Slow MacBook Pro [brand new]

Question

Slow MacBook Pro [brand new]

I bought my MacBook Pro like a month ago and I've been experiencing very very slow startup and shutdown times

It usually takes 50 seconds ~ 1 min to boot up and around 20-30 seconds or so to shutdown. The shutdown isnt that slow I guess, the startup is what worries me.

I just turned it on now and it took around 1:30 mins to startup and then it went all black. I thought it had shutdown automatically because of low battery but no, it was on, no lights blinking whatsoever or any sign of it being on, had to turn it off by pressing the power button for several seconds and then turned it on again.

I called Apple's tech support and the guy told me 'it didnt seem slow' to him, he told me that these were leopards' regular booting times.

I have some friends that have the same version of leopard (10.5.3) and their startup times are way shorter than mine, and their computers are not even new, they have less RAM and less everything.

I checked on System Preferences> Accounts> Login items or whatever and I have nothing, so I dont know whats causing this.

Is it really normal to take it 1~ mins to load leopard on a brand new MBP?

If it doesn't, what can I do? Any chance I could get a replacement or something?

I know 1 minute is not 'that much' but I paid a lot for this computer and I want it to be exactly what I expected, if its failing already its going to fail in the future when its no longer under warranty so, better get it working now.

[Btw: 2 GBs RAM, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo]

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.3)

Posted on Jun 10, 2008 11:53 PM

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Answer 1

kusok

Level 1

35 points

Jun 11, 2008 12:50 AM in response to javiersaldana

This is normal. Mine boots in about the same amount of time. The macbook takes even longer to boot up. Leopard is just slower if you compare to tiger.

Do your friends have mac laptops? Because comparison to a desktop is not fair (even if the desktop has less RAM), because of faster hdd.

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Answer 2

Jun 11, 2008 12:19 PM in response to javiersaldana

They have MacBook Pros too.
One of them told me that some of the newest laptops (mbp) were faulty, and I had the 'luck' to get one of those.

Any way to confirm this?

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Answer 3

azosx

Level 1

14 points

Jun 11, 2008 8:50 PM in response to javiersaldana

i was curious so i just timed my shutdown/boot speed. shutdown took 9sec, boot took 33sec. i have a new macbook pro 2.4ghz with leopard. my notebook had been running for about 4 days since its last reboot. i have about 85gb of apps and data installed of my HD. i would say your boot/shutdown times are not normal. try a clean install of leopard.

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Answer 4

Jun 11, 2008 9:45 PM in response to javiersaldana

"Any chance I could get a replacement or something?"

You have 14 days from the purchase date to return your comp for a replacement.

"One of them told me that some of the newest laptops (mbp) were faulty, and I had the 'luck' to get one of those.
Any way to confirm this? "

Yes. Ask your friend to show you where he got his/her info from.

Leopard is just plain slow period compared to Tiger. I've always wondered why that is.
On my MBP (which is a few months old) my start up/booting time is approximately 30 seconds when plugged up. Battery time: 45 seconds to 1 minute.
I have several Login Items & my RAM is maxed out.

How long does it take you to repair permissions? With the latest OS update, mine has gone down from 30 minutes to 7 minutes. Still too long for my taste compared to Tiger - 15-30 seconds.

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Answer 5

Rod Hagen

Level 7

32,000 points

Jun 12, 2008 1:11 AM in response to javiersaldana

Less RAM actually means faster startup, javier.

Macs check RAM during the startup process. The more you have , the longer it takes.

Many other things can make a difference between similar machines, too. Whether your computer has to look for a network, bluetooth devices, fonts, USB devices, FW drives, etc etc. etc.. the more you have, the longer you can expect it to take! Variations in different people's network access alone, seem to make quite a difference in boot times. How full your HD is matters, too. The fuller, the slower.

In my experience Leopard is actually faster than its predecessors when it comes to boot times, but with a "fully figured" computer, as you say yours is, a time close to 1 min doesn't surprise me either.

Cheers

Rod

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Answer 6

azosx

Level 1

14 points

Jun 12, 2008 6:42 AM in response to Rod Hagen

this makes no sense at all because ethernet or airport arent even enabled until os x boots. it doesnt look for a network during the boot process by default. there is a way to do a verbose boot with os x, it used to be by holding down control-v when booting. that was years ago, perhaps it still works. in any case you can watch whats going on and what is taking the most time to load, errors, etc.

Message was edited by: azosx

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Answer 7

Jun 12, 2008 10:05 AM in response to Rod Hagen

"In my experience Leopard is actually faster than its predecessors when it comes to boot times,"

I have experienced just the opposite.

I just figured since Leopard has a lot more stuff than its predecessors and/or larger apps caused the longer boot times.

My non intel iMac (Tiger) is maxed out to the hilt w/loads of Log-In items & the boot time is a few seconds.

Oh wait!!! Intel macs are slower than non-Intels when it comes to boot timing? Hmmmm, never considered that.

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Answer 8

Jimmy16

Level 1

0 points

Jun 12, 2008 2:13 PM in response to javiersaldana

I think there is something wrong with your new Macbook Pro but I don't exactly know what. I bought the same one as you this week and it takes around 4 seconds to shut down and 20 seconds at most to boot-up. This is with 10.5.3 which improves boot-up and shutdown times as I have noticed on my aluminum iMac also. I find Leopard a lot faster than Tigers boot times, especially 10.5.3. If this is annoying you, take it back to the Apple Store and tell them you're not happy with how slow it is and they will replace it for you as long as it's within 14 days of purchase.

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Answer 9

Russa

Level 4

1,343 points

Jun 12, 2008 6:38 PM in response to javiersaldana

Wow, 50 seconds to boot Unix machine and you're upset! 😉

My MBP takes 10 seconds to get to the Apple screen, then 25 seconds to get to the login window, and then 50 seconds in total to get to a fully booted machine. That's fairly fast compared to Windows machines I've used.

Its not failing. Its a great machine.

If you need instant-on response, then let it sleep when you're not using it.

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Answer 10

Jun 16, 2008 5:28 PM in response to Russa

I know its much faster than windows, but that doesnt mean I cant complain.
Why wouldnt I be upset if its slower than other macbook pros with the same specs?

Unfortunately I've had this computer for more than a month now so... any other way my warranty could cover this? Any way I could proove its slower than other macbook pros? If I go to some apple technician I think they are going to tell me that the boot times are normal, etc., even though they are not.

Also, everytime it seems to get slower, not just the booting/shutdowns but when I open firefox, it usually took one second or so, now it takes around 7.

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Answer 11

Rod Hagen

Level 7

32,000 points

Jun 16, 2008 6:55 PM in response to azosx

THis depends on when you see the boot process as "ending", azosx. Delays with network connections that occur immediately on completion of the primary OS "boot" can result in everything else being forced into background operation at the time when the desktop appears, substantially increasing the time before you can effectively use the machine. I have no way of knowing, from the information provided, at what point javier is actually experiencing the delay.

Cheers

Rod

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Answer 12

Jun 24, 2008 7:50 PM in response to javiersaldana

It's taking about 30 seconds to open Firefox... I really think something is wrong but I wish there was some way to proove it so I can get a replacement or whatever is needed.

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Answer 13

Rod Hagen

Level 7

32,000 points

Jun 24, 2008 8:24 PM in response to javiersaldana

have you tried booting from your OS DVD and running Disk Utility to "repair disk" and "repair permissions", javier?

How much free space do you have on the drive?

Cache problems can slow down browser performance too. Have you tried emptying the Firefox browser cache?

Which version of Firefox are you using, by the way. The new version (Firefox3 - just been released) is said to be much faster than Firefox 2. You may also find some stuff on slow Firefox startup problems through google. It is quite a common problem with it on all platforms.

Cheers

Rod

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Answer 14

Jun 25, 2008 11:44 PM in response to Rod Hagen

I've tried running those utilities directly from the 'Utilities' folder, not from the DVD, is there any difference?

And well, the first couple of times I used Firefox it was fast, and now seems slower, also the 'transitions' didnt lag at all and now they do a bit (expose, dashboard and spaces transitions)

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Answer 15

Rod Hagen

Level 7

32,000 points

Jun 26, 2008 12:39 AM in response to javiersaldana

There is when it comes to repairing directories, janvier. Disk Utility can only really "repair disk" properly when the computer is booted from, and DU is run from, a different drive (either the OS DVD or an external bootable hard drive).

Cheers

Rod

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