my 13" MBP slow to launch programs

[tkboss88]

hi everyone, i've noticed that my 13" MBP is getting slower and slower opening up programs. programs like word and itunes take more than twice as long to open up than they used to. i still have 90 GB of storage left on my stock drive. can some one please tell me what's going on and how do i fix it?

thanks =D

 

[Surely]

hi everyone, i've noticed that my 13" MBP is getting slower and slower opening up programs. programs like word and itunes take more than twice as long to open up than they used to. i still have 90 GB of storage left on my stock drive. can some one please tell me what's going on and how do i fix it?

thanks =D

It has nothing to do with how much space you have on your hard drive.

How much memory are you running? 2 GB? Click on the in the Menu bar, and click on 'About This Mac' to find out.

If you are only running 2GB of memory, it might be a good idea to upgrade to 4GB. That should speed things up, especially if you are running multiple applications at the same time.

 

[tkboss88]

yeah i have 2 gb of ram. activity monitor is telling me that i am using 1.5 gigs and i have .5 free. do you think i need more ram?

 

[Surely]

yeah i have 2 gb of ram. activity monitor is telling me that i am using 1.5 gigs and i have .5 free. do you think i need more ram?

Yes.

 

[Dozerrox]

It has nothing to do with how much space you have on your hard drive.

How much memory are you running? 2 GB? Click on the in the Menu bar, and click on 'About This Mac' to find out.

If you are only running 2GB of memory, it might be a good idea to upgrade to 4GB. That should speed things up, especially if you are running multiple applications at the same time.

But if they opened quickly initially and he was approaching the limits the size of his HDD then that would account for it.

2 gigs of ram should be fine with opening word etc. Are there many programs opening on startup that are eating into it? Upgrading to 4 might be a good idea anyway as it'll give you a cheap boost.

 

[tkboss88]

no not many things open at start up. my computer used to start up in about 30 seconds when i first installed snow leopard, but now it takes closer to 50 seconds. everything has been left stock. no programs open up when i boot up. i was thinking about buying an ssd to cope with this problem with opening programs. do you guys think it would greatly impact my speed?

thanks =D

 

[Dozerrox]

no not many things open at start up. my computer used to start up in about 30 seconds when i first installed snow leopard, but now it takes closer to 50 seconds. everything has been left stock. no programs open up when i boot up. i was thinking about buying an ssd to cope with this problem with opening programs. do you guys think it would greatly impact my speed?

thanks =D

You want to buy an SSD because of a 20 second delay? 20 seconds???

 

[tkboss88]

partially because of the 20 second delay. but also because it's starting to lag when launching programs. word takes like 12 seconds, limewire takes about 35 seconds to launch. itunes takes about 8 seconds to launch. safari takes 5 seconds to launch and i get the spinning beach ball every now and then when launching it. it's getting rather annoying. and NO i do not have all these programs opened at the same time. activity monitor says i am using 1.36 gigs of ram when i ONLY have 2 windows of safari opened. no it's not youtube or any flash based website. i'm quite puzzled as to what is happening

 

[Surely]

But if they opened quickly initially and he was approaching the limits the size of his HDD then that would account for it.

The OP stated that he has 90 GB of free HD space.

partially because of the 20 second delay. but also because it's starting to lag when launching programs. word takes like 12 seconds, limewire takes about 35 seconds to launch. itunes takes about 8 seconds to launch. safari takes 5 seconds to launch and i get the spinning beach ball every now and then when launching it. it's getting rather annoying. and NO i do not have all these programs opened at the same time. activity monitor says i am using 1.36 gigs of ram when i ONLY have 2 windows of safari opened. no it's not youtube or any flash based website. i'm quite puzzled as to what is happening

You need to upgrade your RAM. If you are using 1.36 GB of your total of 2GB, with ONLY 2 windows of Safari open, you need more RAM.

Upgrading your RAM is also far cheaper than upgrading to an SSD. The slowdown isn't even due to your HD.

You should be able to run Safari, Mail, iTunes, iPhoto, Limewire and even more applications at the same time with no slowdown.

 

[tkboss88]

thanks surely, i appreciate it. im probably going to get 4 gb because 8 gb is ridiculously expensive. are all brands of ram pretty much the same?

 

[Surely]

thanks surely, i appreciate it. im probably going to get 4 gb because 8 gb is ridiculously expensive. are all brands of ram pretty much the same?

8GB is unnecessary..... 4GB will be more than enough (that's what I have).

Pretty much, but some people say that Macs like certain brands and don't like others.

I bought Crucial RAM from Amazon, but you should also check out OWC. If you do a search in these forums for "MacBook Pro RAM", I'm sure you'll find some threads with other brand recommendations.

 

[Max(IT)]

You need to upgrade your RAM. If you are using 1.36 GB of your total of 2GB, with ONLY 2 windows of Safari open, you need more RAM

bad advice IMHO.
This is absolutely NOT normal. I would try FIRST to find out where is the problem, because 1,5 Gb of RAM occupied with only 2 Safari's windows is very unusual.
My two cents

 

[Surely]

bad advice IMHO.
This is absolutely NOT normal. I would try FIRST to find out where is the problem, because 1,5 Gb of RAM occupied with only 2 Safari's windows is very unusual.
My two cents

There are other processes running that are using the memory besides those 2 Safari windows.

And you misread: the OP said that 1.36 GB is being used, not 1.5 GB. The graphics card in the new MBPs use 256 KB, so that cuts it down further to around 1.1 GB being used by Safari, which is absolutely reasonable.

 

[Max(IT)]

There are other processes running that are using the memory besides those 2 Safari windows.

and the problem is right there: he has to find out which processes are running to waste his memory, before buying some more.

And you misread: the OP said that 1.36 GB is being used, not 1.5 GB. The graphics card in the new MBPs use 256 KB, so that cuts it down further to around 1.1 GB being used by Safari, which is absolutely reasonable.

1.5 ... 1.36 Gb is almost the same.
It is TOO MUCH.

In my MBP with two Safari's pages loaded (Google Maps on one and Apple site on the other) the memory used is about 4-500 MB.

 

[SteinMaster]

Here is some advice for Mac slowdowns.

http://blog.smalldog.com/article/10-tips-for-dealing-with-unexpected-computer-slowdowns/

 

[Surely]

Here is a screenshot of my Memory stats after a restart. I am only running two pages of Safari (MacRumors and CNN). I have 4 GB of RAM.

Normal. My machine is fast and smooth, with no slowdowns or spinning beach balls.

If I only had 2 GB of RAM, I believe I would be experiencing the same slowdowns as the OP.

As I've stated, the OP needs more memory.

 

[Max(IT)]

Snow Leopard requires 1 Gb to run (with very poor performace). With 2 Gb is perfectly usable, especially with very light application like a couple of Safari's pages.
You don't need 4 Gb to run Safari.

To add more RAM is usually a good advice, but in this case he has to find out what is the problem with his Mac first.