Graphics intense website choppy / Possible heat issues?

[pctomac2011]

Hi All,

First off, this is my first Mac I've been an extensive PC user for years, and without going into too much detail let's just say i'd be the last person people would expect would switch to a Mac I'm loving it for the most part, I do have some minor issues, and I hope i'm asking this is the right forum.

Are there any known issues with browsing being slightly choppy on graphic intense websites? PC wise usually this was an incorrect/outdated graphic driver issue which would cause the problem, although since this is a brand new MBP 15" 2011, I wouldn't think drivers are outdated. I've also downloaded Chrome/Firefox with the same result. It does seem somewhat minor however, so I'm not going to spend too much time on it, just an annoyance really.

The other problem was yesterday I installed Parallel's and proceed to install Windows 7 (just for some minor usage when required), and honestly I noticed installing parallel's seemed to tax the system extensively navigating even 2 apps such as Safari and/or iTunes during the parallel installation was very slow. I wrote it off initially to installing an OS, however even after the install Parallel's seemed to really tax my system. Is Parallels very resource intensive? What is the equivalent of Task Manager on a Mac where I can monitor resources? Are there any heat monitoring widgets or apps I can download as well?

Lastly, do MBP's typically throttle when not plugged in directly to a power source? Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, however when on battery power, I seem to notice a slowdown.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Pressure]

You are probably experiencing the awesomeness that is Adobe Flash (/sarcasm).

But yeah, running virtualization is very demanding on the system and require heaps of ram and processing power.

You are basically running two operating systems at the same time.

 

[pctomac2011]

You are probably experiencing the awesomeness that is Adobe Flash (/sarcasm).

But yeah, running virtualization is very demanding on the system and require heaps of ram and processing power.

You are basically running two operating systems at the same time.

Thanks for the reply. Ya, I'm thinking Adobe Flash is the culprit not that surprised really, again it was not a "huge" issue, just enough to be slightly annoying, although it does not happen ALL the time.

Ya, virtualization, I figured as much. I suppose even with the beefiest of systems it does still have an impact on performance. The odd thing that I didn't mention, was even when I quit Parallels, it appeared it took the system a while to reclaim the lost resources.

Any thoughts in regards to monitoring applications for CPU/Memory/Heat, etc?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Pressure]

Yeah sorry, you can find that information under Activity Monitor found in the programs folder.

You can also install a widget called iStat Pro

 

[pctomac2011]

Yeah sorry, you can find that information under Activity Monitor found in the programs folder.

You can also install a widget called iStat Pro

Awesome! iStat Pro is very slick, exactly what I was looking for. Glad to say my CPU/GPU is running very cool

Thanks for your help!!!

 

[Johnf1285]

Its Flash. I've noticed this as of this summer. On a number of Macs that I have used, I noticed that when scrolling through a site that has a lot of flash, it scrolls sluggishly and jittery.

Hopefully this is something that gets fixed asap.

 

[pctomac2011]

Its Flash. I've noticed this as of this summer. On a number of Macs that I have used, I noticed that when scrolling through a site that has a lot of flash, it scrolls sluggishly and jittery.

Hopefully this is something that gets fixed asap.

Hm. Thanks for that John. I sort of figured it was Flash. Especially given that loving relationship between Adobe and Apple Honestly if it is on Adobe's side i'm not sure they can afford to ignore it much longer. Apple is here to stay, and Adobe could be replaced by another developer in the not so distant future.

Cheers.

 

[jonnymo5]

The new MBPs have both a discrete and an integrated graphics chip. The default settings will use discrete when plugged in and the integrated when on battery.

That is probably what you are seeing. You can change settings to always use one or the other.