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What should I do? MBPr 13"

J

jackson93

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 21, 2015
31
3
So I just bought the base 13 inch MBPr with 128GB ssd and onboard graphics 3 days ago. Using it mostly for my studies. Average workload consists of a few open pages on safari, word, excel and other college student stuff at the same time.

Since I experienced lag I started browsing the web and discovered this forum. Reading through the posts I can tell that alot of people have lagging issues with the macbook pro's (on Yosemite). The funny thing is though, that the same models with bootcamp on windows 10 don't suffer lag, from what I can tell.

This tells me that it is not a hardware issue, but rather a software (OS) issue. Rumor has it that El Capitan will show up on the appstore on 30 september and get rid off all these lags.




So my question is:
- Would you guys recommend me to stay with it untill the El Capitan update comes through and resolves this? (if it's true obviously)

- Or would you recommend me to return it and buy a windows laptop, which I do not prefer over the design of the macbooks, to get instead. And maybe even save some money.




p.s. I prefer the macbook over windows laptops all day any day. It is built better, it looks better and syncing with iphone is just so damn convenient. But the fact is, I want what I paid for, and if these laggs keep on even with El Capitan and my return periode is past due, I will be pissed :eek:. Because if there's one thing I hate it's lag.


None native English speaker bytheway
 
I've been on El Capitan GM for the last week or two on my machine, and while it's not a huge feature update, it does seem to run a little smoother. I would try El Capitan before returning. If you can get access to the GM before your return date, I say go for it.
 
spiderman0616 said:
I've been on El Capitan GM for the last week or two on my machine, and while it's not a huge feature update, it does seem to run a little smoother. I would try El Capitan before returning. If you can get access to the GM before your return date, I say go for it.
Click to expand...

Well I hope it runs alot smoother. Seriously, at this moment it even lags while scrolling through a pdf file. I disabled transparancy too, since that would supposedly improve the fps.

So because i'm relatively new to the OSX platform:
- How can I upgrade to the GM (I guess that means the beta) version
- Will it be unstable?
- Is there a chance I would lose data?
 
jackson93 said:
Well I hope it runs alot smoother. Seriously, at this moment it even lags while scrolling through a pdf file. I disabled transparancy too, since that would supposedly improve the fps.

So because i'm relatively new to the OSX platform:
- How can I upgrade to the GM (I guess that means the beta) version
- Will it be unstable?
- Is there a chance I would lose data?
Click to expand...

That's where I can't help you much, I'm afraid. I am running the GM (gold master) because I got an email invite from Apple to do so. It's basically the state El Capitan should be in when it releases to the public barring any minor updates they make between now and then. It's not a beta but also not quite the official release yet.

Some others may be able to point you to a reliable place to download/install it, but I don't think you can get it through just the regular public beta program.

I will also say that when I got this Macbook, I started it as a fresh machine. I did not restore it from an old install. Even so though, I did see improvements between Yosemite and El Capitan.
 
spiderman0616 said:
That's where I can't help you much, I'm afraid. I am running the GM (gold master) because I got an email invite from Apple to do so. It's basically the state El Capitan should be in when it releases to the public barring any minor updates they make between now and then. It's not a beta but also not quite the official release yet.

Some others may be able to point you to a reliable place to download/install it, but I don't think you can get it through just the regular public beta program.

I will also say that when I got this Macbook, I started it as a fresh machine. I did not restore it from an old install. Even so though, I did see improvements between Yosemite and El Capitan.
Click to expand...

No problem, thanks anyway. I started my MB fresh too, clean setup.



I tried this thing before i bought my MBPr (dutch site): http://www.laptopshop.nl/product/535008/acer-aspire-r7-371t-75g6.html

It has intel 5500 graphics and a 2560 x 1440 pixels touchscreen. So a similar GPU, but works butter smooth, no lag, and decent resolution.


What I can't justify in my mind is, why do the MBPr's lag so much? The retina screen isn't that much of a difference from the model stated above. Or is it?



Don't get me wrong. I am liking the MBPr alot. As I said, I got it for it's design, workflow, sync with ios and ofcourse the "stable" OS. Everything is excellent except for the lag, the laggs man. There are just no reasons to have them with these specs. Especially when I don't even run demanding programs.



sidenote: I just updated to 10.10.5 approximetely 15 minutes ago and I can tell that internetpages load quicker now. I guess the wifi reception is better with this update.
 
CoastalOR said:
Try downloading and installing the 10.10.5 Combo Update.
Here is the page for the combo updater (about 2 Gb):
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1832?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

You can install the 10.10.5 combo update even though you have already updated to 10.10.5 The Combo update installs all modified files from 10.10 to 10.10.5. The delta update from the App Store sometimes causes errors.
Click to expand...

What would be the benefit of updating via the combo installer? Because I just updated normally from the appstore..
 
You'll still be within the 14 days return window so there's no point in not waiting for the new OS release and giving it a shot. I do recommend doing a clean install of El Capitan, direct OS upgrades tend to mess things up every now and then...
 
CoastalOR said:
Try downloading and installing the 10.10.5 Combo Update.
Here is the page for the combo updater (about 2 Gb):
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1832?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
You can install the 10.10.5 combo update even though you have already updated to 10.10.5 The Combo update installs all modified files from 10.10 to 10.10.5. The delta update from the App Store sometimes causes errors.
Click to expand...
jackson93 said:
What would be the benefit of updating via the combo installer? Because I just updated normally from the appstore..
Click to expand...
I bolded what it does from my previous post. Making sure ALL of the latest files from previous versions are installed might help with your lag problem.
 
jackson93 said:
So I just bought the base 13 inch MBPr with 128GB ssd and onboard graphics 3 days ago. Using it mostly for my studies. Average workload consists of a few open pages on safari, word, excel and other college student stuff at the same time.

Since I experienced lag I started browsing the web and discovered this forum. Reading through the posts I can tell that alot of people have lagging issues with the macbook pro's (on Yosemite). The funny thing is though, that the same models with bootcamp on windows 10 don't suffer lag, from what I can tell.

This tells me that it is not a hardware issue, but rather a software (OS) issue. Rumor has it that El Capitan will show up on the appstore on 30 september and get rid off all these lags.




So my question is:
- Would you guys recommend me to stay with it untill the El Capitan update comes through and resolves this? (if it's true obviously)

- Or would you recommend me to return it and buy a windows laptop, which I do not prefer over the design of the macbooks, to get instead. And maybe even save some money.




p.s. I prefer the macbook over windows laptops all day any day. It is built better, it looks better and syncing with iphone is just so damn convenient. But the fact is, I want what I paid for, and if these laggs keep on even with El Capitan and my return periode is past due, I will be pissed :eek:. Because if there's one thing I hate it's lag.


None native English speaker bytheway
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're not happy with it so I'd take it back and get a Windows laptop. Mid-2015 mbps are crippled by only running Yosemite or El Cap (i.e. no Mavericks). Buyer's remorse, etc.
 
dogslobber said:
Sounds like you're not happy with it so I'd take it back and get a Windows laptop. Mid-2015 mbps are crippled by only running Yosemite or El Cap (i.e. no Mavericks). Buyer's remorse, etc.
Click to expand...

Like I said. I love everything about it except the lag.
 
Update: Called Applecare today and they told me to restore the system OS. After a couple of hours I can guarantee that it still lags.




Since I didn't get any satisfying answers from the worker I decided to do my own test.

Update 2: I went to the applestore today just to test out different Macs and to see if they lag too.
I opened a pdf file, that I know lagged on my MBPr at home, when scrolling, just plain scrolling and pinch and zoom. I tried this on my Hackintosh too and a surface 3 at another store.

I Opened this on three different macs:
MBPr 13" base model: it lagged exactly like mine
MBPr 15" base model: it lagged
iMac 5k base model: it lagged

Windows 10 pc:
Microsoft surface pro 3 with only intel 4200 graphics: no lag

My Hackintosh:
Asus GT 640 / i7 4770k / Full HD monitor: no lagg (running mavericks)




With the 2 MBPr I wasn't surprised because of the onboard graphics. But with the iMac I was really surprised there was lag since it has an AMD Radeon R9 M290 2 GB. On the Hackintosh however, there was no lag with a very low-end graphics card. (however it is running it on a 1080p screen).




My conclusion: With this simple test it is obvious it isn't the hardware that's lagging. it is the software that isn't optimalized (yosemite). My mavericks Hackintosh doesn't lag and works like a charm when multitasking.

I hope El Capitan will fix the lagging issues. I would love this machine if the lags weren't there. Now I just adore the looks, but it isn't functional to use for multitasking (yet).
 
Can you upload that PDF somewhere and share it with us?
I'm really curious to see what you have there that laggs so badly on every Mac...
Has it occurred to you that perhaps YOU are the problem? :)
 
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Ofcourse, but how do I upload a pdf file for all you guys to see?

Basically the test was: Opening a pdf and scrolling fastly imitating like I am searching for something on a specific page. Also some pinching and zooming with the trackpads. And then I looked how well the macs could keep up with that and if lagging occured.

The pdf document was just a little eperiment. Ofcourse it isn't a real benchmark. But I found it interesting that an iMac for example with a dedicated GPU even troubled with lagging on such a simple task.

It was to check whether the lagging was only with my mac or with others too. So yeah, let me know how to upload this to you guys and let me know if you experience any issues.

Sidenote: everything was tried on OSX 10 yosemite.
 
Last edited:
Just because I'm now curious, I just opened a 6 page PDF on my Macbook Pro and scrolled up and down very quickly. No lag here.
 
spiderman0616 said:
Downloaded and opened the file. I'm not seeing what the issue is here.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you don't.

But the fact is, there are numerous people complaining about lag issues with macs lately. I guess you got lucky or maybe our ideas of lag are different?

for example:
 
Last edited:
jackson93 said:
I'm glad you don't. But the fact is, there are numerous people complaining about lag issues with macs lately.
Click to expand...

The Retina Macs do lag.

I had a 13" MBA (2011) previously. That thing ran absolutely buttery smooth! However, I replaced it last year with the 13" rMBP. First thing I noticed was how much the rMBP lagged while scrolling through websites and PDFs. My MacBook Air never did this, and felt like a much snappier computer, in day-to-day use. Even though it was three years older and had a lousy GPU. Personally I didn't like the display of the MBA, so I've accepted the slight UI lag, in favor of the amazing retina screen.

However, the lag of my rMBP has been greatly reduced with the release of Yosemite, and I expect El Capitan will do the same. In all honesty though, if you can't stand the UI lag I strongly recommend you maybe consider a MacBook Air.
 
First gen maxed out 13" rMBP here... it's butter smooth ( scrolling, zooming, navigation, etc. ) using default Preview app. What exactly were you doing with that PDF? Were you by any chance resizing the window? That's not hardware related lag... it does look ugly sometimes, but it's the dumb software ( Preview + the OS rendering engine ) trying to readjust and scale the content on almost every mouse move and it clearly can't always keep up with the speed you're resizing the window at. Other PDF readers might be smarter and more performant in this matter ( e.g. Acrobat Reader / Pro is visibly worse, it struggles even with the scrolling... either way, it's not a hardware issue ).

Future OSX / App versions might eventually eliminate such issues. It's only really annoying ( in my opinion ) if you're used to resizing windows quite often... personally, I almost never do that because everything I run is 99.9% of the time fully maximised ( not full screen, just maximised ). Up to you...
 
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