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flo.riano Author

Level 1

14 points

Mouse cursor lags with external monitor

hello,

i have just purchased a dell u2913wm monitor with a native resolution of 2560x1080. when connected to my macbook air (with mountain lion) using a mini displayport cable my cursor starts lagging on both screens. basically, when i move the mouse along a line on my desk the cursor results in a very erratic trajectory. this occurs when using a usb mouse and with the integrated trackpad. if the monitor is turned off or unplugged the mouse is smooth again. .

a similar problem was reported a few years ago but somehow the thread is just archived ( https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1965949?start=0&tstart=0 ).

also, i had trouble with the monitor that osx recognised it as ypbpr, so i had to force it to treat it as rgb device, because otherwise the image was unsharp.

on my macbook (mid 2010) running mavericks the cursor is smooth, so the monitor and the cable are apparently not faulty.

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 12:23 PM

Top-ranking reply

R.Beck

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Nov 21, 2016 10:21 PM

SOLUTION HERE:

Unplug screen connector (In my case mini-dp to HDMI) on the mini-dp end and plug it in again.

I personally use both bluetooth keyboard and trackpad, running OSX Sierra on a MacBook Air early 2015.

This solved the cursor lag after sleep.

Note: The cursor lag is both for the onboard AND external trackpad.

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208 replies

R.Beck

Level 1

4 points

Nov 21, 2016 10:23 PM in response to fagnerFFS

For me it works to unplug the external screen (I only use an external screen) and plug it in again. No more cursor lag.

Nov 30, 2016 12:08 AM in response to flo.riano

Hello,

I have the same problem with my mouse on my late 2014 MBP. Must mention that my mouse is not a BT mouse, but a wifi Asus model.

I solved the lag problem by understanding first the issue. I didn't thought for a second that a lagging mouse problem can be linked to transparency of the background for example..like I saw in other cases.. or modifying other type of settings. It just didn't make any sense and it also seemed batshit crazy to me to think so. It's like changing a wireless router signal problem by repainting the walls in another color.

So my thought was what if my monitor(which is a Phillips and not a Dell like in most cases) is making some sort of antenna with it's HDMI cable and the thunderbolt HDMI adaptor, that blocks or interfere with my mouse wifi signal.

So all I did was to wrap some aluminum foil on the HDMI connection from the monitor with the HDMI connection from the thunderbolt adaptor. It all worked well. And just to make sure that this was the problem, I've taken down the foil to see if the lagging appears again, and it did, just seconds after the removal of the foil. Put the foil back and it disappeared.

So until it will start lagging again, and I surely hope it will not, I'm sticking my guns to a more realistic approach than changing background transparencies like I've saw on other cases.. 🙂

I'm sticking to this theory for now and I hope it would solve your/others problem too.

Cheers!

jokerg7

Level 1

4 points

Dec 1, 2016 7:21 AM in response to flo.riano

Man thank you for this so much.

I was just about to return a great display as I couldn't handle the lag. This resolved it ALL!

ctrip

Level 1

12 points

Dec 8, 2016 4:16 PM in response to R.Beck

This one works like magic. Though Apple should fix the issue so that we don't have to use such tricks.

Mar 23, 2017 1:28 PM in response to flo.riano

Wrapping the display cable in tinfoil fixes this issue.

annivun

Level 1

9 points

Apr 24, 2017 3:24 PM in response to mihaifromtimisoara

With all of the tech, this just blows my mind. Tin foil. It actually makes sense - however this means if you had a USB cabled mouse, it would work perfectly right?

TheERROR

Level 1

11 points

Sep 11, 2017 2:32 AM in response to jclevesque

Absolutely same problem... Dell mouse... it's working on EVERY different device, BUT MBP.
<irony>Well, I'm so lucky, that MBP is so cheap... </irony>

Oct 16, 2017 3:15 PM in response to alxdw

I can confirm that this was exactly the cause of the issue when i was experiencing it. Moving the dongle from the HDMI side to the opposite side fixed it instantly.

Shid3vil

Level 1

20 points

Oct 16, 2017 11:01 PM in response to flo.riano

Just to note i was using an usb hub beside the HDMI port. Which was interfering with my magic mouse 2.

Another way i found working was to wrap tinfoil around the connectors. it works well.

Oct 23, 2017 5:21 AM in response to brett.is.legend

Confirm from my side as well. Moving infra-red receiver for my wireless mouse to another side of Mac from HDMI cable solve the mouse freezing!

hzzzz

Level 1

4 points

Nov 22, 2017 8:30 PM in response to flo.riano

I had this same problem on my macbook pro 2017 w/ touch bar and was able to solve it simple by connecting to usb-c ports on the other side of the laptop... weird.

fFeu

Level 1

12 points

Jan 5, 2018 12:30 PM in response to Kraasa

Incredible, 5 years later, brand new Macbook, same issue, same solution.

Thanks, Kraasa

Mar 15, 2018 5:43 AM in response to flo.riano

I had the lag too; When I moved the hdmi hub away from the power outlet and away from any other adapter, lag has stopped

Mouse cursor lags with external monitor