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

@ichinoda

yes, I completely disabled the stupid Dashboard which can eat up around 500mb-1GB of memory, f***k that!

to disable the Dashboard: http://www.ernieflores.net/osx-page-4/how-to-completely-disable-dashboard/

changing wake/sleep time to 24hours (or any number of hours other than 1 hour):

http://www.cultofmac.com/221392/quick-hack-speeds-up-retina-macbooks-wake-from-s leep-os-x-tips/

Also, you can free up 'inactive' memory (open Activity Monitor, and on the down left side you will see 'inactive') by using the command 'purge' in terminal.

Thanks for this!

Hey, I removed the Dashboard (I had a lot of things there) and so far I've been working all afternoon almost without any issues, just a bit of lag sometimes. Usually my MBPr struggles with the work I'm doing now

And while I was at it, I disabled Mission Control as well, and I swear my computer doubled in speed and waaay less lag!! Restart and shutdown is nearly instant, same with LCD wake up (opening clamshell) Brilliant!!

I've had the wake/sleep time changed since the first week I owned the machine. I disabled dashboard and saw a significant improvement, but after about 10 min the lag came back, but it wasn't as severe as before. I will continue to use it with the dashboard disabled and report back with any updates.

I am currently running 10.8.4 Beta 12E40, with Mission Control and Dashboard disabled, and I can say I've got about a 75% gain in graphic smoothness. iPhoto pinch and zoom is definitely faster and smoother, and Safari is running closer to Webkits (and Webkits kept crashing under the new build for some reason...maybe they fixed that by now)

Maybe there will be sunnier days ahead. We'll all have to wait and see.

So my latest response from Apple is that they don't endorse any type of Terminal coding activity found on the internet. It's almost as though any tinkering I do "outside the envelope" will void the warranty or something. Bottom line he's cut off communication with me as my tests at the Genius Bar has come up with nothing, despite the fact that my laptop clearly lags compared to the floor models.

Even with my latest tweaks of shutting off Dashboard and Mission Control, my experience with this device is tainted.
So, shall I sell this device and go back to the classic MacBook Pros? But by doing so I've lost more than $650 from its initial value. Either way I'm losing patience and money.
Thanks Apple. I buy the top of the line model and you leave me with a sinking ship 😟

Wayne,

Just follow the terminal coding instructions we've put here and give it a go. All terminal instructions can be revert back to it's default values once you've tested them.

Any genius bar employee who says that tinkering with terminal coding is a warranty voiding, compleltly lies to you. any mac machine on any Apple store is heavyly modified for 'speed' , 'power balace' and 'stability', this means they usually uses modefined (terminal, plists...etc) version of OSX or using a 3rd party applications.

I've seen this and I know this.

Plus, Genius bar is a waste of time, sending machines for 'repair' is a waste of time (unless u have the LG screen or the fan issue) because it is mostly software/driver problem or the iffeciecy of the installed onboard GPU to handle back/front buffers (hench the lag and/or ghosting effects).

Either cope up with the lag (reduce it as much possible, with terminal tinketing) and use the machine or change to a lower end mac book machine with no retina.

those are the only options you have.

and remember, it may be down $600 today, but tomorrow it may be $605 (and so on), so do the right move you think it is best for your needs.

My needs are web developing / writing books / stock market,

thereof I don't not really care of any 'system' lag (not that I have any due to terminal tinkering) anymore.

let's face it, no one scroll at the speed of lighting in any web browser just to see the 'lag' and then ***** about it, no one presses the 'Mission Control' 200 times a day just to ***** about the lag...etc

so there must be some level of propotion and percentage you're willing to deal with any (low or big) amount of lag.

Dear, Wizzra, you are totally right but there is left one HUGE problem, it is feelings! When you are working on machine with price >2,5K USD and understanding that it does not work so much greater than your's previous 8 years old MacBook's (with SSD drive inside) you become upset a little bit 🙂

Poidet,

that's true. no machine worth 2K "should" act slower than a 400$ random Laptop, let alone any Macbook pro that is not Retina.

but than, it's clearly that Apple ain't gonna consider any position in this matter (replacement or cashback) so all you have to do is managing your options.

1) Sell, get lower end Machine, enjoy a "lag free" machine.

2) Get a perspective on what a "lag" is and consider it to your daily use and keep the machine.

Even lamborghinis/Ferraris have issues (performence, mechanical...etc), even if in the end you end up moving from point A to point B just like ANY car would.

Wizzra, somehow I'm thinking that lambo or ferrari won't keep silent if all their car will be moved like horse (only horse, not 1K horses). But Apple keeping silent, ignoring all of us, and actually even do not trying to do something.

I've read here many times that peoples bring their devices to store many times, and in result the did not solve that problem. A lot of us working with MBP, not playing, this is why I can't bring it to store and let them 1 or 2 weeks hold it. This is why I still have small hope that they will fix it, but my brain telling me, come on dude sell it, you had to do that 6 month ago 🙂 How greate was snow leopard on my old MacBook with SSD, it was just unbelievable. One problem was there - fan, it was everytime hot and noice enough 😟

My opinion, ML and Lion big FAIL like Vista and Windows8.

And we still can't surely say that our problem in drivers or Operation system. Market does not have any retina display smooth working Operation system, except mobile phones and pads. And this is sad

You tell 'em, bidet!

You're ****** right it's about feelings! Certainly in all my 25 years with Apple computers this is truly the first time I've whined so much! Pretty unprofessional, but as you said, poidet, $2.5-3K is a lot to invest and the expectation, as it has in all these years, should be satisfaction.

I formated the system and disabled Dashboard. Installed all my applications again, everything I used. No lag for a month.

Yesterday I installed Xcode with Command Line Tools and the lag is back. Safari is lagging like crazy when scrolling.

As of May 8, the laggy UI problem remains intact. I had my first rMBP replaced after two weeks and the replacement (one week old) is just about the same. Just wonder whether we will see any improvement in the next Mac OS X iteration. I sincerely hope so very much.

In the meantime, I guess I will just have to get used to it.