How do I speed up my Macbook Pro?

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Level 1

84 points

How do I speed up my Macbook Pro?

I have a Macbook Pro 2.2 ghz with 4GB Ram and replacement 320GB HD (7,200 rpm).
It seems that this computer is a lot slower than my old G4 desktop and the more info I put on it the slower it gets. I have a fairly long delay between clicking on an item and when it opens. Even when opening items in my Favorites within Firefox it has a long delay between steps. Everything just seems slower than normal.
I can't even use Final Cut Pro or iDVD at all on this computer. It just bogs down.
I have done many Permissions Repair.

Is there a fix for this?
Is there a Defrag or Optimization program that will take care of this?

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 2.2 ghz, 4g ram, 320 gb hd

Posted on Feb 26, 2009 8:12 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

neuroanatomist

Level 8

48,993 points

Feb 26, 2009 8:15 AM in response to Edward House

How full is that 320 GB drive? You should have at least 45 GB available for efficient functioning.

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Answer 2

Edward House Author

Level 1

84 points

Feb 26, 2009 8:26 AM in response to Edward House

I ran Tech Tools Deluxe and everything Passed fine.
I have only used 83GB of my HD.

I did somewhere that a cluttered Desktop might do some slowing. My desktop is very cluttered. Will that really slow things down?

What about a lot of items in the dock?

Thanks 🙂

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Answer 3

sig

Level 8

35,862 points

Feb 26, 2009 8:31 AM in response to Edward House

"...I did somewhere that a cluttered Desktop might do some slowing. My desktop is very cluttered. Will that really slow things down?"

Yes that will slow a start up. Try putting things in a folder and see if that helps some. What maintenance do you regularly perform?

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Answer 4

Edward House Author

Level 1

84 points

Feb 26, 2009 8:43 AM in response to sig

I use Permissions Repair once a week or so.
My start up isn't all that slow, it is everything else.

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Answer 5

cornelius

Level 6

17,826 points

Feb 26, 2009 9:02 AM in response to Edward House

Edward:

You have plenty of available disk capacity, and while running a defrag might help if you were tighter in terms of available capacity to provide more contiguous space, in your case it does not seem to be indicated. Here are a few suggestions for a starting point:
• Check the Activity Monitor to see what else is taking up processor capacity.
• Try starting up in Safe Mode
• Boot from the install disk and Repair Disk in Disk Utilities.

😉 cornelius

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Answer 6

Network 23

Level 6

12,333 points

Feb 26, 2009 9:04 AM in response to Edward House

Edward House wrote:
I have done many Permissions Repair.

That can help, but not really very much.

Is there a Defrag or Optimization program that will take care of this?

Mac OS X automatically defrags any file under 20MB. You can buy defrag apps that will defrag larger files, but the fact is, if you are seeing slowdown in Firefox, a web browser, it isn't because it is trying to access fragmented massive files all the time.

Open your Activity Monitor and see what is using up the most CPU or RAM when you experience a slowdown. There might be a program that is using more resources than it should.

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Answer 7

Edward House Author

Level 1

84 points

Feb 26, 2009 9:13 AM in response to Network 23

I opened Activity Monitor but to be honest I don't know what I am looking for...
I am not sure what is fine and what is not or which catagory actually matters.

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Answer 8

Feb 26, 2009 9:17 AM in response to Edward House

In the CPU tab, set the pop-up to Show: Active Processes. Click the CPU column header to sort. Anything there using >25%? If so, what?

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Answer 9

Network 23

Level 6

12,333 points

Feb 26, 2009 9:19 AM in response to Edward House

An easy one is to click the top of the CPU column until it sorts the list by highest CPU usage. Then if the top application is using a high amount of CPU constantly, it is suspect. Your Mac has two CPU cores, so the maximum amount of CPU is 200%. If an app uses a few percent, that's fine. If an app uses 50%-150%, it's cranking away at something. If an app uses 100% or more for an extended period of time, it had better be doing something important like rendering video, otherwise it's in some kind of CPU-sucking loop that shouldn't be happening and will slow everything down.

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