Air + 24" cinema display = very slowwwww

[jayo123456]

Anyone else experience this?

Scrolling through webpages is sluggish, moving applications is very sluggish (like moving around 2 half screend word documents), expose is very sluggish, just not very responsive in general.


I just got the 24", now I'm feelin kinda disappointed.

 

[aristobrat]

Which model Air do you have?

I've got the latest "ultimate" 13", and the only problem I have when I use my Air + 24" Cinema Display is that the BT will lag now and again. But if I use the trackpad, there's never any lag or jerkiness.

 

[vperez]

Hello

I have the 30" Cinema Display plugged to my new 11" air, it works very well. I use it with the Magic trackpad and external BT keyboard and find no delays at all. It is surprising how this small thing is able to drive such a monster monitor!

 

[hsl]

27" ACD hooked up to an ultimate 11" here,.. no problems at all,.. not even when opening a 800GB aperture library through USB :/

 

[entatlrg]

11" MBA and 27" ACD with zero problems here - works perfect!!

 

[jayo123456]

are you guys using the monitor for full blown multitask?
one application window or two and it's fine.

But with msn open, a couple pdfs, safari, and two word '11 half screen each on the big monitor and the stutterness definately noticeable.


i have 2gb's ram....could that be the probleM?

 

[aristobrat]

are you guys using the monitor for full blown multitask?
one application window or two and it's fine.

But with msn open, a couple pdfs, safari, and two word '11 half screen each on the big monitor and the stutterness definately noticeable.


i have 2gb's ram....could that be the probleM?

The older Airs had problems running the bigger monitors, IIRC. What model do you have?

NM. Going through your post history, I see that you have the latest generation one.

Have you tried running Activity Monitor to see if there's something causing the CPU to spike when you're plugged in?

 

[jayo123456]

i got the new one, but base config.

if someone's got word 11', and doesn't mind running a test for me.

have a handful of things open (4-5 apps), then have two word '11 documents open half screen each on the big monitor. Try resizing the word windows, or click dragging the documents around. This is where I notice lag the most (and this is also what I need the monitor most for, which frustrates me).

Have you tried running Activity Monitor to see if there's something causing the CPU to spike when you're plugged in?

gonna check that after i make some breakfast

 

[gdeputy]

very very likely the RAM is at fault. 2GB is low when you consider the resolution your running at plus the multitasking. Should have spend 100 more for 2 extra GB's, worth it IMHO for an air anyways cause you cannot manually upgrade.

 

[aristobrat]

I thought the GPU only used 256MB of RAM, period? Are you saying that it uses more RAM than that when connected to a larger monitor?

Also, it the OS runs out of RAM, it uses virtual memory on the drive. With the new Airs SSD performance, you'd think the impact of swapping would be felt less than with a traditional HDD, no?

Either way, running Activity Monitor should help the OP determine where the bottleneck is.

 

[Mechinyun]

New 27 ACD + Air Ultimate = no problems at all, system runs a couple degrees hotter though which is to be expected.

 

[jayo123456]

weird, the problem isn't so pronounced no more.

With everything opened I mentioned, I got 60mb free ram, both with or without the monitor plugged in. CPU 88% idle.

One thing sluggish is expose though. It's definately not as fluid as running the mba screen only. You guys don't notice that? expose'ing 5-6 apps I really see it.

very very likely the RAM is at fault. 2GB is low when you consider the resolution your running at plus the multitasking. Should have spend 100 more for 2 extra GB's, worth it IMHO for an air anyways cause you cannot manually upgrade.

i had a chance to get the new air cheaper than retail.
the upgrade would've been close to $400 for 2gb ram for me ordering from apple.

something else I noticed:

with the monitor, at 62 degrees C, the fan is kicking upto 4000rpm.

without the monitor, the fan doesn't rev past 2000rpm until atleast 70 degrees C.

 

[Mechinyun]

88% cpu usage at idle is odd, what process's are running? At idle im at about 98% free.

Your fans shouldn't be kicking on at 62 degrees either, that's strange too. I run in the mid 60's at 1999rpm.

 

[jayo123456]

Here's a couple screens.Weird it usually doesn't rev up like that if not running external monitor.

 

[hsl]

New 27 ACD + Air Ultimate = no problems at all, system runs a couple degrees hotter though which is to be expected.

And forgot to mention,.. it's a 11" ultimate air.

What is the second menubar icon from the left?

 

[jayo123456]

^abettertouchtool



but here we go again. not really running too much, CPU pretty much idle, and the fan is revving up with monitor attached.

 

[Mechinyun]

Try rebooting, sometimes I notice that certain apps need it and see what happens. Also have you downloaded the latest updates for Office?

 

[WorldIRC]

Jayo
What app is that up on top with the Temp and Fan speed?

 

[i0Nic]

Anyone using an 11" MBA with a large display? Sluggish?

 

[ohwell]

Base 11"

I've connected my base 11" MBA to a 23" Dell sp2309w powering 2048 x 1152 resolution and it seems fine.

I was running safari & jEdit IDE, eclipse & android emulator, or starcraft 2 on low settings playing the campaigns.

I've also had it plugged into a 37" Vizio TV playing 720p and 1080p video via VLC and it didn't stutter.

I'm still amazed by this machine!

 

[jamesryanbell]

Something's wrong. It shouldn't be doing that.

 

[J273]

Jayo
What app is that up on top with the Temp and Fan speed?

Id like to know this too please.


I run an ultimate spec 11" and it runs fine connetced to my 30" monitor.


Im amazed at how well it runs everything ive thrown at it .

Its my main machine now until they update the pro's

 

[Wyvers]

Jayo
What app is that up on top with the Temp and Fan speed?

Also want to know as well.

I link up my revC to a 720p lcd and I found that Office '11 suite namely powerpoint will cause things to slow down dramatically. The exact same slides and videos in Office '08 I have no problems whatsoever even with the lid closed. Granted fans are at the max but there is zero stutter and everything flows as if it was just a walk in the park. In '11 things run fine for about 30 seconds and it grinds to a halt.

Do your fans hit the 6k mark and things still run slow? I found that certain resolutions and refresh rates affected performance drastically as well.

 

[Kebabselector]

Jayo
What app is that up on top with the Temp and Fan speed?

Probably smc fancontrol