No real graphics improvement after upgrade?

[eyron]

Have upgraded Lion to GM on MBP 15" 2.4 i5 (2010) and disappointingly haven't noticed much of an improvement in graphics. I have moved this installation around quite a lot including upgrading snow leopard to lion, then clean installing lion and migrating from time machine to see if that would make a difference, then doing a few more time machine installations when I messed things up.

Symptoms include choppiness switching between panes on launchpad, opening folders is even worse and unhiding the dock when starting up / it hasn't been done for a while.

Is there any hope that when I buy the final release when it comes out (yes, I am using the iMZDL GM) and clean install it will help the graphics performance? On Lion i briefly tried a clean install before migrating my stuff over from time machine and couldn't see any improvement.

 

[arashb]

Have upgraded Lion to GM on MBP 15" 2.4 i5 (2010) and disappointingly haven't noticed much of an improvement in graphics. I have moved this installation around quite a lot including upgrading snow leopard to lion, then clean installing lion and migrating from time machine to see if that would make a difference, then doing a few more time machine installations when I messed things up.

Is there any hope that when I buy the final release when it comes out (yes, I am using the iMZDL GM) and clean install it will help the graphics performance? On Lion i briefly tried a clean install before migrating my stuff over from time machine and couldn't see any improvement.

What exactly are you expecting a graphics improvement for? Yeah drivers get updated sometimes and the software is more optimized but hardware stays the same. Unless Apple messed up with the driver, I doubt you'll see an upgrade in graphics performance on the retail release.

 

[eyron]

What exactly are you expecting a graphics improvement for? Yeah drivers get updated sometimes and the software is more optimized but hardware stays the same. Unless Apple messed up with the driver, I doubt you'll see an upgrade in graphics performance on the retail release.

Sorry just edited in some of the things I noticed, the only positive is the Notifications Centre sliding is really smooth. Opening the Applications grid in the dock is also not smooth.

I was asking more whether a clean install would help rather than the retail release vs. GM as I understand they are usually the same.

 

[Blue Sun]

Sorry just edited in some of the things I noticed, the only positive is the Notifications Centre sliding is really smooth. Opening the Applications grid in the dock is also not smooth.

I was asking more whether a clean install would help rather than the retail release vs. GM as I understand they are usually the same.

Are you seeing choppiness with both the discrete GT330m and the integrated Intel HD graphics? How is the Mission Control animation?
Hint: Try gfxCardstatus to choose which graphics chip to run.

And yes, I'd imagine a clean install would be better. Don't use time machine though, re-install all of your apps manually.

 

[eyron]

Are you seeing choppiness with both the discrete GT330m and the integrated Intel HD graphics? How is the Mission Control animation?
Hint: Try gfxCardstatus to choose which graphics chip to run.

And yes, I'd imagine a clean install would be better. Don't use time machine though, re-install all of your apps manually.

Yeah was planning to do that just to be sure, hard to imagine how the stuff I've accumulated would affect graphics but if that solves it I'll be very happy. I'll install on an external USB today to see how it works on there. The fact that it's the same as how it was on a lion clean install though makes me fear for the worst, that Apple haven't bothered to improve drivers for older MBPs

Have been using gfxcardstatus to force use of the GT330m to make it smoother on lion - have tried both cards on the GM and it's the same as what I was experiencing in Lion.
GT330m - smooth dock opening and slightly choppy applications grid, launchpad appears with no fade in and opening folders on there is jerky the first time but smooth on the second
Intel HD graphics - low framerate is obvious on everything including dock hiding/unhiding, scrolling in chrome and finder, opening stacks in the dock and opening mission control.

 

[eyron]

Well I just booted into the clean install and it was better - I mistook the integrated card for the nvidia which is a good sign! I hope this is because of whatever is messed up on this installation and not just that there werent as many icons in the launchpad for it to load etc. Just as most people on here are probably developers who know more than me about OS X, is it understood how building up app remains and migrating could lead to slower graphics performance / overall sluggishness? I wouldn't say the system was sluggish overall but I am on an SSD. I was under the impression macs didn't suffer from slowdowns as much as Windows as they don't have a registry?

 

[Blue Sun]

It has always frustrated me how poor the Intel HD graphics performs when using core GUI animations. You'd think it would be able to handle simple transitions on a 1440x900 display.

Very disappointing that I have to use the discrete graphics chip just to experience a stutter-free GUI.

 

[eyron]

It has always frustrated me how poor the Intel HD graphics performs when using core GUI animations. You'd think it would be able to handle simple transitions on a 1440x900 display.

Very disappointing that I have to use the discrete graphics chip just to experience a stutter-free GUI.

Do you have the same laptop? I can't remember how it was on Snow Leopard but I suppose it wasn't that noticeable and I just tried to ignore any choppiness. It does make the intel chip almost obsolete which is a shame. I'm hoping a clean install of ML will help as other users with the same model seem happier:

General performance is good and snappy. But I do noticed that in Safari PDF viewing becomes more choppy.

 

[Blue Sun]

Do you have the same laptop? I can't remember how it was on Snow Leopard but I suppose it wasn't that noticeable and I just tried to ignore any choppiness. It does make the intel chip almost obsolete which is a shame. I'm hoping a clean install of ML will help as other users with the same model seem happier:

Yeah, I do. I generally run only on the Nvidia with Lion. SL was a little better in terms of the intel chip, but it still wasn't great. I'm thinking Apple have terrible drivers, surely the hardware itself could handle simple GUI animations.