Macbook Pro Retina 13" late 2013 (Haswell) UI Lag

My config: 2.6/16/256, 10.9 (Mavericks)


NOTE: Outside of the issues mentioned, this computer has been great. Awesome build quality, perfect size and weight, Retina screen is outstanding, CPU is snappy, boot and wake from sleep is blazing, it makes ZERO noise, even under heavy usage it only gets mildy warm and it gets great battery life.


Here's my problem: While the machine is wonderful in many aspects, it is far from the smooth experience we have come to expect from Apple products. As mentioned in the title, the UI is a step behind and the smooth transitions of non-retina models are stuttery a jerky on the retina.


Some examples of UI issues that I've replicated on floor models at the Apple store are:

1. Putting certain stock apps in fullscreen show choppy animation (Finder, Safari, Chrome, Maps) while others are buttery smooth (iPhoto).

2. Mission control stutters occasionally (usually when one of the above offenders are open).

3. Preview of any large .jpg or RAW image will cause significant lag when putting it into fullscreen. It literally trips the entire way.

4. Swiping between full screen apps will cause light animation stutter.


To troubleshoot it, I've done a few things.


1. Brought it to the genius bar. They checked all of the harware and ran a number of other diagnostics (including resetting the PRAM). While they confirmed the issues I have mentioned, they told me to wait for a software update that will resolve them.

2. Tried things that others have reportedly worked for them: Deleting windowservers in Library, etc.

3. Downloaded "Display Menu" from the App Store so that I can manipulate resolution settings. Interestingly enough, Display Menu hasn't optimized all of their settings for Retina and choosing any stock settings (including best for retina 1280x800) lowers the overall image quality. When in Display Menu's version of 1280x800, all of the problems (outide of the preview issue) dissapeared. Animations were back to being buttery smooth. This leads me to belive that Iris isn't quite up the the task of Retina.


I'm hoping that Apple didn't purposely release these Pro's without considering the GPU's ability to offer a "smooth ride". Has anyone else experienced this? If it is indeed a driver issue, I hope that Apple addresses this sooner than later. Based off of forums from early 2013 rMBP owners, it doesn't look like that will be the case.


Are you experiencing this also and have you found any true solutions?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9), 13-inch 2.6/16/256

Posted on Nov 10, 2013 9:30 PM

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355 replies

Oct 17, 2014 12:47 PM in response to pythogorian

I'm on 500px and I swear to you, on my rMBP it's gliding butter smooth. At least, as smooth as I'm sure it can be. One thing I noticed if your computer has lag, you can't even see the inertia scroll (when you zip scroll really fast, then it smoothly slows down). I got the inertia scroll at the moment. So yeah, this lag problem is definitely on a computer to computer basis.

Oct 17, 2014 12:58 PM in response to Community User

Also, my 500px doesn't lag at all. Is so smooth. Apparently, i lag only the genies-like effects (opening with space a picture) and the folders from dock. And it only lags when i open huge pictures, a 400x400 preview will be very smooth.


LE: Well, on Chrome it lags a bit, but not "i want to die kind". Also, i hate Chrome. On firefox, kinda the same as Chrome, lags a bit.


Also, i get a lot of weird visual "white stripes" bugs on the black version of the UI. But that only happens when i receive notifications as banners.

Oct 18, 2014 6:10 AM in response to stunner2002

This is generic. Most if then happen to all of us. For example most of my lags are toward genie effects. I havent fully tested scrolling through folders. Chrome sint that smooth for me. And fresh install or update, there s no difference. Tested today.

Oct 18, 2014 10:17 AM in response to JovZun

after updating to Yosemite, it seems like the UI lag has become worse, the visual effects are certainly exerting greater stress on the hardware. now even at a low res 1680×1050 there is some slight choppiness in the UI animation.


sigh all this is making me feel like getting the MBA instead. i wonder if all the Windows Ultrabooks with high resolution with similar hardware has the same problem, if not then something is wrong with OSX.

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Macbook Pro Retina 13" late 2013 (Haswell) UI Lag

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