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does anyone notice there 2.93GHz 17" MBP not running as fast as it should?

S

stevieapollo

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 26, 2008
66
0
Whittier, CA
hello i am at the point where i am either going to go down to the apple store or call apple and get a replacement machine. i have owned this machine for 3weeks and was so exited to finally receive it that i over looked a few things...My MBP is noticeable slower then my 2.8Ghz imac. this shouldn't be the case considering my macbook pro has a faster front side bus a faster processor and equal HD both @ 320GB 7200RPM. I believe that this is outrageous!!! I paid so much for the fastest MBP that I hate to have to call apple and complain until they send me out a new machine and perhaps refund me money or add more ram or something. lol

well has anyone noticed that there 2.93 mbp have been freezing and or running slower then u think it should.

I have done hardware testes. did a erase and install of 10.5.6 and seem to have the same issue.:eek:
 
Have you repaired your permissions. Also how much free space do you have on that drive. Filling that up will slow down a machine in a heart beat. I'm not a big fan of erase and install. If you can I would zero out the drive than reload everything. I know a royal PITA but maybe the best option
 
It'll only go up to full speed when it needs to. No point in the CPU running at 2.93GHz constantly...

Try encoding some video and the clock-speed will jump to max.
 
stevieapollo said:
hello i am at the point where i am either going to go down to the apple store or call apple and get a replacement machine. i have owned this machine for 3weeks and was so exited to finally receive it that i over looked a few things...My MBP is noticeable slower then my 2.8Ghz imac. this shouldn't be the case considering my macbook pro has a faster front side bus a faster processor and equal HD both @ 320GB 7200RPM. I believe that this is outrageous!!! I paid so much for the fastest MBP that I hate to have to call apple and complain until they send me out a new machine and perhaps refund me money or add more ram or something. lol

well has anyone noticed that there 2.93 mbp have been freezing and or running slower then u think it should.

I have done hardware testes. did a erase and install of 10.5.6 and seem to have the same issue.:eek:
Click to expand...

But what exactly is the issue? You've done hardware tests, but what does that prove? It's the real-world tests that matter!

What are you doing that gives you the impression that this computer is slower than another you have used?

Perhaps your expectations were too high prior to purchasing. You were expecting this thing to run your apps faster, but it does not seem to be running them faster.

I'm not doubting your claims, however you have not been specific as to where this computer is "slower" than your iMac.

Cheers
 
edblor said:
But what exactly is the issue? You've done hardware tests, but what does that prove? It's the real-world tests that matter!

What are you doing that gives you the impression that this computer is slower than another you have used?

Perhaps your expectations were too high prior to purchasing. You were expecting this thing to run your apps faster, but it does not seem to be running them faster.

I'm not doubting your claims, however you have not been specific as to where this computer is "slower" than your iMac.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Agreed. I hope you didn't think that everyday "should" run faster because of a higher CPU clock. In order to maximize your hardware, you need to perform tasks that will do so. Try encoding something or editing some large files if you have Photoshop and I'm pretty sure it will perform as advertised.
 
need more info dude. Can't figure out the problem without some facts. I sincerely hope this isn't about surfing the Internet being slow because then it'll be ethernet for iMac and wireless for your macbook pro which, really has nothing to do with your machine's specs.
 
edblor said:
But what exactly is the issue? You've done hardware tests, but what does that prove? It's the real-world tests that matter!

What are you doing that gives you the impression that this computer is slower than another you have used?

Perhaps your expectations were too high prior to purchasing. You were expecting this thing to run your apps faster, but it does not seem to be running them faster.

I'm not doubting your claims, however you have not been specific as to where this computer is "slower" than your iMac.

Cheers
Click to expand...
my macbook pro is slower in audio playback when using logic pro. i often get the system overload warning. my computer is also very slow when i am using iphoto. doing simple tasks such as adjusting contrast and saturation, have a high wait time to see the final change. so i really do think something is up.

imac. 2.8ghz 4GB ram. 320 7200 rpm runs super fast. 17" 2.93Ghz 4GB ram faster frontside bus and 320 7200rmp HD. my mbp should run faster right? i payed a lot of money for this machine it ran perfect for the first week then then i started to notice things like i mentioned.

zer0tails said:
need more info dude. Can't figure out the problem without some facts. I sincerely hope this isn't about surfing the Internet being slow because then it'll be ethernet for iMac and wireless for your macbook pro which, really has nothing to do with your machine's specs.
Click to expand...

surfing the net is awesome!!! that is the reason i didn't notice anything wrong with the machine for the first few weeks. thats all i did was surf. lol after i got around to downloading my apps i started to notice i was not getting anything close to the performance i was expecting from an all around faster machine. the simplest way to put it is. if im using iphoto to do some light editing to import and sort through images i notice a high wait time when making adjustment to color hue saturation brightness ex... i am use to using my imac and even my older 2.5ghz mbp. it is not as slow as my new 3200 machine. i still love apple and hate when i run into problems like this.:confused:

Guy Mancuso said:
Have you repaired your permissions. Also how much free space do you have on that drive. Filling that up will slow down a machine in a heart beat. I'm not a big fan of erase and install. If you can I would zero out the drive than reload everything. I know a royal PITA but maybe the best option
Click to expand...

i have like 200GB of free space on my HD. so not the problem i would like to know how to do the permissions thing you talked about? thanks:eek:

Guy Mancuso said:
Have you repaired your permissions. Also how much free space do you have on that drive. Filling that up will slow down a machine in a heart beat. I'm not a big fan of erase and install. If you can I would zero out the drive than reload everything. I know a royal PITA but maybe the best option
Click to expand...

how would i zero out everything that sound like it is worth a shot before i give apple a unpleasant call.. i really do want to fix this issue myself. i dont want to get another machine with another set of issues. my screen on my 17" is flawless!! no dead or stuck pixels not dim at all and really vibrant!!!
 
My 2.93GHz runs very fast compared to all the other systems in the house? Are you sure its not just your OSX configuration? What are you doing that you notice the slow down?
 
stevieapollo said:
how would i zero out everything that sound like it is worth a shot before i give apple a unpleasant call.. i really do want to fix this issue myself. i dont want to get another machine with another set of issues. my screen on my 17" is flawless!! no dead or stuck pixels not dim at all and really vibrant!!!
Click to expand...

You will have to wipe the hard drive than start from the DVD. Going to take some time but if you really want to get what it is supposed to be. The only real way to dump everything off and get it fresh again. First i would do a couple things with Mobile me sync all your settings. That way you can get back a lot of preferences . Than find a drive or even a DVD burn or backup you Itunes songs and just the songs. Than import them later, Mail go in users your name find Mail copy that whole thing than replace it later when you are all set up. All your documents save somewhere. If you have Photoshop or Quark or any program you can deactivate than activate again. make sure you do this with Adobe stuff. They will make you life a nightmare calling them to beg for not deactivating. Microsoft products is all a reload make sure you have the DVD and codes and such. All this stuff you want to do before you hit the delete button. Okay to go from scratch insert the DVD it will tell you to restart. Once you boot up on the DVD you want to go into the OSX menu bar find disk utility. Once that starts up click on your drive than tab to erase pick Mac Journaled extended than click on security option hit zero out disk than make sure you give your drive a name than okay that .

This could take quite a awhile like maybe a hour after that is done than instal the OS back on that drive. After all that is done before you do anything else hit software update and update the system. Now if you have Ilife 09 the applications disk you can install that than do another software update. Than continue on reloading your software with each software you install get the update for each software as well. Than start copying all the stuff you saved and replace it . If you picked the Mail than in your user mail just copy right on top of that and replace it. Hopefully you get the idea and hours later you should be all fresh again and also do your permissions again
. Big key here is if you originally migrated from your old system well you took your Ilife 08 crap with it and i think that is where the issue is with Iphoto,Itunes and all those came with your old system. This is one of the pitfalls of migrate assistant and time machine when switching to a new box is the old stuff you may not want comes with it.
 
Guy Mancuso said:
You will have to wipe the hard drive than start from the DVD. Going to take some time but if you really want to get what it is supposed to be. The only real way to dump everything off and get it fresh again. First i would do a couple things with Mobile me sync all your settings. That way you can get back a lot of preferences . Than find a drive or even a DVD burn or backup you Itunes songs and just the songs. Than import them later, Mail go in users your name find Mail copy that whole thing than replace it later when you are all set up. All your documents save somewhere. If you have Photoshop or Quark or any program you can deactivate than activate again. make sure you do this with Adobe stuff. They will make you life a nightmare calling them to beg for not deactivating. Microsoft products is all a reload make sure you have the DVD and codes and such. All this stuff you want to do before you hit the delete button. Okay to go from scratch insert the DVD it will tell you to restart. Once you boot up on the DVD you want to go into the OSX menu bar find disk utility. Once that starts up click on your drive than tab to erase pick Mac Journaled extended than click on security option hit zero out disk than make sure you give your drive a name than okay that .

This could take quite a awhile like maybe a hour after that is done than instal the OS back on that drive. After all that is done before you do anything else hit software update and update the system. Now if you have Ilife 09 the applications disk you can install that than do another software update. Than continue on reloading your software with each software you install get the update for each software as well. Than start copying all the stuff you saved and replace it . If you picked the Mail than in your user mail just copy right on top of that and replace it. Hopefully you get the idea and hours later you should be all fresh again and also do your permissions again
. Big key here is if you originally migrated from your old system well you took your Ilife 08 crap with it and i think that is where the issue is with Iphoto,Itunes and all those came with your old system. This is one of the pitfalls of migrate assistant and time machine when switching to a new box is the old stuff you may not want comes with it.
Click to expand...

I took your advice and zeroed out my disk. the one thing that seemed strange was when i did it my hard drive said it has 297GB of available space and that it then had 296GB after i zeroed out my disk. why am i missing a gig? where did it go? is this normal? im in the process of dragging my files over from my ex drive. is there a way i can bring logic pro and final cut over without reinstalling from the original cd's or is that not possible it is not as easy as drag and drop like my document because the 40GB of sounds and libraries does not show up... just wondering before i go through the 3 hours it takes to install these apps. thanks

how do i bring over my settings that i stored in my mobile me cloud? im kinda confused i never did that before but i synced every thing before i erased my drive like you said.:eek:
 
stevieapollo said:
I took your advice and zeroed out my disk. the one thing that seemed strange was when i did it my hard drive said it has 297GB of available space and that it then had 296GB after i zeroed out my disk. why am i missing a gig? where did it go? is this normal? im in the process of dragging my files over from my ex drive. is there a way i can bring logic pro and final cut over without reinstalling from the original cd's or is that not possible it is not as easy as drag and drop like my document because the 40GB of sounds and libraries does not show up... just wondering before i go through the 3 hours it takes to install these apps. thanks
Click to expand...

I would reload any program that puts files in different places. Adobe is known for this and I would imagine Final cut pro is also with all the settings and preferences going on. Reload than update each program. Sometimes there are settings in your user directory though that you can copy over just grab those and replace on new install. Adobe Photoshop for instance has plug ins and extensions that you may have added later so you can copy those over. Be careful with Itunes since we are getting permission issues just take the music itself and copy them to that folder. Also any Ilife stuff do last and than do update. Lot's of permission issues here as well from going Ilife 08 to I life 09 . Just install 09 fresh
 
I don't think a MBP will be faster than an iMac (at least up to early 08 models). MBPs components are more aggressively underclocked for the thermal envelope. Also the iMac uses a desktop drive as opposed to the MBPs notebook drive which is also slower.

Also a 2.93GHz processors only gives you a few more seconds compared to a 2.4GHz (even more so a 2.8GHz) the difference was never gonna be night and day
 
stevieapollo said:
surfing the net is awesome!!! that is the reason i didn't notice anything wrong with the machine for the first few weeks. thats all i did was surf. lol after i got around to downloading my apps i started to notice i was not getting anything close to the performance i was expecting from an all around faster machine. the simplest way to put it is. if im using iphoto to do some light editing to import and sort through images i notice a high wait time when making adjustment to color hue saturation brightness ex... i am use to using my imac and even my older 2.5ghz mbp. it is not as slow as my new 3200 machine. i still love apple and hate when i run into problems like this.:confused:
Click to expand...

hmmm that is indeed strange. Have you considered giving a call to Apple tech on the phone? At this point, might be useful to hear what they have to say.
 
If your able to boot up it should have been guid. Open disk utilities click on your hard drive on the bottom it should say
Partition Map Scheme : GUID Partition Table
 
stevieapollo said:
hello i am at the point where i am either going to go down to the apple store or call apple and get a replacement machine. i have owned this machine for 3weeks and was so exited to finally receive it that i over looked a few things...My MBP is noticeable slower then my 2.8Ghz imac. this shouldn't be the case considering my macbook pro has a faster front side bus a faster processor and equal HD both @ 320GB 7200RPM. I believe that this is outrageous!!! I paid so much for the fastest MBP that I hate to have to call apple and complain until they send me out a new machine and perhaps refund me money or add more ram or something. lol

well has anyone noticed that there 2.93 mbp have been freezing and or running slower then u think it should.

I have done hardware testes. did a erase and install of 10.5.6 and seem to have the same issue.:eek:
Click to expand...



Forget about what all these guys are saying. I own the new MacBook Pro and I know what needs to be done.

Click on:

Apple->System Preferences->Energy Saver and switch graphics from Better Battery life to Higher Performance.

Your machine will run just as fast as the iMac. Let me know how that goes.
 
thiagos said:
Forget about what all these guys are saying. I own the new MacBook Pro and I know what needs to be done.

Click on:

Apple->System Preferences->Energy Saver and switch graphics from Better Battery life to Higher Performance.

Your machine will run just as fast as the iMac. Let me know how that goes.
Click to expand...

That just selects the dedicated GPU. As far as I'm aware, it doesn't change the CPU clockspeed or anything (like it did in the iBook/PowerBook..?).
 
thiagos said:
I noticed quite a bit difference in speed. I think it is not just the GPU but the processor as well.
Click to expand...

The CPU will throttle down if you aren't doing anything intensive regardless of better performance or better battery life, and I can't find anything that says selecting better battery life will lower the clockspeed.

I think this was an issue back when the PPC chips were used, but Intel's CPU throttling technology basically eliminates the need for this. Maybe someone else can confirm/elaborate on that..
 
Just making your graphics faster if anything on the laptop itself which makes the screen render quicker. Which would appear faster. More visual than anything else. Running a big monitor it is more noticeable than it renders normally like I had with my MacPro and fast graphic card . For gamers the same thing it may render the screen resolution at a quicker pace but really has nothing to do with overall real performance speeds
 
Guy Mancuso said:
Just making your graphics faster if anything on the laptop itself which makes the screen render quicker. Which would appear faster. More visual than anything else. Running a big monitor it is more noticeable than it renders normally like I had with my MacPro and fast graphic card . For gamers the same thing it may render the screen resolution at a quicker pace but really has nothing to do with overall real performance speeds
Click to expand...

What..? :confused:
 
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