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13" Retina Macbook Pro slight trackpad lag

I just got my new retina macbook pro 2 weeks ago, 2.8ghz i5, 8gb RAM, 500gb storage.
It has been running smoothly whatsoever, but now i am noticing a slight lag when i move the trackpad. It only occurs, sometimes, if i let go of the trackpad for approx. 5 seconds or more, and i have to say that it is a very brief (<0.5 seconds) lag, but very annoying over time when you start noticing it.
To me it seems like a UI lag, because i have no other problems with the trackpad - the lag only occurs during "the first touch" so to speak, the only real way for me to describe it is, as if the trackpad has to wake up when it hasn't been used for a few seconds. I have already tried to reset PRAM and SMC - and no background processes seem to be eating up CPU.....
Any thoughts? Is this common behavior or?


Thanks in advance!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Aug 12, 2014 4:06 PM

Reply
103 replies

Aug 15, 2014 8:02 AM in response to mario49

Okay, so i tried booting in safe mode, but the lags still occurred. I also did a complete format and reinstall of my system, without improvements.


I did some more testing, and it turns out, that the lags also occur when scrolling after not having used the trackpad for a few seconds. I noticed that the keyboard also has a slight input lag if i let it sit idle in a text document (for a few seconds) and then start typing - there will be a slight delay until the first letters turn up on the screen. The lags are very tiny, but i don't notice them on my sisters older non retina 13" MBP.

Aug 15, 2014 12:00 PM in response to henriksn

This is really strange...
So i plugged my external mouse in (Logitech G9), tried to use the trackpad and then the lag was 100% gone. But as soon as i pull the external mouse out of the USB, it goes all laggy again. What is going on here? Is it some kind of power-saver that turns off the trackpad until the very moment it is touched? I am very confused....

Aug 16, 2014 11:29 AM in response to henriksn

Hi,


I have the exact same issue. Everything you describe is spot on. A tiny delay when using trackpad after it has been in idle for about 5 seconds. If I move it before this "time out" there is no delay. I also notice the same type of delay with the keyboard. I tried to connect an external mouse (Logitech MX) and, as in your case, the trackpad and keyboard delay disappeared.


I have a MacBook Pro Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014 (2.6Ghz/16GB/128GB) running OS X 10.9.4.

Aug 16, 2014 4:23 PM in response to mkiael

At least it is nice to hear that somebody else is noticing this, and that it isn't just me being oversensitive to lag..


I tried some other things to solve the problem:
1. Install mouse acceleration software called "SmoothMouse" with no success.

2. Install ControllerMate and tried to create a virtual mouse to simulate the input of an external mouse - also with no success.


In the upcoming week i will try to take my MBP to the local apple store and let them have a look at the problem, and i will try and see if i can compare my trackpad lag with some of the other MBP's in the store.


I just recently converted to Mac from PC, and have never experienced any sort of input lag like this before, no matter how sh***y the PC has been.... so i am pretty dissapointed from seeing it on a >2000$ machine that otherwise runs extremely smooth 😕

Aug 19, 2014 7:10 AM in response to henriksn

I spent my day today walking around in all the apple resellers in my city testing their MBP's for input lag, and i was not able to detect any - only 1 out 5 had the same issue as me - strange.


Afterwards i took my MBP to an apple reseller to troubleshoot and they just sent it to repair straight away without even looking at it - their hardware diagnostics couldn't detect anything though.


So now i will have to wait a couple of weeks and see if they find anything....

Aug 23, 2014 3:09 AM in response to Fernsehstuhl

I actually contacted Apple Support and they told me that this is common for all MBPs and that nothing should be done about it - so i guess we will just have to live with it then, sadly.
They couldn't give me an exact explanation to why it is happening but i'm guessing it is just a power saving feature of some sort :/ - If so, they should at least disable it when the power adapter is plugged in - or give us the option to disable it totally 😟




I also wonder if the "issue" is still there in Yosemite....

13" Retina Macbook Pro slight trackpad lag

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