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UI Animatons lag on my new 2014 rMBP - should I ask for replacement

E

emporiky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 27, 2014
148
17
Hey guys, I just got my new 13" rMBP. I updated from 2012 rMBP, not because of the spec difference, but because I received education discount and Appe care for free.
Still, I was hoping that the UI lag that I had on my 2012 rMBP would be gone, but it's still here (although there is a slight improvement).
I know I am not the only one, reporting it, but others have claimed that they don't have such problems. Should I ask for a replacement, or are all 13" rMBP incapable of running their OS without any lag?


Edit: The problem could also be from my high sensitivity towards lag as a former gamer :D
 
emporiky said:
Hey guys, I just got my new 13" rMBP. I updated from 2012 rMBP, not because of the spec difference, but because I received education discount and Appe care for free.
Still, I was hoping that the UI lag that I had on my 2012 rMBP would be gone, but it's still here (although there is a slight improvement).
I know I am not the only one, reporting it, but others have claimed that they don't have such problems. Should I ask for a replacement, or are all 13" rMBP incapable of running their OS without any lag?


Edit: The problem could also be from my high sensitivity towards lag as a former gamer :D
Click to expand...

The replacement would have the exact same hardware and software, why would it behave any differently?
 
Well, if so many people report that they don't have any problem, it could be that it really depends on what unit you will get.
 
My haswell rmbp lags too. Im pretty sure its because the gpu shuts off when ur not using it or powers down a lot. I really wish people woult stop poopin themselves over a little lag. You just opened it and its a machine made by machines that went through machine measured Quality Assurance. Barring anything super obvious i have faith that electronics will work as good as theyll ever work when i open them.
 
emporiky said:
Well, if so many people report that they don't have any problem, it could be that it really depends on what unit you will get.
Click to expand...

Or it could simply be that some people just don't notice these things. That's just my opinion, of course.
 
Try yosemite

Maybe try Yosemite apparantly the lag (that i have never noticed on my 2013) is much improved or gone with the new operating system.
 
Yes I am also thinking that some people don't notice the lag issue.

I forgot to mention that I am already using Yosemite. And I have to acknowledge that the lag happens only when more applications are open. For example when I have 3 desktops and on each of them there are several programs running (but not minimized) such as Mail, Maps, Appstore, FaceTime, safari, preview, messages. And when I swipe between these desktops sometimes the transitions are not very smooth.

I know that it sounds as if it is not a big deal, but keep in mind that this is a 1000£ laptop, so its own OS is supposed to work perfectly.
 
It is a £1000 laptop

....... but it is still a laptop, that you are loading with enough programs to cause a full specced desktop to lag with what do you expect. Mobile class processors and GPU's are brilliant these days and that is shown just in the fact that it can perform that well at all if you don't like the lag then try closing a few programs or just moving to a desktop.

Even a fully specced 17 inch gaming laptop would stuggle to do that workload without lag especially with a super high definition screen and it would be 3 times as thick and sound like a jet engine doing it.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
....... but it is still a laptop, that you are loading with enough programs to cause a full specced desktop to lag with what do you expect. Mobile class processors and GPU's are brilliant these days and that is shown just in the fact that it can perform that well at all if you don't like the lag then try closing a few programs or just moving to a desktop.

Even a fully specced 17 inch gaming laptop would stuggle to do that workload without lag especially with a super high definition screen and it would be 3 times as thick and sound like a jet engine doing it.
Click to expand...

I see your point, but I am talking about really basic (often native) programs, and not for video and music editing. Also the performance of the system continues to be really high with all these apps running, it is just the animations that are being somewhat sluggish.
 
Maybe so

emporiky said:
I see your point, but I am talking about really basic (often native) programs, and not for video and music editing.
Click to expand...

.... that is may be true but running 3 desktops is a feat in itself with multiple apps open and running on each ready to be flipped between at a whim???? That is mighty impressive if you ask me even with a little bit of lag. People expect far too much from laptop computers and for me this is a case of you expecting too much..

if it was a quad core 15 inch you may have a case.
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
.... that is may be true but running 3 desktops is a feat in itself with multiple apps open and running on each ready to be flipped between at a whim???? That is mighty impressive if you ask me even with a little bit of lag. People expect far too much from laptop computers and for me this is a case of you expecting too much..

if it was a quad core 15 inch you may have a case.
Click to expand...

I am sorry I am not a native speaker so you might have misunderstood me - I mean 3 different desktops as in spaces, not different monitors (not sure if that is even possible).
And if that is what you meant, than I didn't know that having 3-4 spaces is such a load for the system, but you might as well be right.


EDIT: something I forgot to mention - there is lag whenever scrolling down pdf files on preview (both on my 2012 and 2014 rMBPs, now that is unexplainable for me)
 
Last edited:
It's not that it's a load as such

emporiky said:
I am sorry I am not a native speaker so you might have misunderstood me - I mean 3 different desktops as in spaces, not different monitors (not sure if that is even possible).
And if that is what you meant, than I didn't know that having 3-4 spaces is such a load for the system, but you might as well be right.
Click to expand...

It's not so much a load as just a lot of things happening at once. As i say it is just a dual core little laptop. Y

ou could try changing the settings to reduce transparency this has been said to help with lag.

I think you can run three screens two on thunderbolt and one HDMI....
 
Samuelsan2001 said:
It's not so much a load as just a lot of things happening at once. As i say it is just a dual core little laptop. Y

ou could try changing the settings to reduce transparency this has been said to help with lag.

I think you can run three screens two on thunderbolt and one HDMI....
Click to expand...

But isn't the UI lag more related to the capabilities of GPU and not of the CPU?
 
I have the exact same laptop--just got it 5 days ago--and I don't notice any of the lag you are talking about. Also, I am a heavy gamer (on my PC) and I do know of this lag you speak of :) Though, to be honest, I do not, as a rule, run the amount of apps you named off in one of your above examples and I also don't see the need for, or use, multiple desktops. (Not "against" them, but just don't see the need.) However, as you said, it is $1300.00 laptop and it should mostly do what you want. If it is that troubling for you, I would most definitely take it in to the Apple store and have the geniuses go over it with you. Make sure you can reproduce it and have all the apps you run loaded in their various desktops. Show the Geniuses what it does and see if there is a replacement option or perhaps a way to optimize things better.

On a side note, have you checked the activity monitor? (Spotlight--type 'activity.') Are you completely out of RAM or is the CPU pegged when the issues are happening? Maybe one specific app is corrupt or causing the issue.

Which begs another question. You said your last mbp did this also. Did you start fresh or did you do a Time Machine restore? Perhaps you carried a problem forward in the restore. If so, and I know this is a huge hassle, do a restore to zero using the recovery console (command-R while booting I think) and then try it "fresh." Install apps one at a time and see if there is lag. This is a painful, time-consuming activity but it will let you know if it is a bad app that is causing your issues.

Finally, if you need to replace it, for your use, I would get one with maxed RAM. (16GB is max, I think on the 13".)

Good luck.
 
Thank you very much for your detailed answer!

You said that you did not notice the lag, but to be honest if you are using only one desktop, there is no way for you to see it, because it is most evident whenever I swipe between spaces.

Also everything is fine with the activity monitor and I am using a clean Yosemite install :)

I guess it is just the way I use both of my rMBP's that leads to some animations lagging. But can you please do me a favour and open a large pdf file with preview and see if it lags while scrolling down quickly or zooming? This one for example: http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/commission/Oxford_Martin_Now_for_the_Long_Term.pdf
 
emporiky said:
But isn't the UI lag more related to the capabilities of GPU and not of the CPU?
Click to expand...

The GPU yes, but the CPU also matters.

I didn't realise you were looking at a 13".

I have a 15" so I have Iris Pro graphics 5300 rather than Iris (5100). I also have a quad core CPU.

This may be why I did not notice lag when you did.
 
I find the 13'' to be the perfect size for my needs, because I need to carry it around quite often.
I also think that generally the 15'' rMBP is more unlikely to get the lag compared to the 13'' because of its quad core and better video card.
 
emporiky said:
I find the 13'' to be the perfect size for my needs, because I need to carry it around quite often.
I also think that generally the 15'' rMBP is more unlikely to get the lag compared to the 13'' because of its quad core and better video card.
Click to expand...

Even today I am not comfortable with the shortcomings of the 13" rMBP, but there is a market for them so...
 
When I was buying my MacBook I had the choice (and still have if I return it):

- 13'' rMBP; 8gb; 256 SSD; Mid 2014 with 3 years Apple Care - £1000
- 15'' rMBP; 8gb; 256 SSD; Intel Iris Pro; Late 2013 refurb - £1100

I got the first one and I am still convinced that I made the right choice :)
 
emporiky said:
When I was buying my MacBook I had the choice (and still have if I return it):

- 13'' rMBP; 8gb; 256 SSD; Mid 2014 with 3 years Apple Care - £1000
- 15'' rMBP; 8gb; 256 SSD; Intel Iris Pro; Late 2013 refurb - £1100

I got the first one and I am still convinced that I made the right choice :)
Click to expand...

To each his own, the quad i7 is worth the £100 alone, but wow only the higher end rMBP has a dedicated GPU?
 
Yes, only the high end 15'' rMBP has dedicated GPU. And for me the Apple care, that goes with the 13'' model was a huge advantage :)
 
Another vote for "people just don't notice these things".
I've witnessed this with almost everyone. Hell, most people don't even know what you're talking about when you mention the lag on Android. Then you pick up their lag-ridden phones and show them and they still don't "see" it. I think most don't have a solid conception of what lag or choppiness is and will only complain in extreme cases.
 
I notice it too!

I have a 15' 2012 rMBP with the dedicated GPU\16GBs of RAM and notice the an issue similar to your's. I have noticed that since the original betas of 10.10 came out 4 months ago, that things like mission control\show desktop\app expose all seem to stutter a little bit. I think this is pretty normal considering that this is the first release of 10.10, wait for a 10.10.1 release and see if the performance picks up normally apple's next point release focuses on performance\bug fixes. I'm going to be installing a copy of Yosemite from scratch and will report if I find any difference in the lag.
 
I guess I will try to install Mavericks on a different partition and see if there is any difference. Anyone knows where can I download it, since its not available in Appstore anymore?
 
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