2011 iMac ram question

[mikhailit]

Hi all,

I recently bought a 21" iMac which was the basic bottom of the range one which offered 4GB of ram. Currently it looks like istatpro tells me I have 1.07GB "free".

Not to moan about Lion, but things have got a little sluggish since I "upgraded" yesterday.

So. My question is, will ordering 8GB of ram from crucial make any difference? I use my computer of editing photos, catching up with tv and email etc.

I'm just not sure where 3GB of my ram went when I consider what I am doing is light usage - I literally just have safari and mail open.

Also, if ordering extra ram is a good idea - does it matter that I would have 2 x 2GB from Apple, with 2 x 4GB from crucial? Someone once told me ram should always match?

Thanks so much.

 

[yubbie2]

Hi all,

I recently bought a 21" iMac which was the basic bottom of the range one which offered 4GB of ram. Currently it looks like istatpro tells me I have 1.07GB "free".

Not to moan about Lion, but things have got a little sluggish since I "upgraded" yesterday.

So. My question is, will ordering 8GB of ram from crucial make any difference? I use my computer of editing photos, catching up with tv and email etc.

I'm just not sure where 3GB of my ram went when I consider what I am doing is light usage - I literally just have safari and mail open.

Also, if ordering extra ram is a good idea - does it matter that I would have 2 x 2GB from Apple, with 2 x 4GB from crucial? Someone once told me ram should always match?

Thanks so much.

Yes more RAM will help. What model/processor did you get?

Just check how many slots you have (2 or 4). You may need to remove Apple's ram and put in Crucial's. I just don't remember offhand how many slots the 21" comes with

Ram should always match in pairs. 2x2gb and 2x4gb should be fine. 1x2gb and 3x4gb could be an issue.

 

[GGJstudios]

I recently bought a 21" iMac which was the basic bottom of the range one which offered 4GB of ram. Currently it looks like istatpro tells me I have 1.07GB "free".

There's more to determining if you need RAM than just looking at free memory. Of more value is looking at page outs and swap used. Restarting your computer will reset those to zero. Then you can track page outs and swap used under normal workloads.

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor

Also, if ordering extra ram is a good idea - does it matter that I would have 2 x 2GB from Apple, with 2 x 4GB from crucial? Someone once told me ram should always match?

There's a small advantage to using matched pairs.

MR Guide to Matched RAM on Intel Macs

Yes more RAM will help.

Not necessarily.

Ram should always match in pairs. 2x2gb and 2x4gb should be fine. 1x2gb and 3x4gb could be an issue.

That's not true. While there's a slight performance advantage (5% or so), there is no "issue" with having unmatched RAM.

 

[mikhailit]

Yes more RAM will help. What model/processor did you get?

Just check how many slots you have (2 or 4). You may need to remove Apple's ram and put in Crucial's. I just don't remember offhand how many slots the 21" comes with

Ram should always match in pairs. 2x2gb and 2x4gb should be fine. 1x2gb and 3x4gb could be an issue.

I got the quad core 2.5ghz version. How can I identify page outs?

 

[GGJstudios]

I got the quad core 2.5ghz version. How can I identify page outs?

Activity Monitor > System Memory tab at the bottom.

 

[mikhailit]

Activity Monitor > System Memory tab at the bottom.

OK, the simple answer is it just says 0/bytes for both.

 

[GGJstudios]

OK, the simple answer is it just says 0/bytes for both.

That means you're not maxing out the RAM you have (assuming you're using your Mac as you normally would), so you won't see any performance improvement by adding more RAM.

 

[mikhailit]

That means you're not maxing out the RAM you have (assuming you're using your Mac as you normally would), so you won't see any performance improvement by adding more RAM.

OK, so what could be the other potential causes of sluggishness?

 

[Focker]

OK, so what could be the other potential causes of sluggishness?

I have the exact same iMac as you (base model 2011 21.5") & my experience mirrors yours after upgrading to Lion. I do have an extra 8gb of crucial ram installed for a total of 12gb. What I did to fix the sluggishness was verify disc permissions, under disk utility. I had several permission errors so I ran repair disk permissions, then rebooted my machine. And just for good measure, I ran repair disk permissions again and rebooted a 2nd time. After doing that, my system is buttery smooth and faster than it was on Snow Leopard on 10.6.8. You could try that and see if it helps.

 

[mikhailit]

I have the exact same iMac as you (base model 2011 21.5") & my experience mirrors yours after upgrading to Lion. I do have an extra 8gb of crucial ram installed for a total of 12gb. What I did to fix the sluggishness was verify disc permissions, under disk utility. I had several permission errors so I ran repair disk permissions, then rebooted my machine. And just for good measure, I ran repair disk permissions again and rebooted a 2nd time. After doing that, my system is buttery smooth and faster than it was on Snow Leopard on 10.6.8. You could try that and see if it helps.

That did the trick. Perfect! Thanks.

 

[mikhailit]

I have the exact same iMac as you (base model 2011 21.5") & my experience mirrors yours after upgrading to Lion. I do have an extra 8gb of crucial ram installed for a total of 12gb. What I did to fix the sluggishness was verify disc permissions, under disk utility. I had several permission errors so I ran repair disk permissions, then rebooted my machine. And just for good measure, I ran repair disk permissions again and rebooted a 2nd time. After doing that, my system is buttery smooth and faster than it was on Snow Leopard on 10.6.8. You could try that and see if it helps.

Out of interest, have you noticed benefits from the additional 8gb ram?

 

[Focker]

That did the trick. Perfect! Thanks.

You're welcome! Glad I could help!

 

[Focker]

Out of interest, have you noticed benefits from the additional 8gb ram?

Yeah a little bit here and there, although being that this is my first mac I haven't really done anything to heavy on it yet. Just some basic photo & video editing, and a few slideshows. I'm sure as I get more & more comfortable and familiar with OSX I'll start getting into some heavier programs. I mainly bought the extra 8gigs to help future proof and now that rams gotten so much cheaper it's not a bad deal for ~$75 to bump up to 12gigs.