New Aluminium Macbook lagging

[misssunshine]

Hi, I've only been using my new aluminium macbook for over 1 month, and it is starting to lag. I noticed that i was running 1 powerpoint document, 2 word doc, adium, firefox and vlc player which was not running, but it was lagging so much that i couldn't scroll my word doc. The rainbow circle kept appearing.

I felt the body and it was quite hot. Could it be due to overheating? Does a keyboard protector contribute to the overheating of the macbook?

What could be the reasons to the lagging? Thanks. :)

[michael.lauden]

is your computer hot because it is overheating?.... :D


anyways the more applications you run the more the processor has to work. therefor the more energy is used and the more heat is created.

you might want to check some of your settings as that is ridiculous. use iStat or Activity monitor to check out what's going on with your programs. my bet is it's VLC player.

why have applications open if they aren't being used..

[Brien]

I don't know if would be the overheating, but keyboard protectors might cause the computer to overheat, since the heat supposedly exits via the holes in the keyboard, or so I've heard.

Does the protector ever feel hot (or warm) to the touch?

[misssunshine]

is your computer hot because it is overheating?.... :D


anyways the more applications you run the more the processor has to work. therefor the more energy is used and the more heat is created.

you might want to check some of your settings as that is ridiculous. use iStat or Activity monitor to check out what's going on with your programs. my bet is it's VLC player.

why have applications open if they aren't being used..

VLC player was opened because i was watching a video lecture but i stopped it for a while. Is it considered running?

How do i use iStat or Activity monitor?

It might have been overheating, but will overheating cause lagging?

Thank you for your reply :)

[misssunshine]

I don't know if would be the overheating, but keyboard protectors might cause the computer to overheat, since the heat supposedly exits via the holes in the keyboard, or so I've heard.

Does the protector ever feel hot (or warm) to the touch?

Nope, i don't think the protector feels warm, but the top and bottom parts of the body would feel pretty warm to the touch. In that case, would a keyboard protector be necessary? I've read that for the Macbook without the backlit keys, the letters are printed on the keyboard and are susceptible to fading? :confused: Would AppleCare cover such problems?

[VSMacOne]

check your Activity Monitor and see if there's a process running up your CPU, which would then cause the over heating AND at the same time for the slow computer.

I don't know if would be the overheating, but keyboard protectors might cause the computer to overheat, since the heat supposedly exits via the holes in the keyboard, or so I've heard.

Does the protector ever feel hot (or warm) to the touch?

Not really. As long as the back of your macbook is not blocked, it shouldn't be overheating from a keyboard cover.

[vilim12]

check your Activity Monitor and see if there's a process running up your CPU, which would then cause the over heating AND at the same time for the slow computer.



Not really. As long as the back of your macbook is not blocked, it shouldn't be overheating from a keyboard cover.

It shouldnt be overheating solely due to the cover, but yes some heat does exit through the keyboard. More noticeable on my White Macbook than on my new Aluminum one.

[misssunshine]

check your Activity Monitor and see if there's a process running up your CPU, which would then cause the over heating AND at the same time for the slow computer.



Not really. As long as the back of your macbook is not blocked, it shouldn't be overheating from a keyboard cover.

Ermm... I'm a newbie to the macbook. How do i go about checking my Activity Monitor? >.<

[vilim12]

Ermm... I'm a newbie to the macbook. How do i go about checking my Activity Monitor? >.<

Applications>Utilities>Activity Monitor

[VSMacOne]

It shouldnt be overheating solely due to the cover, but yes some heat does exit through the keyboard. More noticeable on my White Macbook than on my new Aluminum one.

Well, I've had my Moshi Clear Guard for 3 months now, and I've seen absolutely no increase in the temps. So there's no way it should be OVERHEATING because of the cover.

[misssunshine]

Applications>Utilities>Activity Monitor

Thank you! :)

What do i look at using the Activity Monitor then?

[VSMacOne]

You look at how much CPU each application is using and see if there are any that are using up a HIGH percentage of your CPU. That should raise a flag..

[misssunshine]

Well, I've had my Moshi Clear Guard for 3 months now, and I've seen absolutely no increase in the temps. So there's no way it should be OVERHEATING because of the cover.

You're using a Moshi Clear Guard? Is it good? Does your typing get affected? So which means i've to put something below my macbook so that it won't overheat so easily?

[VSMacOne]

You're using a Moshi Clear Guard? Is it good? Does your typing get affected? So which means i've to put something below my macbook so that it won't overheat so easily?

It's very good! Easy to clean and very easy to get used to. It's much better to type with than with other keyboard covers, because most of them tend to be a lot thicker. The Clear Guard is very thin.

About the overheating, i don't thin it's just form your Macbook sitting on the desk. It's probably a crazy process that should show up in your Activity Monitor. At home, I keep my MB flat on a desk and haven't had any issues with it overheating.

[misssunshine]

You look at how much CPU each application is using and see if there are any that are using up a HIGH percentage of your CPU. That should raise a flag..

Thank you so much for your help. I'll check my Activity Monitor when i meet into the problem again and hopefully i'll be able to to find out what is the cause.

Once again, thank you all who replied! :D

[Detektiv-Pinky]

Thank you so much for your help. I'll check my Activity Monitor when i meet into the problem again and hopefully i'll be able to to find out what is the cause.

Once again, thank you all who replied! :D

Have you updated Office to the latest patch-level (currently 12.1.7)?

I have seen the MyDay program use 50% processor cycles on a BlackBook (this was in version 12.1.0) WITHOUT being reported by ActivityMonitor.
Things improved after applying the latest patches (you can download the all-in-one updater from the Microsoft site). The in-build updater forces you to do the updates in incremental fashion.

[misssunshine]

Have you updated Office to the latest patch-level (currently 12.1.7)?

I have seen the MyDay program use 50% processor cycles on a BlackBook (this was in version 12.1.0) WITHOUT being reported by ActivityMonitor.
Things improved after applying the latest patches (you can download the all-in-one updater from the Microsoft site). The in-build updater forces you to do the updates in incremental fashion.

Okay, will do that! Thanks! :)

[misssunshine]

What do i do if i notice a process is taking up a high percentage of the CPU? For example, i just saw that my dashboard client was taking up 96%. Do i force quit the process?

Also, i've been checking back randomly, and i realised that the dashboard client keeps popping up in my Activity Monitor. Is there something wrong with it? This one process always takes up more than 90% CPU.

[Detektiv-Pinky]

What do i do if i notice a process is taking up a high percentage of the CPU? For example, i just saw that my dashboard client was taking up 96%. Do i force quit the process?

Also, i've been checking back randomly, and i realised that the dashboard client keeps popping up in my Activity Monitor. Is there something wrong with it? This one process always takes up more than 90% CPU.

Look at this thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=401253