ok so my iMac 21.5 has 4 gigs of ram, i was wondering if i add 2 more gigs of ram will i notice the difference in it? like load times on everything and speed on opening apps and what not not hang times?
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Adding ram to my iMac 21.5
- Thread starter djbattaglia
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Hellhammer
Moderator emeritus
Keep your eyes on Activity Monitor and see if your RAM usage is more that 75%. RAM will not speed up app launching, for that you need SSD
Hellhammer
Moderator emeritus
HDs are too slow but the amount of RAM doesn't always help. You have all your files in HD and when an app needs it, the HD spins and data is displayed, that info can't be saved to RAM. Most things are then saved to RAM so they are faster to reopen like web sites. For most things RAM doesn't help as it only speeds up certain things, not the read speed of HD.
+90% of beachballs happen when CPU has to wait for HD
What is SSD? I kno i sound like a newb, but my iMac 21.5 is sorda slow i just re did the mac but still i feel like it should be faster so i figured if i get 6 gigs of ram i will be faster
SSD stands for solid-state drive or more commonly known as a flash drive.
I found a site that might clarify it for you
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-ssd.htm
I found a site that might clarify it for you
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-ssd.htm
Hellhammer
Moderator emeritus
They are same as memory found in phones, memory sticks etc. Much faster than HDs and as I said, most time you get beachballing is when CPU has to wait for HD.
I would try with 6GB of RAM though as replacing HD voids warranty and is not the easiest thing to do plus SSDs costs pretty much