My main machine is a late-2009 MacBook Pro with an upgraded HDD and the maximum allowable RAM (I think it's 4GB on that model).
Lately, the performance of the machine has been abysmal, especially when iTunes is open. With iTunes and iPhoto, it really drags.
I have seen people complaining on the Internet about iTunes "freezing" their computer and similar things with much greater frequency than normal and am wondering if it is Apple's software that is the problem. The tests I have run on my machine suggest that the machine itself is fine; in fact it was fully serviced less than a year ago when I had the new HDD put in.
I have a very large music library in iTunes, and I have Match and Genius turned on. I'm going to guess these suck resources too.
Do others have this problem with their Macs and iTunes? I realize my machine is not brand new, but it was a top of the line MBP and I would think should still be pretty solid. But for example, my MacBook Air is running circles around it now in terms of performance. It's a newer machine, but I think it specs out worse than the MBP. The only difference I see is that the Air doesn't have the huge music library.
I feel like I am probably due for a refresh of my computer anyway, but at the same time, I don't really want to believe I'm on a 2-3yr upgrade cycle on computers, especially given how expensive Macs are.
[And, while I appreciate these suggestions, "Use Linux", "Stop using iTunes" etc. are probably not viable options at this point]