O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: slow

  • Initial tests show 2019 MacBook Air features slower SSD than its 2018 counterpart

    This might not be the best news if you just snagged a 2019 model MacBook Air.

    Per the mighty Consomac, the 2019 MacBook Air released last week features a slower SSD than its 2018 counterpart.

    After running the trusty Blackmagic Disk Speed test, it turns out that the read speeds of the 2019 MacBook Air’s SSD are slower. The utility reported write speeds of 1GB/s and read speeds of 1.3GB/s. The 2018 MacBook Air had write speeds of 920MB/s and read speeds of 2GB/s.

    The read and write speeds of the 128GB SSD model proved similar to the equivalent 2018 model, with write speeds of 500MB/s and read speeds of 1.3GB/s. Models with higher capacity SSDs weren’t tested. The slower speeds could be a result of Apple lowering the price of the 2019 MacBook Air.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via The Mac Observer and Consomac

  • Apple releases MacBook Pro Retina SMC Update 1.1 for 15-inch Retina Display MacBook Pro users

    Never doubt a good firmware update.

    Late Thursday, Apple released its MacBook Pro Retina SMC Update 1.1 firmware update for its 15-inch Retina Display MacBook Pro notebook. The update, a 504 kilobyte download, offers the following fixes and changes:
    – Resolves a rare issue where users may experience slow frame rates when playing graphics-intensive games.

    – Includes bug fixes for Power Nap, wake from sleep and fan control.

    The update can be located, snagged and installed via OS X’s Software Update features and requires a 15-inch Retina Display MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later to install and run.

    If you’ve tried the firmware update and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

  • Parallels Desktop updated to 7.0.14922.693916

    parallelslogo1.jpg

    Updates: They tend to be useful.

    Late Wednesday, Parallels released version 7.0.14922.693916 of its Parallels Desktop virtualization software. The new update, a 289 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:

    – New interface languages, including Czech, Portuguese, Chinese Simplified, and Chinese Traditional.

    – Option to choose Mac OS X Snow Leopard-style full screen mode instead of native OS X Lion full screen mode.

    – Better compatibility with FileVault.

    – Improved compatibility with FaceTime HD camera and other USB devices for virtual machines with more than 2 GB of memory.

    – Resolves a problem with Mac slow boot time.

    Parallels Desktop 7 retails for US$79.99 and requires a 64-bit Intel-based processor, Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later, 2GB of RAM (4GB recommended to run Windows 7), at least 700 MB of space available on the boot volume for Parallels Desktop installation and 15 GB of available disk space for Windows.

    If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, let us know in the comments.

  • Some Users Reporting Bugs, System Slowdowns After Security Update (2010-001) Install

    As well-intentioned as Apple may be, a number of users are reporting that the company’s latest Security Update (2010-001) is causing extremely slow start-up times and poor performance or crashing for several programs, including Skype, Firefox, and Photoshop CS3.

    Per CNET, a used identified as “Forgiss” reported the following issue on the Apple Support Discussions board:

    “I installed the security update this morning, and rebooted the machine. Startup was extremely slow. in the region of about 5-10 minutes with a consistent beachball untill startup has completed. After startup, I could not launch any non-apple product so far. That includes:
    Skype
    Firefox
    CaptureONE Pro
    Photoshop CS3 or CS4
    Microsoft office suite (word, excel, etc)

    Some applications would open, and then as soon as I try and open a file, it would crash (microsoft and Adobe Products) some would just bounce in the dock (skype, firefox) and some would start to open and then crash after the ID screen has been up for a few seconds. My Wacom Tablet is not recognised and crashes (through USB) although my iTunes and iPod Touch seems to work fine (so it’s not the USB drivers, per se). I have not had any problems with this computer since my upgrade to snow leopard (10.6) and have had no indication that there are any system issues.”

    The help in the forum suggests that the hard drive on the computer was being slowly damaged to the point that Disk Utility (via Permissions Verify/Repair) was not noticing anything. The update also seems to have been the catalyst for the hard drive damage to become evident to the system.

    If you’ve seen anything like this on your end, let us know.