MacBook Pro Retina suddenly become slow

Quite a few people have been having this issue and have said that an SMC reset solved their problem

My retina MacBook Pro has had terrible graphics performance problems for a couple of weeks. I searched all over various forums and tried everything: resetting SCM, manually selecting discrete/integrated graphics card, deleting graphics kexts, etc. Nothing helped until I found this: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4391500

Now my rMBP has silky smooth graphics again!

The directions in that post are a little hard to understand so I cleaned them up here:

Step 1: Delete system windowserver preferences

1. In the Finder, from the menu bar, select "Go -> Go to Folder..."
2. Enter: /Library/Preferences/
3. Delete the file called com.apple.windowserver.plist

Step 2: Delete user windowserver preferences

1. In the Finder, from the menu bar, select "Go -> Go to Folder..."
2. Enter: ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/
3. Delete all files that start with com.apple.windowserver (On my rMBP, there was one file called com.apple.windowserver.12AFB147-95D6-5C70-8F62-C1E4F2BE81BE)

Step 3: Reset the PRAM

(These instructions are from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379)

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.

Hopefully this helps others with bad graphics performance on retina MacBook Pros.

For anyone that wants to check out the problematic plists from my rMBP, here are the files:

http://jherrman.com/slow-rmbp-2012/com.apple.windowserver.plist

http://jherrman.com/slow-rmbp-2012/com.apple.windowserver.12AFB147-95D6-5C70-8F6 2-C1E4F2BE81BE.plist

Jeremy Herrman

Major major problem: my brand new 15" retina MacBook suddenly operates extremely slow. So slow I can't get anything done, and startup takes forever. I've noticed that if I sleep it, and wake it up, it operates at normal speed for about 10 seconds, then massively slows down. The fans come on full speed. Activity monitor cpu graph shows that 'system' is running over 105%, but I cannot identify which process it is, because no process takes up more than 5%. I have tried resetting the pram. I have done all dial repair procedures. I have force quit all apps and all threads that I can see. Still nothing. I'm panicking. Latest osx, all software updates. The slowness starts at login. Please help!

I've tried all of the above, but no change..

SMC Reset Didnt help me 😟 can anyoneshed some light?

Running CS GO counter strike and I am seeing a huge reduction in my video FPS.... Its almost unuseable...

and the reset did not help at all....

Did this but to no avail.

The issue has gotten so bad that now I need to reset at least once a day in order to use the computer.

And the thing is... the mbp is my secondary "leisure" computer I have when working on the mac pro. So besdies having safari and adium open, it's literarily not doing anything else and this issue happens when I step out and come back a few hours later (or leave it on overnight).

Seegem in Activity Monitor you need to choose All Processes not just My Processes. This will allow you to identify what process is causing the CPU to work so hard.

Ok. I have a 15 inch retina on order and just found out about all these issues regarding slowdowns because of the 1.0 EFI update. I'm very worried about performace. I'll be editing a lot of video and really need this laptop to work at full tilt.

Has anyone heard of news about a new EFI update with this model?

Thanks

Ok, let me add my experience to this annoying issue.

Yersterday I went to the Palo Alto Store and got my Macbook Pro Retina checked at the genius bar. The guy ran the standard tests like hard drive, memory and so on.

As soon as he checked my serial number and that basically I explained to him that my retina MBP was so slow at some times he inmediatly said: "We know about this problem, we have it already documented, and your serial number is on that batch". Then he said: "We still have no solution to provide, but we will keep you posted, or we will update soon any info about it online".

My concern is my warranty, and should be yours too. And you guys should just basically do the same: go to the Apple store, complain about this, and get your serial number checked.

I'm a long time Mac user and you know the rule: NEVER BUY A FIRST GENERATION PRODUCT FROM APPLE. Truth is, I ALWAYS buy first generation and I've never had such a terrible experience like this before. This is my 30th mac (or maybe even more, I'm not couting) and it's been a mess. Buying a "high end" computer with retina monitor to get horrible performance with "10fps" epic moments is not cool. This is the first time I feel like "I prefer to work on my old 2011 MacBook Air than this thing" and I'm really upset about their answer: "there's currently no solution about this problem" doesn't fix my problem.

Apple, fix this thing already, or just replace the god **** computers already if you are aware of this "small problem".

This worked for me!!! Great solution!

thanks

This worked for me.. Last week I had my screen and logicboard replaced at the apple store Amsterdam, that didn't help at all. Deleting the windowserver preferences did. Thanks so much!

Thanks a lot , the PRAM reset solved the problem and following all three steps

Wow, this actually worked for me! I have a Mid-2010 Macbook pro. NOT retina. Had this computer for 5 1/2 years before this problem started. Basically, after 5 or so minutes in WoW, especially with raid situations, the fps would drop to 5 fps or so. Then, the fan would wind down as if the processor was no longer working hard. I could fix the problem only by restarting the computer, but it would start again after 5 mins. Thought it was a failing graphics card. The PRAM rest solution worked. Thank you.