Very similar MBP models, but the 8GB RAM one out-performs the 16GB RAM one ?!

[SeanWRX]

My Dad is into video editing, and was struggling with rubbish Windows desktops/laptops for years. I showed him what a joy iMovie was to use on my old white beaten up Macbook and he took the plunge and purchased a Macbook Pro 15".

His spec: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7, memory (upgraded) 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Model Identifier MacBookPro9,1, running Mavericks.

A couple of years later I also got a Macbook Pro - one of the first 15" Retina ones.

My spec: 2.3GHz Intel Core i7, memory 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Model Identifier MacBookPro10,1, running Yosemite.

I have a slightly slower processor, and HALF the RAM of my Dads machine. I also show mine no love what soever, it gets bumped around in a rucksack, I've dropped it a few times onto concrete, the hard drive is over 80% full, basically I hammer it and it's a workhorse. He treats his with extreme care, hardly has anything on the hard drive, and gives it an easy life.

Yet, I am sat here playing with both at once, and mine absolutely runs rings around his performance wise. Mine is about 6 times quicker to boot up, and is noticably more nimble responding to tasks, toggling between screens etc.

How is this possible? He's been complaining it's slow for a while. I simply didn't believe him, but ****, he's right.

I thought I could at least fix the lethargic boot up. I've tried PRAM reset, SMC reset, running Malwarebytes, doing a repair of the boot volume, doing a diagnostic test on his RAM, looked for anything dodgy in the boot logs.

I'm flummoxed. Any ideas? Should I put his on Mavericks?

 

[harryb2448]

G'day and welcome to the forums.

How much free space on the hard drive? What antivirus/cleaning apps is on the machine? Compatible memory upgrades? Why are both running unsupported, outdated operating systems? And the main reason his does not have PCI-e Flash Storage!

 

[pigoo3]

I have a slightly slower processor, and HALF the RAM of my Dads machine. I also show mine no love what soever, it gets bumped around in a rucksack, I've dropped it a few times onto concrete, the hard drive is over 80% full, basically I hammer it and it's a workhorse. He treats his with extreme care, hardly has anything on the hard drive, and gives it an easy life.

Yet, I am sat here playing with both at once, and mine absolutely runs rings around his performance wise. Mine is about 6 times quicker to boot up, and is noticably more nimble responding to tasks, toggling between screens etc.

How is this possible?

The exact models of each computer are not exactly mentioned. But if I guessed correctly...Dad's MBP is a 15" 2012 MBP (non-retina)...and your computer is a 15" 2012 retina MBP.

- You didn't mention what sort of storage each computer has. If your MBP has an SSD...and Dad's has a spinner HD...this could make a difference (or maybe a BIG difference).
- The RAM difference may not matter...since if your Dad's computer really isn't using more than 8gig of RAM to do what it does...then the extra 8gig doesn't matter.
- Didn't mention how full each computers storage is. A near full storage device can slow things down.

If nothing above is true. One other thing to try is running the free maintenance app called "Onyx" on Dad's computer. It may help.

- Nick

 

[Raz0rEdge]

The new MBPs have the newer generation processors, much faster SSDs and likely faster system bus. The newer processors, even when clocked at a lower speed will outperform the older models at higher clock speeds. That's just the nature of the processor landscape.

Secondly, the original SSD that came with the first general Retina MBPs were rated around 750MB/s read/write speeds, the 2015 model bumped that up to 1.5GB/s read/write, and the latest MBPs go up to 2+ GB/s read/write and that goes a long way in things like boot time and so on..

Both of your machines should be updated to macOS Sierra for starters. If your dad would do a clean (after format) install of Sierra, then that might bring the machine back to what it would be fresh out of the factory..

 

[SeanWRX]

Thanks all for the replies.

It has taken me saying all this out loud, and getting responses, for me to realise the glaringly obvious. Yes, he is running a SATA / rotational, and mine is an SSD. Doh!

So that would explain it, ahem.

But the reason for this complete oversight on my part is that he phoned me a few months ago about how he had been and had an SSD fitted to his laptop, but I now realise he must have been talking about his Sony Vaio.

To answer a few of the other points raised:

Why are we both on outdated OS’s? He hates change, and will have to be dragged kicking and screaming onto something newer (though I will do that at some point this summer). Me, I was waiting till I had done some housekeeping and had an emptier / tidier hard drive before upgrading mine.

But perhaps I can kill two birds with one stone here - buy myself a new SSD as I want to go bigger, and let him have mine, and rebuild it with Sierra. Or buy him one of the newest fast SSDs for his birthday.

What housekeeping / antivirus? We both run Disk Inspector which gives that big pie chart type breakdown of used space. As of this week we both run Malwarebytes but I confess previous to this we weren’t running anything. (We live 200 miles away, most of the support I give my Dad on his laptops is over the phone).

 

[Raz0rEdge]

From a interface perspective, OS X hasn't changed for a long time. Without KNOWING what version you are running, for the common user it's very hard to know what version is being used just by looking at it. The bulk of the changes in the recent versions of OS X/macOS are hidden away from users, but the benefits are very important.

Secondly, you have the Retina MBP which has the flash chips soldered onto the logicboard, you cannot upgrade it. You have what you have. Your dad's machine can be upgraded to a SSD instead of the HDD and that will help. However, the rMBPs talk to the "SSD" over a PCIe bus which is VERY fast, while your dad's machine will talk to the SSD over a SATA connection which is slower. If you are doing about 100-150 MB/s on the HDD, you'll jump up to about 400 MB/s on the SSD..

 

[pigoo3]

But perhaps I can kill two birds with one stone here - buy myself a new SSD as I want to go bigger, and let him have mine, and rebuild it with Sierra. Or buy him one of the newest fast SSDs for his birthday.

- We would need to know the exact model MacBook Pro's we are talking about. I took a guess at what they were above...but I could be wrong. So we know exactly what next steps to recommend.
- You can't put the flash storage from your MBP into your Dad's MBP (if I guessed at the models correctly)...because it's a "blade SSD" so to speak. It's not a 2.5" form-factor storage device you might be thinking of.
- You can certainly upgrade your Dad's MBP with the proper SSD.
- It may be possible to upgrade your MBP's storage (if you still wanted to...even if your MBP's storage will not fit into your Dad's MBP). But it's expensive. Not many places sell the upgrade needed.

What housekeeping / antivirus?

* Antivirus = none
* Housekeeping = what I mentioned above..."Onyx".

- Nick

 

[harryb2448]

Certainly Mavericks is considered antique by Apple, with no more Security and System Updates, and Yosemite will be similar when OS X.13 is released in a few months.

Mavericks OS X.9 was releeased in June 2013 and Yosemite OS X.10 released the following year. Why upgrade to Sierra OS X.12? Have a read of this link, and if you buse an iPhone or other devices, even more so:-


http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/macos-10-12-sierra-1329034/review