Some 2015 13" MacBook Pro Users Complain About UI Lag

A limited but growing number of 2015 MacBook Pro users have turned to the MacRumors discussion forums with complaints about user interface lag on OS X Yosemite. The lag results in slow or choppy animations and graphics across multiple areas of OS X, including opening Mission Control or Launchpad, launching full-size applications, resizing windows and scrolling through web pages.

A pair of threads related to the issue have received close to 200 replies and 20,000 views within the discussion forums, with some users that previously experienced UI lag offering advice on how to resolve the problem. One potential solution involves resetting the Mac's PRAM, while temporary workarounds listed include increasing contrast and reducing transparency under the Accessibility menu in System Preferences.

Forum Discussion Threads

" 2015 Macbook Pro's Intel Iris 6100 is so choppy in Yosemite" posted by cookies!

"2015 rMBP problems: 5-6 hours of battery life & major UI lag" posted by Youhoney

It is worth noting that new Macs may experience slower performance after booting up for the first few times as the computer indexes. It is also recommended that affected users perform a clean installation of OS X Yosemite to ensure that the issues are not the result of restoring from a backup. But the issues persist for some, with MacRumors forum member "cookies!" claiming that his 2015 MacBook Pro has "the most significant lag" of "any laptop on Yosemite" he's ever used.

"I know that Retina displays are taxing on GPUs, but the Intel 6000 series seems incapable of driving this display without extreme choppiness in Yosemite for a number of actions— Mission Control, switching between windows, opening new windows, etc," reads a post in the MacRumors forums. "This is the most significant lag I've experienced on any laptop on Yosemite. My old 2010 Macbook Pro 13" doesn't lag this bad on Yosemite."

While complaints of user interface lag have resurfaced following Apple's release of the 2015 MacBook Pro, similar issues have been reported in the Apple Support Communities, Reddit, Stack Exchange and MacRumors discussion forums by owners of 13" and 15" mid-2012 through mid-2014 Retina MacBook Pro models. The problems appear to be mainly limited to notebooks running OS X Yosemite.

Tags: OS X Yosemite, UI lag

Top Rated Comments

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paul00

53 months ago

The answer is to turn on Reduce Transparency under Accessibility.

After that, I've had no more lag on my rMBP 2012 . . .

Looks ugly though. One of the most important aspects of Yosemite's design was transparency and yet even the top laptops in Apple's range (i.e. quad i7 & dedicated GPU) can't handle it? That's ridiculous. It's like getting a ferrari and saying "just drive below 60mph otherwise it gets really unstable."

Rating: 13 Votes

elmateo487

53 months ago

i don't get it HD5100 is more capable than HD6100 ?

More likely shoddy drivers. Or interaction with the drivers.

Rating: 9 Votes

Avenged110

53 months ago

UI lag? I thought it was called Yosemite...

Rating: 7 Votes

Miguel Cunha

53 months ago

Lightroom on Yosemite vs Lightroom on Windows 8.1 (same computer via bootcamp) is light and day.

You meant "night and day", right?

Rating: 6 Votes

paul00

53 months ago

Funny. My 3 years old original 15 Retina Macbook Pro is still waiting for a miracle update that will finally make it work like it's supposed to. It's still laggy, safari falls apart all the time, using scaled resolution makes it really unresponsive and many apps are just way too slow. Lightroom on Yosemite vs Lightroom on Windows 8.1 (same computer via bootcamp) is light and day. I really can't imagine what using the new macbook is going to be like...

Rating: 5 Votes

snorkelman

53 months ago

Looks ugly though. One of the most important aspects of Yosemite's design was transparency and yet even the top laptops in Apple's range (i.e. quad i7 & dedicated GPU) can't handle it?"

Always found it laggy on 2012 rMBP regardless of those settings - opening folders on the desktop is one that's embarrassingly clunky

my current use of yosemite amounts to:

Open lid on late 2012 rMBP
download and install latest build
open a few folders on desktop
shake head
close lid
stick back in drawer till next build gets released

Rating: 4 Votes

QCassidy352

53 months ago

I have early 2013 15" and reducing transparency and sticking with 1680 x 1050 or 1440 x 900 is the only way to maintain decent frame rate in Yosemite.

My late 2013 13" is staying on Mavericks precisely because of posts like this. Yosemite seems like Apple's buggiest release in a long time.

Rating: 4 Votes

CmdrLaForge

53 months ago

People should always file a bugreport at bugreport.apple.com

Rating: 4 Votes

kwokaaron

53 months ago

I really don't think we should be pointing fingers at the GPU. Any basic GPU should be able to handle 5 megapixels with ease at this point, even the HD 4000. We really need to remember that we're talking about desktop compositing here, which are mostly 2D rendering, rather than 3D graphics. Obviously a more powerful GPU will reduce these problems, but I believe the root of the problem is poor coding and optimisation that is causing the UI lag.

Rating: 3 Votes