04-28-2012, 01:38 PM

Good evening, i would like to share with you my experience using Macbook pro, last year i started studying multimedia design, and when i sign up for the school i got a very good deal on Macbook pro 15', so i took it, before that i used to hate Macbook computers but somehow i ended up with one.
I instantly liked those machines, but today(about one year later) my computer started to be super slow, it is not able to handle easy tasks, like if i'm doing a lot of things in photoshop i cant listen to music or be on Skype with my friends.
Why is the Apple computers better for multimedia design ? what makes them better than just a standard computer ?
What should i do ? just go back to PC ?
can it be my computer is just broken ?
i cant work like this
please help me, i'm revatively new with all this.

Thank you

04-28-2012, 02:40 PM

Do you ever restart it?

04-28-2012, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by louishen

Do you ever restart it?

no not really, i cant restart it, if i click "Restart.." nothing happen, but i always turn it off

04-28-2012, 03:06 PM

It could be any number of things. Macs need maintenance just like any other computer. Going back to a Windows PC will not change that.

Are you running out of HD space? Do you have enough RAM to keep up with all you have to do? Do you ever run Disk Utility or Onyx? It's hard to identify your issue without knowing what you've already tried and what your specs are.

04-28-2012, 05:43 PM

For some help, we'll need to know the basics.
1. What version MacBook? Go the the Apple Menu, and click About this Mac, and then select More Info. Tell us what model Identifier is it
2. How much RAM do you have?
4. What OS are you running?

04-28-2012, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by louishen

Do you ever restart it?

Originally Posted by Stretch

For some help, we'll need to know the basics.
1. What version MacBook? Go the the Apple Menu, and click About this Mac, and then select More Info. Tell us what model Identifier is it
2. How much RAM do you have?
4. What OS are you running?

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27
SMC Version (system): 1.69f3

04-28-2012, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by Stretch

For some help, we'll need to know the basics.
1. What version MacBook? Go the the Apple Menu, and click About this Mac, and then select More Info. Tell us what model Identifier is it
2. How much RAM do you have?
4. What OS are you running?

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27
SMC Version (system): 1.69f3

04-28-2012, 08:33 PM

My guess would be that you're not really quitting programs but just closing them, so eventually you run out of RAM. It sounds like you like to have a lot of things running at the same time, so I'd also suggest you increase the amount of RAM to 8GB (should be very cheap to do).

You still haven't said what OS version (but I'm going to assume Lion) nor how much disk space you have left (which could be playing a MAJOR role here). Nor have you mentioned doing any maintenance (or backups).

04-28-2012, 10:10 PM

WOAH not a reply here but I read this post and I too am new to Mac's . My first one was this past Christmas 2011 gift . Please inform me of what type of maintenance I should do and how often .
I am a 54 year old guy with graying hair and yet I am like a 17 year old blonde getting her first car. I just open the Mac and start going. Never thinking of any maintenance I may need.

Thank you all;
fredconk

04-28-2012, 11:10 PM

One thing you can do to troubleshoot your Mac is to open up Disk Utility and run the diagnostics found there. You can search for it with Spotlight in the upper right corner of your menu bar (it looks like a little magnifying glass). Or go to Applications>Utilities and open it from there.

Once you're there, select your Macintosh HD in the left pane of the interface, then click on the bottom 4 buttons if they are available (Verify Disk, Repair Disk, Verify Permissions and Repair Permissions). Those should catch any anomalies and either fix them or give you a report.

You can also download a free tool called Onyx, which will run these diagnostics as well as empty caches, clear browser histories and stuff like that.

04-30-2012, 03:31 AM

You don't have to do a lot of maintenance, really, but you do need to do SOME. Oneironaut's suggestions are good ones, but what is much more important is that you get into the habit of backing up your hard drive (it sounds like you're not doing this). If you're not already using Time Machine, you should drop everything else, go out and buy an external hard drive that is at least 50 percent more capacity that the boot drive you have now.

Once you power it up and plug it in your USB or FW port, you'll be asked if you want to make it a Time Machine drive. You do.

That first backup will take a while, so maybe run some errands while that's going on. After that it will silently back up whatever's changed every hour.

Time Machine plus the occasional (by this I mean exactly that, occasional) use of something like OnyX (do NOT fall for the MacKeeper ads!!) should get your Mac back to humming along. Also, be sure you're not running low on HD space, as that can play a big role in making a Mac feel slow.