moviejunkie 0 Posted November 8, 2005 my iBook G4 is only several mths old (250MB) and it's getting slower and slower! applications usually takes almost 1 min to open, if typing, sometimes the cursor won't pop up for whole 2 minutes! i'm not running anything big on it (mostly it's just surfing internet, checking email or listening to podcasting). Is this normal? shall I just get extra memory??? thanks if any help! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
houltmac 254 Posted November 8, 2005 The memory is certainly low. Did you buy a new machine or reconditioned/used? I wouldn't run a computer of any kind with less than 512Mb RAM but then my Powerbook is only running 512Mb and that's... ok... Anyway, you also have to consider your processor, bus, connections etc. to determine exactly what you want to upgrade if that's the case. But as it is, it's not normal. What OS are you running also? That would help a lot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jazzmac 0 Posted November 8, 2005 Aren't PowerBooks better the iBooks? My dad's runs almost as fast as my G5. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
houltmac 254 Posted November 8, 2005 Yes, but talking about RAM, there is no problem running a 512Mb PB even though that's standard and frankly; it's rediculously low. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moviejunkie 0 Posted November 9, 2005 my ibook is brand new, standard G4...ridiculous that it runs so slow after only a few months - 100 yrs back, my old old pc ran faster than my current ibook and it's 64MB!! r Apple computers alway so demanding when it comes to memory??? alas, can't imagine what a disaster it'll be if i run any big application... i do love Apple but this is so disappointing... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mac user X 0 Posted November 9, 2005 All the OS are getting Ram hungry, I assume your running Tiger or is it Jaguar? the minimum amount of Ram for Tiger to function on standard macs is 512 but the bare minimum is 256 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
houltmac 254 Posted November 9, 2005 I don't know how people seem to be finding this problem. The two Macs I use most are a Powerbook (old 1.67 rev) and a new iBook both with 512 and they both run great... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevewhodrums 0 Posted November 9, 2005 Personally, I feel that throwing RAM at your iBook is not the solution to the problem. I agree that adding RAM would probably help it run faster, but it will not convey what is causing performance degradation -- ie, it will be a band-aid. You'll continue fighting performance problems to some extent unless you determine the root cause. If you look back to when you bought the iBook, was there a point in time when you can recall that performance began degrading? What third-party apps might have been installed? Basically, let’s try to find a correlation between a change to the iBook and system performance. Steve Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
houltmac 254 Posted November 9, 2005 Usually I would agree with you Steve, but there are some that are simply beyond that help. I didn't suggest it because I believe there are too many barriers in this case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mac user X 0 Posted November 10, 2005 Programs demand more as they come out now...Software 5 years ago only asks for 533MHZ now it asks for 1GHZ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jazzmac 0 Posted November 10, 2005 I don't know how people seem to be finding this problem. The two Macs I use most are a Powerbook (old 1.67 rev) and a new iBook both with 512 and they both run great... same here.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moviejunkie 0 Posted November 10, 2005 thanks for all, you guys are great. I'm too lazy and tech-peasant-ish to actually go find out a root cause (though totally agree with Steve), guess i'll just go buy more ram, it only costs 400RMB(US$50) for 512MB here. thanks again. i'll surely come back with more questions some other time Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weborizon 0 Posted November 21, 2005 regarding macs running slow... i heard on another podcast about doing something similar to how we used to rebuild the desktop in OS9. There's a tool, Main Menu i think, that does a job that is essentially the same thing as rebuilding the desktop. This is supposed to speed things up quite a bit. I used it but didn't notice much speed difference. But my machine is very new so you might get different results. If you want to try Main Menu, i'll lookup and see what that tool is. hope that helps. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jazzmac 0 Posted November 21, 2005 regarding macs running slow...i heard on another podcast about doing something similar to how we used to rebuild the desktop in OS9. There's a tool, Main Menu i think, that does a job that is essentially the same thing as rebuilding the desktop. This is supposed to speed things up quite a bit. I used it but didn't notice much speed difference. But my machine is very new so you might get different results. If you want to try Main Menu, i'll lookup and see what that tool is. hope that helps. Nothing seems to be there. I remember reading somewhere over on Wikipedia, that OS X is radically different than any other OS Apple has made. Maybe i am wrong tho. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weborizon 0 Posted November 21, 2005 Here's where i heard about the speeding things up solutions... It's another podcast that I actually heard about from Adam on this one. He suggested listening to it. It's totally different than the maccast... so don't go out and stop listening to the maccast. Not sure how well Adam likes people posting about other podcasts.. but since he's the one that mentioned this other podcast... Here it is: http://themacattack.us/index.php?post_id=26292 This episode is all about how to speed things up on your mac and keep things running smooth. It's worth a listen. Just come on back to the maccast when you're done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
