Optimizing Maya performance on MBP 2009

[Sapling animations]

Hello,

I am a beginner in Maya. I am using a student license for Maya 2014. When I load up a character rig, my MacBook Pro will crash sometimes, and various other errors in the program happen. I know that would happen, because my MacBook Pro is from 2009. Here are the specs.

MacBook Pro 15" mid 2009
2.8ghz Intel core 2 duo
Nvidia GeForce 9400m 256mb
8gb of ram
256gb SSD

I know I need to get a new computer, but I need to get by for now. Maya won't crash that often, but it will lag occasionally and my MacBook Pro will over heat. I'm just curious to see if there's anything I can do to get the most out of it for now. Can I go into Maya settings and do some optimization to make the performance better? I use smc fan control to cool down my MacBook Pro, and it's always plugged into the wall due to the service battery warning.

Thank you,
Sapling animations

 

[TheIguana]

Get a new battery from Apple. While it may seem counterintuitive if your battery is coming up as "Service Battery" your MBP will likely automatically reduce performance by throttling your CPU/GPU. This is a hardware power function as at full load a MBP can exceed the power available from the charger and will also pull from the battery simultaneously.

Given your Macs specs you have already hit the big performance boosters from a hardware perspective. On Maya's end there isn't much you can change in the settings, it more comes down to how complex your models are.

 

[chrfr]

MacBook Pro 15" mid 2009
2.8ghz Intel core 2 duo
Nvidia GeForce 9400m 256mb
8gb of ram
256gb SSD

What version of OS X do you have on the computer, and are you updated to Maya 2014 Service Pack 4?

 

[jruschme]

One more suggestion... grab a copy of gfxCardStatus and make sure that you are using the 9600M GT graphics (discrete) when running Maya.