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Level 1

0 points

Macbook Air gets really sluggish and incredibly slow

Hi, my Macbook Air bought last December (2008) becomes very sluggish, as in really slow after some very light usage.

It usually happens when I'm watching a YouTube video (or any .flv video) in either Firefox or Safari or if I'm browsing for a long period. It's not just the browser that becomes slow, it's the whole computer. The video cannot be watched and it becomes all jittery. Switching between tabs takes a while, and even scrolling down a page has a delay. Typing also has a delay, and the whole experience is just horrible. Moving along the dock, the icons magnify at irregular intervals and launching an application takes extremely long, even the System Preferences Pane.

The happens whether I have three or four applications open with twenty tabs in Firefox or with just my browser and only two tabs. Along with the sluggishness, the fan starts very loud and to get rid of the slow behavior and loud fan noise (the noise wouldn't bother me, but I associate it with slow, slow problems) I have to flip the lid down and leave it go to sleep. When I return, watching the video is ok for a while, but if I have to pause it to do something else or if I do something other than view light web pages like change tabs, the computer slows again.

It's a Macbook Air 1,1 with a 1.6GHz processor and 2GB of ram. I have 50GB of the 73GB of hard drive space empty.

I recently updated it and left if off for a couple of days, but this hasn't helped.

There are only two applications which open when I log-in also, so I have no idea what the **** the problem could be.

Any ideas, and what could I do to fix it?

Your help is EXTREMELY appreciated by this very frustrated Air owner!

Thanks,
Ed.

Macbook Air 1,1 1.6GHz with 2GB memory, Mac OS X (10.5.7), 50GB hard drive space (of around 75 GB) free.

Posted on Jul 7, 2009 9:47 AM

34 replies

laguna_b

Level 1

8 points

Sep 20, 2009 12:37 PM in response to Mac-Medic

I am waiting for my replacement now. Did yours solve the problem?

Sep 21, 2009 4:57 PM in response to EdmundHeaphy

My MBA is protected by Apple care and always had this heating problem.
Specially in the summer I have extreme heating problems, and kernel 150% of cpu slow down the computer irreparably, fan is at full throttle 6200 rpm and heating reached 85 degrees Celsius.
I have upgraded all the software, i read all the thread here, I have called the Apple customer care but i NEVER found a solution to this big problem.

Does anyone can help me to address the situation?
Thanks!

laguna_b

Level 1

8 points

Sep 21, 2009 5:21 PM in response to Community User

You have to get really serious with Apple Customer Care. The bottom line is that the computer you bought does not perform the function to which it was intended. A computer that under specified ambient temperature, running normal programs, should not overheat, especially to the point that it is unusable.

I got mine replaced. It is sitting 3' away downloading the profile from my iMac so I can test it out to make sure it does not have this thermal problem.

If every MacBook Air had this problem the forum would be flooded with complaints but clearly more than one machine does have a problem. You need to get one that does not.

laguna_b

Level 1

8 points

Sep 22, 2009 10:48 AM in response to laguna_b

Ok, I received my NEW MBA yesterday. It seems to generate less heat and fan in a given situation. BUT, I am running it now and it is hitting as high as 112% Kernel task. Mind you that this is a worst case edge in that I am running an external monitor (Cinema), VM ware, multiple Safari windows and the room temperature is warm 83F. So this is clearly an improvement to what I have seen, though it shows that the design in marginal for it's specs. I will soon download COOLBOOK if only to reduce the fan and increase battery life. I will post here when I have some results.

Sep 22, 2009 11:39 AM in response to EdmundHeaphy

Same problem here with a 2GB 1st gen MBA. And my hinge broke as well. Apple support person said that's why he doesn't recommend the MBA but the MB Pro instead. Then why was Steve Jobs pimping it like it was the best computer ever made by Apple? Ugh....I hate this machine!

laguna_b

Level 1

8 points

Sep 22, 2009 12:22 PM in response to anthroboi

I downloaded COOLBOOK to BOTH my old MBA which is the high temp version and the replacement MBA. Interestingly, the NEW one seemed to be "stuck" at the 798MHz setting while the one that was overheating was throttling between settings....this while Coolbook was in monitor mode only.

So, it appears that when a customer cries out for a cooler machine, they get shipped a machine locked down on performance.... This is a patch and not a good one....check back for more later as I dig into this.

laguna_b

Level 1

8 points

Sep 22, 2009 12:45 PM in response to laguna_b

If the NEW MBA is cooled off with a few ice paks it returns to full speed and throttling....so it seems that it has a much more aggressive speed/power throttling algorithm than my original one which would explain why it controls temperature much better, though still a long way from perfect. I will be trying COOLBOOK over the next few days to see if I can tame the beast.

This would explain why the Kernel Task would drop when in battery mode which is much lower frequency (798MHz)

Sep 22, 2009 8:09 PM in response to laguna_b

I hate my MBA I dont know whats going on it use to run fast then i did a couple of updates and now it acts like a PC full of viruses!!! I put the new SL OS in here last week it has been the death of my MBA...it was already slow and sluggish before SL.

laguna_b

Level 1

8 points

Sep 22, 2009 9:07 PM in response to AuburnNupe

I started this quest when my IBM Thinkpad was drawing to a crawl. I knew that I could reinstall everything yet again but decided to make a clean to OS X. The reason I have stayed with my MacBookAir is that it is so light and usable...when working. I think if you keep at it you can overcome its limitations, or in another sense...re-engineer it to work. Try Coolbook, get Apple to get you a new unit or just go to one that has fewer heat problems...like hopefully the MBP.

laguna_b

Level 1

8 points

Oct 8, 2009 3:36 PM in response to laguna_b

Follow up to my post....I have come to accept that this is PORTABLE not a high powered desktop. Push it beyond design limits and it over heats. Coolbook helps, but Apple should just own up to the heating issue and sell it for what it is still great for. I had the choice of another MBA or switching to an MBP. I stayed with the MBA and will try not to let it overheat.

Oct 8, 2009 4:16 PM in response to EdmundHeaphy

Ok. I did a fresh Mac OS X Snow Leapord install and still having the same problem after running a youtube video for 2 minutes.

My iPhone performs better than this POS... I'm going to let the guys at the so called "Genius Bar" figure it out now. MBA = Apple's best marketing gimmick ever.

Dec 29, 2009 9:30 AM in response to Templatesoft

I have a second gen MBA that was pretty good until about Snow Leopard. I can handle the overheating/Kernel task stuff- keep the vents open and away from a surface so they can breathe. My problem is since Snow leopard, switching between apps when a lot are open seems to take forever, even with no CPU usage. I have ~30 gigs of free space on my hard drive, so that shouldn't be a bottleneck for VM. I even went so far as to do a clean install of SN but still no dice. Only thing that seems to help is quitting a bunch of apps.

iPhoto in particular has turned into a dog- launching, moving through my library. Seems like a disk access issue. Anyone else?

Dave

Dec 30, 2009 8:25 AM in response to EdmundHeaphy

I'm having this problem too.

After a few minutes of gaming, my Air slows right down and the fan is going at 6200 RPM and the CPU is 63º.

joshi201

Level 1

0 points

Feb 3, 2010 8:26 AM in response to Mac-Medic

hi i have the same problem and i read your comments that if they can not repair it after 3 trial call customer care and replace it.
now my problem is they tried to repair it 2 times and they failed and now when i went to them for third times they are saying that your computer is working fine under certain specifications. and these specification are that i can not open any two video sites at the same time. i can see only one video sites (you tube, hulu etc) at one time. this is totally wrong and when i said them this is not ok they tried to avoid conversation and threatened me to call security.
this is really ridiculous and i need help .
whom should i call and complaint??
please help me..

Feb 4, 2010 5:51 PM in response to EdmundHeaphy

Idea 1: Dust.

What made a huge difference with temperatures in my old ASUS laptop was to blow the dust out. The CPU temperature immediately dropped (and stayed low!) by almost 30 degrees Celsius, if I remember that correctly.

For that I (switched it off!, ) unscrewed one or two screws at the bottom, opened a lid under which the harddisk, or the RAM was mounted ... and simply blew into the fan once or twice from the outside.

A big cloud of dust appeared, and after reassembling and booting, the machine was much cooler. MUCH cooler, actually. I only had to do that every few months.

---

Idea 2: The Apple version of the FlashPlayer is crap.
Adobe should throw away their code and start from scratch.

Message was edited by: IrelandsNextTopModel

Macbook Air gets really sluggish and incredibly slow