Slow performance on Macbook air 2011 i5 - lagging even when browsing internet

[misterneums]

Forget Microsoft. It is Lion that is ruining the MS Office experience.

lol

 

[superkraft]

I do not like this stupid microsoft vs. apple threads ...

Well, to start with - yes, this is also my first post.

I do post because I had the same issues, the last days with a brand new macbook air 13 i5. Lagging while scrolling and changing tabs, mainly in Firefox, but also with Safari. And ...I also have heat issues, although I using the macbook air just for simple things right now.

But I still - for now - i love my macbook air and I also liked the last 2 macbook pros I had -So don't get me wrong.

But - something strange is happening in some special cases...

I am still in the evaluation process - trying to understand when it happens, for instance right now i do not have any issues, but i had the last few days(!)
I also see that i does not happen to everyone who uses a new macbook air.

Instead of bashing each other up - we should try to search for solutions.

The internet seems to be full of this topic (just google)... we should try to fix it !!!

My setup ... new system with only some apps from the new app store.
System is up-to-date 10.7.2 1.7Ghz 4GB Ram

So, in case anyone understands why lagging sometimes appears, i would appreciate to know!

 

[TheJing]

Conclusion: Do not buy the new i5 2011 Macbook Air - the performance is very slow and does not match the pricetag.

Mine works perfectly fine. Even when working in Flash creating games and Photoshop at the same time it never lags. The fans rarely kick in. Even when streaming videos the temperature doesn't go over 70C so the fans stay at 2000rpm (I can barely hear them).

Everything with this machine has been wonderful so far. I've only had it for a month though.

Maybe you got a bad one.

 

[TheRealDamager]

Long shot, but are you / were you running DisplayLink drivers (to drive extra monitors)? That beta driver caused horrible lagging for me in browsing. Deleted it and things are back to normal.

 

[tpg]

One issue that I've seen across the board on new, high end, macs is 'lagging' when scrolling through the conversation view of Mail. By lagging, I really mean that the animation has a low FPS, which gives an irritating flickering result rather than the responsive silky smooth experience that we're used to on the iPad & iPhone. I've tested this on many macs in the apple store, and as such does not seem to be cured even by having a powerful graphics card. Are you seeing this issue on your machine too?

Safari scrolling performance seems to have improved *slightly* with updates since Lion's release (this is my x3100 based laptop - the difference is less noticeable on newer machines), although I believe the root cause is related to how the scrolling is implemented using hardware acceleration at a low level (see my earlier post re disabling 2D acceleration improving scrolling fps).

 

[Kaitain]

Also having choppiness

That's always fun to do. I tried it once just for kicks and I was amazed. No beach ball, all tabs opened.

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I guess it's a different issue for each user. All three browsers on my Air are extremely fast. No discernible lag whatsoever. I use Safari primarily, which I think is funny because FF and Chrome run faster on my computer.

I have had two MBAs, one 2010 with 2GB memory (1.4ghz processor) , one 2011 (4GB, 1.6Ghz).

Both have performed very choppily in web browsers under Lion. But different browsers definitely perform differently. Chrome is slower to load web pages but then scrolls more smoothly. Opera (my usual preferred browser) loads the top of the page more quickly but can be extremely choppy in its scrolling. Safari's scrolling performance is reasonably good (but it's a mediocre browser at best, so I don't use it). Some pages are worse than others - Facebook is atrocious.

Is this a processor cache issue or something? It's very noticeable, and makes using the MBA for web browsing a generally unpleasant experience.

 

[Aston441]

You made an account on an Apple Fanboy website in an attempt to make us reconsider on purchasing a MBA. Good luck.

1.) Your first point goes to show that you are an uninformed consumer. This computer has a fan.
2.) The major hardware advancements was the switching to a Sandy Bridge processor, upgraded bluetooth, and thunderbolt.


1.) I stream to my TV without any issues. However, streaming flash does cause the fans to go on. This is to be expected. As for how loud they are--all of my laptops I have ever owned have been louder than what this is at 6500 RPM.
2.) I don't know where you're getting this lagging thing from, mine works fine. This computer can handle basic internet. Perhaps your roommate should quit the torrent downloads.

My conclusion of your post: You're a troll, making your first post on an Apple Fansite. You did not give any information on any sort of steps you did to resolve your problem other than returning it. I'm glad you returned your computer--that is, if you even bought it in the first place.

There were many, many news articles at the time saying that this model of MBA had no fan. That's why I bought mine. It is the ONLY reason I bought mine. By the time I installed High Sierra, the last OS officially supported, the constant fan was unbearable. Interestingly when I installed Monterrey, the fan shut up again and hardly ever comes on now. And it is much, much faster overall. Would Apple deliberately do something evil to make that continuous fan happen in the last officially supported version of software for a device to push people to buy new? While making the machine slow as tar on a warm sunny morning? No, of course not, Apple is a giant love machine. Fans are evil. Giant corporations like Apple are the purest form of love.