Mouse cursor lags with external monitor

I have found that if the Chrome browser is closed, the problem goes away!

It goes away partially if you reduce the # of tabs open.

My hunch is that Chrome takes up such of lot of the computer's resources that it affects display performance.

I'm currently using OS X 10.10.3 and your tip did the trick! Thanks!

Glad to see this thread. Have had problems for years with magic mouse bluetooth mouse lag on mid-2010 15 MBP in clamshell mode driving NEC 2490. Works fine w/o the ext display. I was about to buy a new external dispay but seems the problem is my mac/OSX. If I had the space I'd operate in non-clamshell but I don't.

I have a 2014 13" MBP Retina connected to two Dell U2413 monitors via Display port to miniDP at work, and just recently started getting some mouse lag. My solution which has worked 100% so far after 1 month is to plug in the monitors and the USB connection (keyboard/mouse going to the monitor's USB hub), then turn off one of the monitors, wait for the screens to refresh to two screens, then turning it back on again. Lag gone. Still inconvenient, yes, but I'd rather do this for 10-15 seconds than have to deal with a mouse lag/skip all day.

This worked for me too.

I have : MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), Yosemite 10.10.3, Samsung monitor via HDMI port & a logitech m305 wireless mouse, I switched the logitech usb dongle from the right side of the MBP (which is beside the HDMI port) to the left side USB and the lag has disappeared !

Same problem here as a lot of people are having. iMac using magic mouse connected to external display via Displayport to HDMI adaptor. Everything is fine until I turn off the external display which results in the screen freezing / mouse lagging issue. I've tried the various tips mentioned here but no joy. If I let the iMac switch off the screen itself after a few mins of screen saver and power off the monitor when I return and log in again its fine. This is all well and good if I'm going away for a while but if I'm still using the system and don't want the extra screen on for hours when I'm not using it I have to disconnect and reconnect the Displayport cable when the external screen is off to return things to normal.

Maybe a short cut to switch off the main screen via a keystroke might be a work around for when powering off the external monitor but its far from ideal.

I'm using Yosemite 10.10.4

Fintan

/Edit - Right as a workaround for this issue I found pressing CMD-SHIFT-EJECT will turn off screen without powering off Mac, then switch off your external display and then hit space and you are back in action - but again seriously? having to do this is crazy.

I have a MBP Mid 2014 attached to an ASUS MX 279 via HDMI and experienced the mentioned mouse lag.

MBP switches automatically to Standard resolution and to "60 Hz (NTSC)".

After switching the monitor settings manually to "50 Hz (PAL)" I do not experience any lag anymore.

Hope that helps!

H1

I have been experience this problem lately, both with an existing Microsoft USB Wireless Mobile Mouse 400, and with a new GearHead BT7950 Bluetooth mouse I bought today.

It definitely happens every time I have a YouTube video window playing on my external monitor, both in Chrome or in Firefox.

The monitor is connected by MiniDP and I have tried two different monitors with the same result.

If I move the YouTube browser window to the laptop screen, the lag goes away within 20-30 seconds.

It must have something to do with the amount of data passing through the MiniDP/Thunderbolt bus, which must share some low level bus or clock with USB and Bluetooth.

I have noticed. A lot of it has to do with the position of the macbook. I had the same exact issue and all i did was slightly move my macbook towards the mouse since the back was facing my mouse and my lid was 80% closed.

I opened the lid slightly and move it a little towards the mouse and the jerks went off right away. I also had the same issue with the wifi. I moved the position of the macbook and placed it right under the thunderbolt display and the wifi started working in clamshell mode. None of it makes sense to me but it worked.

I changed my display sleep from "Never" to 3 minutes and it took care of the issue. Mid 2012 MBPr.

Hi, seems I know the reason and have working solution. I had same problem on my Macbook Pro 13, and seems the reason is a HDMI conflict with USB mouse radio transmitter.

The solution helped to is is just to use USB on the other side from HDMI port.

Anyone can confirm this works? Interesting is it cable related or port related problem?

So happy to stumble upon your message, and couldn't believe it was so simple (and dumb 😉 ) !

Mouse lag stopped instantly.

You're the best.

this works... thanks much, its a big problem to work with this nonsense happening.

The proposed solution by @nakrill and @alxdw worked for me as well. I moved my wireless mouse USB dongle from the right side (where it was next to the HDMI port) to the left and the mouse drag/skip went away.

My setup:

15" Macbook Pro Retina mid 2015

El Capitan

Logitech wireless mouse

HDMI port connecting to a Samsung monitor

Just a quick update to this...while moving the mouse USB dongle to the right side did help significantly with the mouse lag, it didn't eliminate it completely. I hope Apple fixes this with an OS update soon, as this is really annoying and frustrating.