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2014 MBA 30 second restart?

M

mad3inch1na

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 21, 2013
662
6
Hi Everyone,

I bought a 2014 MBA today at Best Buy. I just upgraded from a 2010 MBA, and I absolutely love it, but there are a few quirks that are bugging me. I may just be paranoid, and maybe these are issues that will smooth themselves out in the next few days, but especially since the computer is new, it worries me.

First, I have noticed some issues with Flash. I installed the latest version, and while watching Flash videos it seems to lag frequently, creating a smear effect as some pixels don't refresh.

I also noticed an issue in Safari on Google search, where scrolling caused the sidebar to scroll, but the page itself did not scroll. When I closed Safari and reopened it, the problem did not persist.

The biggest issue for me is that after a day of use, and noticing a few issues, I decided to restart my system, and it took about 1:10 to reboot. I did a PRAM reset, and after multiple attempts, I still haven't had a restart time under 30 seconds. The SSD is a SanDisk 128GB drive, and I am currently getting 300MB write and 700MB read, which I think is great. I am mostly concerned because I was getting 12-15 second restart times on my 128GB 2010 MBA, and I recently put a 128GB 840 EVO in my girlfriend's cMBP where it gets 10-12 second reboots. I know SSDs can adjust over time, but I don't want to go outside the 2 week return period to find my computer is still restarting really slow.

It seems like a great computer, but the reboot time is really bugging me. Since I bought it at Best Buy, could I bring it in to an Apple store? If I can, would it be worth bringing it into an Apple store? Do you guys have any other suggestions or similar experiences?

Best,
Matt
 
scaredpoet

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
That's definitely not normal. My 2013 MBA (same components as yours) boots in under 20 seconds, and that's with FilveVault enabled. Also, no Flash lagging nor scrolling issues.

I would try doing a fresh install of the OS (Apple will tell you to do the exact same thing anyway), and if it persists, yes, you can take it into an Apple store even though you bought it at Best Buy.
 
Boyd01

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,689
4,572
New Jersey Pine Barrens
Is the startup taking a long time, or the shutdown? My 2013 MBA starts really quickly, like 15 or 20 seconds, but sometimes it takes awhile to shutdown. This seems to be related to what I was doing before restarting and also maybe how long it's been since the last restart.
 
C

coldjeanzzz

macrumors 6502a
Nov 4, 2012
655
17
Slow shutdowns/restarts have been a problem that has plagued Mac users for a few years now. There have been fixes, but nothing that seems to work permanently
 
aarond12

aarond12

macrumors 65816
May 20, 2002
1,145
107
Dallas, TX USA
I would restore your computer to a pristine state, then check to see if you still have the problem. Shouldn't be that difficult since it's a new computer. In the back of my mind, however, I'm thinking that something from the old MBA could have been restored onto the new MBA and caused some problems.
 
Cool MBA

Cool MBA

macrumors newbie
Jul 3, 2014
12
0
South Africa
I've got a 2014 MBA as well and it boots in bat 10secs..i heard cluttering up the desktop can slow down boot up speed..maybe clear out items on the desktop.
Hope this helps
 
S

Serban

Suspended
Jan 8, 2013
5,159
928
the boot time on today macs are between 12-16 sec based on how much Ram do you have, and the system need to read
 
scaredpoet

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
cambookpro said:
Are SSDs really that good? My MBP takes around 2:00-2:30 mins to restart. Oh we'll maybe will upgrade the storage soon.
Click to expand...


YES, SSDs really are that good! I had a 2010 MBP that I took the 500GB hard drive out of and replaced with an SSD. The difference in boot time and responsiveness was like night and day, it felt like a new laptop again.
 
Truefan31

Truefan31

macrumors 68040
Aug 25, 2012
3,587
835
Yeah in the morning I can press the button on my keurig to brew the coffee and start my Mac and by the time my coffees ready my imac is ready.
 
capathy21

capathy21

macrumors 65816
Jun 16, 2014
1,418
617
Houston, Texas
mad3inch1na said:
Hi Everyone,

I bought a 2014 MBA today at Best Buy. I just upgraded from a 2010 MBA, and I absolutely love it, but there are a few quirks that are bugging me. I may just be paranoid, and maybe these are issues that will smooth themselves out in the next few days, but especially since the computer is new, it worries me.

First, I have noticed some issues with Flash. I installed the latest version, and while watching Flash videos it seems to lag frequently, creating a smear effect as some pixels don't refresh.

I also noticed an issue in Safari on Google search, where scrolling caused the sidebar to scroll, but the page itself did not scroll. When I closed Safari and reopened it, the problem did not persist.

The biggest issue for me is that after a day of use, and noticing a few issues, I decided to restart my system, and it took about 1:10 to reboot. I did a PRAM reset, and after multiple attempts, I still haven't had a restart time under 30 seconds. The SSD is a SanDisk 128GB drive, and I am currently getting 300MB write and 700MB read, which I think is great. I am mostly concerned because I was getting 12-15 second restart times on my 128GB 2010 MBA, and I recently put a 128GB 840 EVO in my girlfriend's cMBP where it gets 10-12 second reboots. I know SSDs can adjust over time, but I don't want to go outside the 2 week return period to find my computer is still restarting really slow.

It seems like a great computer, but the reboot time is really bugging me. Since I bought it at Best Buy, could I bring it in to an Apple store? If I can, would it be worth bringing it into an Apple store? Do you guys have any other suggestions or similar experiences?

Best,
Matt
Click to expand...

If I were you I would take it back to Best Buy and have them exchange it for another one. While the shut down can sometimes take a few seconds, I think something may be wrong. Also given the other issues you mentioned, you may have a defective machine. The return/exchange policy is there to protect your purchase, don't feel bad about making 100 percent sure you have a perfect machine.

P.S. If Geek Squad "attempts" to act like they know what they are doing by "looking" at it and telling you it looks fine, tell them you want another machine, if they give you trouble, get your money back and purchase it elsewhere.

Some Geek Squad employees are okay but the majority of GS employees at my local BB know about half as much about computers as my 3 year old niece.
 
Cool MBA

Cool MBA

macrumors newbie
Jul 3, 2014
12
0
South Africa
Just for reference purposes, i had a mid 2009 MBA running windows 7 up until a month ago when i got the 2014 MBA. The boot up to login took about 24 secs and login to actual usability took another 10secs..I assume you are running MAC OS on this new mac which should definitely be way quicker, in which case there might definitely be an issue..
 
Meister

Meister

Suspended
Oct 10, 2013
5,456
4,310
I checked my rmbp and the restart time was 24 seconds.

Thirty seconds is not exactly a long restart time.
 
M

mad3inch1na

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 21, 2013
662
6
Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the responses. Sorry I haven't been active on this thread, I have been reading all the posts! I just saw it was brought back up again, so I thought I would respond. At the time, the computer was brand new, so there was nothing on it. I haven't had to restart my computer since then, so I think I made it out to be a bigger deal than it was. The other issues have occurred on my iMac as well, so I think those are software problems.

I am really enjoying it, and the battery life has been a day and night difference coming from the 2010 version. I will stick with this one for now and cross my fingers that any underlying problems will surface in the first year if they are actually there. Thanks again for all your responses :).

Matt
 
K

KiwiAdventure

Suspended
Dec 7, 2010
607
304
New Zealand
My 2013 Air 13" 256g takes 24 seconds to restart so 30 seconds would be not so bad. On just start up my air takes 12 seconds, but on shut down it can take ages.
 
Dweez

Dweez

macrumors 65816
Jun 13, 2011
1,248
10
Down by the river
I just timed my 2013 13" 8 gig 512 gig MBA, and it took 13 seconds from pushing the power button to showing me the login screen.
 
M

MilleDav01

macrumors regular
Jun 21, 2012
117
28
Fixed

I just got my 2014 MacBook Air from Best Buy. The first couple starts it was taking between 20 and 30 seconds just to see if Apple logo. I did a complete restore before deciding to go exchange it. It did the trick is now starts up in less than seven seconds.
 
Dweez

Dweez

macrumors 65816
Jun 13, 2011
1,248
10
Down by the river
MilleDav01 said:
I just got my 2014 MacBook Air from Best Buy. The first couple starts it was taking between 20 and 30 seconds just to see if Apple logo. I did a complete restore before deciding to go exchange it. It did the trick is now starts up in less than seven seconds.
Click to expand...

Man - that's rocking!

----------
mr99 said:
My MacBook Pro takes multiple minutes...
Click to expand...

Time for an SSD my friend.
 
C. Robert

C. Robert

macrumors 65816
Oct 1, 2013
1,338
889
Baltimore
I have a few rMBP's and airs in the past few years. Some have started faster than others and some slower. I would say that 30 seconds has been the start time for more than one of them. It could depend on what programs you have that start up when its powered on though.
 
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