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Speeding Up My MacBook

rm2092

rm2092

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 30, 2008
402
2
Like Windows is there a utility to bring my Mac back up to speed ? All seems to run nice it may just be me but it seems to take a bit longer to boot up.
Oh I have 2.2 Ghz with 1 Gb of memory by stepping it up to 2 Gb would I be wasting money ? Im not doing alot of multi tasking but just want to keep my Mac fast. If so who has the best price for memory and brand ?
Thanks.....
 
Upgrading to 2 gig of RAM will definitely help improve system performance, you could try freeing up some RAM but stopping unnecessary processes that launch on boot
 
Thanks, Ill look at getting the 4 gb but witch brand ? any good or bad some to stay away from, thanks for the link. When I get to work Ill be ordering some. I see my Apple comes with Kingston.
 
g skill is good if you click on the ram link you can see customer reviews also and some sAY work with macbook so you just have to read is all have a good day
 
rm2092 said:
Thanks, Ill look at getting the 4 gb but witch brand ? any good or bad some to stay away from, thanks for the link. When I get to work Ill be ordering some. I see my Apple comes with Kingston.
Click to expand...

I tend to go with whatever is cheapest, as long as they have a lifetime warranty.
 
Onyx will do the job!

this cleans up all our system cache, will let you disable and enable certain features. Good for routine maintenance.

Oh yeh, and the 4GB upgrade! You can get it cheaper than apple. Play.com is the best I have found so far.
 
Thanks, Ill have 4Gb on thursday via second day air.
 
Well I just got my 4Gb in FedX and 10 minutes latter up and running no problems, thanks for the reply's
 
Just be aware that the 2.2 GHZ Santa Rosa MacBooks with 4GB of RAM have that whole DVD player issue.. Basically if you get it under like 2GB's of RAM and then insert a video DVD the MacBook will Kernal Panic..I'm sure there's other, more technically savvy, descriptions for it but that's the gist of it..

The way I get around it (and I'm pretty sure most others as well) is to set the computer to "ignore" any video DVD's when inserted and just use VLC for watching DVD's.. It's not a big deal, and the work around works fine- it's more annoying that I know a bug like that even exists than anything.. But the performance improvements you get with the 4 GB's makes it worth it..
 
Say That again, now that I have 4Gb on my 2.2 ill incounter problems with the dvd player ? and whats this thing your talking abought kernal panic ?
 
rm2092 said:
Say That again, now that I have 4Gb on my 2.2 ill incounter problems with the dvd player ? and whats this thing your talking abought kernal panic ?
Click to expand...


Yeah, for whatever reason the application "DVD player" has issues in units with 4GB of ram.. Some say it's a software issue, some say it's hardware.. I'm not sure what it is, but it happens to mine as well..

A Kernal Panic is when a message in a couple different languages appears on your screen telling you that you need to re-start your computer immediately.. Basically it's a full blown crash..

It stinks that an issue like that even exists, but it doesn't affect any other programs, or other functions.. The workaround is to use VLC, and it works fine- but again, we shouldn't need to use a workaround..

Don't worry too much about it though- it's good to know so that if it happens you know why, but there's no sense sweating it because we really can't do anything about it at the moment.. I bought this specific computer because I could put 4 GB's in it, so I'm not taking it out and settling for less.. Just use VLC until there's a fix..
 
I upgraded my macbook to two GB of ram, and it was worth the $41

there is a program, I forget what it is called, but it clears your programs so that instead of running on a PPC they just run on intel, which speeds it up a lot I have heard
 
beware RAM upgrades

FYI: I upgraded my 2.2GHz Macbook with 4GB of Transcend RAM and it had major issues--it wouldn't start up, and wouldn't reinstall the Mac OS. The Apple people didn't even know if for sure it was the RAM so I went through 3 laptops with them before finally ditching the RAM. Now I'm afraid to upgrade it unless it's the high quality Samsung stuff. So be forewarned. Some brands of RAM are better than others and Apple computers are increasingly choosy over them. The "better deal" may end up failing on you (mine took an average of 1 week in each machine before it freaked out), so buy the lifetime guarantee stuff, back up EVERYTHING before installing it, and start some serious meditating because you'll need all the patience in the world if you wake up one morning and your precious macbook doesn't get past the spinning gear...
 
I bought the memory from OWC, there house brand witch has a lifetime warranty. You know the saying if its not broke don't F_ck with it. Anyone else with problems please post up.
 
ok. This whole 4gb-upgrade DVD problem is scaring me. Has everyone who updated to 4gb-ram had this problem? Thanks.

Ken
 
Justaute said:
ok. This whole 4gb-upgrade DVD problem is scaring me. Has everyone who updated to 4gb-ram had this problem? Thanks.

Ken
Click to expand...

I've had my 2.2 since November, and upgraded to 4GB of RAM, and I've never had the problem described above. I've also never experienced a kernel panic either for any reason.
 
cecil444 said:
FYI: I upgraded my 2.2GHz Macbook with 4GB of Transcend RAM and it had major issues--it wouldn't start up, and wouldn't reinstall the Mac OS. The Apple people didn't even know if for sure it was the RAM so I went through 3 laptops with them before finally ditching the RAM. Now I'm afraid to upgrade it unless it's the high quality Samsung stuff. So be forewarned. Some brands of RAM are better than others and Apple computers are increasingly choosy over them. The "better deal" may end up failing on you (mine took an average of 1 week in each machine before it freaked out), so buy the lifetime guarantee stuff, back up EVERYTHING before installing it, and start some serious meditating because you'll need all the patience in the world if you wake up one morning and your precious macbook doesn't get past the spinning gear...
Click to expand...

OK, take a breath...

It's possible for any brand of RAM to have a defective module, Samsung included - the failure rate is about 1% industry wide. Based on a sample size of one, you can't accurately declare that Transcend or any individual brand is no good -- as long as you bought the correct RAM for your Mac.

If you bought the Transcend from a reputable seller, it would have a lifetime guarantee and they should have replaced it for you at no charge.

Good advice though to back up before taking a screwdriver to a machine in any case.

And I don't know if was a factor in your case, but most of the 'bad' RAM in MacBooks is a result of the owner not pushing the RAM completely into the socket. The RAM goes in about 1 inch and stops. Then you have to get both thumbs on it and push it in 1/8" more to properly seat it in the contacts. We see this all the time, people don't push it in all the way.
 
I have ordered 2 different sets of RAM from OWC and haven't had a problem yet. I just installed 4GB of RAM in my MacBook from OWC. Worked out great and really increased the speed of my laptop. :)
 
Sometimes reading all these post all you here are the negative things and thats what puts a scare into people.
 
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