Problem: OSX pauses

[CowZ]

hey everyone a few days ago i noticed that my MBP gets a little bit of lag/pauses while I am either webbrowsing or word processing. when I scroll down on websites it will pause for a split second and then jump forward. On word I will type and then it'll pause for a split second and then the words I typed out will pop out.

I am on a Unibody MBP from '09. I have OSX 10.6.4 (I haven't updated to 10.6.5 yet)
2.66 C2D, 4GB DDR3. Plenty HD space left.

Should I format and start fresh? It is possible the problem started when I installed iLife '11 recently.

 

[TheStu]

I would check to see if there is a latent process that is messing with things, are you running big things (a VM for example) in the background, or having iPhoto do its facial recognition?

 

[Seeruk]

Could also be the SMS (Sudden Movement Sensor) which locks the hard disk's head when there is a sudden movement to try and protect it should it be falling or something.

Anyway, my SMS seems to be super sensitive to the point where literally typing on the keyboard with the laptop sitting on anything less stable than a mountain of solid granite sets of the SMS.

Disable the SMS and see if the pauses stop

 

[Emulex]

no kidding. it doesn't have ssd?

never thought about that.

 

[CowZ]

Hmmm I've tried both methods and the problem continue to persist. I think I'll just format during thanksgiving break and see if it changes anything. Thanks guys.