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.
Top Rated Comments
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."
i don't get it HD5100 is more capable than HD6100 ?
More likely shoddy drivers. Or interaction with the drivers.
Lightroom on Yosemite vs Lightroom on Windows 8.1 (same computer via bootcamp) is light and day.
You meant "night and day", right?
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 clunkymy 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