Video of UI lag?

[Macbuyer7]

This is weird because when I was testing out the laptop at the Apple Store I couldn't get it to lag. I didn't have as many spaces open however....might go back and try it again with more spaces. Mission Control was fine, but again didn't really have anything open except Finder and Safari with two tabs open (1440p YouTube tab and Apple Store website in the second tab).

I will admit that I sometimes get careless and leave multiple tabs open, and it would be kind of annoying that I would have to consciously manage my apps and tabs so the computer doesn't get bogged down. Why did they have to make the design so tempting 🙁 before this came out I was set on my decision to get a rMBP

 

[rahulr]

Comparison between 13.3 Retina and 12" MB

Here's the 13.3 rMBP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLeoyvvAX14

Here's the 12" rMB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-ea9xPATWg

In every day use I don't see any noticeable lag. But that could be my own perceptions.

 

[mattopotamus]

Here's the 13.3 rMBP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLeoyvvAX14

Here's the 12" rMB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-ea9xPATWg

In every day use I don't see any noticeable lag. But that could be my own perceptions.

from that 2 second clip it did not look bad haha. Try adding a few more spaces and use mission control.

 

[dexterbell]

- He was navigating 4 Desktops, and I'd say the demonstrated usage is quite realistic. I'm certain that kind of lag would annoy me immensely daily.

Someone who needs to run even 4 desktops with multiple tabs should know better than to buy a Core M powered laptop in the first place.

 

[dubydoo]

Someone who needs to run even 4 desktops with multiple tabs should know better than to buy a Core M powered laptop in the first place.

I would definitely say that running 4 spaces and having multiple tabs open should be defined as normal use. Are you saying that that kind of usage is too demanding for the new Macbook?!

 

[noobinator]

I don't have a video yet (I'll try one tonight) but I just tried and didn't get anywhere near the same amount of lag as the OP. Would the touchpad options (sensitivity and the like) have any effect on this?

 

[JTToft]

Someone who needs to run even 4 desktops with multiple tabs should know better than to buy a Core M powered laptop in the first place.

- [Insert Hyundai/Porsche simile here].

I suppose you think it should've shipped with iOS instead of OS X, too, then?

 

[dexterbell]

I would definitely say that running 4 spaces and having multiple tabs open should be defined as normal use. Are you saying that that kind of usage is too demanding for the new Macbook?!

No, it's not normal usage. I don't know a single person who uses spaces, much less knows what it is. Normal usage is what I do. Safari browsing the net with 1 tab open, maybe opening one or two more to compare or copy/paste things from other articles or check a YouTube video.. 4 separate spaces or someone with 40 tabs open or 6 YouTube videos playing at once is most certainly not normal usage.

 

[3bs]

No, it's not normal usage. I don't know a single person who uses spaces, much less knows what it is. Normal usage is what I do. Safari browsing the net with 1 tab open, maybe opening one or two more to compare or copy/paste things from other articles or check a YouTube video.. 4 separate spaces or someone with 40 tabs open or 6 YouTube videos playing at once is most certainly not normal usage.

😱🙄

God forbid anyone use their laptop in any way different from you or your social circle..

You won't see anyone mentioning having 40 tabs open in this thread but hyperbole is fun to use, huh? and I don't know why that guy thought running 6 HD videos simultaneously would be a good idea but you don't see anyone agreeing with him anyway.

 

[SBruv]

No, it's not normal usage. I don't know a single person who uses spaces, much less knows what it is. Normal usage is what I do. Safari browsing the net with 1 tab open, maybe opening one or two more to compare or copy/paste things from other articles or check a YouTube video.. 4 separate spaces or someone with 40 tabs open or 6 YouTube videos playing at once is most certainly not normal usage.

Hear that, everyone? THAT'S normal usage, and what YOU'RE doing is just mental. And NO ONE really uses Spaces.

Dexterbell has spoken, and thus the debate is ended.

I guess with my work setup of of four Spaces (fullscreen Mail, Safari, PathFinder and Ulysses), I'm really pushing the functional envelope. I had no idea I was such a tech pioneer...

 

[3bs]

Hear that, everyone? THAT'S normal usage, and what YOU'RE doing is just mental. And NO ONE really uses Spaces.

Dexterbell has spoken, and thus the debate is ended.

I guess with my work setup of of four Spaces (fullscreen Mail, Safari, PathFinder and Ulysses), I'm really pushing the functional envelope. I had no idea I was such a tech pioneer...

I think you should get in touch with Apple so they take your advice onboard for the next gen.

 

[tecnho]

Video of UI lag?

In an effort to contribute relevant context that can possibly settle this argument, I have compiled some footage of UI lag on my early 2008 white macbook. Keep in mind that the lack of a gesture-capable trackpad has severely limited the available motions I can showcase


https://vimeo.com/126196505

 

[mattopotamus]

I don't have a video yet (I'll try one tonight) but I just tried and didn't get anywhere near the same amount of lag as the OP. Would the touchpad options (sensitivity and the like) have any effect on this?

I wouldn't think so. I have the sensitivity all the way up, and the scroll speed the highest too.

No, it's not normal usage. I don't know a single person who uses spaces, much less knows what it is. Normal usage is what I do. Safari browsing the net with 1 tab open, maybe opening one or two more to compare or copy/paste things from other articles or check a YouTube video.. 4 separate spaces or someone with 40 tabs open or 6 YouTube videos playing at once is most certainly not normal usage.

To be honest, that is mostly people who are not familiar with macs. Most people who have been using mac's over the years take advantage of spaces/mission control. It beats the hell out of cmd+tab.

I agree with the latter, but I had zero youtube tabs. Just 4 spaces, macrumors, my email, and another tab or two tops.

somewhat related: As someone who really loves the 11" air, I would die without spaces/mission control. It is the only reason the resolution is usable.

 

[dexterbell]

Hear that, everyone? THAT'S normal usage, and what YOU'RE doing is just mental. And NO ONE really uses Spaces.

Dexterbell has spoken, and thus the debate is ended.

I guess with my work setup of of four Spaces (fullscreen Mail, Safari, PathFinder and Ulysses), I'm really pushing the functional envelope. I had no idea I was such a tech pioneer...

Do you know what "average user" means? It means someone who isn't a power user. someone who needs 4 spaces with different desktops running at once and needs to swipe manically between them light speed is a power user. The same way someone using 25GB of cellphone data a month is not an average user, thats a power user. Why don't you poll 100 random people on the street and ask them how often they have 4 spaces with separate desktops running on their laptops. Im betting most will look at you puzzled. Heck, put up a poll on this very forum and Im willing to bet the AVERAGE user doesn't even use spaces much less need FOUR of them running at once.

 

[mattopotamus]

Do you know what "average user" means? It means someone who isn't a power user. someone who needs 4 spaces with different desktops running at once and needs to swipe manically between them light speed is a power user. The same way someone using 25GB of cellphone data a month is not an average user, thats a power user. Why don't you poll 100 random people on the street and ask them how often they have 4 spaces with separate desktops running on their laptops. Im betting most will look at you puzzled. Heck, put up a poll on this very forum and Im willing to bet the AVERAGE user doesn't even use spaces much less need FOUR of them running at once.

I can do similar task on a chromebook, iPad, iPhone, android phone. They have less UI lag. Those devices are for the "average" user.

A power user needs a macbook pro. Nothing I do should even scratch the surface of the core M

 

[SBruv]

Do you know what "average user" means? It means someone who isn't a power user. someone who needs 4 spaces with different desktops running at once and needs to swipe manically between them light speed is a power user. The same way someone using 25GB of cellphone data a month is not an average user, thats a power user. Why don't you poll 100 random people on the street and ask them how often they have 4 spaces with separate desktops running on their laptops. Im betting most will look at you puzzled. Heck, put up a poll on this very forum and Im willing to bet the AVERAGE user doesn't even use spaces much less need FOUR of them running at once.

For surely there can be no other definition of average user than that decreed by Dexterbell.

Your wisdom and insight, sir, are unassailable. We're truly blessed to have you here, keeping us in check with our fanciful notions, madcap usage scenarios and ostentatious workflows.

Thank you. Thank you.

 

[dexterbell]

I can do similar task on a chromebook, iPad, iPhone, android phone. They have less UI lag. Those devices are for the "average" user.

A power user needs a macbook pro. Nothing I do should even scratch the surface of the core M

You can have 4 desktop spaces running on an iPad or iPhone? Nothing you are doing is scratching the surface, you are complaining about a split second UI lag even the i5 rMBP 13 will do too. Most people aren't bothered by a slight animation lag. Good thing you got rid of it though, it wasn't for you.

 

[rahulr]

I can do similar task on a chromebook, iPad, iPhone, android phone. They have less UI lag. Those devices are for the "average" user.

A power user needs a macbook pro. Nothing I do should even scratch the surface of the core M

I don't want to get into a "power user" vs "average user" debate. I am merely an average person with a retina MB. I've posted pretty extensively on what I use my mac for. Which hasn't changed over the past 15 years. It's been office-type docs, watching videos (moreso now than 15 years ago), playing with photos in the photos app, listening to podcasts and music etc etc. Basic stuff.

I have at this moment have 4 spaces open, have mail in full screen mode, am listening to a podcast in iTunes, have a powerpoint presentation open, safari to read this forum, and am airplay mirroring to an apple tv and charging via a wall usb outlet.

With all those things I don't have any lag that bothers me and this is about 30% more than I would usually do.

Again, this is my personal experience and not one that I can say fits everyone, but for me, this device is more than enough.

 

[johngwheeler]

No, it's not normal usage. I don't know a single person who uses spaces, much less knows what it is. Normal usage is what I do. Safari browsing the net with 1 tab open, maybe opening one or two more to compare or copy/paste things from other articles or check a YouTube video.. 4 separate spaces or someone with 40 tabs open or 6 YouTube videos playing at once is most certainly not normal usage.

I can't agree with this definition of "normal"! I typically have anywhere up to 50 browser tabs open, divided between two or three browser windows, often in separate desktops - to separate work from personal, or different categories of research.

I'll also have at least two mail clients open (work & personal), several Preview windows with PDFs, VMWare Fusion running a Windows VM with 4GB RAM, Carbon Copy Cloner, TimeMachine, Evernote, an development IDE or Text Editor, some Java applications, Skype, and Spotify or iTunes.

This is my "normal".

I use a Mac Mini (16GB, quad-core) or rMBP 15 (16GB, quad-core), but I guess I could get by with less if I trimmed down my open apps, but I don't feel the need to bother at the moment.

Using the features available in Mac OS, such as desktops, mission control etc is not some aberration. The hardware, drivers etc. need to support these features, otherwise they should be disabled for the device. Apple does not generally attempt to provide a poor user experience because this is what their reputation is based on.

 

[Macbuyer7]

In an effort to contribute relevant context that can possibly settle this argument, I have compiled some footage of UI lag on my early 2008 white macbook. Keep in mind that the lack of a gesture-capable trackpad has severely limited the available motions I can showcase


https://vimeo.com/126196505

Wtf, that's brutal, laptop performs like it's from 2008!!!

....oh wait 😉

 

[holycat]

The UI lag is real and significant for 1.1 model

So it only lags when you try to do stuff like run 6 HD videos?

I have just tested three 1.1 MBs in the Brisbane Oz Apple Store. I can confirm that the 1.1 model suffers from severe UI lag even with just one iMovie, Safari and iTunes opened. In contrast, both 13 rMBP and 13 MBA, which I also tested, are silky smooth under the same condition.

I am waiting for my 1.3/512/Silver to arrive. If the 1.3 suffers the same problem, I am going to pass this MB ruthlessly.

 

[johngwheeler]

Strange, I didn't see this!

I have just tested three 1.1 MBs in the Brisbane Oz Apple Store. I can confirm that the 1.1 model suffers from severe UI lag even with just one iMovie, Safari and iTunes opened. In contrast, both 13 rMBP and 13 MBA, which I also tested, are silky smooth under the same condition.

I am waiting for my 1.3/512/Silver to arrive. If the 1.3 suffers the same problem, I am going to pass this MB ruthlessly.

Last week I did the same sort of test in the Sydney Apple store, and was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the base model.

I think I had the following apps open:

Safari with several tabs, including playing a YouTube video.
Fina Cut Pro X - did some video play back and scrubbing, but no encoding
Logic Pro - multitrack playback of demo song, bit of audio scrubbing
Preview - several of the demo PDFs
Photos - zooming photos
Multiple desktops - tried switching between them and using mission control.

The most lag I saw what doing Finder previews (hitting space after selecting a file). For some reason the preview took several seconds to render the demo PDFs.

It was also a little bit slow in opening Logic and Final Cut Pro - it took a couple of seconds before the "loading progress bar" appeared.

But these are pretty minor considerations.

I did NOT notice and scrolling lag in the browser, or stuttering when moving between desktops.

CPU kicked up to about 50-70% maximum when playing back a Flash movie, but the machine only barely got warm underneath.

My feeling is that either (1) the lag is very subjective - some people are bothered by it, others just take it in their stride, or (2) there are software bugs that surface in different circumstances.

I have read that some people say that the machine runs smoothly after startup for several hours or days, then becomes sluggish.

My recommendation to anyone would be to try running the software you think you will use before purchase. Even if you buy it and you later discover unacceptable performance you can still return it within a certain window!

 

[mattopotamus]

I have just tested three 1.1 MBs in the Brisbane Oz Apple Store. I can confirm that the 1.1 model suffers from severe UI lag even with just one iMovie, Safari and iTunes opened. In contrast, both 13 rMBP and 13 MBA, which I also tested, are silky smooth under the same condition.

I am waiting for my 1.3/512/Silver to arrive. If the 1.3 suffers the same problem, I am going to pass this MB ruthlessly.

It's really strange the differences people are seeing across the same models. I seriously think it has to do with CPU throttling at this point. It makes me think some units are being throttled to the point they almost do not function.

I checked a few out yesterday at my local store. They still had UI lag, but it was not as extreme as what I was seeing. Then it made me wonder if being plugged in matters? The ones in store are always plugged in, and I always used mine unplugged after initial set up. Someone who still has one should test performance plugged in vs unplugged.

 

[matt2053]

It's really strange the differences people are seeing across the same models. I seriously think it has to do with CPU throttling at this point. It makes me think some units are being throttled to the point they almost do not function.

I checked a few out yesterday at my local store. They still had UI lag, but it was not as extreme as what I was seeing. Then it made me wonder if being plugged in matters? The ones in store are always plugged in, and I always used mine unplugged after initial set up. Someone who still has one should test performance plugged in vs unplugged.

It has NOTHING to do with throttling. It lags even when CPU load is very light and temp is cool. It has NOTHING to do with power. It lags on battery and it lags on the charger.

It has nothing to do with any of those things. The problem is not unique to the MacBook. You see the same thing on a 13" rMBP. It's an issue that affects users who are:

1) on Yosemite.
2) have a Retina display.
3) have integrated graphics.
4) have transparency enabled.

For me the problem occurs about once every day or two or three. But it did the same on my 13" rMBP.

I'm sure if someone is coming from a MBA this is all new stuff, but for anyone who had a 13" rMBP running Yosemite this is old news.

 

[kingofwale]

for those who are more computer savvy.. do you think things like this can be fixed wit a software update?

because single swipe left to widget screen lags sometimes to. it annoys me a bit