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My MacBook Pro is two years old!!

F

FooArk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 16, 2011
433
78
How can I clean her up and make her snappy as if she were brand new.


Look at 'er run Maggy!
 
FooArk said:
How can I clean her up and make her snappy as if she were brand new.


Look at 'er run Maggy!
Click to expand...

Has your MBP become less snappy at all? Because mine's been on SL ever since it came out and it's about 3.5 years old and runs just as the day I got it.
 
Use an old mac for a few weeks and then switch back to your mbp. Your laptop will seem much faster and snappier.
 
If you have apps that you dont use anymore delete them, same thing with files. If your hard drive is full or close to being full that can slow you down. That's just 1 suggestion for a minor tune-up.
 
Go into the library and delete old application files and what not that you aren't going to use anymore. Get a program that deletes system preferences whenever you delete an application; just throwing the app into the trash doesn't really do anything concerning system preferences.

Delete old files that you don't use and will never use; allowing 10 percent or so of the hard drive free (I always kept 10 gigs of a 320gb drive free) helps as well.
 
Mine is coming up for its 3rd birthday soon (2.4GHz 15" MBP, 4GB RAM). It does feel more sluggish on some tasks. I'm tempted to get a new 13" air, but realistically I probably have plenty of power in this one. I might wipe it and reinstall from scratch with Lion, and I'm toying with the idea of an SSD but not sure what to go for. Don't need huge storage, big files are on the NAS.
 
you would be very surprised how much wiping the hard drive and reinstalling the OS fresh does to speed up your Mac. I normally try to do it once a year to get rid of all the crap I download throughout the year. Whenever Lion comes out I plan to do a fresh install.
 
I have an original unibody MBP and will likely upgrade to 8GB of RAM. I only use 28GB of hard drive space and keep images, music and other items on external hard drives. You can upgrade RAM, HD speed, SSD or just delete those applications that you do not need in order to speed up your system. Most 8GB kits are inexpensive while SSD's still haven't come down much.
 
Young Spade said:
Get a program that deletes system preferences whenever you delete an application; just throwing the app into the trash doesn't really do anything concerning system preferences.
Click to expand...
Deleting the preferences for a deleted app will have absolutely zero effect on performance. You don't need a 3rd party app for deleting apps.
 
a fragmented or full hard drive will cause performance issues. I noticed after a real clean install last month, my system is so much faster then my migrated from my old macbook pro install.
 
ayeying said:
a fragmented or full hard drive will cause performance issues. I noticed after a real clean install last month, my system is so much faster then my migrated from my old macbook pro install.
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Your hard drive won't really be fragmented with OSX unless it's been used for a tonne of years and under heavy use, it's not like windows.

Yes, a fuller hard drive will be slower. But that won't get much slower really, it's just the difference in seek times between the inside platter, and further out.

So over the course of lets say 5 years of decent use, there shouldn't be much degradation in speed.
 
blackbinary said:
Your hard drive won't really be fragmented with OSX unless it's been used for a tonne of years and under heavy use, it's not like windows.

Yes, a fuller hard drive will be slower. But that won't get much slower really, it's just the difference in seek times between the inside platter, and further out.

So over the course of lets say 5 years of decent use, there shouldn't be much degradation in speed.
Click to expand...

OS X defrags files, aka, if you have a 20MB file (and only files under 20MB), it'll organize itself into a continuous file. However, like Windows, it doesn't defrag the entire disk, which is the primary reason for slowness.

http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html#6
 
do you have an intel mac? If so, reset the SMC and PRAM. I just reset both of those for my computer, and it got a hell of a lot faster.

Also, repair your permission files with disk utility. That will greatly affect performance as well. If you don't feel like using disk utility, I highly recommend Ice Clean. Very efficient program.
 
My MacBook Pro turned 2 years old a couple of days ago. It runs just like it did on day 1. I only had 2 things done to it...

1) Updated RAM from 2GB to 4GB in April 2011
2) Replaced battery in June 2011 (battery life had suddenly dropped from the usual 5 hours to less than 3 hours - it was covered by AppleCare :))

This is my first Mac and it is the best computer I have ever owned. If you feel your computer is running slow, update the RAM. You can get it for fairly cheap now and it's pretty easy to install.
 
Blondie :) said:
do you have an intel mac? If so, reset the SMC and PRAM. I just reset both of those for my computer, and it got a hell of a lot faster.

Also, repair your permission files with disk utility. That will greatly affect performance as well.
Click to expand...
Resetting SMC or NVRAM or repairing permissions are only needed for specific issues which those things affect. They are not a "cure all" for performance issues and unless you have a specific problem that they relate to, those things will have no effect on performance. Many people recommend these things without understanding what they do or when to use them. It would be a good idea to read and learn what they do and when to use them.
 
mines will be turning 3 years old end of this year (original unibody 2.4ghz)! it's still running fast and i installed 8gb ram and 120gb SSD.. also a new battery from apple..

it boot faster than my 2011 i5 iMac27 :)
 
I've had mine for two years and haven't noticed any slow down at all. I did upgrade the HD last year and the RAM a few months back.
 
If you think your MBP has decreased in performance then wipe the drive and reinstall everything (back up your data).

If you think you can make it more "snappier" then increase your ram if your page outs are high or switch to an SSD which will make all disk IO operations faster.
 
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