Slow, new Macbook pro. Problems with Logic, Garageband and General performance

Question

Slow, new Macbook pro. Problems with Logic, Garageband and General performance

I recently bought a MacBook Pro second hand. The previous owner had bought it four months ago ( April), and had only used it in his apartment. The computer feels very slow, seeing it's the high-end 15", with 8gb ram, 2011 version obviously.

First off I installed Lion and afterwards Logic 9.1.5. Playing the song that comes with Logic, "The Numbers Game", I got the following error: " Disk is too slow or System Overload. (-10010) "

Afterwards I tried to downgrade to Snow Leopard 10.6.6 and Logic 9.0 - same error. I tried to record in both Logic and Garageband - same error.

The computer seems too slow to be a "high-end" computer. I talked with the previous seller, and he also had the same experience with the general performance.

What should I do? (I still have the warranty, that should last me for 8 months more.)

Peter

Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Aug 12, 2011 2:37 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 12, 2011 3:24 PM in response to PeterAsbjoern

I just tried to play the same song "The Numbers Game" in Logic with a external harddisk connected via usb. Unplugged the error would come after 2-3 seconds, but with the harddisk connected, the error would be postponed by 1 min atleast.

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Answer 2

Aug 12, 2011 3:32 PM in response to PeterAsbjoern

Actually the error is only postponed when i'm moving files from the external to my internal drive. When it is just plugged it remains as before. Strange?

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Aug 12, 2011 3:43 PM in response to PeterAsbjoern

Did you erase the internal drive and run the Apple Hardware Test when you bought it?

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Answer 4

Aug 12, 2011 3:45 PM in response to PeterAsbjoern

Sorry for all the replies, I do not know if it's possible to edit my previous post, so I will post all information as it comes.

I just used Xbench http://www.xbench.com/ to test my hardware.

Here is the scores:

CPU Test: 243,49

Thread Test: 744,11

Memory Test: 570,77

Quartz Graphics Test: 326,94

OpenGL Graphicst Test: 295,85

User Interface Test: 493,56

Disk Test: 32,67

What strikes me is that the Disk Test is so incredibly low compared to the others.

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Answer 5

Aug 12, 2011 3:47 PM in response to Linc Davis

Yes, I believe so. We did a hardware test at sellers place, which it passed. And I did a full clearing of the harddisk when installing Snow Leopard. Lion was already installed when I bought it.

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Answer 6

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Aug 12, 2011 4:10 PM in response to PeterAsbjoern

I've seen some reports of a damaged volume directory after a Lion installation, resulting in slow performance. Try running "Verify Disk" (not "Verify Permissions") in Disk Utility. Otherwise, boot in safe mode and see whether it's still slow. If it is, you have to suspect a hardware fault, regardless of what the AHT showed.

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Answer 7

Aug 13, 2011 2:59 AM in response to Linc Davis

I tried to verify the disk, and it told me everything was ok. Afterwards I booted in safe mode, but everything still seemed slow. I also did a benchmark in safe mode, and the results were the same: incredibly low harddisk score.

On a sidenote: Just after buying this computer I tried to play music from Itunes and also experienced the same performance. The songs would lag every once and then, breaking for a few seconds and then playing on. Sometimes the frequency of the lagspikes very high, and sometimes low.

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Answer 8

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Aug 13, 2011 6:22 AM in response to PeterAsbjoern

Get it serviced under warranty.

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Answer 9

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Aug 13, 2011 6:53 AM in response to PeterAsbjoern

It looks like you have a 5400 RPM hard drive in your MBP. Is that true? If so, your disk score is normal. It's a bit better than I used to get with the original 5400RPM drive in my late-2008 MBP. With a 7200 RPM drive, my disk score is now 40-41 instead of 33-35. My overall score (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo) is only half yours: 122-127.

Obviously, the hard drive is holding your score and your machine back.

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Answer 10

Aug 13, 2011 7:04 AM in response to eww

I also just ran a test with the smart utility. It says my harddrive is failing.

There must be something wrong anyway. Recording one track on Logic or Garageband, a 5400 rpm should be able to handle that.

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