Frustratingly Slow Late 2011 13" MBP

[GoLeafsGo]

I still have almost 350gb of space on my 500gb Late 2011 MBP and its being incredibly slow in intervals. Even just when typing sometimes it lags up horridly and i have to wait a good 6-7 seconds for the computer to catch up with what im typing. It frequently has these 6-7 second stall moments where I have to sit there and stare at it and wait for it to catch up, if I do anything it will completely freeze up.Then there are blocks of time where its alright. I do let my MBP sleep rather than shutting it down most of the time but even when I do a shut down its no better when I start it back up.

It has had the logic board replaced one time about a year after I bought it. Sometimes the screen will involuntarily switch off and go to the sign in screen and itll take a few seconds for it to come back. The battery has 983 cycles on it but its normal despite the battery problem notification turning on a couple times and me taking it to the genius bar for them to tell me that its technically normal and doesnt need to be replaced yet.

I also have it fully updated to Yosemite. Do I just need a new computer at this rate? I really don't know what to do with this thing. It seems so useless sometimes.

 

[Prodo123]

1. How much RAM do you have? 8GB should be the bare minimum for usable speed nowadays.
2. Open Activity Monitor and see what processes are taking up the resources. Take note of the CPU and Disk menus.

 

[GoLeafsGo]

Yikes, I'm seeing now I only have 4GB ram. That must be doing me in?

Other than that, poking around a little bit I can see this;

CPU:
System: about 7%
User: about 5 %
Idle: about 88 %

and the little CPU load graph is pretty tiny.

Looking at the disk theres a bunch of stuff I cant make heads or tails of.

I also looked at memory and this kind of struck me as odd;

in the memory it says "physical memory: 4.00" and "memory used: 3.99" so in all my processes all my memory is being used up? The little memory pressure graph seems to be very high as well.

Thoughts on the best course of action?

 

[Prodo123]

Yikes, I'm seeing now I only have 4GB ram. That must be doing me in?

Other than that, poking around a little bit I can see this;

CPU:
System: about 7%
User: about 5 %
Idle: about 88 %

and the little CPU load graph is pretty tiny.

Looking at the disk theres a bunch of stuff I cant make heads or tails of.

I also looked at memory and this kind of struck me as odd;

in the memory it says "physical memory: 4.00" and "memory used: 3.99" so in all my processes all my memory is being used up? The little memory pressure graph seems to be very high as well.

Thoughts on the best course of action?

When a system runs out of RAM, naturally it becomes very slow. Then on top of that, when it's out of RAM, it writes to the next available source of storage, which is your hard drive. This process is called swapping. It's also what allows your computer to hibernate: by backing up all RAM content to disk, your computer will retain its state even when all power is off.

Now, you're running out of RAM so the solution for that is straightforward. What's not as obvious is the hard drive: when you do run out of RAM, it's being written to a super slow storage medium in general, not to mention compared to RAM. So not only will upgrading the RAM help, but also moving to solid state storage completely will spice up that computer even more.

(and that's not even going into the huge benefits of solid state storage in general)

 

[GoLeafsGo]

When a system runs out of RAM, naturally it becomes very slow. Then on top of that, when it's out of RAM, it writes to the next available source of storage, which is your hard drive. This process is called swapping. It's also what allows your computer to hibernate: by backing up all RAM content to disk, your computer will retain its state even when all power is off.

Now, you're running out of RAM so the solution for that is straightforward. What's not as obvious is the hard drive: when you do run out of RAM, it's being written to a super slow storage medium in general, not to mention compared to RAM. So not only will upgrading the RAM help, but also moving to solid state storage completely will spice up that computer even more.

(and that's not even going into the huge benefits of solid state storage in general)

I've decided that I'm definitely going to replace the RAM, as that doesn't seem to be too hard a thing to do and it appears that it doesn't void the warranty. However does putting in a SSD instead of a HDD do that? I'm definitely interested but I still have about a full year left on my warranty and dont want to go against that.

 

[yjchua95]

I've decided that I'm definitely going to replace the RAM, as that doesn't seem to be too hard a thing to do and it appears that it doesn't void the warranty. However does putting in a SSD instead of a HDD do that? I'm definitely interested but I still have about a full year left on my warranty and dont want to go against that.

RAM and hard drive upgrades won't void the warranty.

And yes, you should really go get an SSD.

 

[pgamboa]

I am having this same exact issue with my wife's MBP Late 2011. 4GB Ram. I just ordered 16GB (2x8GB) that should be arriving on Monday. We'll see how it goes with that then a SSD shortly thereafter.

 

[Fishrrman]

Prediction:
Adding RAM will help a little, but it won't help very much.

What you REALLY need to add is an SSD drive.

Yosemite will run -- but run slowly -- on a platter-based HDD drive.

 

[Prodo123]

Prediction:
Adding RAM will help a little, but it won't help very much.

What you REALLY need to add is an SSD drive.

Yosemite will run -- but run slowly -- on a platter-based HDD drive.

RAM and hard drive upgrades won't void the warranty.

And yes, you should really go get an SSD.

SSDs only help you open and write files faster. This is perceived as making your laptop "snappier" since apps load in an instant and it takes 7 seconds to cold boot.

What it will not help with is the performance of apps that are already open. For example, it should not take 7 seconds to type a letter. That's a clear sign of RAM shortage, and in your case I'd recommend 2x4GB or even 2x8GB (what I have for video rendering on laptop).

That's not to say a SSD will not help, because it definitely would. But by the time you get a SSD, I think it would be more economical to just replace the laptop altogether. But if in the interim you feel as if you really need it, then go for it!

I speak from experience, with a 250GB 840 EVO + 1TB dual drive setup and 2x8GB RAM from Crucial.

 

[poiihy]

You should only upgrade the RAM if the memory pressure graph is very high and yellow and/or red. If it is low then you don't need it. Mavericks/Yosemite almost always uses all your RAM so don't count on the memory usage to decide. Because yours is high then the current amount of RAM is low for your needs.

You probably run a lot of programs and/or RAM intensive programs. Close unneeded programs and that may help speed it up.