Why is my MacBook Pro so slow?

[ChrisD.]

Late 2011 model, base spec except I've upgraded it to 8GB of RAM.

It's fine for browsing and day to day stuff, but as soon as I ask it to do anything demanding, it gets frustratingly slow.

I have a Win 7 VM running in Parallels, first off I assigned it 4GB of RAM, but I've now dropped it to 2GB and not much difference.

Apart from that, I have Skype open, MSN, iTunes, Firefox and Mail. So nothing exactly demanding.

While the Win 7 image is doing nothing, Mac OS becomes slow, unresponsive and I get that stupid parasol up spinning away VERY often. Switching between Spaces is clunky as is just generally using the OS. Sometimes the OS is fine, other times it goes slow.

If I close the Win 7 image, and open something like Backtrack, the same happens. Same with any other Linux image I have.

It also does it if I have GNS3 running with more than 2 routers but Parallels closed.

It's hugely frustrating. If I wanted a computer that was only capable of browsing the internet and having MSN conversations, I'd have bought a £300 laptop, not a nigh on £1000 MacBook Pro.

All software is up to date.

Any ideas?

 

[ChrisD.]

...only capable of browsing the internet and having MSN conversations...

if thats all you need, then why are you using VM? theres safari and msn on mac for the two things you do above...

Have you read my post? I think not.

Running Windows, that'll be the problem. Reason? It's Windows.

If you have nothing useful to add, don't bother.

It does it with any other OS running in Parallels, such as Backtrack and various Linux distro's. It also does it with Parallels closed, and GNS3 running 2 or more routers. I did mention this in the OP if you read it all.

So no, it's not Windows.

Typical Apple fanboy comment.

 

[ChrisD.]

I have a similar setup but with the early 2011 MBP and I have no problem running a Win 7 VM along with Word, Iron, Mail and anything else I'm using. I have an SSD though and it does speed up using a VM with that compared to when I had the original HDD.

Have you checked Activity Monitor to see if any process is using more resources than it should?

Everything looks fine to me.

It only seems to happen when I virtualise anything.

 

[ChrisD.]

have you tried a different flavour of virtualisation? i just use the freebie virtualbox and don't have these problems and i'm running a mid-2010 base spec 13" macbook pro, and i only give vm's 1gb of memory.

Considering it happens with both Parallels and GNS3 I don't really see the point in trying something else.

A router is hardly a complex thing to virtualise.

 

[ChrisD.]

I'm guessing you have opened activity monitor to see what the issue is?

Yes, nothing out of the ordinary showing.

Any reason you need Win7? I run a TinyXP image on my MBA with 4gb of ram and the thing flies. Going back to anything with a HDD now feels so, so clunky. Never expected an SSD to have as much of an impact on my day to day life.

I don't have any XP images and I can't be bothered getting hold of one. Win 7 should virtualise just fine on a MBP.

 

[ChrisD.]

It's running the latest paid for version.

 

[ChrisD.]

I've just done the hardware test and it all passed.

Odd as I had 3 beeps on startup the other day, and it took a bit for it to turn on, which seems to suggest a memory bank problem?

I'm half tempted to buy a 256GB Crucial M4 to replace the 128GB one I have in the desktop and put it into the Mac.

 

[ChrisD.]

Okay I've ordered the 256GB Crucial M4, so I intend on putting the 128GB one into the Mac.

How do I do this, not in terms of fitting, but in terms of getting OSX up and running on the SSD?

From my limited Apple knowledge, my train of thought leads me to suggest backing up using Time machine to a USB drive or network location, then fit the new drive, boot into recovery mode, and restore from that backup?

Are there any specific SSD settings I will have to fine tune once I'm up and running again?

 

[ChrisD.]

Thanks guys. I'm waiting for the new drive to turn up now. Also have to figure out how to migrate my Windows OS.

 

[ChrisD.]

I'm putting the SSD in at some point (Crucial M4 128GB), is it just plug and play?

Also, how difficult is it putting the existing drive into the CD bay?

 

[ChrisD.]

SSD installed, much better.

 

[ChrisD.]

Okay, maybe not that much better. If I boot Windows 8, or another VM in Parallels the whole system locks up for indefinite periods. I booked it in at Apple and at first they tried to blame the SSD, but after an email to the store manager they conceded that the drive is fine.

After spending 2 days with Apple, they agree that there is a fault however they could only offer the advice of rebuilding the OS. Which I've done but it hasn't helped.

What sort of angle can I push with Apple? The Mac passes all hardware tests in store (or so they say), but there is clearly something wrong with it which they also admit.

 

[ChrisD.]

Well it seems as if the upgrade to Mountain Lion has fixed it. Were there inherent performance issues in Lion which Apple simply ignored till the new OS was out?