Yes, it seems like smooth scrolling is prioritized over low latency. On Windows I even get 3 frames (48ms) of lag (presumably because of DWM).
Like switching to the Classic Theme from Aero in Windows 7[1], as far as I can tell, this removes at minimum 1-2 frames of input lag (typing, mouse movement, etc.) throughout all of macOS.
In Firefox's about:config, after setting
user_pref("accessibility.force_disabled", 1) user_pref("general.smoothScroll", false) user_pref("general.autoScroll", true)
, I'm shocked by just how slow and laggy Chrome's builtin smooth scrolling implementation feels by comparison. In fact, it's so bad that I now open Chrome and all Electron apps with
open -a Google\ Chrome --args --disable-smooth-scrolling --disable-gpu-vsync --disable-frame-rate-limit open -a Slack --args --disable-smooth-scrolling open -a Spotify --args --disable-smooth-scrolling
You used to be able to disable Chrome's smooth scrolling with chrome://flags/#disable-smooth-scrolling, but that flag was removed for whatever reason.
I'm also surprised by how much faster Firefox's builtin middle mouse click autoscroll is compared to Chrome's ersatz AutoScroll[2] extension.
[0]: https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Additio...
[1]: https://pavelfatin.com/typometer/
[2]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/autoscroll/occjjkg...
Are you using a >120Hz Monitor or don't you care about the occasional tearing?
I don't mind the occasional tearing — I usually only notice it when using autoscroll in Firefox at a lower speed/velocity.
As a remote SWE, I sit in front of my computer all day every day, so I find that the benefit in speed I get from removing at least one frame of input lag outweighs the occasional tearing which occurs as a result. I'm not exactly sure why, but I haven't noticed any tearing when playing video content.
I also spend a lot of time in XQuartz, which has some longstanding rendering bugs unless you disable vsync.
user_pref("accessibility.force_disabled", 1)
user_pref("general.smoothScroll", false)
user_pref("general.autoScroll", true)
---
# --disable-frame-rate-limit is buggy on macOS
open -a Google\ Chrome --args --disable-gpu-vsync --disable-smooth-scrolling
open -a Slack --args --disable-frame-rate-limit --disable-gpu-vsync --disable-smooth-scrolling
open -a Spotify --args --disable-frame-rate-limit --disable-gpu-vsync --disable-smooth-scrolling