My Macbook, which has 512 MB RAM is running really slow when I have alot of applications running or when I am returning from sleep. I noticed that apps like iPhoto and the trial version of Word run really slow. Between this I keep on checking the RAM and it's telling me that there is over 100 inactive+free MB. After I close all of these programs and just open up Safari, I get the beach ball and the website takes a while to load. I've downloaded OnyX and ran the maintenance scripts. But the apps still run slow. Anyone know what the problem is?
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Mac is running really slow
- Thread starter TheBonk
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It's your RAM. upgrade to at least 1GB, and I guarantee you that you will notice an improvement in speed. 512mb in Tiger is the bare minimum, I would hate to see Leopard try to run with that amount of RAM. Also, go to Activity Moniter, select System Memory and tell me your page outs. By the way, 100(+) mbs of free/inactive RAM is not very much. I have 2 gigs in my iMac and I have 1.3 gigs of RAM inactive and 350 megs free. I suggest upgrading your RAM to 1.25 by replacing one of your 256mb modules with a 1 gig stick. 
I recommend you upgrade your RAM...Word will run slow, as it is not yet made for intel processors specifically (it is not Universal, so needs Rosetta to run)...I recommend NeoOffice for a speed increase
Yeah, Rosetta is very RAM hungry but any PPC app is bound to run slow even on a high amount of RAM.
It's your RAM. upgrade to at least 1GB, and I guarantee you that you will notice an improvement in speed. 512mb in Tiger is the bare minimum, I would hate to see Leopard try to run with that amount of RAM. Also, go to Activity Moniter, select System Memory and tell me your page outs. By the way, 100(+) mbs of free/inactive RAM is not very much. I have 2 gigs in my iMac and I have 1.3 gigs of RAM inactive and 350 megs free. I suggest upgrading your RAM to 1.25 by replacing one of your 256mb modules with a 1 gig stick.
Page outs is at 189257 right now...
Yeah, that is an extremely high amount of page outs. That number shouldn't go higher than about 2,000 a day. I highly suggest getting more RAM, you will not regret it. Just to give you an idea or how more RAM is helpful, I have had my iMac on all day (2GB RAM) and I have 0 page outs
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that a page out occurs when there is not enough available RAM left in the system to carry out the selected task (opening a web page, for example) so the computer instead uses the hard drive as a sort of temporary RAM until enough RAM frees up so that the computer can use the RAM to execute tasks. Confusing
Pretty much the computer uses the hard drive instead of RAM when there is not enough RAM left (it is being used by something else) and that process takes much longer than just using normal RAM, which is why you get "beachballs" and which is why the computer often runs slow.
Pretty much the computer uses the hard drive instead of RAM when there is not enough RAM left (it is being used by something else) and that process takes much longer than just using normal RAM, which is why you get "beachballs" and which is why the computer often runs slow.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that a page out occurs when there is not enough available RAM left in the system to carry out the selected task (opening a web page, for example) so the computer instead uses the hard drive as a sort of temporary RAM until enough RAM frees up so that the computer can use the RAM to execute tasks. Confusing
Pretty much the computer uses the hard drive instead of RAM when there is not enough RAM left (it is being used by something else) and that process takes much longer than just using normal RAM, which is why you get "beachballs" and which is why the computer often runs slow.
I believe this is correct.