[NewsPoster]

Some early Retina-equipped MacBook Pro users are seeing graphical issues in Safari and other browsers following an upgrade to OS X 10.10 Yosemite. The severity of the issues vary, but a growing series of support threads on the Apple user forums show users experiencing problems ranging from minor text entry issues, all the way through persistent crashing. A pair of workarounds are available, but not all users are reporting success with them.

Users are reporting a variety of causes to the issue, with some saying Flash is the culprit, others claiming that heavy use of Java induces the problem. In most cases, other applications don't cause the problems, including CPU and GPU punishing games.

Regardless of symptoms, the issue has been traced to switching to the discrete GPU from the integrated GPU. MacNN staffers have seen the problem in its milder state, which generally manifests with windows improperly scrolling, and in large text entry boxes resulting in an offset cursor, misaligned with the text.

Some users report that disabling transparency in the Accessibility preferences pane helps the issue. Other workarounds include use of utility gfxCardStatus to force the GPU to remain on the integrated GPU for those seeking longer battery life. Alternatively, turning off GPU switching in the Energy Saver preference pane will keep the computer on the discrete GPU, preventing the graphical glutting from manifesting.

Some of the complaints in the threads are hardware related with kernel panics and detailed crash logs, brought to the forefront by the graphic enhancements in Yosemite over Mavericks. Some are not, pointing to an issue with the handoff between the graphical chipsets in the machine. In most, if not all, of the cases, the problem didn't exist in OS X 10.9 Mavericks.

While Apple hasn't issued a statement on the problem, MacNN has spoken to a source inside the company. Our source does say that they are seeing "slightly increased" reports of graphical problems with the new operating system on 2012 Retina-equipped MacBook Pros, with a smaller increase in other Retina models. Our source also claims that users should use one of the workarounds and "wait it out" if the problems are mild. MacNN concurs with other advice we were given, that users seeing frequent kernel or GPU panics as a result of the problem should bring in the machine for evaluation of a hardware failure to an Apple Store or other authorized service center.

Apple seeded a Yosemite update to testers yesterday. The new build, 14B17, has changes to Wi-Fi, Exchange accounts in Mail, and Notification Center.

[elroth]

This sounds a lot like the issues with the mid-2010 MacBook Pros, which I believe were the first ones with automatic graphics switching. Disabling the switching didn't really work - the GPUs were faulty, and most people needed a new logic board.

[panjandrum]

I've experienced this twice now on a model 9,1 since the Yosemite upgrade. In my case it's a complete hard-lock with no screen artifacts, then around 30 seconds later the system does a hard reset by itself. Everything worked properly under Mavericks, and my NVIDIA GPU works properly in both Mac OS and Win 7 (bootcamp). I pound on that video chipset pretty hard in Bootcamp (gaming) without any issues, so the problem appears to be specific to Yosemite, not to the hardware. My guess is that it is indeed a crash during the switching of the chipset in the MacOS (in Windows it always run the NVIDIA chipset). I turned off automatic graphics switching in the Mac OS and have so far not had a problem since. That also collaborates the problem being specific to the switching function.

[Mike Wuerthele]

Elroth- while it does sound familiar at first glance, it doesn't manifest in Mavericks, nor when punishing the GPU in a game or something. It is very specific to the GPU handoff.

Also, the 2010s with the problem will generally fail hardware test.