Resolved My MB is EXTREMELY SLOW with LION

[femto1510]

First of all, I love my MB.
But really, after getting LION, everything is so buggy and slow.
I'm using Macbook (2010 summer) btw.
I've tried almost everything I think I can do.

Could anybody please give me a tip to make my MB faster? please??

 

[simsaladimbamba]

To not feed you information you already tried, thus avoiding running in circles, can you please inform us about the steps you have already tried?

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Have a look at Activity Monitor (Applications / Utilities /) and select All Processes and sort by CPU to see what the culprit may be.
Also check the "System Memory" tab to see what your "Page ins:", "Page outs:" and "Swap used:" are.

image below uses sorting by CPU as an example

Further reading:

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor
Making The Most of Activity Monitor
What Is Activity Monitor (or How to Take Your Mac's Pulse)​

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[femto1510]

Here are the stuff I tried.

First, I re-installed for several times, played with "disk utilities", and virus-scans. I'm using iCleanMemory, but i don't think it really helps.

 

[nicklad]

First of all, I love my MB.
But really, after getting LION, everything is so buggy and slow.
I'm using Macbook (2010 summer) btw.
I've tried almost everything I think I can do.

Could anybody please give me a tip to make my MB faster? please??

Ensure you've got 4GB of RAM, preferably 8GB.

Have you actually clean installed Lion? Where you format the hard disk in Disk Utility before reinstalling it after booting from a Lion DVD / USB stick.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

First, I re-installed for several times, played with "disk utilities", and virus-scans. I'm using iCleanMemory, but i don't think it really helps.

What does Activity Monitor say about CPU usage and RAM usage? Use the screenshot I provided as guide on how to read Activity Monitor.
Virus scans are also not needed.

There are currently no viruses for Mac OS X in public circulation, only a handful of trojans and other malware, which have to be installed manually via entering the administrator password.
The only anti-virus you need to protect your Mac is education and common sense.
Also know, that the term "virus" is often used to refer to other kinds of malware, but there are differences, which you can find out by reading the following:
Mac Virus/Malware Info by GGJstudios​

 

[femto1510]

Activity Monitor

CPU: numbers fluctuate but around 5% on both %users and %systems, and around 90% on idle.

System Memory:
Free - 63.6 MB
Wired - 577.6 MB
Active - 574.1 MB
Inactive - 831.2 MB
Used - 1.94 GB

VM size: 149.91 GB
Page ins: 2.80 GB (0 bytes/s)
Page outs: 2.58 GB (0 bytes/s)
Swap used: 709.3 MB

[Sorry, I couldn't find the way to upload the screenshot.]

 

[simsaladimbamba]

CPU: numbers fluctuate but around 5% on both %users and %systems, and around 90% on idle.

And for system, here is the screen shot.
Thanks
Image

That screenshot is still locally stored on your Mac. See the following guide for uploading images to view them here:

How to attach an image to your MR post.​

 

[femto1510]

Sorry

Just typed in the numbers I saw on the Activity Monitor.
Thanks

That screenshot is still locally stored on your Mac. See the following guide for uploading images to view them here:

How to attach an image to your MR post.​

 

[heisenberg123]

CPU: numbers fluctuate but around 5% on both %users and %systems, and around 90% on idle.

System Memory:
Free - 63.6 MB
Wired - 577.6 MB
Active - 574.1 MB
Inactive - 831.2 MB
Used - 1.94 GB

VM size: 149.91 GB
Page ins: 2.80 GB (0 bytes/s)
Page outs: 2.58 GB (0 bytes/s)
Swap used: 709.3 MB

[Sorry, I couldn't find the way to upload the screenshot.]

you are running out of RAM you only have 2GB installed and thats the bare bones min for Lion, i would go right to 8GB since it wont be much more money than 4GB

 

[nicklad]

Just typed in the numbers I saw on the Activity Monitor.
Thanks

My suggestion would be to pick up 8GB of RAM as it's relatively cheap.

I would also suggest that you try a company like Crucial. (They have a memory selector that will enable you to ensure you're getting the right type.)

http://www.crucial.com/

 

[femto1510]

Upgrade my RAM?

So do you mean that OS Lion is kind of too heavy for my Macbook with 2GB, but it would be a lot better if I can upgrade it to 8GB?

you are running out of RAM you only have 2GB installed and thats the bare bones min for Lion, i would go right to 8GB since it wont be much more money than 4GB

 

[nicklad]

So do you mean that OS Lion is kind of too heavy for my Macbook with 4GB, but it would be a lot better if I can upgrade it to 8GB?

4GB is usually fine, but (prima facie) based on your usage patterns / what you're running, you need 8GB.

It could well be that you've got background processes running that are unnecessary - by identifying what's using the memory you have (look at all processes in the Activity Monitor) you can make an informed decision as to what to do.

 

[femto1510]

Thanks!!

It really helped that I know, FINALLY, what was wrong with my MB.
Thanks!

4GB is usually fine, but (prima facie) based on your usage patterns / what you're running, you need 8GB.

It could well be that you've got background processes running that are unnecessary - by identifying what's using the memory you have (look at all processes in the Activity Monitor) you can make an informed decision as to what to do.