2010 MBP 13" very slow (hdd access, rainbow ball etc)

[lapino]

I have a 13" Macbook Pro (2010) which I share with my wife, mainly for surfing the net and checking email. No 3rd party software is even installed (except some tools like dropbox, 1password and xmarks).

The macbook very frequently acts very slowly, making me suspect it's the hdd access. We get a lot of the well known rainbow ball too. I tried monitor activity monitor but nothing seems to stand out.

Anyone got an idea what I can check?

 

[kolax]

Open Activity Monitor, and at the top, select "All Processes".

Give us more details other than it acts slow. When does it act slow? What applications? Etc etc..

 

[w00t951]

I had this problem with my 15" Macbook Pro a few months ago. It was a beast of a machine, but then it began to have digestive issues with everything, even opening Safari. I replaced the hard drive and restored from Time Machine. Boom! Works like a charm. I guess it was something with the hard drive itself.

 

[Cougarcat]

Definitely sounds like the hard drive. Boot from your system disc and run disk utility, see if you get any errors. Or just take it in to the Apple Store, if you have one nearby.

 

[lapino]

Just repaired permissions using disk utility, saw a TON of errors (really, a LOT of them). It's fixed now, we'll see how it turns out.

 

[Cougarcat]

Verify your disk, too.