MacBook Pro 13 inch 2011-COMPLETE DISAPPOINTMENT

[EarthNeutron]

So, I bought my first Mac in september 2011. Since then I've had numerous problems. From multiple crashes to freezes and OS restarts, I have to say that out of all my Apple devices, this is the one I am pleased the least.

My major problem is the SPINNING BEACH BALL OF DEATH. I get this shiat every time I open an app... and it takes me up to 20-30 second to open one...
For example, even opening Safari causes the beach ball to spin for around 20 to 40 seconds. The same happens with iTunes....iPhoto is the worst. I sometimes have to wait over 1min just to open iPhoto. Scrolling in iPhoto is a pain...Lags like hell...


Most probably, my HDD is the problem. Notice that I have a stock 5400rpm 320 gb HDD. I paid around 2000$ for the base MacBook Pro 13 inch. And NO, we do not have APPLE store in our country so sending it to an Apple store is virtually impossible.

BTW I bought it from an Apple retail seller (the equivalent of BestBuy in the US)

 

[miles01110]

Then take it to a repair center for repair, or mail it in.

 

[snaky69]

So, I bought my first Mac in september 2011. Since then I've had numerous problems. From multiple crashes to freezes and OS restarts, I have to say that out of all my Apple devices, this is the one I am pleased the least.

My major problem is the SPINNING BEACH BALL OF DEATH. I get this shiat every time I open an app... and it takes me up to 20-30 second to open one...
For example, even opening Safari causes the beach ball to spin for around 20 to 40 seconds. The same happens with iTunes....iPhoto is the worst. I sometimes have to wait over 1min just to open iPhoto. Scrolling in iPhoto is a pain...Lags like hell...


Most probably, my HDD is the problem. Notice that I have a stock 5400rpm 320 gb HDD. I paid around 2000$ for the base MacBook Pro 13 inch. And NO, we do not have APPLE store in our country so sending it to an Apple store is virtually impossible.

BTW I bought it from an Apple retail seller (the equivalent of BestBuy in the US)

Well, why don't you stick a new hard drive in there instead of coming on an internet forum to be told to do so?

Or better yet, take it back to your Apple reseller and have them honour the 1 year warranty, and get a new hard drive or whatever else is broken for free? You do know that warranty work only has to be done at an Apple reseller, it doesn't have to be in an Apple Store...

I'm not sure what you expected as a response to your post. Bad hardware happens on every single brand of computer out there, no matter how expensive or cheap it is. Get over it.

 

[old-wiz]

Considering that Apple sells millions of Macs per quarter, at least 1% are likely to have problems. It is impossible to build computers and not have a few that don't work well. You are well within the 1 year warranty - get it fixed.

 

[maflynn]

As others have posted, replace the HD yourself or send it back to where you got it. You don't have to bring it to an apple store, you can call them.

Your experience is not typical and while I can understand your frustration, the best option now is to replace the hard drive which should resolve your problems. Don't forget to back up your data though.

 

[mzjin]

So, I bought my first Mac in september 2011. Since then I've had numerous problems. From multiple crashes to freezes and OS restarts, I have to say that out of all my Apple devices, this is the one I am pleased the least.

My major problem is the SPINNING BEACH BALL OF DEATH. I get this shiat every time I open an app... and it takes me up to 20-30 second to open one...
For example, even opening Safari causes the beach ball to spin for around 20 to 40 seconds. The same happens with iTunes....iPhoto is the worst. I sometimes have to wait over 1min just to open iPhoto. Scrolling in iPhoto is a pain...Lags like hell...


Most probably, my HDD is the problem. Notice that I have a stock 5400rpm 320 gb HDD. I paid around 2000$ for the base MacBook Pro 13 inch. And NO, we do not have APPLE store in our country so sending it to an Apple store is virtually impossible.

BTW I bought it from an Apple retail seller (the equivalent of BestBuy in the US)

Are you complaining of a defective Hard Drive? I'm not sure what doing so on the forums will gain you.

 

[thekev]

How full is the hard drive? Are these times relatively accurate? I'm just wondering on that. Did it begin to exhibit problems immediately? Sure the stock HDD is slower than an SSD, but it should not cause those kinds of issues loading safari. Even on my really old macbook (not my primary computer) it loads in under 10 seconds uncached with an older HDD generation. I would have it checked out. Just make sure your data is backed up before sending it in (it should be anyway).

 

[D.T.]

A 5.4K RPM HDD isn't the cause, that drive is fine for most general use (web, email, iPhoto, "office" apps, etc.), especially since it sounds like just running an app or two that I'd consider pretty "lite" it causing the beach party

My wife has a C2D 13", 5.4K drive, 4GB RAM and her machine has run just about perfect since Dec '10 (it had a little startup slowdown that was resolved by removing a ton of things I had been playing with on her machine like Plex).

Something is definitely wrong with your machine, though I don't know if it's software/OS related or some funked up hardware.

I'd do a fresh OS re-install to start with ... that's free, you can do it yourself, and that would at least give you a reference starting point on the software side.

 

[WardC]

Putting an SSD in there should fix your problems. Skip the HD route and get an SSD, much much faster and you will have virtually instantaneous disk access speeds, and very fast application loads. You will need to re-install your operating system or re-clone it to your SSD from a backup copy. I would recommend checking out OWC (http://www.macsales.com) for solid state drives, they are the best on the market. The 120GB size is an ideal size, but a 240GB is even better if you can afford it. Good luck.

 

[Swain]

You lost me at 2000$ for a base 13inch mbp.

 

[heisenberg123]

You lost me at 2000$ for a base 13inch mbp.

well he also say they were not from the US so who knows what absurd prices some people have to pay

 

[Adamantoise]

A 5.4K RPM HDD isn't the cause, that drive is fine for most general use (web, email, iPhoto, "office" apps, etc.), especially since it sounds like just running an app or two that I'd consider pretty "lite" it causing the beach party

Yup, I'm not sure what's more ridiculous, the OP's rant or the idiots acting as if 5400rpm HDDs are good for nothing.

Before SSDs became cheaper, plenty people used HDDs (of the 5400rpm variety) perfectly fine. I never bothered upgrading my 2010 Macbook Pro's HDD and it ran fine, I never had beach balls or anything of the sort.

I'm not 100% sure what OP's problem is, but I just find it silly that everyone just assumes the HDD is at fault these days.

 

[takeshi74]

I'm not 100% sure what OP's problem is, but I just find it silly that everyone just assumes the HDD is at fault these days.

Not everyone does for one thing. No one even said 5400 RPM was the problem but the drive can certainly be defective and has not been ruled out. Do you have alternative troubleshooting suggestions to help pinpoint the cause?

 

[EarthNeutron]

Not everyone does for one thing. No one even said 5400 RPM was the problem but the drive can certainly be defective and has not been ruled out. Do you have alternative troubleshooting suggestions to help pinpoint the cause?

I'll try a fresh OS X reinstall. Just a small question:If I restore from my Time Machine Backup, will it restore everything? (by everything, I actually mean everything, from apps to Safari web pages and so on)

BTW I just got the beach ball again just by scrolling down this page

 

[snaky69]

I'll try a fresh OS X reinstall. Just a small question:If I restore from my Time Machine Backup, will it restore everything? (by everything, I actually mean everything, from apps to Safari web pages and so on)

BTW I just got the beach ball again just by scrolling down this page

Yes it will. It'll restore everything as it is.

 

[EarthNeutron]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'll try a fresh OS X reinstall. Just a small question:If I restore from my Time Machine Backup, will it restore everything? (by everything, I actually mean everything, from apps to Safari web pages and so on)

BTW I just got the beach ball again just by scrolling down this page

Yes it will. It'll restore everything as it is.

Will I have to format my hdd as well? Or just install a new copy of os x?

 

[biohead]

Tried verifying permissions and verifying the disk via disk utility?

 

[D.T.]

Personally, I'd use the disk util, remove and recreate the OSX partition, reformat, go from there. If you're taking the time and effort to re-install, might as well start as "scratch" as possible!

 

[EarthNeutron]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

Ok, I erased my entire hdd and I'm having a clean install now. Just 3 more hours and it will be ready.

Btw I'm in my iPhone now

 

[D.T.]

Awesome. I'm confident you'll be back online with it and it'll run great!

 

[EarthNeutron]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A406 Safari/7534.48.3)

Thx, I sure hope so


I'll keep you guys updated.

 

[EarthNeutron]

UPDATE: Everything worked like a charm. Restored from my Time Machine Backup and even my last opened apps opened

Now, about the speed. I noticed about 30-40% increase (which is a lot IMO). The rest I just the slow 5400 rpm HD, so just a faster one will solve the issues.

I'll consider buying a 500+ GB SSD as soon as they become available and cost around 200$ max. (that would be 2-3 years from now i guess)