MacBook Pro / OS X - feeling disappointment.

[squeakr]

Install SD28 on the Momentus as it seems to be the tastes and most stable of the firmwares (it is what I have on mine).

I aree that the page outs are high? How long has it been since you restarted. The correct way to measure page outs is to restart, so the counter is reset and then use normally during a normal work day. Since the data is cumulative, at the end of the day check your page-outs. If they are as high as you say then you are needing more RAM, install your 8GB definitely. Also if you are running out of disk space, this will also slow the system (and if you have RAM problems then just compound the issue).

From your screen shots, even though you say you weren't watching anything on Youtube, the Flash is eating up over 11% of CPU cycles. That is a lot, so you have something running in the background or Flash is just taking over. Also if you have pages that auto refresh, such as Facebook tends to do, then you will use cycles there too.

 

[saberahul]

From your screenshots, you need more ram. I had similar issues then upgraded to 8GB ram on my MBP for $37ish (worth it). Haven't gotten any problems since then. Now I have pages outs set at 0 always.
Thinking about giving the 8 to my wife and buying the 16 for myself... $100 doesn't cut it though.

 

[iOrbit]

thank a lot for your help, i just updated the momentus xt that i have to the SD28, it was on SD26. its off topic but for around a year, i did have a freeze issue on my acer where i had to hard restart the laptop. is that likely the firmware issue on the hybrid momentus xt?

at least now its SD28. i'v taken it out my acer and put in a spare WD scorpio blue. (into the acer)

to answer your question, i think the last time i restarted was yesterday or last night. it hasn't been days or anything (remember, i clean installed lion like 1 day ago) i'm not bad with computers but i don't know what page ins/outs are about or what they mean. can some one explain what that is?

the possible use of flash elsewhere.. hmm i'm not sure, i might've missed something.


saberahul,

what is your usage like on your macbook pro? did just putting 8GB of ram in it keep the page ins/outs to 0??? or did you apply some setting? :S



okay, so i have some questions/need of advice -

should i spend a few hours on the mac after a restart and monitor my page ins and outs before installing the 8Gb RAM/momentus xt?

or should i just go straight on ahead..

also, is my model of the momentus xt 500GB drive, got a good history with working with macbook pros? preferably the late 2011 series models that i am using ?

lastly.. if i buy a new hard drive, what would be affordable, yet best (preferably less than £130 spend) to install into this mac, so that my storage isn't a slow down factor? should i go normal HDD? i don't mind if i don't get fast boot/app opening times like the SSD's do.. whats most important to me is no lag or lack of smoothness/beach balling... so that my storage amount is not a factor in the performance anymore.

i heard SSD/Hybrid drives have the pros of SSD's but are still not better than high end HDD's at transfer and copy/writing. i do not know.

 

[nudoru]

I got my first ever MBP similar to yours a few weeks ago. Booted it once to make sure it worked and then, cracked it open installed 8gb ram and a seagate 750xt (hybrid). Pretty nice system now No issues with the XT (and i did clone to it which i've heard is a "no-no." I had a 500xt in my Dell for over a year with no issues either.

I get the beach ball a few times, but I can "tell" it's from an app hanging or waiting - typically iTunes. Pick up iStat Menus and use the trial. It has memory, cpu and HD activity meters - the latter makes up for the lack of a HD light (I miss that!!!!!).

For more space, check out replacing the DVD drive with a caddy for a 2nd HD and then get a smaller SSD for boot. Could get by with a 120gb SSD and toss in a slower 1tb (!) HD in the old DV slot and you'd be "good to go."

I do think that 16gb is overkill for your usage, but I'm not going to recommend that one not max out their system if they're willing

 

[iforbes]

Seems pretty clear that you need more memory. Why haven't you installed the 8GB yet? It would take less time than writing one of your posts.

 

[iOrbit]

I got my first ever MBP similar to yours a few weeks ago. Booted it once to make sure it worked and then, cracked it open installed 8gb ram and a seagate 750xt (hybrid). Pretty nice system now No issues with the XT (and i did clone to it which i've heard is a "no-no." I had a 500xt in my Dell for over a year with no issues either.

I get the beach ball a few times, but I can "tell" it's from an app hanging or waiting - typically iTunes. Pick up iStat Menus and use the trial. It has memory, cpu and HD activity meters - the latter makes up for the lack of a HD light (I miss that!!!!!).

For more space, check out replacing the DVD drive with a caddy for a 2nd HD and then get a smaller SSD for boot. Could get by with a 120gb SSD and toss in a slower 1tb (!) HD in the old DV slot and you'd be "good to go."

I do think that 16gb is overkill for your usage, but I'm not going to recommend that one not max out their system if they're willing

Thanks for sharing your experience, i have thought about the caddy option, but i'll admit, i haven't researched it properly, but some concerns i have is no optical drive - which is odd, because honestly, i never ever use it, but i don't want to void the warranty, and i just can't help but feel uncomfortable not having a Disc drive.

Seems pretty clear that you need more memory. Why haven't you installed the 8GB yet? It would take less time than writing one of your posts.

i'v been hesitant because i don't want to open the macbook more than i have to, and I'm unsure about buying a new HDD or not, and if i do, which one?

does anyone know if seagate ever sold these momentus xt HDD's with 5400rpm? cause i don't know if my seagate momentus xt 500gb is 7200rpm or 5400rpm.. if its the latter then i fear that my system will be impacted on performance still with the storage despite faster boot/app opening from the sad portion of the drive.

my model is 500gb, Momentus XT earlier 2011 i believe, the ST95005620AS.

 

[squeakr]

All of the Momentus XTs are 7200 rpm drives.

 

[J.L.Photography]

I'm running iTunes, safari, Microsoft word, burning a DVD, watching a movie, GarageBand open, app store downloading, streaming YouTube...

Why is my computer slow...........




Zzzzz....

----------

Yes that's sarcasm

 

[snaky69]

Thanks for sharing your experience, i have thought about the caddy option, but i'll admit, i haven't researched it properly, but some concerns i have is no optical drive - which is odd, because honestly, i never ever use it, but i don't want to void the warranty, and i just can't help but feel uncomfortable not having a Disc drive.



i'v been hesitant because i don't want to open the macbook more than i have to, and I'm unsure about buying a new HDD or not, and if i do, which one?

does anyone know if seagate ever sold these momentus xt HDD's with 5400rpm? cause i don't know if my seagate momentus xt 500gb is 7200rpm or 5400rpm.. if its the latter then i fear that my system will be impacted on performance still with the storage despite faster boot/app opening from the sad portion of the drive.

my model is 500gb, Momentus XT earlier 2011 i believe, the ST95005620AS.

Seriously? Afraid to open it up? If you know which way to turn a screw without stabbing yourself in the eye in the process, you possess enough skill to change your RAM.

 

[outz]

Seriously? Afraid to open it up? If you know which way to turn a screw without stabbing yourself in the eye in the process, you possess enough skill to change your RAM.

lol.

currently he's got 4GB of ram... he's swapping another 4GB, and he's upgrading to 8. i just don't see 8 cutting it.

 

[iOrbit]

Seriously? Afraid to open it up? If you know which way to turn a screw without stabbing yourself in the eye in the process, you possess enough skill to change your RAM.

i know how to change ram quite well.. i'v done it on every computer i have owned, the reason is nothing to do with being adequate at upgrades.

 

[nudoru]

Thanks for sharing your experience, i have thought about the caddy option, but i'll admit, i haven't researched it properly, but some concerns i have is no optical drive - which is odd, because honestly, i never ever use it, but i don't want to void the warranty, and i just can't help but feel uncomfortable not having a Disc drive.

FYI - You can buy a caddy for the removed DVD drive also. I believe that OWC sells one for $40.

 

[thefizzle657]

Since more than half of the people here have suggested that you put in your 8GB RAM and your Page Outs suggest that you do so as well, why don't you just do that? I think that it is pretty obvious that your problem is too little RAM, waiting around for an answer that you like better isn't going to change that.

And even the slowest SSD can beat a HDD in sequential transfers and transferring other data. They are not just for quicker boot times and application start up times but also for transferring large amounts of data. The quickest desktop HDDs can't even saturate a SATA I 1.5 Gbps connection. You might consider getting a 128GB or 256GB SSD and moving all of the files that you don't use very often onto an external drive. I thought that I needed to have at least a 500GB drive but when I actually went through the files that I found that a lot of them were just sitting there unused for large periods of time and I was able to comfortably move to a 256GB SSD and still have extra room on it.

 

[snaky69]

i know how to change ram quite well.. i'v done it on every computer i have owned, the reason is nothing to do with being adequate at upgrades.

If you are afraid to void your warranty, rest assured, it does not. RAM is deemed user replaceable by Apple, in fact, the instructions on how to do it are even in the booklet that came with the computer.

Dive right in.

 

[The Economist]

Just install the bloody RAM!

 

[Elbert C]

Just install the bloody RAM!

+1

The cheapest way to speed up a Mac is to upgrade the RAM. You'll see the difference going from 4 GB to 8 GB, 16 would be better IMHO.

 

[NickZac]

Your computer is fine...the beach ball can be equated to the Windows hour glass. And those screen shots absolutely scream for more ram. I've always found Skype to be a memory hog and I have read some people say it can sometimes cause odd things to happen although I have not experienced this myself. If you want to be lag free, you should get a SSD. There are many benefits to a full SSD but the top one is speed. Your MBP can do the SATA3 SSDs too, in which the SATA3 SSDs have incredible speed (as in stoopid fast). My SATA3 MBP boots up in 15-17 seconds and most programs launch almost instantly, with some CS5.5 ones taking a few seconds at most...and my MBP is nothing special by any means. You really can't enjoy the MBP's full capability without a SSD IMO. You may also want to run Onyx to ensure the system remains in optimal running state although OS X is pretty good at that in itself, but I still find Onyx to be very useful for a few things.