Very slow MacBook Air Retina, 13-inch, 2019

hi!

A few years back I bought this laptop new from the Apple Store. For a while now it has been very slow. Even browsing in safari or using word takes a long time. I did an etrecheck but can't find a solution. Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!


MacBook Air (2018 – 2020)

Posted on Dec 7, 2024 3:11 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 7, 2024 9:39 AM

In addition to WheelieNick's comment about your Mac's internal SSD, here are my observations/suggestions:


  • The MacBook Air, configured with only 8GB of RAM & a 256GB drive is never going to provide stellar performance. Coupled with using this hardware with gaming, video conferencing, etc, it would put a strain on this Mac's limited resources.
  • I can certainly understand that trying to maintain adequate space on the internal drive (yours currently shows 66.94 GB free) will be difficult.
  • Network - I noted that you have what appears to be two Ethernet type connections ... Is this correct?
  • Kernel Extensions - SamsungPortableSSDDriver.kext. Per chance are you currently using an external Samsung SSD with your Mac?
  • Launch Daemons - com .ea.app.backgroundservice.plist. This would relate to the installation of an EA/Origin game on your laptop. If you are no longer playing this game, you may want to consider removing all traces of it to help the overall performance of your Mac.
  • Launch Agents - com.google.keystone.agent.plist. My guess is that you use Google Chrome. Nothing wrong with that, but Chrome is noted to be a memory "hog." If you prefer the Chrome user interface, over Safari, I suggest that you consider using Brave instead.
  • User Launch Agents - com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist. This would relate, of course, to using the Stream gaming service. Again, nothing wrong with this, but gaming on this Mac would be limited, at best.
  • Performance - The SSD's write speed is unusually low, compared to the read speed. This could indicate a failing drive. I suggest that you get a copy of DriveDx to see if there are any physical issues with this drive.
  • Virtual Memory Information - Swap Used: 997 MB. This value should be zero. When it's not, it indicates that there is not enough RAM to run all active apps, and they need to be swapped to the SSD. This will affect the overall performance of the Mac. The only solution is to run fewer apps to prevent this since you cannot add RAM to this Mac model.
  • Clean-up - I suggest that you follow the reports recommendations to remove these files.
  • Diagnostics Information - Fortunately, your Mac is not experiencing any kernel panics. However, it is struggling to run some resource intensive apps that are causing them to crash or use excessive CPU power.
2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 7, 2024 9:39 AM in response to walt202

In addition to WheelieNick's comment about your Mac's internal SSD, here are my observations/suggestions:


  • The MacBook Air, configured with only 8GB of RAM & a 256GB drive is never going to provide stellar performance. Coupled with using this hardware with gaming, video conferencing, etc, it would put a strain on this Mac's limited resources.
  • I can certainly understand that trying to maintain adequate space on the internal drive (yours currently shows 66.94 GB free) will be difficult.
  • Network - I noted that you have what appears to be two Ethernet type connections ... Is this correct?
  • Kernel Extensions - SamsungPortableSSDDriver.kext. Per chance are you currently using an external Samsung SSD with your Mac?
  • Launch Daemons - com .ea.app.backgroundservice.plist. This would relate to the installation of an EA/Origin game on your laptop. If you are no longer playing this game, you may want to consider removing all traces of it to help the overall performance of your Mac.
  • Launch Agents - com.google.keystone.agent.plist. My guess is that you use Google Chrome. Nothing wrong with that, but Chrome is noted to be a memory "hog." If you prefer the Chrome user interface, over Safari, I suggest that you consider using Brave instead.
  • User Launch Agents - com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist. This would relate, of course, to using the Stream gaming service. Again, nothing wrong with this, but gaming on this Mac would be limited, at best.
  • Performance - The SSD's write speed is unusually low, compared to the read speed. This could indicate a failing drive. I suggest that you get a copy of DriveDx to see if there are any physical issues with this drive.
  • Virtual Memory Information - Swap Used: 997 MB. This value should be zero. When it's not, it indicates that there is not enough RAM to run all active apps, and they need to be swapped to the SSD. This will affect the overall performance of the Mac. The only solution is to run fewer apps to prevent this since you cannot add RAM to this Mac model.
  • Clean-up - I suggest that you follow the reports recommendations to remove these files.
  • Diagnostics Information - Fortunately, your Mac is not experiencing any kernel panics. However, it is struggling to run some resource intensive apps that are causing them to crash or use excessive CPU power.

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Very slow MacBook Air Retina, 13-inch, 2019

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