17" 2011 Macbook Pro is slow

Question

Level 1

5 points

17" 2011 Macbook Pro is slow

New 2011 Macbook Pro 17" standard configuration.

This machine seems very slow to me, its no faster than my 3 year old Dell. I've had none of the hard freezing problems reported elsewhere, it's just slow to open applications, slow to finalise iMovie projects and iPhoto slideshows. Even opening System preferences there is a delay before the window appears.

Is there any way I can check my machine to see if it matches all the bench marks that showed it to be the 'fastest lap top'? Or have I just got a lemon.

Cheers.

Macbook pro 2011 17"

Posted on Mar 25, 2011 9:27 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

jackshizz

Level 1

6 points

Mar 25, 2011 9:39 AM in response to Avogadros

hi,

i personally do not know what is causing this, but here are a few tips (you may know them already)

open disk utility, and click on verify permissions. once it is done, you should fix your permissions, (the option directly under it) and restart.

next, verify your main hard disk. if it come up with errors, FIX IMMEDIATELY.

also, run apple hardware test by : inserting the mac OS X disc that came with your MBP. shut down your mac and turn on, but hold the D key. it will launch apple hardware test automatically, and from there you can run a quick test, or a full test. (i recommend full test, but it can take a very long time, for me about an hour).

and remeber, whenever fixing errors, keep your book plugged in. the last thing you want is for a shutdown to occur in the middle of a hard disk repair.

also, keep it plugged in when running heavy apps, as when it is not plugged in, it automatically reduces processing power to save battery.

hope i could help!

p.s if you are really worried, a trip to apple wont hurt.

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Answer 2

Avogadros Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 26, 2011 7:32 AM in response to jackshizz

Thanks for the advice. It's still very sluggish so I'll book myself a Genius appointment.
Again, many thanks.

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Answer 3

Mar 26, 2011 9:00 AM in response to Avogadros

Have you run the 10.6.7 update? I was really slow after 10.6.6, but all issues were gone after the new update and a boot in safe mode.

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Answer 4

Mar 31, 2011 12:39 PM in response to Avogadros

Clear your Caches, Cookies, Run Disk Permissions repair, and boot into safe mode.

How?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFjR0X4FRPg

Thats how.

If you want me to, I can type out how all of these things will help from a software perspective, but I don't want to unless you REALLY want me to.

Just do what the video says.

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Answer 5

MrMackie

Level 1

88 points

Feb 13, 2012 8:40 PM in response to Avogadros

Stop listening to people telling you to clean cookies, I know 100% why your laptop is doing this, i'm fighting apple right now to fix it.

One word. THROTTLING.
If you run a tempature program you'll see the following, when you do you'll know Mittwaffen was correct.

You need to run SC2 on max everything, it'll run like crap but keep up an FPS meter.

Your temps will spike to 95+c, when this happens your chip will slowly throttle (Mine throttles to 800 mhz!!!).
When this happens you will see your FPS slowly decrease as your chip throttles down slower and slower.

Your MBP doesnt have proper cooling, becuase apple rushed 2011 MBP design and look...we have issues.

Feels good to buy a 2000+ dollar laptop that runs at 800mhz when you actually need the speed eh?

Go the the apple store and show them this thread. They can contact me because I have stacks of research that have proved this as a solid FACT.

Show them this, then when they lie and say it doesnt you can run the test for them.

Apple cut corners, and now we get ripped off and flasely advertised (2.4 more like 0.8ghz on load).

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Answer 6

ds store

Level 7

30,715 points

Feb 13, 2012 8:46 PM in response to MrMackie

MittWaffen wrote:

Stop listening to people telling you to clean cookies, I know 100% why your laptop is doing....

uh dude, like this thread is anchient history, check the dates.

If you've got a question, post a new thread.

those on this one are long gone.

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Answer 7

Jun 3, 2015 4:13 PM in response to ds store

So? For those of us researching this problem down the line it is very useful. I'm having a throttled CPU issue on an early 2011 macbook pro now in 2014-2015 and this information being out there is helpful to those who come later.

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