Performance assessment

[Stubaan]

Hi folks

I have just migrated my old MP to my new MBP. The MP was really struggling by the end, especially - but not necessarily - with a VM (Fusion/Windows 7) running. I also found Safari, among others, had become increasingly unstable. I suspect that I had accumulated a lot performance clutter over the years. I worry about this system sloth now infecting my new MBP since I simply migrated over using Migraine Assistant.

While I have a decent understanding of system resources, I have never actively studied any of my computers' performance with the intention of cleaning house or optimizing performance. I have tinkered, but have always found the insights to be limited, mainly because I lack the context to interpret them. I simply do not know what my system should "feel" like, or what performance would be considered poor. I am also aware that a huge array of tools exist for studying various aspects of performance.

What I am not ware of, is if there is any centralizing place or article that discusses and offers advice/guidelines for this general task. I can't be the first person to attempt this without prior training or experience, so I am hoping that one of you lovely ladies or laddies might know where I could find a template to follow.

Thanks so much - I am ready to go deep.

(MacBook Pro 2GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, 750 GB HD, Snow Leopard)

 

[dduggan]

I worry about this system sloth now infecting my new MBP since I simply migrated over using Migraine Assistant.

This is actually why I don't use the Migration Assistant, as I don't have a clear understanding about what it does or doesn't move across.

If you ever find out more about this, please post it as I will be very interested.

 

[Stubaan]

Greetings

I recognize the open-ended nature of this discussion/question and will be forging on solo. I will post my experience here as I progress in the hopes that, in time, it will pique some interest and better justify the attention of posters.

I have just downloaded Xbench and will begin there.

The main performance flaws I have noticed (in use, not analysis) since the migration are:

1. The graphics of a video froze in Safari, though the audio continued and a pause and play set things going again fine. Still, a brand new MBP with 8GB of RAM should not stutter over a short video.

2. When scrolling via trackpad through text-heavy forum sites such as this, the scrolling sometimes seems jerky.

3. When zooming in Safari via trackpad the zoom increases or decreases in steps, not smoothly - is this normal?

This is actually why I don't use the Migration Assistant, as I don't have a clear understanding about what it does or doesn't move across.

If you ever find out more about this, please post it as I will be very interested.

It pretty much moves everything across. My user and system library both look like they were moved across in full. My real gripe with MA is the lack of control: your options are limited to 1) specifying users to migrate; 2) migrate all/no applications; 3) migrate all/no setting; 4) migrate all/no documents.

It really doesn't seem to much to ask for the freedom to migrate only some applications, or some documents, though I imagine this probably opens a ginormous can of complicating worms for those unfamiliar with the inner workings of their Mac given shared content/interdependencies/etc.

I still think the option should be there to facilitate user-specified migration for those who want to attempt it manually. The alternative requires that we figure out everything that must be migrated for each and every app we want to move - what and where it is - and this is no insignificant task.