lag when going Mission Control from Aperture running full screen mode. It is like black screen for over a second, before the first icon from the dock appears. Could this be explained due to Aperture being a heavy app? Running 16 GB RAM, btw.
Restart
Hmm I restarted this morning, turned all my font smoothing stuff back on. No lag so far and I have all the stuff i usually have open running (Mail, iCal, Safari xCode).
I don't usually restart i just let it sleep, maybe that was causing it somehow?
Hmm I restarted this morning, turned all my font smoothing stuff back on. No lag so far and I have all the stuff i usually have open running (Mail, iCal, Safari xCode).
I don't usually restart i just let it sleep, maybe that was causing it somehow?