stevefromcambridge
Level 1 (5 points)

Q: 10.6.7 Combo Update Slows MacBook Air 3D Performance

Several weeks ago I noticed a dramatic slowdown in the graphics performance of my late 2010 MAcBook Air, and after weeks of futile searching, and falsely diagnosing the problem as SSD degradation, I came across the article below on MacWorld:

 

http://www.macworld.com/article/158494/2011/04/1067updatemba.html

 

There, the authors described  the same problem I was having, and attributed the dramatic graphics slowdown to a problem with drivers installed by the OS 10.6.7 update. I've done my own testing and found that the bad driver problem is specific to the 10.6.7 Combo Update.

 

I was able to completely restore graphics performance on my MAcBook Air to waht it should be (ie Portal 2 runs great) by following the steps described by commenter shawnyeager (Thanks Shawn!) in the MacWorld article, which I'm copying here for the benefit of others:

 

Boot off the MAcBook Air USB media, do an in-place install of 10.6.5 (it's non-destructive) and then download individual (non-combo) updaters for 10.6.6, 10.6.7 and 10.6.7 Supplemental. After applying them, Portal 2 is will run beautifully on a late 2010 MacBook Air with native resolution and 'Medium' to 'High' settings on all graphics options. The difference is dramatic.

 

Cheers!

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on May 2, 2011 8:46 AM

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stevefromcambridge

Q: 10.6.7 Combo Update Slows MacBook Air 3D Performance

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  • by oedalbye,

    oedalbye oedalbye May 8, 2011 1:47 AM in response to stevefromcambridge
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 8, 2011 1:47 AM in response to stevefromcambridge

    Hello Steve,

     

    I can confirm that I have the exact same problem with my 13" MacBook Air Late 2010 edition. After running the 10.6.7 combo update my video performance drops dramatically. Full screen videos from Vimeo.com now stutters to the degree that they are unwatchable.

     

    Before the 10.6.7. Combo update the videos ran smoothly. I will try your tip and do individual updates.

     

    - oe

  • by Picasso,

    Picasso Picasso May 8, 2011 7:03 AM in response to stevefromcambridge
    Level 1 (65 points)
    May 8, 2011 7:03 AM in response to stevefromcambridge

    @steve - I know that this is off the subject of this thread, but I'm shopping for a macbook air and I don't know of anyone personally who owns one.  I'd like to ask how you like it? Is it much better w/ the SSD drive? I'm going to using it for school work and iOS development programming.  The other product that I'm looking at is macbook (pro). -isit

  • by stevefromcambridge,

    stevefromcambridge stevefromcambridge May 8, 2011 9:15 AM in response to Picasso
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 8, 2011 9:15 AM in response to Picasso

    It's hard to compare the current Macbook air and MacBook Pro models, I'm lucky to have both and both are superb laptops .. but for different reasons.

     

    The current MacBook Air models are head and shoulders above the previous MacBook Air models.  Thanks to the SSD and the cache Boot times and basic disk i/o times are blindingly fast .. noticeably faster than my 15'' Thunderbolt MacBook Pro with 7200rpm drive. Overall CPU and graphcis performance are pretty impressive too.  you won't find a faster mroe powerful ultralight laptop.

     

    That being said, the current MacBook Pro's are performance powerhouses whose CPU and graphics performance definitely outclass the MacBook Airs ... but with a bit slower IO, and of course a much heavier form factor.

     

    So, both are great, but it's really a matter of which type of machine you prefer.  If you to go for eh MacBook Pro, though I don't think the SSD upgrade with worth the price.  the 7200rpm drive is plenty fast and much cheaper.

  • by aPEXMac,

    aPEXMac aPEXMac May 8, 2011 1:39 PM in response to stevefromcambridge
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 8, 2011 1:39 PM in response to stevefromcambridge

    Same here! But it seems that there are not enough requests, because Apple is doing nothing since weeks.

  • by iGrinch2,

    iGrinch2 iGrinch2 Jun 11, 2011 7:58 PM in response to stevefromcambridge
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 11, 2011 7:58 PM in response to stevefromcambridge

    Both my macbook air 13" and 11" slowed down very much. Even dashboard opens not so smooth and quickly like it was before. Come on Apple. We're waiting for update!