Would reformatting be worth it, or are my problems elsewhere?

[aldog]

I have a macbook pro 2.4ghz intel core 2 duo with 4gb ram.
I've been having problems with hangups, and just barely it froze on me.

I had firefox running with multiple tabs, photoshop cs3, msn messenger, transmission, itunes playing, quiksilver, and speed download but it wasn't doing anything, and gmail notifier. I also have shadowkiller if that makes a difference. I have a wacom cintiq which is the tablet that connects through dvi and usb and has it's own screen.

This is basically a normal day for me, running all of that. My photoshop documents are 5000x3000 at 300dpi. on average.

Now I guess my question is, am I asking too much from my mac? Do I need to calm down on what I have open, or is this something that my computer should be able to do.
I'm considering reformatting but I don't know if that would make a difference. I have time machine running so that's nice if I do end up doing it, but as far as macs go i'm new.
any advice is appreciated.

 

[rychencop]

i would suggest running less and see if it cures the problem. sounds like a bit much to me.

 

[alphaod]

I don't think reinstaller will make a difference. That is a lot of resource requiring apps running, so it's natural to get a little slow down. My computer freezes sometime too for a few seconds when I run a zillion apps.

The computer can do a lot , but don't expect too much from the computer.

 

[aldog]

hmm alright. It's basically the same as what I ran on my last computer. winamp instead of itunes, and maybe less tabs open. of course no quiksilver.
maybe it has a lot to do with the fact that my photoshop documents are getting bigger and bigger.
*sigh*
i just want too much
haha
thanks for the responsesand help rychencop and alphaod