Ok, I think I am getting closer. I had TLP installed to handle power managment on the laptop. As part of my testing I purged that and the problem went away. Reinstalled TLP and the problem came back.
So it has something to do with how TLP is configuring power management ... ** Also affects: tlp (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu-X, which is subscribed to xserver-xorg-video-intel in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1189645 Title: General lag under desktop environments To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/1189645/+subscriptions _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat Post to : ubuntu-x-swat@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp