Early 2011 13" Keep Lion? -and a couple issues

[jimray]

Hey guys, I have the early 2011 13". I upgraded to 8GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD. (I actually went SSD, but the thing broke (crucial M4) in less than 2 weeks so I returned it)

Anyways, I'm super happy this Mac. It's my first jump to Mac from a Windows PC. I find it way more stable than windows.

I have only 2 issues really. 1 is that sometimes my page out becomes high, like a few Gigs. i *think* this only happens when i download for a long time, not sure. With what i do on there, and the amount of RAM i have, it doesn't make sense that it should page out that much. I beach ball occasionally.

The other issue is more annoying. If I have been using the computer for awhile, and then I watch an HD Movie (MKV or otherwise) sometimes the display gets all blocky and messed up for a few seconds. However if I restart the computer, and then watch the HD Movie, this generally doesn't happen. At either time I don't run other programs while watching the movie.

So, other than these two issues, I'm happy with Lion and reluctant to upgrade to Mountain Lion. I don't care about iMessage on the mac, or any other new mountain lion features. I'm thinking the upgrade might be more trouble then it's worth. Any thoughts?

As for those 2 issues, perhaps the page outs will be fixed by ML? But I have my doubts that the HD Video issues will be fixed. Anyone have any thoughts on these issues? Maybe how to fix them if they are fixable. Thing is, one of the things I do the most on the mac is watch HD videos, so this problem is pretty annoying. I should also mention I have the MBP hooked up to my 40" HDTV when I watch movies.

 

[Interstella5555]

Hey guys, I have the early 2011 13". I upgraded to 8GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. (I actually went SSD, but the thing broke (crucial M4) in less than 2 weeks so I returned it)

Anyways, I'm super happy this Mac. It's my first jump to make from a Windows PC. I find it way more stable than windows.

I have only 2 issues really. 1 is that sometimes my page out becomes high, like a few Gigs. i *think* this only happens when i download for a long time, not sure. With what i do on there, and the amount of RAM i have, it doesn't make sense that it should page out that much. I beach ball occasionally.

The other issue is more annoying. If I have had the been using the computer for awhile, and then I watch and an HD Movie (MKV or otherwise) sometimes the display gets all blocky and messed up for a few seconds. However if I restart the computer, and then watch the HD Movie, this generally doesn't happen. At either time I don't run other programs while watching the movie.

So, other than these two issues, I'm happy with Lion and reluctant to upgrade to Mountain Lion. I don't care about iMessage on the mac, or any other new mountain lion features. I'm thinking the upgrade might be more trouble then it's worth. Any thoughts?

As for those 2 issues, perhaps the page outs will be fixed by ML? But I have my doubts that the HD Video issues will be fixed. Anyone have any thoughts on these issues? Maybe how to fix them if they are fixable.

I'm not sure what the exact tech specs are for the early 2011 13", but sounds like it it could be a processing speed/graphics issue, my Rev 1 15" would choke on HD content at times, from YouTube to my own videos.

 

[T5BRICK]

Graphical artifacts are often caused by bad video RAM. On 13" MBPs, the video card shares the main memory.

Have you run Apple hardware test or Memtest86+ to rule out memory errors?

 

[clyde2801]

Hey guys, I have the early 2011 13". I upgraded to 8GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD. (I actually went SSD, but the thing broke (crucial M4) in less than 2 weeks so I returned it)

Anyways, I'm super happy this Mac. It's my first jump to Mac from a Windows PC. I find it way more stable than windows.

I have only 2 issues really. 1 is that sometimes my page out becomes high, like a few Gigs. i *think* this only happens when i download for a long time, not sure. With what i do on there, and the amount of RAM i have, it doesn't make sense that it should page out that much. I beach ball occasionally.

The other issue is more annoying. If I have been using the computer for awhile, and then I watch an HD Movie (MKV or otherwise) sometimes the display gets all blocky and messed up for a few seconds. However if I restart the computer, and then watch the HD Movie, this generally doesn't happen. At either time I don't run other programs while watching the movie.

So, other than these two issues, I'm happy with Lion and reluctant to upgrade to Mountain Lion. I don't care about iMessage on the mac, or any other new mountain lion features. I'm thinking the upgrade might be more trouble then it's worth. Any thoughts?

As for those 2 issues, perhaps the page outs will be fixed by ML? But I have my doubts that the HD Video issues will be fixed. Anyone have any thoughts on these issues? Maybe how to fix them if they are fixable.

Hmm...usually you don't need more than 8 gigs unless you're doing something like running virtual machines. Wierd. Your MBP will take up to 16 gigs of ram, even though apple says it only takes 8.

And your new machine should run ML just fine. Unlike the windows world, where older machines choke with windows revisions, (as a general rule) macs usually run a bit better with new Mac OS releases, as long as they're officially supported.

 

[jimray]

Graphical artifacts are often caused by bad video RAM. On 13" MBPs, the video card shares the main memory.

Have you run Apple hardware test or Memtest86+ to rule out memory errors?

I followed the how to test new RAM recommendations from Mac Rumors, and no problems where reported, the test seemed quite lengthy..

I'm not sure what the exact tech specs are for the early 2011 13", but sounds like it it could be a processing speed/graphics issue, my Rev 1 15" would choke on HD content at times, from YouTube to my own videos.

It's a Core i5, I ran HD video on my Windows XP computer with a Core2duo (1.8GHZ) and only 2 GB ram just fine.

Hmm...usually you don't need more than 8 gigs unless you're doing something like running virtual machines. Wierd. Your MBP will take up to 16 gigs of ram, even though apple says it only takes 8.

And your new machine should run ML just fine. Unlike the windows world, where older machines choke with windows revisions, (as a general rule) macs usually run a bit better with new Mac OS releases, as long as they're officially supported.

I actually do run VMware (Windows XP) for one really old online game that i play, perhaps it is that for the page outs. I thought about going to the 16 GB, but I thought 8 GB was actually overkill for me. I only beachball very occasionally.

 

[T5BRICK]

I followed the how to test new RAM recommendations from Mac Rumors, and no problems where reported, the test seemed quite lengthy..

As a test, try reinstalling the original Apple RAM and play some HD videos to see if the same graphic errors exist.

 

[omgitscro]

MEMtest won't catch a lot of errors. All of the problems you've been having are most likely bad RAM. Install the original Apple RAM and see if the errors crop up again.

 

[jimray]

MEMtest won't catch a lot of errors. All of the problems you've been having are most likely bad RAM. Install the original Apple RAM and see if the errors crop up again.

Ugh that's brutal. I've had this RAM too long to return it I'm sure. But at least if I know the problem that will be good. I'll try it out, thanks.

 

[T5BRICK]

MEMtest won't catch a lot of errors. All of the problems you've been having are most likely bad RAM. Install the original Apple RAM and see if the errors crop up again.

Memtest may not catch errors on the first or second pass, but if you let it run overnight it'll catch them. I've never had a problem confirming bad memory this way.

Ugh that's brutal. I've had this RAM too long to return it I'm sure. But at least if I know the problem that will be good. I'll try it out, thanks.

Most RAM has a lifetime warranty. What memory did you use anyway?

 

[jimray]

Memtest may not catch errors on the first or second pass, but if you let it run overnight it'll catch them. I've never had a problem confirming bad memory this way.



Most RAM has a lifetime warranty. What memory did you use anyway?

I'll give the RAM another test tonight. I'm confortable changing the RAM, but if I can avoid it i'd prefer it.

As for the brand, i think it was Crucial. I'll check when I get home. I bought it from a Store that sells ONLY mac products, they have been open for many years, and they are an authorized service centre. They wanted to charge me the insanly high Apple price, but they agreed to match Best Buy for their online only price.

 

[T5BRICK]

As for the brand, i think it was Crucial. I'll check when I get home.

I'm pretty sure Crucial has a lifetime warranty on their RAM. If you're seeing errors, they should be able to replace them.

 

[jimray]

okay, newb question. How do i get memtest to repeat or do several passes?

 

[clyde2801]

shut down everything except terminal and enter the following command:

"memtest all #" with # being the number of times you want it to run.

 

[jimray]

shut down everything except terminal and enter the following command:

"memtest all #" with # being the number of times you want it to run.

Thanks, I know all the old DOS command and toggles, but its all useless to me working on my MAC now. I feel like PC users that started after DOS

 

[clyde2801]

Thanks, I know all the old DOS command and toggles, but its all useless to me working on my MAC now. I feel like PC users that started after DOS

Open terminal on your mac! Enter the command from THERE.....


M'kay?

 

[jimray]

Open terminal on your mac! Enter the command from THERE.....


M'kay?

lol I got that part but thanks.

I'm just saying I'm used to being a wizard and last night i couldn't figure out how to make memtest repeat.

 

[clyde2801]

lol I got that part but thanks.

I'm just saying I'm used to being a wizard and last night i couldn't figure out how to make memtest repeat.

Misunderstood you. Don't worry, you'll be an old mac hand in no time at all.