My 2009 13" Lion MBP is slow like... well, it's very slow.

[mosiejczuk]

It's never been blazingly fast but the overall system performance was ok. I tried to keep the number of background apps to the minimum, but after some time since the last clean install things always used to get unbearably slow.
At some point I realized that creating a new user account solves the problem just like doing a clean install. I did it every few months then, manually moving all my music, photos, mail, etc.
However, after upgrading to Lion I noticed the system is hardly usable. Waiting 30 seconds when switching apps is a nightmare. I've been using it since the Lion debut so for sure it's not a question of indexing. I created a new user accound just for test and I've noticed that while it's a lot snappier than my regular one, it's still not half as fast as a clean setup on Snow Leopard.
I know 2 GB of RAM is not much, but the OS runs slower than Leopard on my legacy 512 MB white MacBook.

Do You have any ideas how can I speed up the system? Is it possible that my hardware is somehow malfunctioning? Permissions are fine, I checked that.

Do Your user accounts get messy after few months?

 

[maflynn]

I think you already touched on the answer. 2GB of ram is woefully inadequate for Lion which has a reputation to be RAM hungry

 

[mosiejczuk]

Seriously, is it THAT memory hungry? And is it normal to get worse over time? I thought this happens only with Windows 95.

I'm just disappointed because my iPhone is a lot snappier than my MacBook Pro. When browsing web.

 

[PaulyD]

I get upto 3gb of RAM usage without anything massive open. Itunes, safari, mail etc.

I would definitely upgrade your RAM though given how cheap it is at the moment

EDIT: was similar on SL as well but never really monitor this actively, usually only see when i check for process usage in Activity Monitor

 

[mosiejczuk]

it's really sad that after upgrading my white 2006 CoreDuo MacBook to 2 GB of RAM I could do heavy HDV editing in Final Cut, wheareas on my 2009 MBP 2 GB is hardly enough for basic multitasking. I cannot call this a technological progress.

I'm still hoping to hear that there is something I'm doing wrong or not doing at all, like the system registry cleaning on Windows that could improve the overall OS X performance.

 

[Drunken Master]

it's really sad that after upgrading my white 2006 CoreDuo MacBook to 2 GB of RAM I could do heavy HDV editing in Final Cut, wheareas on my 2009 MBP 2 GB is hardly enough for basic multitasking. I cannot call this a technological progress.

I'm still hoping to hear that there is something I'm doing wrong or not doing at all, like the system registry cleaning on Windows that could improve the overall OS X performance.

I have the same problem and have no idea how to fix it other than upgrading to more RAM for the MBP...

 

[dsjr2006]

Buy more RAM

 

[mosiejczuk]

Buy more RAM

That's what I've decided to do, but it won't make me any less sad over Apple's policy.

 

[derickdub]

I was using 2GB of RAM on my 13 2009 2.53GHz model and I it wasn't as bad as you described. It was bad, but hardly unusable.

Go into activity monitor and check your page outs and swap used after normal usage, that will give you a good idea of how bad you need an upgrade.

Also, am I missing something? What is "Apple's policy" that is making you sad?

 

[mosiejczuk]

Also, am I missing something? What is "Apple's policy" that is making you sad?

I'm talking about not optimizing the code. The point where 2 GB of RAM make my computer slower than my iPhone is ridiculous.

Also, I've upgraded my MBP to 4 GB and the system got consedaribly faster — apparently all of You were right, it all comes down to memory.

 

[NutsNGum]

Arguably, 2GB RAM hasn't really been "enough" for several years, for anyone looking to do more than check emails and look at a few websites, at least.

You can hardly blame Apple for every application on your machine that requires RAM.

 

[xkmxkmxlmx]

it's really sad that after upgrading my white 2006 CoreDuo MacBook to 2 GB of RAM I could do heavy HDV editing in Final Cut, wheareas on my 2009 MBP 2 GB is hardly enough for basic multitasking. I cannot call this a technological progress.

What did you upgrade your 06 MacBook to? Not Lion, I am assuming.

I just don't understand how you can be upset about this. You're trying to use the latest OS with the bare minimum of RAM. You can use it, but you're not going to get much out of it.

And of course your iPhone is going to be fast. But wait a couple years when you're trying to use that same phone with iOS 7, and it runs like crap. Kind of like how the first and second gen phones can't run iOS 4 well.

Bottom line is, if you want the latest and greatest, you have to be prepared to upgrade your system as well. A computer rule to *expect*. And it is a policy that applies to ALL computers, not just Apple made.