2018 Macbook Pro sluggish animation problem

[Beoren]

Hello guys

I bought the new Macbook pro 2018 (Intel i7, 512GB) MR942HB/A and animations feels sluggish and stuck since the moment I started to use it.

Windows opening/closing, resizing and minimizing isn't smooth and it is stuck.
You can't miss that.

The way I see the problem clearly is by entering Gmail / Youtube on Chrome and try to resize the window.
I've uploaded a video I hope u can see it with 30fps -

I've sent my mac to the lab (Apple's re seller labs) and they confirmed there is a problem.
They gave me a new Macbook and now I see the same exact problem.

A month ago I used my friend's Macbook pro (2015) for a week and it was 100% smooth. no animation stuck and resizing was perfectly smooth.

Anyone else have this problem? please try to resize your chrome window with gmail / youtube and share how it works for you.


Thanks alot.
Beoren

 

[peteyio]

So I don't have this problem specifically, but I am noticing choppy performance that I did not see on my 2017 MacBook Pro.

Something as simple as typing a message on iMessage almost always results in keyboard input to screen delay, and occasionally animations are choppy when opening/closing/minimising apps. Even after a fresh reinstall of MacOS, I get the same problem.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm just going to wait for the release of Mojave to see if that helps, otherwise I'm taking it back to Apple. The crazy thing is, putting the 2 laptops side by side (2017 vs 2018), with the 2018 having better specs, the 2017 is definitely running a lot smoother.

 

[mdnz]

Same thing happened on mine too. It's bad optimization for the Retina displays, it doesn't matter what hardware you throw at it. This problem is present since at least macos 10.10

 

[1050792]

Happens with every Retina Mac.

Here's the quick fix I've been using for a long time.

Go to System Preferences - Display Settings - Color - Select the color profile sRGB IEC61966-2.1 (Usually located at the bottom).

You'll notice the animations not being as choppy as before and you will benefit from more vibrant colours aswell.

 

[dreubencr]

I had that problem after installing the second supplemental update, SMC and NVRAM reset solved it. Just in case the color profile doesn't help.

 

[Beoren]

I had that problem after installing the second supplemental update, SMC and NVRAM reset solved it. Just in case the color profile doesn't help.

Both the color profile and the SMC and NVRAM reset doesn't solve the problem for me.

 

[1050792]

Both the color profile and the SMC and NVRAM reset doesn't solve the problem for me.

The colour profile won't solve the problem 100% it will just make things a little smoother, there's no solving for this problem unless Apple optimizes their graphics for Retina displays.

 

[p8blr]

Do you have a 13 or 15 inch? I've heard the Intel 630 in the 15 is worse than the Iris Plus 640 in the 13. Maybe someone can verify this?

 

[vaugha]

^ I heard this also. People say animations on 15" is choppier than 13" w/ integrated graphics.

 

[DeanPSN]

^ I heard this also. People say animations on 15" is choppier than 13" w/ integrated graphics.

Thats just a myth.
If you don't believe, go to system preferences, power saving (i think?) and disable automatic GPU switch, so it will use only the dedicated radeon pro 555x/560x.
Animations will remain the same which means is just poor optimization.
Hope Mojave fixes all these issues present on High Sierra.

 

[Beoren]

Do you have a 13 or 15 inch? I've heard the Intel 630 in the 15 is worse than the Iris Plus 640 in the 13. Maybe someone can verify this?

I have the 15".
But I don't understand, retina displays are also in the 2015 - 2017 models how the animation are smooth on those models?
Is it 100% a software issue? I don't know if I should return the mac for a refund.

Also, is apple aware of the issue?

 

[1050792]

I have the 15".
But I don't understand, retina displays are also in the 2015 - 2017 models how the animation are smooth on those models?
Is it 100% a software issue? I don't know if I should return the mac for a refund.

Also, is apple aware of the issue?

Do you have any legit proof of this? All the Retina Macs I used all had choppy animations, including the 13 and 15 inch MBP’s.
I’m sure Apple is aware of this but they are only worried about your money really.

 

[DeanPSN]

Do you have any legit proof of this? All the Retina Macs I used all had choppy animations, including the 13 and 15 inch MBP’s.
I’m sure Apple is aware of this but they are only worried about your money really.

True, the 2015 and 2017 15" MBPs i owned had the same issues.
Like i said previously, even if you switch to use the dGPU always, the same problem persist, which means its just ****** optimization on High Sierra. (Don't remember if Sierra had the same problem, but was better than HS anyway)

 

[1050792]

True, the 2015 and 2017 15" MBPs i owned had the same issues.
Like i said previously, even if you switch to use the dGPU always, the same problem persist, which means its just ****** optimization on High Sierra. (Don't remember if Sierra had the same problem, but was better than HS anyway)

It's happening since Yosemite.

 

[vaugha]

Do you have any legit proof of this? All the Retina Macs I used all had choppy animations, including the 13 and 15 inch MBP’s.
I’m sure Apple is aware of this but they are only worried about your money really.

Does the problem persist in retina imacs or imac pros? Maybe people who own these machines can chime in.

 

[1050792]

Does this happen in imacs or imac pros? Maybe people who own these machines can chime in.

It happens on my Late 2015 5K iMac with the AMD M395X.

 

[vaugha]

So this is definitely a software issue not hardware.

 

[1050792]

So this is definitely a software issue not hardware.

It also can be that the Graphics Cards Apple puts in their Macs aren't powerful enough to drive high resolution screens, which is most likely the case.

 

[Saturn1217]

Well that's a shame. My 2015 style 15 rMBP (with integrated graphics) has this issue and it is really annoying. I was hoping later versions were better optimized. It is sad that my personal 2013 MacBook Air has smoother animations (and a worse screen but still).

Is 2018 worse than 2017 in this regard?

 

[DeanPSN]

Well that's a shame. My 2015 style 15 rMBP (with integrated graphics) has this issue and it is really annoying. I was hoping later versions were better optimized. It is sad that my personal 2013 MacBook Air has smoother animations (and a worse screen but still).

Is 2018 worse than 2017 in this regard?

No, is the same.
Maybe someone who is on Mojave beta can check if there are any improvements?

 

[vaugha]

Thats just a myth.
If you don't believe, go to system preferences, power saving (i think?) and disable automatic GPU switch, so it will use only the dedicated radeon pro 555x/560x.
Animations will remain the same which means is just poor optimization.
Hope Mojave fixes all these issues present on High Sierra.

Maybe a myth or maybe not. I've played w/ both 13" and 15" models in apple store myself and I felt 15" animations were definitely choppier than the 13" counterpart. Resizing the windows in 15" isn't definitely as smooth as 13". I've had many others say the same. When I did the same in non-retina mba, it was smooth as butter.

 

[1050792]

Maybe a myth or maybe not. I've played w/ both 13" and 15" models in apple store myself and I felt 15" animations were definitely choppier than the 13" counterpart. Resizing the windows in 15" isn't definitely as smooth as 13". I've had many others say the same. When I did the same in non-retina mba, it was smooth as butter.

Since the 13" has a lower resolution to render, then it's going to be less choppy than the higher resolution of the 15".

 

[vaugha]

Since the 13" has a lower resolution to render, then it's going to be less choppy than the higher resolution of the 15".

Ya I know. It's been 6 years since retina in 2012 and they still haven't gotten it right. My 2012 retina mbp has this problem, but it's a 1st gen product. I can live it w/ it and it doesn't bother me too much. But I don't expect this in 2018 especially at those prices.

It's a real bummer. I wonder if windows 10 got the same issue.

 

[leman]

Doesn't happen to me with Safari. I mean, its not fluid, but responsive layout changes are expensive to calculate. I guess its a Chrome problem?

 

[mdnz]

Ya I know. It's been 6 years since retina in 2012 and they still haven't gotten it right. My 2012 retina mbp has this problem, but it's a 1st gen product. I can live it w/ it and it doesn't bother me too much. But I don't expect this in 2018 especially for those prices.

It's a real bummer. I wonder if windows 10 got the same issue.

It doesn't because it actually scales properly with the hardware. If you have fast enough graphics you can have a blazing fast UI even when you're running on a scaled resolution.