Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: SarahMicheleF
SarahMicheleF Author
User level: Level 2
160 points

Mid-2010 Macbook painfully... almost uselessly... slow

My mid-2010 has come to a nearly creaking halt... Almost everything I try to do takes way longer than it ought.


As a "for example": I timed boot up today...

Button push to "bong": 30 seconds

"bong" to login window: 2 minutes

login window to usable desktop: 2 minutes

Now, I know it's an old machine but it shouldn't take almost 5 minutes for my machine to start up, and I don't have anything extra loading at startup.


Once booted, if I don't reboot very regularly (we're talking a couple of times a day), everything is slow...

  • Fresh off a reboot, it takes 30 seconds to open a small (8 page) Pages document.
  • Applications hang and require a force quit with regularity - especially if I try to rename or move document from the title bar.
  • "Modern" webpages (anything dynamic) are take forever to load and are super-laggy.
  • Both iPhoto and iTunes take minutes to load (I walk away from the computer to do something else while I wait) and take over the system so completely that I can't do anything else while they run.


Is there anything I can do (besides rebooting every time I walk away from the computer) to speed things up, or should I chuck the whole thing out the window?


Specs:

Macbook 7,1 mid-2010

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 RAM

MacOS 10.9.5

MacBook, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), 4 GB memory

Posted on Jul 24, 2015 2:17 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: Kappy
Kappy
User level: Level 10
361,741 points

Posted on Jul 24, 2015 2:31 PM

Ways to help make a slow Mac faster


17 Reasons Why Your Mac Runs Slower Than it Should

Slow Mac Performance? This Article Solves It!

Fix slow start-ups in OS X | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

6 Easy Tips to Speed Up OS X Yosemite on Your Mac


Avoid using any third-party software that claims to clean up your computer. Usually this software does more bad than good. Furthermore, you don't need it. Note that all computers will become slower over time even under normal use. Experienced users typically erase the hard drive and do a clean install from scratch at least once a year or whenever installing a major OS upgrade. Of course doing so also means you must maintain regular and multiple backups.


Add more RAM or cut back on the number of concurrently running applications and utilities. Remove unnecessary software such as anti-malware and software that promises to clean your Mac. Check for runaway processes: Runaway applications can shorten battery runtime, affect performance, and increase heat and fan acti… Also see:


Pre-Mavericks


Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.


Mavericks and later


Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the View menu. Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the %CPU column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of %CPU, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.


Be sure you have adequate free space on your HDD - at least 15% of the drive's full capacity.

View in context
8 replies
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: Kappy
Kappy
User level: Level 10
361,741 points

Jul 24, 2015 2:31 PM in response to SarahMicheleF

Ways to help make a slow Mac faster


17 Reasons Why Your Mac Runs Slower Than it Should

Slow Mac Performance? This Article Solves It!

Fix slow start-ups in OS X | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

6 Easy Tips to Speed Up OS X Yosemite on Your Mac


Avoid using any third-party software that claims to clean up your computer. Usually this software does more bad than good. Furthermore, you don't need it. Note that all computers will become slower over time even under normal use. Experienced users typically erase the hard drive and do a clean install from scratch at least once a year or whenever installing a major OS upgrade. Of course doing so also means you must maintain regular and multiple backups.


Add more RAM or cut back on the number of concurrently running applications and utilities. Remove unnecessary software such as anti-malware and software that promises to clean your Mac. Check for runaway processes: Runaway applications can shorten battery runtime, affect performance, and increase heat and fan acti… Also see:


Pre-Mavericks


Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.


Mavericks and later


Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the View menu. Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the %CPU column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of %CPU, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.


Be sure you have adequate free space on your HDD - at least 15% of the drive's full capacity.

Reply
User profile for user: SarahMicheleF
SarahMicheleF Author
User level: Level 2
160 points

Jul 24, 2015 2:51 PM in response to Kappy

Ways to help make a slow Mac faster


17 Reasons Why Your Mac Runs Slower Than it Should

Slow Mac Performance? This Article Solves It!

Fix slow start-ups in OS X | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

6 Easy Tips to Speed Up OS X Yosemite on Your Mac

Thanks, I'll look at those. It looks like the first one especially may have some good things for me to try. I always forget that my first line of defense should be to delete prefs files.

Experienced users typically erase the hard drive and do a clean install from scratch at least once a year or whenever installing a major OS upgrade. Of course doing so also means you must maintain regular and multiple backups.

I probably should commit to doing a full rebuild ... can't remember when I last did one. I do back up with Time Machine, so I'm fine on that front.

Add more RAM or cut back on the number of concurrently running applications and utilities.

I'm pretty sure 4 GB is all this machine can take and running fewer applications seems to make little to no difference.

Reply
User profile for user: Winkle35
Winkle35
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jul 25, 2015 12:41 PM in response to SarahMicheleF

I've had this problem before. Went to the Genius Bar, turned out to be a failing hard drive. When they replaced it, computer was back to normal.

How old is the hard drive?

My hard drive had failed from bad sectors, not mechanical failure.

The fact that you can still use the computer (painfully) kind of sounds like bad sectors. I waited so long to get to a Genius Bar that my computer wouldn't start up at all. It only started in Safe Boot (but very slowly)

Reply

Mid-2010 Macbook painfully... almost uselessly... slow

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.
Learn more Sign up