MacBook Pro 2016 Space Bar / Track Pad / UI lag problems

[19george97]

So. I am not happy.

I have got the base model 15" MBP TB. It's a great machine. It really is. But in the first week owning the machine I am having the following problems:

Hardware related:

1. When using the "Force Touch" option on my trackpad (clicking harder for preview) it sometimes makes a very loud click. I've had it 3 times in the last week.
2. The spacebar. Well. This is a nice one. It works fine. It does. I always press it with my left thumb. On the left side the click is less smooth than on the right side. It really annoys me.

Software related:

1. Three finger drag is very buggy.
2. I've got lots of user interface lag, swiping fullscreen apps, scrolling trough finder windows etc.
3. Discovered a bug in spotlight. While testing my spacebar in spotlight things went wrong. Try entering 100 spaces in spotlight.

These things are, in my opinion, not normal for a laptop of €2800,-

 

[Crossbow.Wallaby]

While I don't have your exact model I have the very base non touch bar 13" 2016 pro. I keep seeing this issue popping up on all spec and sizes of the machines.

Is the scrolling lag anything like this? I made a capture. Also Google Chrome is unusable on this machine for me due to UI lag.

EDIT: I also just did the spaces in spotlight thing you said now it has crashed and stuck with the pinwheel for last 2 mins

 

[19george97]

While I don't have your exact model I have the very base non touch bar 13" 2016 pro. I keep seeing this issue popping up on all spec and sizes of the machines.

Is the scrolling lag anything like this? I made a capture. Also Google Chrome is unusable on this machine for me due to UI lag.

Yes. Exactly the same. Also when swiping with 4 fingers between full screen apps makes things laggy.

EDIT: I also just did the spaces in spotlight thing you said now it has crashed and stuck with the pinwheel for last 2 mins

Force quit spotlight in activity monitor. That fixes it for me.

 

[Crossbow.Wallaby]

Yes. Exactly the same. Also when swiping with 4 fingers between full screen apps makes things laggy.




Force quit spotlight in activity monitor. That fixes it for me.

Mines going back tomorrow to swap for another machine to see how it goes. And yep force quitting in spotlight sorted it out. Many people keep telling me UI lag is acceptable on retina displays but even though I have the base model it still cost me $2200 AUD and I don't think this is acceptable at all. Hopefully an update ends up sorting this out.

 

[monkeydax]

While I don't have your exact model I have the very base non touch bar 13" 2016 pro. I keep seeing this issue popping up on all spec and sizes of the machines.

Is the scrolling lag anything like this? I made a capture. Also Google Chrome is unusable on this machine for me due to UI lag.

EDIT: I also just did the spaces in spotlight thing you said now it has crashed and stuck with the pinwheel for last 2 mins

The scrolling lag that you see in finder, is pretty much because there is a ton of data to load when you are scrolling through that many files, rather than any UI lag problems. It is present even on previous generation retina MBPs. I can see it on my late 2013 MBP 15'.

 

[Crossbow.Wallaby]

The scrolling lag that you see in finder, is pretty much because there is a ton of data to load when you are scrolling through that many files, rather than any UI lag problems. It is present even on previous generation retina MBPs. I can see it on my late 2013 MBP 15'.

Doesn't do it on the 2015 13" retina pro in my house which has the exact same files plus more. Scrolls perfectly smooth. If I try to scroll it in icon mode it just pinwheels and jams up thats why I did it in list mode so it's not as easy to see. Have tried this same test on 2 older retina mbp's with zero lag.

 

[19george97]

Mines going back tomorrow to swap for another machine to see how it goes. And yep force quitting in spotlight sorted it out. Many people keep telling me UI lag is acceptable on retina displays but even though I have the base model it still cost me $2200 AUD and I don't think this is acceptable at all. Hopefully an update ends up sorting this out.

UI lag is NOT acceptable. Definitely not. I've paid 4 times the price of an average laptop for this MacBook. Then I expect it to be perfectly perfectly fine.

The scrolling lag that you see in finder, is pretty much because there is a ton of data to load when you are scrolling through that many files, rather than any UI lag problems. It is present even on previous generation retina MBPs. I can see it on my late 2013 MBP 15'.

Could be. But still. Do you think it is acceptable for a machine for €2800,-? I don't think it is.

Doesn't do it on the 2015 13" retina pro in my house which has the exact same files plus more. Scrolls perfectly smooth. If I try to scroll it in icon mode it just pinwheels and jams up thats why I did it in list mode so it's not as easy to see. Have tried this same test on 2 older retina mbp's with zero lag.

Indeed.

 

[MrGuder]

I also have the base 2016 15" and there is lag, I see it too in iTunes on the album view, click on the album and it's jerky loading the track listings. All of this lag you see will most certainly be fixed by a software update. It's a brand new system, all new systems have bugs to work out, the 2015 model did not come perfectly out of the box, Apple worked on it and perfected it to what it is now.

To the original poster, yeah it's a lot of money and it sounds like nothing anyone here says will change your mind or ease your concern. My advice is to return, it's easy to do and get your refund or wait until it's fixed but from your post you don't want to wait.

 

[19george97]

I also have the base 2016 15" and there is lag, I see it too in iTunes on the album view, click on the album and it's jerky loading the track listings. All of this lag you see will most certainly be fixed by a software update. It's a brand new system, all new systems have bugs to work out, the 2015 model did not come perfectly out of the box, Apple worked on it and perfected it to what it is now.

To the original poster, yeah it's a lot of money and it sounds like nothing anyone here says will change your mind or ease your concern. My advice is to return, it's easy to do and get your refund or wait until it's fixed but from your post you don't want to wait.

I agree. We'll have to wait until Apple fixes it. I am willing to wait. I hope the software bugs will be fixed. I am more worried about my hardware problems so far.

 

[Crossbow.Wallaby]

Well I exchanged my machine today for a new one and I can't fault Apple for how quick and easy their return process is. Unfortunately I can confirm that my replacement unit has the exact same lag problems + additional new keyboard and trackpad issues. Everything is updated and indexed also.

The tech at Apple told me they are getting heaps of UI lag across all models no matter the specs or screen size and besides that the most common issue is dead or noisy keyboard keys. Said a software update should fix it eventually but if I'm not happy just bring it back in 2 weeks for a full refund.

Pretty disappointing that their quality is sliding like this as I really love the look and size of the 2016 models

 

[19george97]

Well I exchanged my machine today for a new one and I can't fault Apple for how quick and easy their return process is. Unfortunately I can confirm that my replacement unit has the exact same lag problems + additional new keyboard and trackpad issues. Everything is updated and indexed also.

The tech at Apple told me they are getting heaps of UI lag across all models no matter the specs or screen size and besides that the most common issue is dead or noisy keyboard keys. Said a software update should fix it eventually but if I'm not happy just bring it back in 2 weeks for a full refund.

Pretty disappointing that their quality is sliding like this as I really love the look and size of the 2016 models

I am keeping my machine. Can't send it out for repair, need my device every day. I'll deal with the software issues. I hope the space bar gets better while using it. Grmph.

 

[MrGuder]

The tech at Apple told me they are getting heaps of UI lag across all models no matter the specs or screen size and besides that the most common issue is dead or noisy keyboard keys. Said a software update should fix it eventually but if I'm not happy just bring it back in 2 weeks for a full refund.

The UI lag will be fixed with software updates but no software update will fix any of the noise people are getting from the keyboard, that's a mechanical issue. Thankfully my 2nd 2016 15" keyboard is much quieter than my first one.

 

[19george97]

The UI lag will be fixed with software updates but no software update will fix any of the noise people are getting from the keyboard, that's a mechanical issue. Thankfully my 2nd 2016 15" keyboard is much quieter than my first one.

How can you be so sure it will be fixed?