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Painfully Slow MacBook Pro

N

NeedsLotsOfHelp

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2015
10
0
Hi everyone,

Thanks for taking the time to read. I have a 2011 MacBook pro, my specs are:

MacBook Pro (13-inche, Early 2011)
Processor 2.3 GHZ Intel Core i5
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Startup Disk Macintosh HD
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000 384 MB


Recently, over the past several OS updates, my MacBook has slowed to a complete crawl. It can take upwards of 5 minutes just to open or close any software. Websites can take minutes to load. Sometimes my text doesn't keep up with my typing. I get the pinwheel a lot. I'm sure you get the picture. Everything is SLOOOW. Once the applications open and I'm using them, things seem to be fine, however. It's usually when I go to open or close another application that the problems arise. Here's what I've tried:

SMC Reset
Result - Faster boot times. Things are a TINY bit faster but still lag to an almost unusable degree.

I would be so grateful to anyone who could help. I'll be happy to provide any further information needed. Thanks again everyone!
 
NeedsLotsOfHelp said:
Hi everyone,

Thanks for taking the time to read. I have a 2011 MacBook pro, my specs are:

MacBook Pro (13-inche, Early 2011)
Processor 2.3 GHZ Intel Core i5
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Startup Disk Macintosh HD
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000 384 MB


Recently, over the past several OS updates, my MacBook has slowed to a complete crawl. It can take upwards of 5 minutes just to open or close any software. Websites can take minutes to load. Sometimes my text doesn't keep up with my typing. I get the pinwheel a lot. I'm sure you get the picture. Everything is SLOOOW. Once the applications open and I'm using them, things seem to be fine, however. It's usually when I go to open or close another application that the problems arise. Here's what I've tried:

SMC Reset
Result - Faster boot times. Things are a TINY bit faster but still lag to an almost unusable degree.

I would be so grateful to anyone who could help. I'll be happy to provide any further information needed. Thanks again everyone!
Click to expand...

Sounds like first steps of HDD failure.
 
I'd love SSD. Just worried about the cost. Also, is there a particular size (physical size, not HDD size) I should be getting?
 
NeedsLotsOfHelp said:
I'd love SSD. Just worried about the cost. Also, is there a particular size (physical size, not HDD size) I should be getting?
Click to expand...

- 2.5" SATA III drive at or below 9.5 mm thick.
If you decide against an SSD and go with a traditional hard drive (which I wouldn't recommend), I'd recommend a Hitachi/HGST 7200 RPM drive. Hitachi has the lowest failure rate of any manufacturer.

An SSD will completely transform your computing experience.
 
JTToft said:
- 2.5" SATA III drive at or below 9.5 mm thick.
If you decide against an SSD and go with a traditional hard drive (which I wouldn't recommend), I'd recommend a Hitachi/HGST 7200 RPM drive. Hitachi has the lowest failure rate of any manufacturer.

An SSD will completely transform your computing experience.
Click to expand...
It's 2015.
I would not consider or even mention an hdd
 
Meister said:
Don't buy an hdd!

Look at :apple: -> about this mac -> storage

Then look how much storage you are using.
Click to expand...

Looks like about 100 gb free of 318 total.

----------
JTToft said:
- 2.5" SATA III drive at or below 9.5 mm thick.
If you decide against an SSD and go with a traditional hard drive (which I wouldn't recommend), I'd recommend a Hitachi/HGST 7200 RPM drive. Hitachi has the lowest failure rate of any manufacturer.

An SSD will completely transform your computing experience.
Click to expand...

Awesome! Thanks so much for the specs. Any suggestions on where to find the best prices? NewEgg? Amazon?
 
Meister said:
It's 2015.
I would not consider or even mention an hdd
Click to expand...

- I agree completely that an HDD shouldn't be considered (hence my qualification). But since the OP specifically asked for a recommendation of one, I thought I'd be a good sport and answer his question. :)

NeedsLotsOfHelp said:
Awesome! Thanks so much for the specs. Any suggestions on where to find the best prices? NewEgg? Amazon?
Click to expand...

- NewEgg is well-liked. But shop a bit around yourself. As for SSD brands, Samsung and Crucial are generally the top recommended ones. Look into the Samsung 850 EVO and 850 Pro (best SSD currently on the market, but expensive) and Crucial MX200.
 
Awesome! Thanks guys! I appreciate it. One final question, does it make sense to upgrade this old MacBook with the SSD? Will I still be able to get good life out of it and see the benefits of an SSD?
 
NeedsLotsOfHelp said:
Awesome! Thanks guys! I appreciate it. One final question, does it make sense to upgrade this old MacBook with the SSD? Will I still be able to get good life out of it and see the benefits of an SSD?
Click to expand...

- Most definitely. Your machine (same vintage as mine) supports the latest SATA standard, so you'll be able to take full advantage of all modern SATA SSDs.

If you're on a budget, the Crucial BX100 is a reasonably good choice as well in terms of performance, so long as you go for at least the 250 GB version.

I promise you you won't believe the speed increase once you have your new SSD installed. It's that extreme.
 
JTToft said:
- Most definitely. Your machine (same vintage as mine) supports the latest SATA standard, so you'll be able to take full advantage of all modern SATA SSDs.

If you're on a budget, the Crucial BX100 is a reasonably good choice as well in terms of performance, so long as you go for at least the 250 GB version.

I promise you you won't believe the speed increase once you have your new SSD installed. It's that extreme.
Click to expand...


Honestly, I cannot thank everybody enough! Thanks for all of your time and help. I'll be ordering an SSD today! Thanks again!
 
Sounds like your problem is not fixed yet, you have 100GB free so its nothing to do with hard drive..

Was there liquid spill? click on about this mac, make sure you're seeing the full 4gb of ram, even if you see it click on memory and make sure its showing there too.. my 2010 13" MBP runs faster with 1gb of ram than what you're describing.. If all is fine backup and do a clean install.
 
sonspot said:
Sounds like your problem is not fixed yet, you have 100GB free so its nothing to do with hard drive..

Was there liquid spill? click on about this mac, make sure you're seeing the full 4gb of ram, even if you see it click on memory and make sure its showing there too.. my 2010 13" MBP runs faster with 1gb of ram than what you're describing.. If all is fine backup and do a clean install.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? Hard drives can fail even if they have tons of free space...
 
sonspot said:
Sounds like your problem is not fixed yet, you have 100GB free so its nothing to do with hard drive..

Was there liquid spill? click on about this mac, make sure you're seeing the full 4gb of ram, even if you see it click on memory and make sure its showing there too.. my 2010 13" MBP runs faster with 1gb of ram than what you're describing.. If all is fine backup and do a clean install.
Click to expand...


Yes. All memory is showing. No liquid spills of any kind. I have noticed it start to get faster since the SMC reset. Maybe I should cancel my order for the SSD? It was 200 all in for the BX100 500.
 
Meister said:
It's 2015.
I would not consider or even mention an hdd
Click to expand...

Unfortunately some people live on lower/limited incomes and may not have the option of an SSD on cost - where an HDD wins hands down.

----------
NeedsLotsOfHelp said:
Yes. All memory is showing. No liquid spills of any kind. I have noticed it start to get faster since the SMC reset. Maybe I should cancel my order for the SSD? It was 200 all in for the BX100 500.
Click to expand...

Are you running Mavericks or Yosemite? A better route would be to look in Activity Monitor and post screenshots of both cpu and ram tabs so we can see what your machine is spending its time doing...you may not need an SSD or even a new HDD, you may have a simple issue that can be fixed for free, you may have an issue that will propagate to your ned HDD/SSD and need fixing anyway...
 
simonsi said:
Unfortunately some people live on lower/limited incomes and may not have the option of an SSD on cost - where an HDD wins hands down.

----------



Are you running Mavericks or Yosemite? A better route would be to look in Activity Monitor and post screenshots of both cpu and ram tabs so we can see what your machine is spending its time doing...you may not need an SSD or even a new HDD, you may have a simple issue that can be fixed for free, you may have an issue that will propagate to your ned HDD/SSD and need fixing anyway...
Click to expand...


How would I go about finding that? I'm running Yosemite but the issue has been since Mavericks. I'll post the screen shot after my time machine backup finishes. I assume that would skew results.
 
NeedsLotsOfHelp said:
How would I go about finding that? I'm running Yosemite but the issue has been since Mavericks. I'll post the screen shot after my time machine backup finishes. I assume that would skew results.
Click to expand...

open Spotlight and type "activity monitor", hit enter, the screenshot the CPU and Memory tabs with the usage column sorted with the highest CPU or memory usage at the top.

Post them here then we can see what is wrong with your Ford instead of just suggesting putting a Ferrari engine in it is the best thing :cool:
 
simonsi said:
open Spotlight and type "activity monitor", hit enter, the screenshot the CPU and Memory tabs with the usage column sorted with the highest CPU or memory usage at the top.

Post them here then we can see what is wrong with your Ford instead of just suggesting putting a Ferrari engine in it is the best thing :cool:
Click to expand...

zXFtdD9

SwMOj15


http://imgur.com/zXFtdD9,SwMOj15
 
NeedsLotsOfHelp said:
Image
Image

http://imgur.com/zXFtdD9,SwMOj15
Click to expand...

Can only see the CPU shot, stop running Chrome and see if Safari runs better (Chrome is a known resource hog), I'm not familiar with Plex but he plethora of instances running may indicate a problem.

Ram tab indicates you are swapping quite a bit, which to an HDD will be slow. How full is you HDD?

Three options, add SSD or add more RAM, or run less apps together.

Try running less and see if performance improves, then you can look at the cost of upgrade.

To give you an idea, my 11 MBA with 4GB and a 64GB SSD - its difficult to tell when it starts swapping as the delay is tiny to the SSD.

Hope that helps. Suspect your reset helping was a slight red herring, it was the reboot that helped I suspect.
 
Meister said:
If you are willing to give up storage space, an ssd will cost the same as an hdd.
Click to expand...

How so? Cheapest SSD I can source locally a reasonable NZ$143 - smallest available is currently 120GB, meanwhile I can get a 500GB HDD from the same supplier for oh NZ$75 so sorry, even with that back-flip SSDs are not available for HDD money - and if they want to keep selling them HDD makers will have to ensure there IS a good like for like differential because of the speed difference.

That is also without having to buy an external HDD and/or caddy to enable the 380GB drop in internal capacity through installed an SSD...so it would actually cost (assuming you have a 500GB internal and re-use it in a caddy), NZ$143+25=NZ$168 when an HDD could be bought for NZ$75...in OP's case he may have a terminal HDD so he would need to spend NX$143+25+75=NZ$243 instead of NZ$75...

----------
JTToft said:
- Right. In the same way that Manhattan real estate will cost the same as a house in rural Kentucky if you're willing to give up some space. ;)
Click to expand...

LOL yep ;) see my maths example, SSD is still 3x the cost of an HDD in the OP's situation...even if you give up the onboard space...
 
They are more expensive...

simonsi said:
How so? Cheapest SSD I can source locally a reasonable NZ$143 - smallest available is currently 120GB, meanwhile I can get a 500GB HDD from the same supplier for oh NZ$75 so sorry, even with that back-flip SSDs are not available for HDD money - and if they want to keep selling them HDD makers will have to ensure there IS a good like for like differential because of the speed difference.

That is also without having to buy an external HDD and/or caddy to enable the 380GB drop in internal capacity through installed an SSD...so it would actually cost (assuming you have a 500GB internal and re-use it in a caddy), NZ$143+25=NZ$168 when an HDD could be bought for NZ$75...in OP's case he may have a terminal HDD so he would need to spend NX$143+25+75=NZ$243 instead of NZ$75...

----------




LOL yep ;) see my maths example, SSD is still 3x the cost of an HDD in the OP's situation...even if you give up the onboard space...
Click to expand...


However they don't break the bank anymore and that extra $100 will be the best computing dollars you ever spent!!!
 
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