Is there anything wrong with my Retina MBP?

[addictive]

About 8 months ago I purchased a brand new Retina MacBook Pro (2015 version), 8GB RAM and 512GB. I also have a modified Mac mini from 2012 with a large SSD installed.

I tend to prefer using my Mac mini over the MBP because it seems quicker (which it shouldn't). I don't do much intensive work on my MBP at the moment but doing just light web browsing usually means I get the spinning beachball of death. Often it is so bad I have to hold the power button down to restart my MBP. This usually happens at least once per day. Trying to Force Quit isn't always successful as that app can take forever to load if it does at all.

Then today I was just browsing the internet and the battery was around 90% and I came back to it the MBP 30 minutes later and for the first time ever the MBP had shut itself down. Nothing worked. I couldn't turn it back on at all. In the end I had to resort to plugging in a mains adaptor and when this did work my battery was at 66%. Some quirk with the battery?

I realise this doesn't sound like much is significantly wrong but this type of user experience is not what I thought I would be getting with a MBP after my trusty 2008 Unibody MacBook gave up the ghost.

Should I run any type of malware detection? If so what do you recommend?

Do I need to book a Genius Bar appointment?

I should have a bit more time on my warranty and I know Apple don't make this MBP model anymore but I don't want to go onwards with spinning beachballs and spontaneous shut downs when my current work is so light. I do expect to start using the MBP for some intensive tasks.

Thanks in advance.

 

[kschendel]

Something isn't right, although whether hardware or software is very difficult to tell from what you've described. You can try running MalwareBytes to see if it picks up anything obvious, and you can try running Activity Monitor to see if you can tell what is using up the machine resources. (It might be a program name, or it might be something generic like "kernel task" which doesn't tell you much.) Beyond that, yes try taking it to a Genius Bar or other knowledgeable servicer to see what is going on.

 

[BittenApple]

probably some icloud crap slowing it down

 

[ZapNZs]

Something is wrong. What is your battery status? Between the slow speeds and the battery issue you experienced, it sounds almost like the system is running in the same type of limp mode that Apple laptops do when the battery is removed (with that said, software causes like directory corruption, or other hardware causes like a failing local disk, can also cause this sluggish/erratic behavior - but does not explain the battery issue you experienced). Are you getting a SERVICE SOON/NOW/REPLACE NOW message under the Profiler's Power status?

You can try resetting the PRAM and SMC, booting into safe mode, and reinstalling macOS to rule out software causes.

If none of those fix the issue, you can try running the Apple Diagnostics or taking it into an Apple Store or Authorized Service Provider where they will run MRI on it. If your warranty is about to expire and you do not have AppleCare, taking it to an Authorized Service Provider should IMO be a priority - especially if the software-side troubleshooting fails to fix the issue.

 

[Audit13]

I don't think it should power off with a 90% charged battery in 30 minutes. I recommend taking it to the Apple Store while it's still under warranty.

 

[Fishrrman]

It sounds like there are one or more "runaway processes" that are eating up the MB's CPU and thus running down the battery.

Have you tried using "Activity Monitor" to check CPU usage?
That may reveal a great deal to you.

I like BittenApple's advice in reply 3 -- you might try TURNING OFF iCloud for a little while (assuming it's on), and see if that makes a difference.

And as Audit13 suggests, if it's still under warranty, TAKE IT TO THE APPLE STORE right away. Let them have a look at it.

My own 2015 MBPro 13" is quite snappy.
I don't use iCloud at all.

 

[kohlson]

Activity Monitor should be helpful here. Look at the CPU tab, and then click on the CPU column to sort by processes using the highest percentage. It may be a runaway process on a web page. That said, get to the Genius Bar!