2012 Macbook Pro running very slow

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doctor13702 Author

Level 1

5 points

2012 Macbook Pro running very slow

I have a 2012 MBP and it is painfully slow, has been for a long while now.

its spec: is

i5 2.5,

500GB HDD that's not even 1/4 full

4gb ram

running high sierra 10.13.5

I have an old 2006 1.66 dual core mac mini that runs much faster than this, in every respect, from staring up to opening programs even to closing down

i have reinstalled High Sierra, ran first aid on the HDD and there appears to be no issues, however its performance is shockingly bad.

any pointers here would be very helpful, i am considering upgrading the ram, but if that's a case of throwing good money away then i will just sell the thing and keep using my old mac mini

Posted on Jun 30, 2018 4:32 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

142,261 points

Jul 1, 2018 9:21 AM in response to doctor13702

You seem to have missed the reason it is running slow right now:

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Upgradeable

Low performance-

Encrypting- A drive is currently encrypting. The computer may run more slowly than normal until the encryption finishes.

32-bit Apps-

and

Mounted Volumes:

disk1s1 - hdd 499.90 GB (475.52 GB free)

APFS

Mount point: /

Encrypting: 10% done

you appear to me to be several HOURS away from being able to tell whether your mac is acceptably fast. It will always be slow while it reads every bit of data on your drive, encrypts it, and writes it back in encrypted form.

--------

What is the date of your most recent Backup? if the answer is none, you are one, "I forgot my password" away from losing everything on your computer. Apple encryption is a serious, Industrial strength encryption, and no one breaks in -- not the FBI, and not YOU if it stops working correctly.

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Answer 2

dominic23

Level 10

84,018 points

Jun 30, 2018 5:32 AM in response to doctor13702

Please run EtreCheck and post the report here. This is a diagnostic test.

https://etrecheck.com

Click “Free Download” button, open Downloads folder, click on it to open, and then select ”Open”.

Click on the bouncing EtreCheck icon in the Dock.

“Choose a problem” from the popup menu box, and then “Start EtreCheck” in the dialog.

Click “Share Report” button in the toolbar, select “Copy to Clipboard” .

Paste it into the reply.

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Answer 3

doctor13702 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 1, 2018 11:43 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

thanks, I have totally overlooked the encryption .

The story with this machine is that iswas bought as a used machine earlier in the year, a family member has attempted to enrol in the beta and install OS12 on this machine, the install happened and appeared to be working but after shutting the machine down it wouldn't reboot.

so have installed 10.13.5 and started the machine from scratch, they didn't have a back up or a time machine so they are screwed with regards to their old material, sometimes you have to learn the hard way.

I have an external HDD that will be used as a time machine, however because its so slow I was thinking of swapping out the HDD for a SDD and upgrading the ram before I allow them back on this machine and before I set up things like time machine. TBH I wasn't even aware I had selected encyption.

SO I will wait for the encryption to finish before decided if to swap the HDD, the ram on the other hand is my next job to do I think.

Thanks for your help on this, much appreciated

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Answer 4

doctor13702 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 1, 2018 5:51 AM in response to doctor13702

looking at this report the only recommendations are to change the HDD for an SSD and upgrade the ram, this may sound like a Noob question but will that really make this run faster?

unless I'm missing something the core elements of the machine (processor etc) seem to be functioning ok, I have run Apple Hardware Test and that cam back with no issues.

thanks

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Answer 5

doctor13702 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 1, 2018 5:58 AM in response to doctor13702

and a final question.....

I read that the MCP will run 2x4gb ram memory on some sites and 2x8gb on other sites, can anyone confirm what the maximum ram I can run on this machine?

Thanks

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Answer 6

doctor13702 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 30, 2018 6:17 AM in response to dominic23

EtreCheck version: 4.3.2 (4D034)

Report generated: 2018-06-30 14:14:46

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 7:55

Performance: Below Average

Problem: No problem - just checking

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

No Time Machine backup- Time Machine backup not found.

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Upgradeable hard drive- This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.

Low performance- EtreCheck report took over 5 minutes to run. This is unusual.

Encrypting- A drive is currently encrypting. The computer may run more slowly than normal until the encryption finishes.

32-bit Apps- This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro9,2

1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-3210M) CPU: 2-core

4 GB RAM - Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 2 GB DDR3 1600 ok

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 522

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

Drives:

disk0 - APPLE HDD HTS547550A9E384 500.11 GB (Mechanical)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 499.90 GB

disk1s1 - hdd (APFS) 499.90 GB (21.03 GB used)

disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] 499.90 GB (43 MB used)

disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] 499.90 GB (1.02 GB used)

disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] 499.90 GB (2.15 GB used)

Mounted Volumes:

disk1s1 - hdd 499.90 GB (475.52 GB free)

APFS

Mount point: /

Encrypting: 10% done

disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM] 499.90 GB (475.52 GB free)

APFS

Mount point: /private/var/vm

Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface fw0: FireWire

Interface en1: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

One IPv4 address

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

iCloud Quota: 3.30 GB available

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 (17F77)

Time since boot: Less than an hour

System Load: 2.00 (1 min ago) 1.25 (5 min ago) 0.61 (15 min ago)

Security:

System	Status
Gatekeeper	Mac App Store and identified developers
System Integrity Protection	Enabled

32-bit Applications:

One 32-bit app

System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded]	7 Apple tasks
[Loaded]	182 Apple tasks
[Running]	103 Apple tasks
[Other]	One Apple task

System Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded]	37 Apple tasks
[Loaded]	191 Apple tasks
[Running]	105 Apple tasks
[Other]	One Apple task

User Login Items:

iTunesHelper Application (? - installed 2018-06-30)

(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Internet Plug-ins:

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-05-29)

Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!

Top Processes by CPU:

Process (count)	Source	% of CPU	Location
system_profiler (2)	Apple	92
sandboxd	Apple	11
WindowServer	Apple	7
kernel_task	Apple	3
trustd (4)	Apple	1

Top Processes by Memory:

Process (count)	Source	RAM usage	Location
kernel_task	Apple	501 MB
mdworker (23)	Apple	426 MB
system_profiler (2)	Apple	318 MB
com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (4)	Apple	314 MB
Mail	Apple	103 MB

Top Processes by Network Use:

Process	Source	Input	Output	Location
Mail	Apple	2 MB	13 KB
mDNSResponder	Apple	70 KB	15 KB
apsd	Apple	7 KB	17 KB
netbiosd	Apple	4 KB	1 KB
rapportd	Apple	699 B	548 B

Top Processes by Energy Use:

Process (count)	Source	Energy (0-100)	Location
syspolicyd	Apple	6
mdworker (23)	Apple	6
WindowServer	Apple	4
suggestd	Apple	1
mds_stores	Apple	1

Virtual Memory Information:

Available RAM	1.36 GB
Free RAM	17 MB
Used RAM	2.64 GB
Cached files	1.34 GB
Swap Used	6 MB

Software Installs (past 30 days):

Name	Version	Install Date
Gatekeeper Configuration Data	144	2018-06-30
MRTConfigData	1.35	2018-06-30
iTunes	12.7.5	2018-06-30

Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-06-30 00:15:39 OpenOffice.app Crash

/Applications/OpenOffice.app

End of report

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Answer 7

Jul 3, 2018 5:21 AM in response to doctor13702

Readers here report that Macs running ElCapitan or later need 6GB or more of RAM, to run in an appropriately responsive way.

Standard RAM: 4 GB Maximum RAM: 16 GB*

Details: 4 GB of RAM is installed as two 2 GB modules, no slots free.
*Apple officially supports a maximum of 8 GB of RAM, but third-parties have determined that this model actually is capable of using up to 16 GB of RAM with two 8 GB memory modules.

from:

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i5-2.5-13- mid-2012-unibody-usb3-specs.html

You are currently stuck in a paging RUT. More than 6GB is the minimum needed for ordinary stuff (like email and web surfing) to get out of the paging RUT. Even more RAM will improve speed a bit, but it is a diminishing return, EXCEPT if you are doing any editing: in that case, "Never enough!"

Readers who installed a low-latency SSD drive report, "It's like getting a whole new computer!"

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2012 Macbook Pro running very slow

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