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Retina iMac + Mission Control: Post your experience
- Thread starter Padmini
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I'd like to know that as well. But honestly, I'm not getting my hopes up. I don't think it's going to get fixed. Mission Control has traditionally lagged with Macs that don't have overkill graphics power (and 5K is really a lot....)
I got used to it. It's ok, I mean, you can still use Mission Control, the response time is the same, it's just that the animation is jerky when there are multiple windows. Preview as well, and even some window resizing and scrolling with large amount of large thumbnails
That's just how it is.The good part is - that's because OS X is simply demanding in this way. Windows 8 flies on the thing and so do the apps (and games in normal resolution).
At least the M290X doesn't get so hot, and it's quite a fine gpu. But, as I said, I expect Mission Control to be laggy until I get a new iMac
Just deal with it, it's not like the computer is generally slow, quite the opposite! But I really don't think the lag is a "software issue" as people hope it to be.Oh and, my guess is, that if it ever *does* get fixed, it's going to be with 10.11, not in Yosemite.
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I am really upset of this mission control lag thingy...
There two fixes i know of. "Reduce Transparency," and "Increase Contrast,"
Increase contrast really turns the the OS pretty ugly... I am currently using Reduce Transparency but there is still lagness.....
Previously I was using mac mini late 2012 with yosemite and there isnt any lag.....
I really hope Apple can fix this.
There two fixes i know of. "Reduce Transparency," and "Increase Contrast,"
Increase contrast really turns the the OS pretty ugly... I am currently using Reduce Transparency but there is still lagness.....
Previously I was using mac mini late 2012 with yosemite and there isnt any lag.....
I really hope Apple can fix this.
It's just that 5K is too much for Yosemite. Even the 295 lags in certain scenarios (although people claim it lags way less). The thing is - I hooked up a 1920x1200 monitor to my base iMac and the thing just flies on that monitor. The preview is laggy with large images in 5K, but it is super-fluid on the other screen (as it displays the image in a much smaller resolution). So, the thing is - it's just demanding. Apple could, in theory, optimise it so it works better.... But there is only so much a software optimisation can do.
Anyway - I asked Ryan Smith from Anandtech (via Twitter) does he think that 2Gb is the culprit for Mission Control lag and here's what he said:
My question:
I just can’t find an answer to this: is 2Gb VRAM really enough to run Yosemite in 5K without issues (4 “standard“ 27″ displays)
Ryan:
For desktop usage, I'd say yes. You aren't going to have much to spare, but you should be okay. Games will top out at 1080p
It's still a lot of pixels over a lot of layers. So while memory pressure is limited, rendering pressure can be extensive
So, I guess it's just really demanding. Before you start to rage against Apple, remember that (compared to other Mac gpus) R9 M290X is a high end gpu (almost as fast as the top gpu on the previous generation). So, that's just how things are - not much Apple could do. I guess they could've offered 295 as standard and made the base price $250 more.
I agree with Aevan: I don't think this is software and I don't think Apple can "fix" it: 14MPx to move, the M290X is not strong enough to run smoothly the advanced effects of the Yosemite GUI.
If this issue is fixed one day, it will be by reducing the quality of the effect or with a trick like that.
If this issue is fixed one day, it will be by reducing the quality of the effect or with a trick like that.
Sadly, no. RAM will only help with memory intensive apps and won't affect graphical performance at all. There really isn't anything you can do about it. But, it's not that bad, really. There is some UI lag, but where performance is really important - the iMac base model delivers.
But if the mission control lag bothers you that much, then the only thing you can do is return your Mac and go for the M295X (the GPU is not upgradable as it is soldiered to the logic board). If you ask me, it's really not that big of a deal. But only you can determine if you can live with it. It's just important to be realistic and not expect some major improvements here via software updates. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. And waiting for some miraculous patch will only get you disappointed over and over again, with every .1 release. Just enjoy your iMac for what it is - a powerful, beautiful computer. Yosemite lags on all Retina Macs, to be honest, it's just a question of how much (I also have a rMBP with the GeForce 750 and it also lags a bit). You're on the very edge of current technology and that's the reality of it. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy this beautiful computer! My 2 cents.
Oh, and as Alesc said - the only way to fix this is to do some trick to reduce the effect. They could, for example, render much simpler transparency during Mission Control transitions. People probably wouldn't notice it, and it would run better. Whether they are going to do it or not - who knows. I kinda doubt it, though, because no matter how it looks to some people here - it's not a critical issue.
I may well be and probably am wrong about this, but: it seems to me that effects are, in some instances, already reduced during Mission Control transistions. At least that's what I thought when, for example, MC'ing a full-screened iPhoto or iMovie it looked quite fuzzy, as if a screenshot was used as a texture map on a scaling windows surface.
Since the very simple way to get Mission Control to really stutter is to open the Retina iMac webpage on the Apple site in a full-sized Safari window, I have the suspicion that this is not done for Safari, for some reason, and that the system desperately tried to live-update this window even while transitioning. And as the content of this window is fully controlled by some rather busy JavaScript, OSX or the GPU can't keep up.
(As I said: this is pure conjecture on my side)
I think it's just demanding in terms of hardware. And while I still think this is the simple truth and there is no mysterious software issue behind the stutters, there are two things that do confuse me:
1. My MacBook Pro Retina does Mission Control super smooth and it runs on an integrated Iris Pro. Then again, it does have almost 3x less pixels to push.
2. For some reason, iStat Menus (the latest version that supports the new iMacs) never shows the amount of free VRAM available on M290X correctly. While you can see that half of M295X VRAM is used from time to time, only a small portion of M290X VRAM is shown as used in iStat. Clearly this is some kind of error, maybe a bug in iStat, but there is always hope that this is an indication of a driver problem that prevents M290X from using it's potential. M295X is faster, but it's not _that_ faster. Again, I don't think that's the case, but it is strange.
Still, I don't think it's going to get fixed for the simple reason - it isn't broken. It (probably) is how it is. I don't mind, really, but I am curious to see if something does get done with the lag. Not getting my hopes up, though.
1. My MacBook Pro Retina does Mission Control super smooth and it runs on an integrated Iris Pro. Then again, it does have almost 3x less pixels to push.
2. For some reason, iStat Menus (the latest version that supports the new iMacs) never shows the amount of free VRAM available on M290X correctly. While you can see that half of M295X VRAM is used from time to time, only a small portion of M290X VRAM is shown as used in iStat. Clearly this is some kind of error, maybe a bug in iStat, but there is always hope that this is an indication of a driver problem that prevents M290X from using it's potential. M295X is faster, but it's not _that_ faster. Again, I don't think that's the case, but it is strange.
Still, I don't think it's going to get fixed for the simple reason - it isn't broken. It (probably) is how it is. I don't mind, really, but I am curious to see if something does get done with the lag. Not getting my hopes up, though.
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I really do not think its the graphics card being underpowered or the 5k/Yosemite strain. I never had lag in Yosemite mission control on my Macbook air, obviously not 5K but Intel graphics only. Also, the 290x runs games like Tomb Raider very well, and Zbrush is also smooth for me. Seems unlikely that a little window animation should bring it to its knees. Apple should really fix it because it makes for a pretty unsightly experience.
I just installed the public beta El Capitan and I can finally say that my iMac Retina finally feels like a normal MAC! Everything flies! Mission Control finally works the way it should with no delay.
The only bad thing is I lost one of my two external LCD's connected via Thunderbolt. I have the M290X video Card.
The only bad thing is I lost one of my two external LCD's connected via Thunderbolt. I have the M290X video Card.
Glad to hear that El Cap might sort things out. Personally, I just discovered that the jankiness in Expose and Mission Control in Yosemite on my 5K iMac were directly proportional to the number of menubar apps I had running--turn them off one by one, and the animations gradually got smoother and smoother, until they were absolutely fine with just Apple's standard menubar icons. Fire them all back up and the jerkiness was back.
i've never noticed this on my 5K iMac. Though I have the maxed out model with the 3tb drive and all I really do on it is Lightroom/Photoshop. I'm running just a few third party apps in the menubar, teamviewer, cleanmymac, crashplan, wunderlist - and things are still smooth. never noticed any jankiness.
I have noticed that the fans like to rev up quite easily on this computer, i never thought I did very processor intensive work, but i hear them rev up pretty often.