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13 MBP 2.26 is too slow for me :(

V

Vyruz Reaper

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 23, 2009
134
0
So, I jsut bought a MBP for my g/f yesterday (2.26/2GB model) and I have been using it all night and today and noticed it is slower than what I am accustomed to.

So, I really like the 13inch models. Will the 13 with 2.5 with 4GB going to be that much faster? My previous laptops were dells xps 1730 and alienware M17x (2.8, 3Ghz 6MB l2caches respectively with both 4GB)

It takes awhile to load programs ( even worse with a few apps open), editing photos is slow, editing videos is slow. I hate that little circular waiting thing.. haha.

Do i have to purchase a 15 inch model to get more power? My school just discounted the 2299 15 inch model to 1899! Brand new! thats 400 off! Only thing i really would like is a SSD.

Will the new i-core models deliver the performance I am looking for? I hope so. an i-5, SSD, 4GB+ RAM, 9400m will make me a happy camper on the new 13 MBP

thanks!
 
first, upgrade the memory, then the hdd or ssd (do not get apple's ssd). they still use 5400rpm hdd's which are slow as poop.

you can't compare your alienware/xps with the 13", heh.
 
Actually, I noticed the same thing when I used my friend's 13" 2.26GHz MBP. It felt A LOT slower than my MacBook Air running at 2.13GHz and my friend had a 7200RPM drive installed also with 4GB. Just regular opening programs or finding programs and such, it was incredibly slow for some reason. Granted I have an SSD but we're talking about 5x slower.
 
ayeying said:
Actually, I noticed the same thing when I used my friend's 13" 2.26GHz MBP. It felt A LOT slower than my MacBook Air running at 2.13GHz and my friend had a 7200RPM drive installed also with 4GB. Just regular opening programs or finding programs and such, it was incredibly slow for some reason. Granted I have an SSD but we're talking about 5x slower.
Click to expand...

Have he tried dropping the EFI firmware back to version 1.6 from the installed 1.7? EFI 1.7 have been found to have problems in some cases with any drive besides Apple's own due to incompatible SATA interface in Apple's home cooked version.

The long thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/729883/
 
How about another user?

Is the slowdown still present?

Might be worth a complete and total nuke and pave reinstall OSX from the ground up.

new 13" MBP will not get an i5... maybe an i3?
 
^^^^ Maybe an i3, but most likely a speed bump using the current architecture.

Vyruz Reaper said:
So, I jsut bought a MBP for my g/f yesterday (2.26/2GB model) and I have been using it all night and today and noticed it is slower than what I am accustomed to.

So, I really like the 13inch models. Will the 13 with 2.5 with 4GB going to be that much faster? My previous laptops were dells xps 1730 and alienware M17x (2.8, 3Ghz 6MB l2caches respectively with both 4GB)

It takes awhile to load programs ( even worse with a few apps open), editing photos is slow, editing videos is slow. I hate that little circular waiting thing.. haha.

Do i have to purchase a 15 inch model to get more power? My school just discounted the 2299 15 inch model to 1899! Brand new! thats 400 off! Only thing i really would like is a SSD.

Will the new i-core models deliver the performance I am looking for? I hope so. an i-5, SSD, 4GB+ RAM, 9400m will make me a happy camper on the new 13 MBP

thanks!
Click to expand...

Just upgrade the memory on your girlfriend's MBP from 2GB to 4GB, and you should be good to go.
 
There's no point getting the 13" 2.5. If it's not fast enough for you wait for the i5 laptops to come out. I personally have a 13" 2.2 and it is fast enough for what I do (programming) but I can well imagine it would be slow for video editing.
 
SydneyDev said:
There's no point getting the 13" 2.5. If it's not fast enough for you wait for the i5 laptops to come out. I personally have a 13" 2.2 and it is fast enough for what I do (programming) but I can well imagine it would be slow for video editing.
Click to expand...

i second that... id wait for the i5's and hope its not a 17" only option... im gonna want to get a 15" i5 with matte screen this summer if its an option and under $2000

you could try going with 4gb ram and throwing a ssd into the base 13" but i dont know for sure what kind of performance gain that would get you with photo and video editing...
 
If you're using several serious applications at once, having 4 GB RAM would make a big difference. With Leopard and Snow Leopard, 2 GB is only enough for light work.

The SSD is also helpful, because Apple ships dog-slow hard drives with everything it builds.

I have a 13" 2.53 with 4 GB and a 160 GB Intel X-25M and, while I don't do video editing, photo editing and normal-use tasks are instantaneous. The X-25M really makes all the difference.
 
Bought my GF a white unibody 13" macbook and it's plenty fast, no slow downs or anything. For doing basic stuff it feels just as fast as my 2.8 MBP 15".

I think that if you have the beach ball all the time, there is a problem somewhere.

SSD are a lot faster but the price is really high still, 7200rpm you have chances of ending up with something that sounds like a hair dryer or feels like a vibrator (luck of the draw) for almost no real life improvement.
 
get an SSD and 4gb of ram and you'll notice the difference considerably
signature_BasicSmile.jpg
 
Vyruz Reaper said:
So, I jsut bought a MBP for my g/f yesterday (2.26/2GB model) and I have been using it all night and today and noticed it is slower than what I am accustomed to.

So, I really like the 13inch models. Will the 13 with 2.5 with 4GB going to be that much faster? My previous laptops were dells xps 1730 and alienware M17x (2.8, 3Ghz 6MB l2caches respectively with both 4GB)
Click to expand...

2GB RAM and editing photos/videos = bad performance on any laptop or desktop, period.

Bump it to 4GB, you'll see noticeable improvement. Get the memory from Crucial, MacMall, or another trusted vendor (don't pay Apple prices) and the Macbook Pro will perform much better.
 
I have a 13" MacBook Pro also 2,26GHz but with 4gb ram (paid the apple prices but in $ so for me it's a lot cheaper). I never did video editing but I never had real problems when editing pictures. I guess it won't be as fast as an sdd but they're smaller and I don't know if it's worth the price difference.
just my 2 pence :)
 
Frosties said:
Have he tried dropping the EFI firmware back to version 1.6 from the installed 1.7? EFI 1.7 have been found to have problems in some cases with any drive besides Apple's own due to incompatible SATA interface in Apple's home cooked version.

The long thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/729883/
Click to expand...

Yep. It was running at 3.0Gbps for the SATA speed also and it was still many times slower than my air. Really mind boggled me because my former Aluminum MacBook 2.4GHz was very fast compared to the 2.26GHz MBP.
 
im experiencing the same thing... ive been using windows xp on it and it runs quicker. lol. why does windows run better on macs?

but snow leopard when im surfing the net the wheel continues to show up and take its time loading...

ive downloaded all the software updates... anything else i need to do?
 
LuvKaya said:
when im surfing the net the wheel continues to show up and take its time loading...

ive downloaded all the software updates... anything else i need to do?
Click to expand...

have a similar concern, loading pages like Facebook often times gives me unusual lag times and i occasional get the Spinwheel running simple apps like Safari or iTunes.

think i'll upgrade to 4Gigs of RAM this year but is that really the problem?
 
Safari slowdowns have nothing to do with ram.

Have you tried Fire Fox? Or maybe Chrome?

iTunes slows down when you access the store?

Both of those are 'net related...
 
I think the most important question is, "does it feel slow to her?" If not, then whats the big deal since it's not even your computer?
 
Badger^2 said:
Safari slowdowns have nothing to do with ram.

Have you tried Fire Fox? Or maybe Chrome?

iTunes slows down when you access the store?

Both of those are 'net related...
Click to expand...

so problem doesn't lie within my MBP's hardware so much as it does with Apple's AirPort? i run FiOS wireless throughout the house and never had a problem with the net itself...
 
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