Are my CPU readings good on Activity Monitor?

[macuser1232]

I have an early 2011 13inch Macbook Pro i5 processor with 8gb of ram and I was wondering if my CPU readings looked ok because sometimes when I open an Adobe product like Final Cut Pro, Motion 5, Photoshop, etc. I will get a spinning beach ball and I am positive it is not a RAM issue.

 

[GGJstudios]

I have an early 2011 13inch Macbook Pro i5 processor with 8gb of ram and I was wondering if my CPU readings looked ok because sometimes when I open an Adobe product like Final Cut Pro, Motion 5, Photoshop, etc. I will get a spinning beach ball and I am positive it is not a RAM issue.

A better way to check is:

1. Launch Activity Monitor
2. Change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes"
3. Click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top).
4. Click on the System Memory tab at the bottom.
5. Take a screen shot of the entire Activity Monitor window, then scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot
6. Post your screenshots.

 

[stevelam]

I have an early 2011 13inch Macbook Pro i5 processor with 8gb of ram and I was wondering if my CPU readings looked ok because sometimes when I open an Adobe product like Final Cut Pro, Motion 5, Photoshop, etc. I will get a spinning beach ball and I am positive it is not a RAM issue.

you don't even show what you're actually running. going from that screenshot, assuming you're not doing anything at all, your cpu usage is a TAD high looking but certainly nothing alarming. that could be normal depending on what you're running.

 

[macuser1232]

My user % just went down from 11 to 2. Then 4. Then sometimes it says 35 or 13 for a second and then goes back down to single digits. ?

 

[macuser1232]

Ok here's a screen shot of my processes.

 

[GGJstudios]

My user % just went down from 11 to 2. Then 4. Then sometimes it says 35 or 13 for a second and then goes back down to single digits. ?

Your CPU usage will vary widely from one moment to the next. That's perfectly normal.

Ok here's a screen shot of my processes.

You missed step #4 of the instructions.

 

[macuser1232]

Your CPU usage will vary widely from one moment to the next. That's perfectly normal.

You missed step #4 of the instructions.

Ok. And if my CPU is struggling is this because I have a 2.3 i5?

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Your CPU usage will vary widely from one moment to the next. That's perfectly normal.

You missed step #4 of the instructions.

Ok i posted the other one.

 

[GGJstudios]

Ok. And if my CPU is struggling is this because I have a 2.3 i5?

There's nothing in your screen shots to indicate high system resource usage at all. Based on those, neither your RAM or CPU is under any significant load.

 

[geoffreak]

You have a very high page-ins value. This means that you are doing a large amount of reading from your disk. Do you already have an SSD? You would greatly benefit from speeding up data access.

 

[GGJstudios]

You have a very high page-ins value. This means that you are doing a large amount of reading from your disk.

Page ins and page outs are cumulative, since the last restart. That could represent a few hours' usage, or a few months.

 

[sweetbrat]

Looks like you have plenty of RAM, but then again, you weren't running any of the software you mentioned when you took the screenshot. That being said, are you just getting the beachball when you first start the programs? Do they run ok once they've loaded? I'm assuming that you have a HDD and not an SSD, in which case seeing the beachball for a few seconds when you're loading something like that is totally normal. I'd be willing to bet the HDD is the slowdown, not the CPU or the RAM.

 

[stevelam]

You have a very high page-ins value. This means that you are doing a large amount of reading from your disk. Do you already have an SSD? You would greatly benefit from speeding up data access.

please don't give further advice on this matter. page ins are largely irrelevant to determine memory requirements as its completely normal. when you're opening a document, you're technically paging in. unless you know of some secret magical way to transfer data from hard drive to ram WITHOUT paging in.

 

[GGJstudios]

please don't give further advice on this matter. page ins are largely irrelevant to determine memory requirements as its completely normal. when you're opening a document, you're technically paging in. unless you know of some secret magical way to transfer data from hard drive to ram WITHOUT paging in.

Page ins are not irrelevant when addressing drive speed and geoffreak's suggestion of using a SSD to improve performance is quite valid. Try to read and comprehend the whole thread before suggesting that someone shouldn't give advice.

 

[stevelam]

Page ins are not irrelevant when addressing drive speed and geoffreak's suggestion of using a SSD to improve performance is quite valid. Try to read and comprehend the whole thread before suggesting that someone shouldn't give advice.

obviously adding an SSD is an improvement in pretty much any usage case. but addressing page in's as a valid argument to try and explain the OP's issue is completely irrelevant.

OP: how long do these beach ball animations actually last for when you start up an app? a few seconds? a minute?

 

[geoffreak]

please don't give further advice on this matter. page ins are largely irrelevant to determine memory requirements as its completely normal. when you're opening a document, you're technically paging in. unless you know of some secret magical way to transfer data from hard drive to ram WITHOUT paging in.

Yes, I am aware how paging works. The reason I commented that it was a high value was because an average user wouldn't normally reach such a high value by doing simple tasks such as web browsing and reading email during a short period of time. I also had the impression that the OP might have restarted recently in an effort to resolve the issue.

My suggestion for an SSD was actually based on the OP's first post where slowdowns were reported on load, so I apologize for the confusion.

 

[GGJstudios]

obviously adding an SSD is an improvement in pretty much any usage case. but addressing page in's as a valid argument to try and explain the OP's issue is completely irrelevant.

No, it's not irrelevant. If the OP is experiencing beachballs while launching apps or opening large documents (page ins), a SSD would have a pronounced impact on that process.

 

[macuser1232]

The beachballs are only present when launching an application, usually adobe, and are present for seconds. Not long at all. But sometimes in Motion 5 it is a little bit laggy. I have thought about upgrading to an SSD since I only use at the most 100gb of storage but I may just wait until I get a new macbook pro in a couple years.(Well actually a little more than a "couple" years)