# The Lag...on my computer...what does it represent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760 "2015-05-25T01:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/1 "2015-05-25T01:20:37Z")
Not what causes it… What does it represent? CPU issues, memory issues? Computer in question is a MacBook Pro and by lag I mean I am hitting cheese and nothing is happening and nothing is happening and then all of a sudden everything is happening all at once. It’s driving me insane. I have a memory cleaner that Computer in question is a MacBook Pro and by lag I mean I am hitting cheese and nothing is happening and nothing is happening and then all of a sudden everything is happening all at once. It’s driving me insane. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/2 "2015-05-25T01:37:08Z")
Hitting cheese? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/3 "2015-05-25T02:05:50Z")
I’m betting saying “hitting keys” to a speech-to-text software :). Anyway, rubberbanding can be caused by any number of things - typically it indicates that you have a bottleneck somewhere in your system. It could be your processor, it could be your RAM, it could be your sound or graphic card, it could be your hard drive, it could be some antivirus software being a dick in the background and suddenly hogging the processor (that’d be my hedge bet if your computer is store-bought), it could even be caused by overheating. Without running a series of tests and/or hardware swaps to narrow down exactly what triggers these slowdowns then try and find out why it’s kinda hard to tell. I was going to suggest starting with Process Explorer which is a pretty good piece of software to start looking into that sort of thing and cross out the first probable offenders… but then I remembered that MacBook. I don’t know nuthin’ bout no Macs, ma’am. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/4 "2015-05-25T02:11:33Z")
Cheese? Have you tried cutting it instead of hitting it? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/5 "2015-05-25T02:24:42Z")
WAG: Your hard disk drive goes to sleep then it takes a few seconds to spin up when you want to do something. You get I/O bottleneck’d as a result. It happens to me often since I have two drives but do 90% of my stuff on one of them, so the other powers down. Probably don’t have two drives in a laptop though, but it could still happen. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/6 "2015-05-25T03:07:06Z")
It’s almost certainly _paging_. Launch Activity Monitor and see how much free RAM you have, and how much swap you are using. I’ll bet it’s [not much / too much]. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/7 "2015-05-25T14:31:31Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > It’s almost certainly _paging_. > > Launch Activity Monitor and see how much free RAM you have, and how much swap you are using. > I’ll bet it’s [not much / too much]. Thanks! I’ve been getting the beach ball a LOT recently on my MacBook Pro, and Activity Monitor showed that Firefox was using 1.12 GB! Apparently, I have gotten out of the habit of quitting Firefox, so it had probably been running for weeks. I quit and restarted, and FF is now using only 85 MB, a significant improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/8 "2015-05-25T21:20:25Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I’m betting saying “hitting keys” to a speech-to-text software :). Smart fella. > [@](#): > > Anyway, _ **rubberbanding** _ can be caused by any number of things Did not know there was a term, thanks! I like it. > [@beowulff](#): > > It’s almost certainly _paging_. > > Launch Activity Monitor and see how much free RAM you have, and how much swap you are using. > I’ll bet it’s [not much / too much]. how do I know what is the just right amount? Of swap, I mean… ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/9 "2015-05-25T21:46:03Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Smart fella. > > Did not know there was a term, thanks! I like it. > > how do I know what is the just right amount? Of swap, I mean… The right amount is ZERO. Anything more means that you are exceeding your installed RAM, and are forcing the OS to page to disk. How much swap space are you using? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/10 "2015-05-25T22:42:31Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Anyway, rubberbanding can be caused by any number of things - typically it indicates that you have a bottleneck somewhere in your system. > [@Stoid](#): > > Did not know there was a term, thanks! I like it. Yes, but shurely it should be rubberbinding. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/11 "2015-05-25T22:47:36Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Anyway, rubberbanding can be caused by any number of things - typically it indicates that you have a bottleneck somewhere in your system. > [@Stoid](#): > > Did not know there was a term, thanks! I like it. Yes, but surely it should be\* rubber **binding** \*. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/12 "2015-05-25T22:50:09Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Anyway, rubberbanding can be caused by any number of things - typically it indicates that you have a bottleneck somewhere in your system. > [@Stoid](#): > > Did not know there was a term, thanks! I like it. Yes, but surely it should be _rubberbinding_. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/13 "2015-05-25T22:51:26Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Anyway, rubberbanding can be caused by any number of things - typically it indicates that you have a bottleneck somewhere in your system. > [@Stoid](#): > > Did not know there was a term, thanks! I like it. Yes, but surely it should be rubberbinding. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Angry\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@The\_Angry\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Angry_Badger)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/14 "2015-05-25T23:33:43Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > I have a memory cleaner that Computer in question is a MacBook Pro and by lag I mean I am hitting cheese and nothing is happening and nothing is happening and then all of a sudden everything is happening all at once. It’s driving me insane. That’s a pretty garbled statement… 😕 But I’m going to concentrate on ‘I have a memory cleaner’. By that, I assume you mean you have a program that ‘cleans’ your memory out and gives you a nice amount of ‘free’ memory, right? If that’s the case, that’s not necessarily a good idea. Your memory is being used for a reason. Why would you want it sitting empty? The best amount of memory usage is ‘almost full’ - completely full and things start swapping over to the hard disk (bad), completely empty and the computer has to keep retrieving stuff from the disk (still bad). What happens with most of these programs is that they clear out a lot of cache files - files that aren’t being used at that moment, but the computer may need to recall them at any time. If they’re gone, then your computer has to go and retrieve them from the hard disk again, which takes much more time. It’s like having a garage by your house to store your stuff as well as a bigger storage unit across town, and constantly moving all your stuff over to the unit to keep your garage empty for some reason. It’s not necessarily causing your issues, but it might not be helping either. If I were to take a guess, I’d agree with **Palooka** and say it’s your hard disk going to sleep. I’m not familiar with macs, but do you have an option in your power settings to stop disks going to sleep (at least for an hour or two?). ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/15 "2015-05-26T18:06:54Z")
> [@The\_Angry\_Badger](#): > > I’m not familiar with macs, but do you have an option in your power settings to stop disks going to sleep (at least for an hour or two?). Yes, Macs have this. There’s a checkbox in the “Energy Saver” section of System Preferences. Both Firefox and Chrome are pretty bad at leaking memory on the Mac. I find that I have to relaunch them every few days to recover the gigs of memory they’ve leaked (and in the case of Chrome, the dozens of helper processes playing hell with context switching). Safari, on the other hand, is much better at this, and also uses less CPU for many things (I can watch HD Youtube video on Safari and the fans on my Air don’t even turn on. On Chrome the CPU usage pegs 100% and the fans go crazy). There are some downsides to Safari, but it really is a lean and efficient browser on the Mac. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/16 "2015-05-26T19:16:54Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Anyway, rubberbanding can be caused by any number of things - typically it indicates that you have a bottleneck somewhere in your system. > [@Stoid](#): > > Did not know there was a term, thanks! I like it. Yes, but surely it should be RUBBERBINDING. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/17 "2015-05-26T19:51:49Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Safari, on the other hand, is much better at this, and also uses less CPU for many things (I can watch HD Youtube video on Safari and the fans on my Air don’t even turn on. On Chrome the CPU usage pegs 100% and the fans go crazy). There are some downsides to Safari, but it really is a lean and efficient browser on the Mac. Hmmm…what version of Safari are you using? I haven’t updated my operating system in, um, a while, and the version of Safari on OS 10.6.whatever is very sluggish. It actually has me contemplating gritting my teeth and going through with the OS upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/18 "2015-05-26T19:57:30Z")
How many network/cloud/iTunes/sync etc. services are you plugged into? Network slows down, Mac often waits for it to finish, or timeout. That can leave your hit cheese unresponsive for an unpleasant amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/19 "2015-05-27T08:59:55Z")
˙ʞɔɐq pɹɐoqʎǝʞ sıɥʇ ƃuıʞɐʇ ɯ,ı 'sı ʇı ɹǝʌǝ ʇɐɥʍ ʇnq ƃuıpuıqɹǝqqnɹ s,ʇı ɟı ǝɹns ʇoN ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lag-on-my-computer-what-does-it-represent/720760/20 "2015-05-27T16:58:16Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Hmmm…what version of Safari are you using? I haven’t updated my operating system in, um, a while, and the version of Safari on OS 10.6.whatever is very sluggish. It actually has me contemplating gritting my teeth and going through with the OS upgrade. I have autoupdates enabled, so the most recent one. It’s worth it. The biggest gains were made in Mavericks, I believe. The Youtube thing has to do with how Youtube encodes video, I believe, rather than any Safari magic. On many browsers, it uses a more space-efficient encoding that requires lots of CPU to decode. On Safari, it uses H264, which has hardware acceleration.