Performance on a MacBook Air?

Hi all,
I'm looking to buy a new Mac notebook computer, and I am trying to figure out what to buy. I'm currently a PC user but will make the switch to a Mac. Right now, I'm running an HP DV6 with 4GB of RAM and I think it's about 2.0 GHz. It's excruciating on a good day, and nevermind when I'm trying to run Lightroom or Elements (or, god forbid, both).
So I work in RAW, and use both Lightroom 3 and Elements 10.
My question is, would a MacBook Air be able to handle this? Or should I go with a MacBook Pro? I'd really like to get the Air (very light, plus way cool factor), but I'll only temporarily be sad if I have to get a Pro. What should I be looking for in terms of specs? Does it matter? Am I barking up the wrong tree with talk of GHz and RAM?
Your thoughts/guidance much appreciated.
BTW the smaller hard drive on an Air doesn't bother me. I already use an external portable hard drive.
Ed

Lightroom 3 should run okay on the airbook but you'll be much happier with the Macbook Pro. I use LR3 on a MacBook Pro and it's fine. I would not recommend the Airbook for LR4 at all. I have a brand new iMac 2.8Ghz with 8GB of RAM and LR4 seems to work rather clunky on it so I would imagine that the Airbook experience would be frustrating.

Similar Messages

SSD performance of new MacBook Air?

There are huge performance differences for SSDs. Does anyone have some numbers about the performance of the SSD of the new MBA?
Depending on the speed it may make sense to get buy it with the cheaper harddisk drive and then replace it with a really fast SSD

Here are a couple on older models...they should be close in performance...
http://www.barefeats.com/macair1.html
http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2008/02/macbook-air-ssd-review.ars
Dave M.
MacOSG Founder/Ambassador  An Apple User Group  iTunes: MacOSG Podcast
Macsimum News Associate Editor  Creator of 'Mac611 - Mobile Mac Support'

LION - significant slow performance of my MacBook Air with 4 GB RAM (bought 3 month ago) hey, that can't be!!!!!

Dear community
After installing LION I was positively surprised of all the new functions (e-mail, i-cal, ....) but the speed/ performance onmy MacBook Air 4GB RAM is worse I ever had since my 80386SX PC!!!!!!!! Hey guys, that can't be (not with a hardware less then 3 month old!!!) I feel like in old PC/ Windows time. Any idea, input what's wrong?

Dear community
After installing LION I was positively surprised of all the new functions (e-mail, i-cal, ....) but the speed/ performance onmy MacBook Air 4GB RAM is worse I ever had since my 80386SX PC!!!!!!!! Hey guys, that can't be (not with a hardware less then 3 month old!!!) I feel like in old PC/ Windows time. Any idea, input what's wrong?

Why is Open GL performance so poor on MacBook Air?

I was just comparing the performance of the MacBook Air compared to a MacBook Core Duo 2 GHz. MacBook Air has the newer and slightly faster graphic chipset (GM950 vs X3100), yet the MacBook air Open GL performance is terrible (221 for older MB vs 16.5 for MBA!). MBA even has more graphic memory.
Anyone have any idea why this is?

After a little research it actually looks like the new integrated graphics should have much better GL performance, but apparently the drivers are just not there yet.
Here is hoping to a release soon!

10.6.7 Combo Update Slows MacBook Air 3D Performance

Several weeks ago I noticed a dramatic slowdown in the graphics performance of my late 2010 MAcBook Air, and after weeks of futile searching, and falsely diagnosing the problem as SSD degradation, I came across the article below on MacWorld:
http://www.macworld.com/article/158494/2011/04/1067updatemba.html
There, the authors described the same problem I was having, and attributed the dramatic graphics slowdown to a problem with drivers installed by the OS 10.6.7 update. I've done my own testing and found that the bad driver problem is specific to the 10.6.7 Combo Update.
I was able to completely restore graphics performance on my MAcBook Air to waht it should be (ie Portal 2 runs great) by following the steps described by commenter shawnyeager (Thanks Shawn!) in the MacWorld article, which I'm copying here for the benefit of others:
Boot off the MAcBook Air USB media, do an in-place install of 10.6.5 (it's non-destructive) and then download individual (non-combo) updaters for 10.6.6, 10.6.7 and 10.6.7 Supplemental. After applying them, Portal 2 is will run beautifully on a late 2010 MacBook Air with native resolution and 'Medium' to 'High' settings on all graphics options. The difference is dramatic.
Cheers!

It's hard to compare the current Macbook air and MacBook Pro models, I'm lucky to have both and both are superb laptops .. but for different reasons.
The current MacBook Air models are head and shoulders above the previous MacBook Air models. Thanks to the SSD and the cache Boot times and basic disk i/o times are blindingly fast .. noticeably faster than my 15'' Thunderbolt MacBook Pro with 7200rpm drive. Overall CPU and graphcis performance are pretty impressive too. you won't find a faster mroe powerful ultralight laptop.
That being said, the current MacBook Pro's are performance powerhouses whose CPU and graphics performance definitely outclass the MacBook Airs ... but with a bit slower IO, and of course a much heavier form factor.
So, both are great, but it's really a matter of which type of machine you prefer. If you to go for eh MacBook Pro, though I don't think the SSD upgrade with worth the price. the 7200rpm drive is plenty fast and much cheaper.

MacBook Air 2010 Very Slow (even after clean reinstall)

Hi,
Problem
The performance of my Macbook Air 2010 has slowed to the point where I can hardly complete basic tasks. For comparison, I use a MacBook Air 2013 at work and do not experience the same performance issues, so I believe my expectations are not unreasonably high.
My Question
Can you please advise on what I can do to troubleshoot? I've tried the solutions listed below, all of which have failed.
I'm grateful for any help you can offer.
Problem Description
Switching contexts or tabs, operating within applications (such as Chrome, small Excel spreadsheets, navigating files), and browsing the Internet has become a slow, laggy and crash-filled experience.
When right-clicking an icon and selecting 'Open With', Finder frequently times out or requires time to populate a list of applications.
Machine is slow to the point where, unless a solution presents itself, I'll have to get a new MacBook Air.
What I've Tried
'Religiously' close all applications after use; extremely conscientious of number of applications running and their resource requirements.
Clean reinstall of OS X.
Storing all media on external hard drive to create more storage space.
Clearing cache for all browsers regularly
Always running machine on battery power
Regular reboots
Machine Specs:
MacBook Air 13-inch, Late 2010
OS X Yosemite Version 10.10.2
Processor: 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 4GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB
Storage: 87GB free of 250GB

Thanks, dominic23.
Unfortunately, it did not work.
-Tried starting in safe mode, resetting SMC, and repairing disk. Resetting the SMC helped upon reboot, but performance degraded swiftly and back at a low within 30-minutes.
Here is the full EtreCheck report:
EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)
Report generated February 23, 2015 at 12:24:01 AM EST
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
    MacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2010) (Technical Specifications)
    MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir3,2
    1 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core
    4 GB RAM Not upgradeable
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok
    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
    Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n
    Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 336
Video Information: ℹ️
    NVIDIA GeForce 320M - VRAM: 256 MB
        Color LCD 1440 x 900
System Software: ℹ️
    OS X 10.10.2 (14C109) - Time since boot: 2 days 2:11:3
Disk Information: ℹ️
    APPLE SSD TS256C disk0 : (251 GB)
        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Untitled (disk0s2) / : 250.14 GB (82.89 GB free)
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
USB Information: ℹ️
    Apple Inc. FaceTime Camera (Built-in)
    Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
    Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
    Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
    Anywhere
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
        /Applications/Karabiner.app
    [loaded]    org.pqrs.driver.Karabiner (10.6.0 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]
        /Applications/Seil.app
    [loaded]    org.pqrs.driver.Seil (11.0.0 - SDK 10.9) [Click for support]
        /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox
    [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (4.3.22) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (4.3.22) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (4.3.22) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (4.3.22) [Click for support]
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [killed]    com.apple.CallHistoryPluginHelper.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.CallHistorySyncHelper.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.telephonyutilities.callservicesd.plist
    4 processes killed due to memory pressure
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [killed]    com.apple.awdd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.ctkd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.emond.aslmanager.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.icloud.findmydeviced.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.nehelper.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.periodic-daily.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.softwareupdate_download_service.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.wdhelper.plist
    8 processes killed due to memory pressure
Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.gpgtools.gpgmail.enable-bundles.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.gpgtools.gpgmail.patch-uuid-user.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    org.gpgtools.gpgmail.updater.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.gpgtools.Libmacgpg.xpc.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.gpgtools.macgpg2.fix.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    org.gpgtools.macgpg2.shutdown-gpg-agent.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    org.gpgtools.macgpg2.updater.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist [Click for support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.daemon.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    net.sourceforge.MonolingualHelper.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.gpgtools.gpgmail.patch-uuid.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    org.virtualbox.startup.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    org.wireshark.ChmodBPF.plist [Click for support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [running]    com.spotify.webhelper.plist [Click for support]
    [not loaded]    org.virtualbox.[redacted]oxwebsrv.plist [Click for support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
    Alfred 2    Application Hidden (/opt/homebrew-cask/Caskroom/alfred/2.5.1_308/Alfred 2.app)
    Seil    Application Hidden (/Applications/Seil.app)
    Karabiner    Application Hidden (/Applications/Karabiner.app)
    DoublePane    Application Hidden (/Users/[redacted]/Applications/DoublePane.app)
    HazelHelper    Application Hidden (/Users/[redacted]/Library/PreferencePanes/Hazel.prefPane/Contents/MacOS/HazelH elper.app)
    Keyboard Maestro Engine    Application (/opt/homebrew-cask/Caskroom/keyboard-maestro/latest/Keyboard Maestro.app/Contents/Resources/Keyboard Maestro Engine.app)
    Flickr Uploadr    Application (/Applications/Flickr Uploadr.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.40.2.0 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]
    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
    JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 31 Check version
    o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.40.2.0 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]
    Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    Picasa: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    Dashlane: Version: Dashlane 1.0.0 - SDK 10.10 [Click for support]
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
    GPGPreferences [Click for support]
    Hazel [Click for support]
    Java [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
    Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
        10%    WindowServer
         8%    mds
         7%    Alfred 2
         6%    mds_stores
         6%    Finder
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
    185 MB    Google Chrome
    166 MB    Google Chrome Helper
    96 MB    Finder
    82 MB    Messages
    47 MB    WindowServer
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
    35 MB    Free RAM
    1.32 GB    Active RAM
    1.30 GB    Inactive RAM
    963 MB    Wired RAM
    42.77 GB    Page-ins
    1.12 GB    Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
    Feb 22, 2015, 11:44:56 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/garcon_2015-02-22-234456_[reda cted].crash
    Feb 22, 2015, 05:28:10 AM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/garcon_2015-02-22-052810_[reda cted].crash
    Feb 20, 2015, 11:49:00 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/CalendarAgent_2015-02-20-23490 0_[redacted].crash
    Feb 20, 2015, 11:26:45 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/soagent_2015-02-20-232645_[red acted].crash
    Feb 20, 2015, 10:12:01 PM    Self test - passed

15"Macbook Pro fall 2011 with Core i7 2.0 GHZ, 8GB RAM v/s 2013 Macbook Air 13". Is it a good upgrade?

HI All
This is my first post here. As mentioned I have a fall 2011 15"Macbook Pro fall 2011 with Core i7 2.0 GHZ, 8GB RAM and i was thinking of buying a 2013 Macbook Air 13". Is it a good upgrade? I do light video editing and day to day tasks like word processing, email etc.
How would the performance of the Macbook Air with the Core i5 with 4 gb Ram be compared to the old Macbook Pro 15 with Core i7 Quad 2.0 ghz with 8 GB Ram.
Thanks
Sunny

The main advantage would be a solid state drive. This will improve performance and speed moreso than RAM considerations. The disadvantage will be a loss of storage space. Moreover, one of the disadvantages of a SSD is that the more storage space used on it, the slower it becomes and the quicker it will deteroriate.
If you do video editing, I would take the GPU into consideration. Does your 15'' come with a discrete GPU? The integrated GPU on the MBA (intel HD 5000) is better than the 2011 MBP integrated GPU (3000), but it includes no discrete GPU.
Depending on how much storage space you use on your HDD currently + how many graphics intensive programs you run, you may want to consider upgrading your current machine with a SSD, upgrading your RAM on current machine to 16 gb (~160$ through macmemory or newegg), or purchasing a new Macbook Pro rather than Macbook Air.
Last thing I would add:
You will never be able to upgrade MBA RAM. It is soldered to the logicboard on the new models, non-retina included. You may wan to opt with the 8 GB RAM configuration.

My friend have new Macbook Air with OSX Mavericks and I have Macbook Pro with OSX Mountain Lion, Can I create a bootable maverick in pendrive from macbook air and perform a clean installation/update on my macbook pro with osx mountain lion?

I have late 2012 edition Macbook Pro, I have a internet connection with does not run smoothly It gets disconnected and reconnects Thus I failed everytime when I update my OSX Mountain Lion to Mavericks in App Store. My friend just bought 2013 end Macbook Air whicch have OSX Mavericks pre installed.
I was hoping if I can create a OS X version in pendrive from his laptop and use that to install and thuss also update OS on my Mountain Lion.
Kindly explain me in detail how to perform this.
I have already taken back up of all files and I am ready to total clean my laptop.
And I want to update to Maverick so I can thus further update to upcoming OS X Yosemite.

The Mavericks on the Air is probably machine specific since it came pre-installed, so it wouldn't work on your computer. See if your friend will let you access the App Store, where you can sign in using your Apple ID and download the installer. You can use this free program to copy the installer and update your computer.
Bootable USB Flash Drive – Diskmaker X

MacBook Air from prior MacBook Pro leads to poor performance?

Last week my laptop (MacBook Pro) was stolen. I decided to buy a MacBook Air and reinstall my applications and some of my data from the MBP to a new MBA. I love the size/weight of the MacBook Air and the battery life but I've been having a number of issues with performance. For example:
-I'm getting the "beachball" a lot more on the MBA than I did on the MBP. I took the computer into the Genius Bar today and they told me that "it might not be good to run more than 6-7 apps at the same time" on the MBA. With the MBP I never had a problem runs lots of apps simultaneously.
-I'm having a problem whenever I download images from the Web. My computer basically freezes for 5 seconds or so. That never happened on the MBP.
What I'm wondering is whether these things are common with the MBA because it isn't as high-powered as the MBP. I'm also wondering if a part of this is because I didn't install the MBA from scratch but rather from my previous MBP install (through Time Machine). I know fresh installs are better but am really dreading the thought of having to reinstall all apps, reconfigure preferences, etc.
Any thoughts?

Sorry to hear about the theft. The Airs are great machines for a few reasons but one in particular is that the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics chip is a really top notch choice. Some benchmarks report that it is comparable or superior to the upgrade on the new Pros. The CPU is Core 2 Duo and at a lower GHZ it is designed for low temp, long battery life. Multi applications really depend on a combination of spare hard drive space and loads of RAM (although yes, you will see beach balls more than a Pro, but in theory it is more a cosmetic lag than sluggish machine). I've had two Macs, and I feel that any Mac can get sluggish if you don't do maintenance on them. Repair, verify, clear your cache, and so on. Don't forget certain times are heavy with background activity (indexing, etc). In the end if you need the snap of instant response, take it back and get a Pro, but you pay a price (heat and short battery life.) What size is your Air? How much RAM has it got and what size SSD? Another idea would be to get your exact old machine from the refurbished Apple page (at a discount)>
Message was edited by: NA Smith

How can I improve performance of macbook air

My MacBook Air seems ti be running slow: Slow to start up, slow to start new programs, slow when running multiple tasks at the same time.
Here's how my machine is set up:
Processor 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
OSX 10.8.2
Any suggestions or is this what i can expect?
Thanks for any help.
-PR

Things You Can Do To Resolve Slow Downs
If your computer seems to be running slower here are some things you can do:
Start with a visit to: OS X Maintenance - MacAttorney.
Boot into Safe Mode then repair your hard drive and permissions:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions Pre-Lion
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Repair the Hard Drive - Lion
Boot from your Lion Recovery HD. When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Restart your computer normally and see if this has helped any. Next do some maintenance:
Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For situations Disk Utility cannot handle the best third-party utility is Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced since Tiger. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard or Lion and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems. For more about malware see Macintosh Virus Guide.
I would also recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX 2.4.3, or Cocktail 5.1.1 that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. There is no confirmation that this version also works with Lion.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Data Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. SyncTwoFolders
6. Synk Pro
7. Synk Standard
8. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.
Additional Hints
Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity as free space.
Add more RAM. If your computer has less than 2 GBs of RAM and you are using OS X Leopard or later, then you can do with more RAM. Snow Leopard and Lion work much better with 4 GBs of RAM than their system minimums. The more concurrent applications you tend to use the more RAM you should have.
Always maintain at least 15 GBs or 10% of your hard drive's capacity as free space, whichever is greater. OS X is frequently accessing your hard drive, so providing adequate free space will keep things from slowing down.
Check for applications that may be hogging the CPU:
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Often this problem occurs because of a corrupted cache or preferences file or an attempt to write to a corrupted log file.

Which is a better performer, the macbook air or the mac mini?

Which one performs better, the late 2013 macbook air (standard configuration: 4GB RAM, dual core i5 1,3 Ghz CPU) or the mac mini core quad core i7, 4GB RAM with a regular hard disc?

LowLuster
No Air model can be as fast as a Mini with a quad core i7 CPU. Can't happen.
I didnt solicit your opinion, and it IS a fact, .....skilled users here on this board will and DO TELL other users OFTEN that:
"outside of processor core use (video/ photo etc.) you will NOT NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE on X computer vs. slower Y computer"
I have a 8 month old QUAD core Mac Mini and it is , as I said above "noticeably not ONE BIT" faster than my current 2013 macbook Air with 8gig.
My quad core came with 4gig of RAM as I recall, I immediately tossed in 16gig.
Notice the word "noticeably"
Your subjective hyperbole aside, you are wrong......., those above yourself and myself (point wise,...as Ogel has stated, Clinton has stated, and others) state this fact very often regarding ---"outside of processor core use (video/ photo etc.) you will NOT NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE on X computer vs. slower Y computer"
Its not my opinion, its a fact, namely additionally that I stated "noticeably" - "my quad core mac mini on MOST EVERYTHING (which is most things since 'most things' are NOT photo and video editing) is not "noticeably" ONE BIT faster than my Macbook Air.
"most things" people do (most people) on their computer does NOT involve photo and video editing (photoshop pro, final cut pro etc etc)
This is a fact, that AS SUCH most people WILL NOT notice any difference in general computer use between a quad core mac mini (for example) and a entry level macbook Air. (SSD vs. HD speeds aside). Nobody is going to notice faster youtube, or Word use, or websurfing, Acrobat Pro, Quicktime play, general APPS that havent changed much in 7 years.
Dont curse on these family boards please, its uncouth.
Peace

Macbook Air case with magnets. Will it affect hardware or performance of product?

Macbook Air case with magnets. Will it affect hardware or performance of product?

No, the low power N30 or N35 gauss neodymium magnets in the magnetic flap cases will not affect it.
There is no HD, and the SSD are hard (relatively) to corrupt by magnetic field unless high gauss and at close proximity.

Yosemite slowing down macbook air performance

Ever since upgrading to yosemite, my 2011 macbook air 11' has been very noticeably sluggish compared to how it was with mavericks. At first i thought it might be from some conflicts from the previous OS, so I did a completely fresh install with yosemite, but it's still dragging and sluggish, especially with any kind of graphics intensive process. I know the air isn't supposed to be a marvel at graphics performance, but I never had these performance issues with mavericks.
Is yosemite just too resource heavy for my macbook air? I wonder if I'd just be better off going back to mavericks. However, if there's some kind of settings I need to adjust, I'd be happy to experiment. I've already tried the 'reduce transparency' trick, but it didn't do much (not that I noticed anyways).

Gatekeeper is described here: OS X: About Gatekeeper - Apple Support. It is only one defense to protect you from inadvertently installing malware, and an effective defense does not rely upon only one method.
... I can use software that isn't officially "identified" by apple, even though it is trusted.
Apple's philosophy is such that a Mac user with Admin privileges always has control over what he or she installs. As I wrote Gatekeeper will serve to protect you against inadvertently installing malware, including the adware that is affecting your Mac. Adware does not get installed on its own - it requires your explicit permission, which you provided by supplying your Admin name and password. When that dialog appears, it should be expected, not a surprise, and its implications should be clearly understood. By providing your credentials OS X concludes you know what you're doing and the reason you're doing it. Determining the "trusted" aspect of software thereby falls to you.
In your case, by choosing the "anywhere" option you effectively circumvented this basic OS X security feature.
The problem with adware is that it relies upon deception to convince you that it's legitimate software offered for some beneficial purpose, when in fact all it will do is interfere with your normal activity and possibly crash your Mac.
Is there anything I can do to possibly identify which apps may be slowing my system down?
Yes, although you installed quite a number of them. For troubleshooting, read below the line that follows the end of this post.
An EtreCheck report generated on a Mac as it ships from Apple will show no entries under Kernel Extensions, Launch Agents, User Launch Agents, Safari Extensions, 3rd Party Preference Panes, etc. Everything that appears under those headings is there because you installed them. As I wrote it's a user's responsibility to understand the specific benefits they are intended to convey, the effects they will have, and the means of uninstalling them should they result in unacceptable performance - which was your original complaint.
It's also possible that the slowdowns are not caused by software, but given the extent to which your system has been modified, hardware failure is less likely than incompatible or poorly implemented software.
... anything that isn't officially "identified" by apple is adware?
Although OS X incorporates specific prohibitions against installing common malware, they can hardly attempt to classify specific user-installed modifications as adware. The only certain way to do that would be to prevent user-installed system modifications altogether, in the same manner as they do with iOS (iPads and iPhones).
Adware's appearance changes approximately every day. Their pathetic developers are desperate to change its appearance in an effort to continue their deceptive tactics, and a simple change of a file name precludes a reliable automated means of intercepting it. That's the reason it's incumbent upon Mac users to educate themselves about its appearance so that they are not so easily gulled into installing some junk. Gatekeeper merely helps you understand that's what you'd be doing.
Back up your Mac if you have not already done so. To learn how to to that read Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support.
If your Mac is momentarily unresponsive, consider the following.
Launch the Console app - it is in your Utilities folder. You can find it by selecting Utilities from the Finder's Go menu.
If the log list column on the left is not already displayed, show the log list by selecting Show Log List from Console's View menu. Select Show Toolbar if it is not already shown.
Locate system.log in the list and select it. Many date and time-stamped entries will appear, hundreds of them, and you must find the entries relevant to your Mac's problem.
To do that click the Clear Display button in the Toolbar. All previously displayed log entries will be disappear.
Next: Perform whatever actions cause the Mac to exhibit the slow behavior. If the problem is caused by errors logged by the system, the Console window will show them being recorded in system.log.
One or more of them, along with their time stamps, may reveal the reason for the problem you describe.
Copy and paste those log entries in a reply. If hundreds of the same repetitive messages appear, please edit them before posting. There should be no need for more than a few log entries.
Most of the entries will be cryptic but will contain information you might consider personal such as your Mac's name. If you do not want that information to appear, delete or obscure it when posting your reply. Leave enough information so that the entries can be deciphered.

Poor performance of facetime on macbook air while it works fine with other devices

Hi all,
I am experiencing poor performance when using facetime with my macbook air (image is poor and voice keeps breaking) while facetime works absolutely fine with my iphone or ipad. Skype works fie with the macbook as well. I have fiber optic connection with plenty of bandwidth. Any ideas?
Dimitri

Reboot and try again.

New MacBook Air & VMware Fusion Performance

Need to make a decision. Has anyone installed VMware Fusion on the new MacBook Air? If so, is the performance acceptable? I have heard the previous Airs were from from acceptable. Thanks in advance.
DrB

I have heard the previous Airs were from from acceptable.
If the opinion is based on on the users' attempt to play a 3D game, I'd agree: far from acceptable. The biggest failing of virtualization is graphics and since the MBA uses integrated graphics that effect is multiplied. However I've used VMWare and Parallels Desktop to run Windows 7 and Office 2010, for programming, surfing, and other less taxing programs with acceptable results. Acceptable enough that I've not had the desire to utilize BootCamp.
And in deference to SP Forsythe's comment about not using a Mac, several of my Windows using friends believe the MBA is the best Windows computer ever made.

Performance on a MacBook Air?

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