# Very slow intel imac - help if possible!!



## dalgleish00 (Jul 27, 2006)

Hi All

Just joined the forum and been really useful looking around but not found a query quite the same as mine so thought I would try my luck and see if you can help.

I moved from Windows to a mac as sick of the virus and spyware protection issues, generally preferred the look and feel of MacOS and had some good recommendations from Mac friends but am now getting a bit frustrated.

My mac is running very slow with the 512Mb ram it came with and I am wondering whether simply upgrading it will solve my problems.

Most of the time I just have the following applications running: Entourage, Safari, iTunes and Intego VirusBarrier and it is not too bad however if I then open a Office word document or iPhoto or Google Earth, the system becomes nearly unusable. I have to wait a good minute for the application to truly settle and then it can still be very slow. Activities such as resizing pictures or ejecting an ipod take ages. It is now quite embarassing as some of my friends who use PCs think I just bought the mac because it looked pretty rather than for performance etc!

I would be grateful for any suggestions you have on improving it.

Many thanks,

Paul.


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## fryke (Jul 27, 2006)

512 MB of RAM is what I'd consider the *absolute minimum* for Tiger on a PowerPC Mac. On an intel Mac, where Rosetta-emulation needs even more RAM, you'd best start with no less than 1 GB. So yes, RAM will definitely help.


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## dalgleish00 (Jul 27, 2006)

Thanks for the super quick reply. I've seen 2GB at the apple store but it is £420! Are the cheaper ones on the internet really compatible and is it fairly easy to change yourself?

Thanks again!


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## powermac (Jul 27, 2006)

More ram is never going to hurt, and sounds like it will improve the performance of your Mac. Also, are applications like Intego VirusBarrier eating up your process time? Does this program run in the background, and under PPC emulation Rosetta? If so, you might want to evaluate the usefulness of this program running. 
Also, leaving a good portion of your hard-drive free so OSX has plenty of room to swap files, from memory to the HD.


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## dalgleish00 (Jul 27, 2006)

powermac said:


> Also, are applications like Intego VirusBarrier eating up your process time? Does this program run in the background, and under PPC emulation Rosetta?



Sorry, not sure how you check these things on a Mac - any help much appreciated. Thanks


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## billbaloney (Jul 27, 2006)

The newest version of VirusBarrier is Universal.

The first and best option is to double your RAM.  OS X is a memory-hungry environment, and the more you give it to eat the happier it'll be.

The memory at the Apple Store is horribly overpriced.  Check OWC/Macsales.com and Crucial for memory for your particular machine.  I think any of the Mac folks around here would recommend both of these places.


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## dalgleish00 (Jul 27, 2006)

Thanks very much. Have now ordered 1GB to stick in alongside my 512K from Crucial and will also see whether I have the universal version of Intego.

Paul.


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## billbaloney (Jul 27, 2006)

Let us know what happens.  Have you confirmed that you have a single 512 MB chip right now, as opposed to two 256 MB chips?

The easiest way to do this in OS X is this:

1. Go to the Apple menu
2. Select "About this Mac"
3. Press the "More info..." button
4. Look at Harware :: Memory


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## gabrielleitao (Jul 30, 2006)

I have the same problem... I think i am going t upgrade my Mac to 1GB or even 2GB if I find somewhere memory RAM more cheap. Does anyone know what memory RAM with 667mhz is compatible with Mac, and if possible, do you know any URl that tells you how to install it on your iMac all by yourself?

Many thanks for your help.


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## billbaloney (Jul 30, 2006)

Pick your computer type here or here to see compatible memory.

OWC / Macsales.com has many helpful videos.


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## gabrielleitao (Jul 30, 2006)

Thanks billbaloney... the links are really helpful! I hope my Mac becomes more fast with its performance after I change the memory RAM.


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## ex2bot (Aug 20, 2006)

Hold down the Apple key and press the spacebar. That will open the Spotlight text box. Type in "Activity Monitor" or part of it, until it shown up. Down arrow to Activity Monitor on the list that shows up. Press Return. (You'll find Activity Monitor in /Applications/Utilities.)

You should see a list of processes running, similar to ctrl-alt-delete on XP. Sort by CPU usage by clicking on CPU. Look for anything hogging the processors. If you don't see the Activity Monitor window, double-click on its icon on the Dock.

Incidentally, you may want to leave this program on your dock. Right-click (or click and wait) on Activity Monitor's icon on the Dock and select "Keep in Dock" to leave it on the Dock permanently. If you ever want to get it off the Dock, simply drag it off and let go of the mouse button.

And as others have mentioned, the Rosetta emulation needs a LOT of memory. This will become less of a problem as more and more apps are recompiled for Intel.

Let us know if upgrading your memory fixes the problem. The Intel Macs have very fast processors and should not run slowly.

Doug


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## mattonthemoon (Aug 20, 2006)

My intel imac had the 512mb ram and it CHUGGED! with 512MB ram it was slooow, but i added a 1GB within 24hours of buying my imac, and now it flies!


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## one1step1 (Aug 21, 2006)

Absolutely.. upgrading will make the mac run very fast.  I have 1.5GB in mine, and the 512MB was a bare minimum... I  was astonished how much adding the extra GB did. Especially running the rosetta emulation, it makes things much more tolerable.


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