UI Lag Performance/Recommendation

[rkho]

Wanted to chime in here. I just installed the 10.10.4 public beta on my machine and with transparency turned off, the UI lag is *almost* nonexistent and very acceptable for my standards. Here's what my setup is like:

Base (1.1) model
1680 x 1050 @ HiDPI resolution (There's a thread on this specific board that details how to unlock this for RDM)
~6 spaces open at all times:
Slack (fullscreen)
Sublime Text (fullscreen)
Dash Docs (fullscreen)
Desktop 1: Safari only
Desktop 2: Terminal, Xcode, iOS Simulator
Desktop 3: Omnifocus 2, Evernote, Messages
Background apps: Bartender, LaunchBar, Fantastical 2, Dropbox, 1Password, Spectacle.

The transition when swiping spaces is almost lag-free.
Entering Mission Control stutters a slight bit, swiping spaces in Mission Control is almost lag-free, and settling on a space from Mission Control is also almost lag-free.

Enabling transparency reduces performance by a small (but noticeable) bit. Anything that was 'almost lag-free' produces noticeable lag in that case.

Hope this was helpful!

 

[discostur]

I found turning on 'reduce transparency' in Accessibility System Preferences significantly improved the smoothness of the UI..

That did the trick for me, too! Had massive lacks when using expose or even scrolling webpages in safari. After disabling transparency everything scrolls / runs smooth like my old macbook air!

 

[headcase]

That did the trick for me, too! Had massive lacks when using expose or even scrolling webpages in safari. After disabling transparency everything scrolls / runs smooth like my old macbook air!

Transparency is needless eye candy. First thing I always disable on my Macs, irrespective of model.

 

[Kiwi 99]

I simply can't reproduce the lag shown on the video. I've turned window transparency back on, put a complicated desktop behind the window, and min/maxing the window is buttery smooth, not at all like the video.
I will try and get a video of what it is supposed to look like (and what it does look like on my 1.2 model).

 

[Aboo]

For those who are not experiencing any lag - are any of you using the new office 2016 preview?

 

[Kiwi 99]

For those who are not experiencing any lag - are any of you using the new office 2016 preview?

No lag here, and not using office preview. (In fact not using any MS software at all on this machine, I avoid it where I can)

 

[jazz1]

I think I'll live with the lag until the beta gets kicked into full release. I used to to betas, but the last beta I did for Yosemite dynamited my iMac.

 

[Skylitfly]

2015 rMBPs have lagging issues too.

This isn't about performance; the UI isn't lagging because of a lack of resources. This is about software.

Being able to maximise a window at more than 5fps shouldn't (and doesn't) require high-end graphics.

Yep. I can second this.

My 15" rMBP has UI lag in the same scenarios as people are experiencing with rMB. The lag is definitely not because of lack of power but because of something going wrong with Yosemite animations.

 

[headcase]

I think I'll live with the lag until the beta gets kicked into full release. I used to to betas, but the last beta I did for Yosemite dynamited my iMac.

Keep in in mind that until we see the official release notes for 10.10.4, there's no definitive proof that the next maintenance release is actually designed to fix any UI lag / frame rate issues for retina screens running Yosemite. And given the mixed results that folks have experienced with testing the 10.10.4 public beta (including myself seeing zero discernible improvement over 10.10.3), my bet is that we're going to be waiting for a subsequent maintenance release to see real relief.

 

[keviig]

This is definitely a software issue. I had the 2012 15" rMBP earlier, and even when forcing the 650m GPU i still had lag in Yosemite.
You can also see that the HD5300 GPU in the rMB stays below 600 MHz (850 MHz max) when doing all kinds of resizing, scrolling etc. according to Intel Power Gadget.
Meaning it's nowhere near using all its power.

*The resizing and scrolling test was done while also hooked up to a 1080p TV via the Multiport AV adapter (HDMI). The resizing and scrolling were done on the rMB screen.

 

[Theophil1971]

Walked into a nearby Apple Store today to poke around. While there, I fiddled with the 13" rMBP. I opened up the same number of desktop spaces, launched the same apps, and full-screened the same things on the rMBP and a rMB on the next table. I used the touchpad gestures to swipe into Mission Control and navigate between desktops and full-screen apps on both machines. Both demonstrated the exact same type of "lag". It doesn't seem to be an issue unique to the rMP. Other retina laptops exhibit the same. It's either software, or a function of the Retina displays on the laptop machines.

 

[headcase]

Walked into a nearby Apple Store today to poke around. While there, I fiddled with the 13" rMBP. I opened up the same number of desktop spaces, launched the same apps, and full-screened the same things on the rMBP and a rMB on the next table. I used the touchpad gestures to swipe into Mission Control and navigate between desktops and full-screen apps on both machines. Both demonstrated the exact same type of "lag". It doesn't seem to be an issue unique to the rMP. Other retina laptops exhibit the same. It's either software, or a function of the Retina displays on the laptop machines.

Probably its both: Yosemite yet to be completely optimized for retina graphics.

 

[Queen6]

I will wait on 10.10.4 final and see what that does. So far I haven't noticed lag on my 1.2 MacBook, equally I am just setting up and loading 300Gb+ on the drive. Reducing transparency definitely helps, on my 2014 13" & 2012 15" Retina I am frequently up to 20+ spaces and performance is reasonable.

Q-6