Is my MBP a PC in disguise??? CRRAAAAASH!!

[SephirothXR]

Forgive the title, but it's been less than a year since I've gotten my MBP and it's giving me Vista-like problems. To make a long story short, I haven't downloaded programs that would slow down the computer, but signs emerged when Firefox would slow down (during videos), then would start to freeze often, then Safari would do the same, then the whole computer would suffer; this started roughly 5 months ago, just 7 months into the lifespan. The beachball wouldn't even go away after 30 minutes one time.

I don't multitask that often, but the crash that just happened came with just Safari open (multiple tabs, but still..). So first, Safari basically freezes and I get the beachball. After a 40 minute phone call and leaving the MBP on, the beachball is still there. I force restart it, then it never gets past the initial Apple logo screen for 20 minutes. I close it, restart it again, nothing pops up, I freak out, and I got lucky when I left the MBP silent for 20 minutes, I manage to get back on. I know you might just say to take it to a Genius at an Apple store, but I can't replicate the conditions all the time. When the beachball is on and I manage to look at processes, I see nothing that would be slowing the computer down. I would imagine maybe the harddrive is slowing down (degragment on a Mac anyone?), but can someone give me an idea of what's going on? All I do on the MBP is "Internet, word processing, media (iPhoto, iTunes), and Skype". That's at least all the list of programs that I only use, so I don't see what's turning my Mac into a Vista PC.....

 

[8767092]

Download Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner and do a deep clean of all caches on the system, repair permissions (etc) then reboot. That usually fixes any weirdness.

 

[SephirothXR]

Thanks, I'll give it a try tomorrow morning. My problem is going to need to be fixed LONG TERM, this MBP has only survived 1 year of undergrad, I thought it would be going 3 more years but I'm having second thoughts....

 

[advres]

I have an old titanium, old 533 G4 tower, powerbook alum, macbook pro alum (1st gen, last model) and dual G5 that still work very well. There is obviously something wrong with your machine. Use the install disk and run the utilities found on that disk. Then take it in if still unknown and explain the problem. It will get sent out and get repaired for free (if you have applecare).

 

[kidwithdimples]

Your title made me laugh.

 

[old-wiz]

I have an old titanium, old 533 G4 tower, powerbook alum, macbook pro alum (1st gen, last model) and dual G5 that still work very well. There is obviously something wrong with your machine. Use the install disk and run the utilities found on that disk. Then take it in if still unknown and explain the problem. It will get sent out and get repaired for free (if you have applecare).

Pretty sure that Apple care on any PPC machine expired long ago.

 

[DesmoPilot]

Pretty sure that Apple care on any PPC machine expired long ago.

Nope, some G5s are still covered.

 

[advres]

Pretty sure that Apple care on any PPC machine expired long ago.

And what does that have anything to do with what I told him to do? He said his comp is less than a year old and a MBP (intel). I was saying that I have machines that are about 11 years old and still run fine. Therefor, his machine has a problem and he should seek repair/replacement.

Not sure how you thought anything I said about my machines have anything to do with Apple Care.