Mountain Lion UI Lag on rMBP !!! (Let's Make this thread serious and hope for a fix)

I personally think the UI lagging bug is a serious issue on rMBP because this machine cost $2000 and up and it lags on UI features such as Mission Control and Space Switching while classic Macbook pros don't. I do understand that the retina display models carries a high resolution display, but I think the quad core CPU should have the ability to handle it (please correct me if I am wrong)



I am hoping and asking anyone experiencing the issue to follow up with this thread and post your concerns. Let's hope for a fix soon and we can really enjoy the beauty a Retina Macbook Pro brings to us.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jul 27, 2012 7:26 PM

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1,322 replies

Nov 11, 2012 11:13 AM in response to dsciel

I thought everything was resolved with the MacBook Pro/MacBook Air 2.0 update....boy I was wrong. Just use Safari go to Linkedin.com and mouseover the tiny user profile pictures. It causes the whole Safari browser to flicker big blocks all over. Now I'm using a 2007 iMac with Snow Leopard, running Safari and going to LinkedIn...NOTHING. NO FLICKER, NO ANOMALIES. PERFECT SCROLLING.


Seriously...what gives!!!?????

Nov 11, 2012 4:52 PM in response to Wayne Chin

Same here, not on linkedin but other sites strange blocks appearing.


Performance is a bit better but nothing near as smooth as my 2010 Imac.


Why does Apple not respond with a message? An update which nobody knows what it does, doesn't feel right. Please Apple tell us if it is a driver problem or hardware related!!!!!!!!!


In the last case I will end up putting my machine on Ebay.... Can not accept this poor performance for a 3000$ machine!! Come on no smooth scrolling and UI lag with this beast of a machine!! They always say: This is by far the best laptop, computer, telephone we have ever created..... I don't believe them anymore.


Don't get me wrong I loved Apple my whole life but now I feel they are close to the point that things are going to be real bad in the near future...


guess I miss Steve's vision or something...

Nov 11, 2012 9:27 PM in response to dsciel

Hopefully my observations will be helpful to the community:


My rMBP is the top build available (15", 2.7 Ghz, 16gb RAM, 768 Gb Flash Storage). Despite this fact, I'm still experiencing substantial lag. Here are a few details:


  • My computer is brand new. (Received it just yesterday).
  • It has no other software installed on it whatsoever. .
  • It came installed with Mountain Lion (10.8.1). I've since upgraded it to 10.8.2


Despite all of this, I still see a substantial amount of lag when scrolling through webpages - whether on safari or chrome. The lag is particularly noticeable when I hit the "stretch" or "bounce" animation at the top and bottom of any web page - without fail, my computer lags on those animations - and that's without regard to whether the webpages i'm viewing have a lot of content on them or not. .


Setting aside the lag I regularly encounter from the animations, I also see substantial lag when scrolling through webpages with a lot of content (facebook for example). My observation is that my scrolling lags 10-20% of the time on these kinds of pages. In other words if i scroll up and down quickly on theses kinds of webpages, every 5 to 10 times, one of my scroll gestures basically does nothing.


My lag is even further exaggerated if I scroll the webpage after I've zoomed in on it.


Quickly scrolling through webapges like facebook, the activity monitor shows my CPU under 75%-110% load for "Safari Web Content"


Some other important observations:

  • Upgrading to 10.8.2 did nothing to improve the scroll lag.
  • I observe the same substantial lag even with graphics switchign turned OFF. In other words, even when my comp is using the better graphics card full-time, it still lags.
  • I measured for lag in the following scenarios: (10.8.1+ graphics switching ON; 10.8.1 + Graphics swtiching OFF; 10.8.2 + graphics switching OFF; 10.8.2 + graphics switching ON) - lag has been substantial in all 4 scenarios.
  • Apple Care advised me to reset the pRAM - no improvement.
  • In SAFE MODE - i notice even slower operation, and very glitchy graphics for the dock magnification animation w/ horizontal lines running through them.



To say the least, I'm a little disappointed. A $4,000 laptop shouldn't struggle with something as basic as web browsing. It's my hope that this is something that apple can fix very soon with a software release - otherwise I think a return might be in order.


Thoughts/feedback, welcome.

Nov 11, 2012 9:40 PM in response to sharky114

My recommendation is to all those that just bought it, don't be hopeful for a update any time soon (if at all) Apple's main focus seems to be on iOS products because we haven't received the updates needed to make our computers funcitonal since this computer came out in Summer (and I'm a early adopter).


Just a note - I did the most recent update, since then (and even before) I'm having a lot of issues with airplay mirroring with Apple TV (constant freezing - my internet connection is 40mbps up and 25 down) also my computer has been freezing a awful lot lately. My safari even started crashing i had a really basic 11 inch macbook air before this that was flawless - im regretting selling that thing to fund this purchase.

Nov 11, 2012 9:44 PM in response to Ahzari

Not only does it appear that my commentw was deleted by the Admins. But your language in your post referencing that my thread was deleted - was also mysteriously deleted.


Here is my post again - let's see if it gets deleted this time.

-------------------------


Hopefully my observations will be helpful to the community:


My rMBP is the top build available (15", 2.7 Ghz, 16gb RAM, 768 Gb Flash Storage). Despite this fact, I'm still experiencing substantial lag. Here are a few details:


  • My computer is brand new. (Received it just yesterday).
  • It has no other software installed on it whatsoever. .
  • It came installed with Mountain Lion (10.8.1). I've since upgraded it to 10.8.2


Despite all of this, I still see a substantial amount of lag when scrolling through webpages - whether on safari or chrome. The lag is particularly noticeable when I hit the "stretch" or "bounce" animation at the top and bottom of any web page - without fail, my computer lags on those animations - and that's without regard to whether the webpages i'm viewing have a lot of content on them or not. .Setting aside the lag I regularly encounter from the animations, I also see substantial lag when scrolling through webpages with a lot of content (facebook for example). My observation is that my scrolling lags 10-20% of the time on these kinds of pages. In other words if i scroll up and down quickly on theses kinds of webpages, every 5 to 10 times, one of my scroll gestures basically does nothing.My lag is even further exaggerated if I scroll the webpage after I've zoomed in on it.Quickly scrolling through webapges like facebook, the activity monitor shows my CPU under 75%-110% load for "Safari Web Content"


Some other important observations:

  • Upgrading to 10.8.2 did nothing to improve the scroll lag.
  • I observe the same substantial lag even with graphics switchign turned OFF. In other words, even when my comp is using the better graphics card full-time, it still lags.
  • I measured for lag in the following scenarios: (10.8.1+ graphics switching ON; 10.8.1 + Graphics swtiching OFF; 10.8.2 + graphics switching OFF; 10.8.2 + graphics switching ON) - lag has been substantial in all 4 scenarios.
  • Apple Care advised me to reset the pRAM - no improvement.
  • In SAFE MODE - i notice even slower operation, and very glitchy graphics for the dock magnification animation w/ horizontal lines running through them.



To say the least, I'm a little disappointed. A $4,000 laptop shouldn't struggle with something as basic as web browsing. It's my hope that this is something that apple can fix very soon with a software release - otherwise I think a return might be in order.


Thoughts/feedback, welcome.

Nov 11, 2012 9:58 PM in response to synthetik

It's silly if any admin or mods are deleting. I get all of the posts from this thread sent straight to my inbox so thankfully not subject to the censuring.


I think that its reached a point where we should all send emails to our favourite tech blogs (the verge, engadget, etc) to further bring the issue to their attention. In reality their reviews should all be updated to mention these issues because aside from the pretty display it really is a broken user experience at a premium price. I was warned against going with a Mac and starting to reconsider any apple products from here on out.

Nov 11, 2012 10:02 PM in response to J Critchley

I was thinking exactly the same thing. Even news outlets like Huffington Post and Cnet would likely have interest in this since Apple is such a hot topic. I really think the only way to bring attention to the software/hardware problems of this edition of the MBP is through the media because Apple is seriously ignoring our concerns. Telling a customer to just wait for a update to solve horrible UI lag issues is unacceptable. Especially since this computer has been out since July..

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Mountain Lion UI Lag on rMBP !!! (Let's Make this thread serious and hope for a fix)

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