rMBP: Dual Display = no stuttering

[gentlefury]

OK, this is weird. I finally got my rMBP and....as everyone has been complaining about Mission Control is stuttery when its activated and kind of annoying. Well, it doesn't really bother me, so I don't care, since everything else is so good.

I rearranged my desk and got my second display plugged in and guess what. All of a sudden...no stutter at all...everything is perfectly smooth! I did notice that discrete graphics are required in order to push multiple displays. Is this the reason? I tried switching to discrete without the other display plugged in and it was still stuttery. It only seems to clear up and run smooth when I have to power a second display!! How weird! Good to know it is just a software hiccup and not at all to do with the hardware! I'm sure it will be cleared up soon.

 

[Queen6]

OK, this is weird. I finally got my rMBP and....as everyone has been complaining about Mission Control is stuttery when its activated and kind of annoying. Well, it doesn't really bother me, so I don't care, since everything else is so good.

I rearranged my desk and got my second display plugged in and guess what. All of a sudden...no stutter at all...everything is perfectly smooth! I did notice that discrete graphics are required in order to push multiple displays. Is this the reason? I tried switching to discrete without the other display plugged in and it was still stuttery. It only seems to clear up and run smooth when I have to power a second display!! How weird! Good to know it is just a software hiccup and not at all to do with the hardware! I'm sure it will be cleared up soon.

When you use an external monitor, only the discrete GPU is used which is more than powerful enough.

 

[Dangerous Theory]

When you use an external monitor, only the discrete GPU is used which is more than powerful enough.

He also explained that he forced the DGPU with the one display and it "lagged". Goes to show software is having some problems somewhere in the pipeline.

 

[gentlefury]

He also explained that he forced the DGPU with the one display and it "lagged". Goes to show software is having some problems somewhere in the pipeline.

Right, it's only perfect when running 2 displays.

 

[ProMod]

I have noticed this exact behavior for many years on all of my MBPs. They are always smoother in a dual display setup rather than just powering either the built-in display or external display individually. It must have something to do with how the OS is written to "throttle up" the GPU when it is powering two displays.