My computer is slow and I'd like thoughts on why!

hinotoxin · #1 February 10th, 2008, 08:44 PM

I really apologise if this topic is too vague or something, but this problem has been bugging me for so long and I want to fix it!

I'm currently running Tiger on an iMac g4 that I think was purchased around 6 years ago, if my memory serves me correctly.

The problem is that generally if I have more than 3 or so apps open at a time (usually iTunes, Adium and Camino), everything is incredibly slow and the spinning rainbow cursor appears a LOT more than it ever used to. Camino is painfully slow at doing everything, even opening a new window. My homepage is set to nothing yet it tries to load something for maybe close to a minute or even more before going blank. Sometimes the rainbow cursor appears then too.

It's not just Camino because it affects everything else as well.

Now I think I can remember reading somewhere that Tiger is best run on 512MB of RAM at least. I currently only have 256MB. So I'm assuming and kind of hoping that this is the problem and that it will easily be sorted with an upgrade. I've been using Tiger for a long time now though, and it was never as bad as this before. Could my computer just be dying of old age? I'm sure they are much more resilient than that so I'm hoping that is not the case.

If anyone has any inkling about this then I'd be more than grateful. Thanks!

g/re/p · #2 February 10th, 2008, 09:20 PM

Only 256 mb RAM? Wow - no wonder you are having the problems you describe.
Upgade your RAM to as much as the computer will support.

hinotoxin · #3 February 10th, 2008, 10:34 PM

Thank you, I thought that was probably it, but wasn't positive since it has only gotten this bad in the past month or so.

I shall get to upgrading!

MisterMe · #4 February 10th, 2008, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hinotoxin

...

Now I think I can remember reading somewhere that Tiger is best run on 512MB of RAM at least. I currently only have 256MB. So I'm assuming and kind of hoping that this is the problem and that it will easily be sorted with an upgrade. I've been using Tiger for a long time now though, and it was never as bad as this before. Could my computer just be dying of old age? I'm sure they are much more resilient than that so I'm hoping that is not the case.

...

How much free hard drive space do you have? Over time, your RAM will not get smaller but your free hard drive space will. MacOS X should have at least 10% of your hard drive capacity available as free space so that the VM system can do its job.

CaribbeanOS-X · #5 February 11th, 2008, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hinotoxin

If anyone has any inkling about this then I'd be more than grateful. Thanks!

I concur with our guys above!

hinotoxin · #6 February 11th, 2008, 04:38 PM

Well I have just over 18GB free out of 80. It has been slow since I installed Tiger, just not quite as noticable. Unless I've just gotten more and more impatient with it (which may be the case). I ordered 512MB of RAM last night as that's the most my iMac will take so hopefully that should fix it.

Thanks for your replies!

pds · #7 February 11th, 2008, 05:32 PM

Well, too bad you ordered already. The older iMacs said that 512 sticks were the most the slot would take, because when the model was new, 512 was the biggest stick available. The OS will recognize up to 2 gigs. There are 1 gig sticks that should work.

Look Here

My experience is that even with 768 MB (256 on the board and 512 on a stick) Tiger kind of slogs.

hinotoxin · #8 February 11th, 2008, 10:06 PM

Well the website I purchased it from is what told me that was the most it would take. Hmm, that sucks....

Well hopefully it will still run at a significantly better pace, my main concern is really just with stopping the ridiculously slow lags and making Photoshop run more smoothly so I can draw in it properly with my graphics tablet.

If it's still slow I suppose I'll try selling the 512 stick.