Macbook Pro (mid 2010) issue

[Rivaba]

Hi!

Long time reader, first time poster on this forum. I currently own a mid 2010 Macbook Pro 13" and the battery is singing on the last verse after 6 years. It says "change soon" in the top-right corner when I check its status and I will change it in a couple of weeks, but I have a number of issues and I don't know if they are related to the battery. For the last 2 months or so it hasn't functioned properly, it is insanely slow in every way imaginable, freezes every 8 seconds or so and can barely be used in general due to this. The Macbook Pro is almost constantly connected to the charger and there are no problems charging it and it doesn't seem to last shorter duration than usual without being plugged in. When I read about battery issues they seem fairly restricted to failure to charge the battery, less battery time and whatnot. Could these issues of mine be because of the old battery or could there be something wrong with the 5400-rpm hard drive? Disk Utility can't find anything wrong with it when I run it, but is there a way for me to confirm the drives status on my own?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Fishrrman]

If the rest of the MacBook is in good shape after 5-6 years of use, I'd suggest you replace the battery and put an SSD into it.

These replacements are very easy to do (use the right tools) and the SSD should make a HUGE increase in performance.

You don't have to buy a "high-end" SSD, just about any one will do.
They'll all yield up the same level of performance because the 2010 MBPro's have a SATA-2 bus (not a SATA-3 like 2.5" SSDs, but they're backward-compatible).
For an older MBPro, don't spend too much -- you can get a 240gb SSD in the $70 range these days.

I get excellent performance from my own mid-2010 MBpro with a 160gb SSD, still using the original 4mb of RAM, and running 10.6.8.

Be aware that if you are trying to run the latest versions of the OS (Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan) with only a platter-based HDD, performance may seem slow...

 

[Rivaba]

If the rest of the MacBook is in good shape after 5-6 years of use, I'd suggest you replace the battery and put an SSD into it.

These replacements are very easy to do (use the right tools) and the SSD should make a HUGE increase in performance.

You don't have to buy a "high-end" SSD, just about any one will do.
They'll all yield up the same level of performance because the 2010 MBPro's have a SATA-2 bus (not a SATA-3 like 2.5" SSDs, but they're backward-compatible).
For an older MBPro, don't spend too much -- you can get a 240gb SSD in the $70 range these days.

I get excellent performance from my own mid-2010 MBpro with a 160gb SSD, still using the original 4mb of RAM, and running 10.6.8.

Be aware that if you are trying to run the latest versions of the OS (Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan) with only a platter-based HDD, performance may seem slow...

Just need to patch it up well enough for 6 months or so while waiting for Skylake (and dare I say, Polaris?) upgrade. Because of this and its age I have no intention of spending more money on it than necessary, which excludes an SSD. If a new battery can solve the problems I'm having that would be great, but if the hard drive isn't functioning properly anymore, the cost needed to fix it would outweigh the value I'd get out of it before Skylake MBP release.

 

[treekram]

A battery which is not working properly can cause slowdowns. If you search the Internet for "mac kernel_task battery slowdown" you'll find numerous instances of where this is the case. If you're nearby an Apple store, it may be worth a call to see if they would let you try out a functioning battery to see if the battery is indeed the issue. Because the case has to be removed, maybe they won't be willing to do that but maybe they can diagnose the issue definitively by looking at your computer and/or running some tests that they have.

Beyond Disk Utility and the Apple Diagnostics/Hardware Test, you can get disk diagnostics software. But the one I use cost $40 (bundled with other software), which incidentally, is about the cost of a 500GB laptop drive. So if you're not willing to spend that, I would go with the assumption that your disk is fine. Maybe somebody can suggest free disk diagnostics software.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

A battery which is not working properly can cause slowdowns. If you search the Internet for "mac kernel_task battery slowdown" you'll find numerous instances of where this is the case. If you're nearby an Apple store, it may be worth a call to see if they would let you try out a functioning battery to see if the battery is indeed the issue. Because the case has to be removed, maybe they won't be willing to do that but maybe they can diagnose the issue definitively by looking at your computer and/or running some tests that they have.

Beyond Disk Utility and the Apple Diagnostics/Hardware Test, you can get disk diagnostics software. But the one I use cost $40 (bundled with other software), which incidentally, is about the cost of a 500GB laptop drive. So if you're not willing to spend that, I would go with the assumption that your disk is fine. Maybe somebody can suggest free disk diagnostics software.

I agree:
Visited some weeks ago service because one 2011 MBP was "dead" after some times still starting.
It was nothing but a failing battery! They made all tests, installed a new battery, made a NVRAM restart - and since it works without any issue.

You could also run the free EtreCheck test and try the "Slow issue" section of the test by yourself. Look at the test results.

 

[Rivaba]

A battery which is not working properly can cause slowdowns. If you search the Internet for "mac kernel_task battery slowdown" you'll find numerous instances of where this is the case.

Thanks! I didn't know about battery slowdown, but it seems to fit the 'symptoms'. A new battery should hopefully do the trick.

 

[mikzn]

I currently own a mid 2010 Macbook Pro 13" and the battery is singing on the last verse after 6 years. It says "change soon" in the top-right corner when I check its status and I will change it in a couple of weeks, but I have a number of issues and I don't know if they are related to the battery. For the last 2 months or so it hasn't functioned properly, it is insanely slow in every way imaginable, freezes every 8 seconds or so and can barely be used in general due to this. The Macbook Pro is almost constantly connected to the charger and there are no problems charging it and it doesn't seem to last shorter duration than usual without being plugged in.
Thank you in advance.

It should run even without the battery if you have the charger plugged in? DO you have any space left on the hard drive? Is it getting close to capacity of the hard drive? That can affect the read / write times to search for free space especially if working with large files? Videos etc. I like to keep my drives at less than 60% used space - you could check the memory too if you have upgraded and added programs and changes the OS it may need more of both?

If so - could be time to upgrade to SSD - that will make it much faster.

 

[Joelburman]

Isn't the easiest way to check if its the battery to unplug it and run from electricity only? I'd also recommend changing hdd to an ssd it gives a great performance boost.

 

[AttilaTheHun]

If the rest of the MacBook is in good shape after 5-6 years of use, I'd suggest you replace the battery and put an SSD into it.

These replacements are very easy to do (use the right tools) and the SSD should make a HUGE increase in performance.

You don't have to buy a "high-end" SSD, just about any one will do.
They'll all yield up the same level of performance because the 2010 MBPro's have a SATA-2 bus (not a SATA-3 like 2.5" SSDs, but they're backward-compatible).
For an older MBPro, don't spend too much -- you can get a 240gb SSD in the $70 range these days.

I get excellent performance from my own mid-2010 MBpro with a 160gb SSD, still using the original 4mb of RAM, and running 10.6.8.

Be aware that if you are trying to run the latest versions of the OS (Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan) with only a platter-based HDD, performance may seem slow...

Mavericks working fine just don't go higher the video card can't handle it