I have a late 2013 2.6/8/256
It's not snappy like it used to be. There's lag when opening applications etc.
Any tips?
It's not snappy like it used to be. There's lag when opening applications etc.
Any tips?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
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Do you know how to make a MacBook Pro snappier again?
- Thread starter Hieveryone
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SSD.
I have a 2011 17" MBP that died during an OS upgrade. Sent it for repair and they said that they couldn't find a fault but they wiped it anyway! So they said maybe it's a dodgy HDD. I figured it was worth hanging onto (I'm a designer and like the larger screen, and I had already maxed the RAM to 16GB. So I put a 960 GB SSD in, and migrated from my old Mac Pro and started over. Wow it was like a new machine!
I have a 2011 17" MBP that died during an OS upgrade. Sent it for repair and they said that they couldn't find a fault but they wiped it anyway! So they said maybe it's a dodgy HDD. I figured it was worth hanging onto (I'm a designer and like the larger screen, and I had already maxed the RAM to 16GB. So I put a 960 GB SSD in, and migrated from my old Mac Pro and started over. Wow it was like a new machine!
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If it's a Late 2013, it should already have an SSD, and a PCIe one at that. Sounds like it may have something going on with the OS or an app eating up resources.
I have an almost identical model, Late 2013 (retina) 2.4/8/256 currently on Sierra that shipped with Mavericks and its still quite smooth and snappy IMO. The only OS I reverted from was Yosemite when it was suffering from horrible frame rates in the UI. Stuck with 10.9 till El Capitan came out.
My apps (Safari, Mail, Office 2016, iTunes, Adobe CS, Chrome, Parallels, etc. open without hesitation. By lag do you mean frame drops in the interface or the icon just bounces around for a while before opening? I'd check Activity Monitor and the Console for anything abnormal in there.
Otherwise, you can always do a clean install of macOS and backup your files and such manually. I do one every few years if I'm noticing a slow down or things just being buggy.
You can try going back to El Capitan... it would run better on that machine.
- What OS are you currently running?
- Did you get to that OS via a fresh install or using the update prompt via the App store?
- Do you use any maintenance applications?
- What is currently inside of your LaunchA/LaunchD folders?
- Have you already repaired the disk permissions (and the disk) using Disk Utility?
- If you go to the Activity Monitor, what processes are consuming the most CPU?
- Also in Activity Monitor, what does your RAM usage look like? (a screenshot would be awesome)
The computer you have is plenty capable of running the current OS X Sierra as it was and still is a very capable machine (it is still faster than half of Apple's new MacBook lineup.) The easiest fix is probably a fresh installation of OS X, but if this isn't practical for you, we can do some other things that might help.
Probably the OS, if all other things are equal. I know I've experienced this with old iPhones before. The apps you're using have probably become more advanced in those 3 years too right?
I've used about 60 GBs
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What OS are you currently running?
1. MacOs Sierra
Did you get to that OS via a fresh install or using the update prompt via the App store?
2. App store
Do you use any maintenance applications?
3. No
What is currently inside of your LaunchA/LaunchD folders?
4. What is LaunchA/LaunchD folders?
Have you already repaired the disk permissions (and the disk) using Disk Utility?
5. Yes
If you go to the Activity Monitor, what processes are consuming the most CPU?
6. Firefox
Also in Activity Monitor, what does your RAM usage look like? (a screenshot would be awesome)
7. I'm using about 4GBs out of 8GBs
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Regarding the clean install,
I have 3 user accounts different accounts right now on my rMBP. Will I be able to recover all the information on all 3 accounts like documents, photos, etc?
Also worth mentioning is Dave Nanian's 'white paper' on defragmentation. He's the guy behind Super Duper and says that making a clone and then restoring from it can speed up old fragmented systems. He also recommended a program from Coriolis called iDefrag if you want a dedicated defragmentation app. See the bottom right corner of the Shirt pocket website. As I use Super Duper as my backup solution (alongside time machine) I already have it so I wouldn't go and buy a standalone defrag utility as well.
How much difference this makes will largely depend on how full and how fragmented the SSD is.
If yours shipped with an apple SSD then at least you'll know that Trim is supported by default - which it isn't for 3rd party SSDs. That can also be the cause of slowdown on Macs like mine where an SSD (from Crucial in my case) was added later. El Cap and higher allows Trim to be enabled on aftermarket SSDs - I think it's a Terminal command.
How much difference this makes will largely depend on how full and how fragmented the SSD is.
If yours shipped with an apple SSD then at least you'll know that Trim is supported by default - which it isn't for 3rd party SSDs. That can also be the cause of slowdown on Macs like mine where an SSD (from Crucial in my case) was added later. El Cap and higher allows Trim to be enabled on aftermarket SSDs - I think it's a Terminal command.
You can do a fresh install of the OS from Recovery mode (hold command-R during startup) and it'll leave your user folders untouched.
I did it a few times myself when I was trying to figure out why my mid-2012 13" non-retina was taking so long to boot up. Turned out to be both a bad SATA cable (Apple repaired for free) and a failing 1TB HD (paid for the repair myself; less than a hundred bucks, though).
Download and run Onyx for Mac. It's a magical little program that can sort out a TON of little build up problems. If Onyx doesn't fix it, THEN clean install.
OP:
If yours is a retina MBPro, then you already have an SSD in it.
It sounds like something "in software" is slowing down the MacBook. Perhaps a "runaway process" that is eating up your processing power and clogging things up.
Have you tried opening the Activity Monitor utility, and checked to see which apps are using the most CPU power?
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
Do you by any chance use Spotify?
Reason I asked:
I've read (over at macintouch.com) that for some reason Spotify can pass an ENORMOUS amount of data "through" the Mac, using up CPU and disk.
Have you tried disabling Spotlight using this terminal command?
sudo mdutil -a -i off
Try it and reboot.
You can always re-enable later with the command:
sudo mdutil -a -i on
If yours is a retina MBPro, then you already have an SSD in it.
It sounds like something "in software" is slowing down the MacBook. Perhaps a "runaway process" that is eating up your processing power and clogging things up.
Have you tried opening the Activity Monitor utility, and checked to see which apps are using the most CPU power?
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
Do you by any chance use Spotify?
Reason I asked:
I've read (over at macintouch.com) that for some reason Spotify can pass an ENORMOUS amount of data "through" the Mac, using up CPU and disk.
Have you tried disabling Spotlight using this terminal command?
sudo mdutil -a -i off
Try it and reboot.
You can always re-enable later with the command:
sudo mdutil -a -i on
I agree with Mindinversion regarding Onyx!
When I have a slower Mac, and I am confident it is not a hardware problem and all files are backed up, I will personally usually:
- View what Apps have processes inside the Launch folders (to ensure that certain processes are not automatically starting when I might not want them to, or there are no remnants left from Apps I removed and do not use anymore) - if in Finder you go to /library, in the library you will see a Launch Agents and Launch Daemons folder, and in ~/library there will be a Launch Agents folder. An example of one that I personally removed was from Paragon NTFS, as after uninstalling it there were still files in the Launchd folders - another was a Google Chrome process, as it was a process that automatically launches and checks for updates, which I did not want it to do without my permission
http://www.grivet-tools.com/blog/2014/launchdaemons-vs-launchagents/ - Run Onyx using the 'Automation' feature to execute the maintenance scripts; rebuild the LaunchServices/dylid/XPC/appearance of folder contents/help/Spotlight index (it may take an hour upon restart to rebuild the spotlight index); clean the system/user/fonts/internet/saved app state/log caches
- Run a SMART program to check the health of the drive itself (I use DriveDX as I like the interface...it comes with a free trial, and there are some other Apps like GSMARTccontrol, that are free and accomplish the same thing, but I have less experience with others) - while SMART isnt perfect, it helps give me a rough idea of the drive's overall health and if there are any issues I should be paying attention to
- Reset PRAM/SMC
- Rebuild the file system directory using DiskWarrior (which as it is not free may be impractical and unnecessary) - however, I do find this can make a significant difference with how well a system works, and I also use it periodically as preventive maintenance
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Onyx is the first thing our IT guy does. However with him I suspect it's "that thing you do" like how people always repair permissions. Saying that, I've used Onyx a few times and it helps.
I did a complete erase and fresh install of macOS on my late 2011 MBP 13" recently and it seems to be much quicker and snappier. Would definitely recommend.
Download and run the app Etrecheck. It will create an anonymized report that will show system status and all items running on the system. Post that report here for us to have a look.
I'm using less RAM by logging out of multiple accounts and it's much better.
But I want to do a clean install anyway, just to make sure I'm getting maximum speed.
How do I do a clean install without losing all the data on the computer?
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So if I do a clean install then I won't lose any data or settings?
[doublepost=1486343871][/doublepost]I figured out how to do a clean install using a USB flash drive etc.
But then how do I put all my different user accounts and files back on the computer?
Thanks.
If you do a clean USB install, you would need to use a backup to get back your accounts & settings (or you would have to redo them manually.) The simplest is probably using Time Machine to backup your system now, and after you do the fresh install, you will be prompted by OS X whether you want to set up the computer as a new system or import your files/settings/some Apple Apps using the Migration Assistant (where you then plug your hard drive with the Time Machine backup into the computer, and it imports all of the good stuff.) Some 3rd party Apps you will need to reinstall manually (and re-enter the licensing information, if it is a licensed App.) And while this method will import a large majority of your settings, there may be a small amount of things you have to manually redo. If you are using an external HDD (versus a SSD) and have a ton of files, or if you have many licensed 3rd party Apps, this could take a bit of time to complete.