Macbook Pro running slowly

[Revan12200]

My Macbook Pro sometimes runs very slowly, even though all applications are closed except chrome. I can't work out what the cause of the problem is.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

MacBook Pro, 15-inch, Early 2011
Processor 2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Software OS X 10.9.3 (13D65)

Hardware Overview:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27
SMC Version (system): 1.69f4
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

Storage:
Macintosh HD:
Available: 137.87 GB (137,866,084,352 bytes)
Capacity: 249.54 GB (249,538,142,208 bytes)
Mount Point: /
File System: Journaled HFS+
Writable: Yes
Ignore Ownership: No
BSD Name: disk0s2
Volume UUID: 2957F310-6052-33FA-A63D-EAE83D106726
Physical Drive:
Media Name: Hitachi HTS545050B9A302 Media
Medium Type: Rotational
Protocol: SATA
Internal: Yes
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

Data Disk:
Available: 245.24 GB (245,240,000,512 bytes)
Capacity: 249.58 GB (249,575,739,392 bytes)
Mount Point: /Volumes/Data Disk
File System: Journaled HFS+
Writable: Yes
Ignore Ownership: No
BSD Name: disk0s4
Volume UUID: 7C63E72F-3F30-3E94-B3F7-4A18781AB3D1
Physical Drive:
Media Name: Hitachi HTS545050B9A302 Media
Medium Type: Rotational
Protocol: SATA
Internal: Yes
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

 

[niteflyr]

Chrome can often be a memory hog especially with many tabs open. Check memory usage in activity monitor when it slows down. If so, more memory might help.

 

[AndyK]

Chrome is pretty horrible in OS X vs how good it is in Windows. Consider swapping to Safari & you'll probably see a big improvement.

 

[kelon111]

If you want your laptop to feel more responsive overall , you can always replace the HDD with an SSD (all the new Mac laptops come with SSDs already).