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Pro 15' Mid2012 disappointedly SLOW!

S

superdrei

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 5, 2012
7
0
Hey Folks,
I got little trouble with my brand new 15inch Mid2012-Macbook. I updated from an 2009 13inch and was expecting a significant increase of speed.
I work mostly on AfterEffects / Cinema 4d, means heavy stuff.
And in these three weeks of use now I recognized that the HD seems to be the bottleneck of the system. F.e. if I click on "All my Data" in the Finder, he needs sometimes seconds to react. Photoshoop needs 12 sec. to start, Premiere Pro around 30.
When I render stuff out with Cinema4D its fast as ****, because the processor totaly goes mad.
So I downloaded the Blackmagic Speed Test to check whats going on with that stupid HD and the Results are in average 65writing and 90 reading in the 5gig test.
Are those results bad?
I was a huge fan of snow leopard and my old macbook but this slow performance and mountain Lion makes me gonna go, take my Mountain of money i spend for this thing and buy a windows laptop and a windows-workstation.

Any suggestions how to improve performance?
 
superdrei said:
Hey Folks,
I got little trouble with my brand new 15inch Mid2012-Macbook. I updated from an 2009 13inch and was expecting a significant increase of speed.
I work mostly on AfterEffects / Cinema 4d, means heavy stuff.
And in these three weeks of use now I recognized that the HD seems to be the bottleneck of the system. F.e. if I click on "All my Data" in the Finder, he needs sometimes seconds to react. Photoshoop needs 12 sec. to start, Premiere Pro around 30.
When I render stuff out with Cinema4D its fast as ****, because the processor totaly goes mad.
So I downloaded the Blackmagic Speed Test to check whats going on with that stupid HD and the Results are in average 65writing and 90 reading in the 5gig test.
Are those results bad?
I was a huge fan of snow leopard and my old macbook but this slow performance and mountain Lion makes me gonna go, take my Mountain of money i spend for this thing and buy a windows laptop and a windows-workstation.

Any suggestions how to improve performance?
Click to expand...

How much RAM have you got?
And the read/write seem pretty good for a Hard Drive. Thought about getting an SSD? Got my first installed yesterday, makes my mid 2010 machine feel like a new machine!
 
Hrm, so my results are normal for a mechanical HD?
I don't have the bugs at the moment, to buy a SSD.

Edit:
@WillFisher
I got 4gb RAM, yeah SSD sounds great but freakin' expensive! I don't really need the opticaldrive.
 
Your not going to get a great improvement in speed without upgrading to a SSD. Upgrading anything else without that is almost a waste of time.
 
darngooddesign said:
1. Go back to Snow leopard.
Click to expand...
superdrei said:
Hey Folks,
brand new 15inch Mid2012-Macbook.
Click to expand...
Not possible with 2012 Macs, since Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard lacks drivers for them.

So I downloaded the Blackmagic Speed Test to check whats going on with that stupid HD and the Results are in average 65writing and 90 reading in the 5gig test.
Are those results bad?
Click to expand...
superdrei said:
Hrm, so my results are normal for a mechanical HD?
I don't have the bugs at the moment, to buy a SSD.
Click to expand...
The write speed is not that normal, even for a 5.400 RPM HDD, but the read speed is okay.

Any suggestions how to improve performance?
Click to expand...
A 256 GB SSD can be had for around 150 USD, look at the Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 or 840 (not the Pro).
It will speed your Mac up tremendously, Photoshop can start in less than five seconds, Avid Media Composer starts in less than 15 seconds on my 2009 C2D MBP.

I got 4gb RAM, yeah SSD sounds great but freakin' expensive! I don't really need the opticaldrive.
Click to expand...
Get at least 8 GB RAM, can be had for 50 USD or less, or get 16 GB for less than 100 USD. It will not speed up startup times, but multitasking will be much more comfortable.

MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD

the guide includes:
  • 0. Identify your MacBook or MacBook Pro
  • 1. Getting a new HDD
  • 2. Guides to replace the internal HDD with a newer one
  • 3. Transferring data from the old HDD to the new HDD
  • 4. Using the optical disk drive (ODD) slot for placing an SSD or HDD inside the MB/P (OPTIBAY)
​



Performance Tips For Mac OS X
 
Last edited:
superdrei said:
Hrm, so my results are normal for a mechanical HD?
I don't have the bugs at the moment, to buy a SSD.

Edit:
@WillFisher
I got 4gb RAM, yeah SSD sounds great but freakin' expensive! I don't really need the opticaldrive.
Click to expand...

Upgrade the RAM to begin with, either 8/16 will make a HUGE change too.
My Mac Mini had 4, which went up to 8. That also makes it super quick.
 
darngooddesign said:
1. Go back to Snow leopard.
2. Put an SSD in for your OS and either replace your optical with a fast platter drive or set up a fast external drive.
Click to expand...

1. Not doable on a machine younger than early 2011.
2. Yeah, there's always that.
 
darngooddesign said:
1. Go back to Snow leopard.
2. Put an SSD in for your OS and either replace your optical with a fast platter drive or set up a fast external drive.
Click to expand...


You don't need to go back to Snow Leopard, which I doubt a 2012 MBP runs. That is ridiculous and incredibly bad advice for many reasons.
You need an SSD and more ram. Might as well go with 16GB since its not that much more than 8.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Not possible with 2012 Macs, since Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard lacks drivers for them.



The write speed is not that normal, even for a 5.400 RPM HDD, but the read speed is okay.


A 256 GB SSD can be had for around 150 USD, look at the Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 or 840 (not the Pro).
It will speed your Mac up tremendously, Photoshop can start in less than five seconds, Avid Media Composer starts in less than 15 seconds on my 2009 C2D MBP.


Get at least 8 GB RAM, can be had for 50 USD or less, or get 16 GB for less than 100 USD. It will not speed up startup times, but multitasking will be much more comfortable.

MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD

the guide includes:
  • 0. Identify your MacBook or MacBook Pro
  • 1. Getting a new HDD
  • 2. Guides to replace the internal HDD with a newer one
  • 3. Transferring data from the old HDD to the new HDD
  • 4. Using the optical disk drive (ODD) slot for placing an SSD or HDD inside the MB/P (OPTIBAY)
​



Performance Tips For Mac OS X
Click to expand...

Ok, so I will save some money and go for the SSD. 16GB Ram is only 70$ something, thats ridiculous cheap!
Thanks for the massive information by the way.
What to you mean with the write speed is not normal? Is it under the average?
 
superdrei said:
Ok, so I will save some money and go for the SSD. 16GB Ram is only 70$ something, thats ridiculous cheap!
Thanks for the massive information by the way.
What to you mean with the write speed is not normal? Is it under the average?
Click to expand...
It is slower that it should be for a 5.400 RPM HDD, I get up to 80/85 MB/s with such HDDs. 7.200 RPM HDDs can go up to 95/102 MB/s, and I am talking about 2.5" S-ATA HDDs, like the one you have in your MBP.
 
superdrei said:
Ok, so I will save some money and go for the SSD. 16GB Ram is only 70$ something, thats ridiculous cheap!
Thanks for the massive information by the way.
What to you mean with the write speed is not normal? Is it under the average?
Click to expand...

You can get 16Gb for as little as $59 if you shop around. Just avoid Komputerbay RAM. If the budget is really tight get 8GB for $30.

If you need more than 256GB storage and don't have the scratch for a decent sized SSD you have two topions:

Good: Try the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive. It's a 7200rpm 750GB HDD w/ 8GB SLC NAND flash cache for $129. It's a big improvement over the stock 5400rpm HDD for not much money. Sell your old drive on CL (after a secure erase) for $35.

Better: If you don't need to carry around the Superdrive, buy an HDD/SDD caddy for the optibay ($15 on Amazon), and a 120GB SSD for around $100. Stick the SSD in your optibay, enable TRIM support, and build yourself a 620GB Fusion Drive out of your stock 500GB drive and your new SSD.
 
NewishMacGuy said:
You can get 16Gb for as little as $59 if you shop around. Just avoid Komputerbay RAM. If the budget is really tight get 8GB for $30.

If you need more than 256GB storage and don't have the scratch for a decent sized SSD you have two topions:

Good: Try the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drive. It's a 7200rpm 750GB HDD w/ 8GB SLC NAND flash cache for $129. It's a big improvement over the stock 5400rpm HDD for not much money. Sell your old drive on CL (after a secure erase) for $35.

Better: If you don't need to carry around the Superdrive, buy an HDD/SDD caddy for the optibay ($15 on Amazon), and a 120GB SSD for around $100. Stick the SSD in your optibay, enable TRIM support, and build yourself a 620GB Fusion Drive out of your stock 500GB drive and your new SSD.
Click to expand...

hrm, the "better"-option, does it not harm the battery-time, if I use two drives instead of one?
To save money for a 500gb SSD seems to be the best option for me. I work with my mac, so it will worth the money.
 
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