12-30-2010, 01:27 PM

I have a 13" Macbook Pro, purchased in the Summer of 2009. I currently have 2gb of RAM and a 300gb Harddrive. Besides the hard drive, which is new, the MBP has the lowest specs capable for purchase at the time.

About 3 months ago my computer sustained damage which broke the hard drive, requiring a new one. A month later I noticed my fan whirring with great gusto, making a great deal of noise, however, by all measures its RPM would never top 1500. Temperatures for web browsing average 140F and when playing World of Warcraft would reach 210F average.

Now before I began experience framerate issues on my computer, I would often run WoW and VLC player side by side on my screen with 32fps on Wow. Recently, however, my framerate took a dive staying in the 8fps range on Wow in windowed full screen mode. It is impossible for Wow and the media player to run at the same time.

On windowed full screen mode Wow is averaging 60% CPU and I have 45mb of RAM remaining, whereas with web browsing I typically have 600mb remaining.

I have also recently began torrenting, but torrents are not active when playing World of Warcraft.

12-30-2010, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by Bernie Roscoe

I have a 13" Macbook Pro, purchased in the Summer of 2009. I currently have 2gb of RAM and a 300gb Harddrive. Besides the hard drive, which is new, the MBP has the lowest specs capable for purchase at the time.

About 3 months ago my computer sustained damage which broke the hard drive, requiring a new one. A month later I noticed my fan whirring with great gusto, making a great deal of noise, however, by all measures its RPM would never top 1500. Temperatures for web browsing average 140F and when playing World of Warcraft would reach 210F average.

Now before I began experience framerate issues on my computer, I would often run WoW and VLC player side by side on my screen with 32fps on Wow. Recently, however, my framerate took a dive staying in the 8fps range on Wow in windowed full screen mode. It is impossible for Wow and the media player to run at the same time.

On windowed full screen mode Wow is averaging 60% CPU and I have 45mb of RAM remaining, whereas with web browsing I typically have 600mb remaining.

I have also recently began torrenting, but torrents are not active when playing World of Warcraft.

Well are you in Dal when your frame rates start to drop?
Also, have you ever cleaned out your computer (physically)?
Run Onyx to ensure your hard drive is still good.

12-30-2010, 02:34 PM

I'm in areas that shouldn't receive any lag at all. There is no discernible difference between areas that would traditionally give you lag and areas that don't.

12-30-2010, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Bernie Roscoe

I'm in areas that shouldn't receive any lag at all. There is no discernible difference between areas that would traditionally give you lag and areas that don't.

What about the other two things I listed?

12-30-2010, 02:40 PM

I don't have the correct tools to physically open my computer in my current location, I will run Onyx now.

12-30-2010, 02:57 PM

I need 10.6 to run Onyx, I currently have 10.5.8.

I appreciate your assistance! =)

12-30-2010, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by Bernie Roscoe

I need 10.6 to run Onyx, I currently have 10.5.8.

I appreciate your assistance! =)

What about Disk Utility at least?

And it could be over heating which, once you get a chance, clean out the inside.

12-30-2010, 03:22 PM

I ran disk utility which came up with no issues.

I also took my computer to the Apple Store when my fan issue was first discovered, before the fps issues. I was dissatisfied with my service, but the man informed me that I would either need a new fan or the ~$200 package which replaces the internal components of my computer.

Would upgrading my OS to Snow Leopard solve anything?

12-30-2010, 07:04 PM

I also wonder about adding more RAM, to bring it to a total of 4gb RAM.

12-31-2010, 09:52 PM

Any thoughts on upgrading my OS? I'd appreciate some feedback before I went ahead and did so.

12-31-2010, 09:56 PM

Snow Leopard is great. It is smaller than Leopard so it will take up less space on your HDD. The ram would help your speed greatly. Good luck!

01-01-2011, 06:57 AM

Originally Posted by Bernie Roscoe

I need 10.6 to run Onyx, I currently have 10.5.8.

I appreciate your assistance! =)

HERE is .v 2.0.6 for Leopard 10.5.8 . . . .

Or look at MainMenu 1.7.4 Both would do a bigger Job than Disk Utility. I prefer MM This is the free .v so dont upgrade as it will upgrade to a paid version ....

As for SnowLeopard for $29 you cant go wrong

Cheers

01-01-2011, 11:25 AM

Is it possible that the recent updates and changes since Cataclysm's release are the problem? My spouse tells me that some of the changes occur in 4.1 even of you have not installed Cataclysm. The changes look great but seem to require more horsepower than before.

01-01-2011, 06:45 PM

It could be this. With Cataclysm the recommended RAM went up from 2gb to 4gb, so we'll see.

Just got Snow Leopard, if I see no improvement I'll up my RAM.

Thanks for the help, I'll keep you posted. Further suggestion would be great! =)

01-01-2011, 07:43 PM

The extra ram might make a difference. If it doesn't you will likely notice the difference in other programs--particularly if you keep several other programs open. In either case the Snow Leopard upgrade is worth it.

BTW If you decide to do the memory upgrade it might be worth it to see if your machine can go beyond 4 GB. MacBook, MacBook Pro I'm not much of a gamer so check with some of your WoW buddies to see how much of a difference it would make.