[ipsych]

Hello,

my 12" Powerbook is getting a few years old, unfortunately it's also getting pretty slow. I haven't changed the programs in these years, but they take more time to open then when I bought it. I'm reluctant to buy a new powerbook (or mac book pro), since I like my 12" (emotional attachment, and wouldn't want a 15"). Now my question is: is there anything I can do to bring my powerbook up to speed again? It already has maximum RAM of 640 MB.
Is it perhaps the harddrive which gets slower with each passing year? Would it help if I'd change it?

Thanks for advice and comments.

Daniel

[rjt1000]

Hi,

I also love my 12 inch PB (1.33 ghz w/ 1.25 gb RAM and 60 gb 4200 RPM OEM hard drive), and although I always crave more speed, I really can't say it's slow at routine tasks like web browsing or text editing.

Which 12 inch do you have (867mhz, 1, 1.33 or 1.5 ghz) and what OS version are you running?

Some things you can consider:

Sometimes software installations and day to day junk collected over the years can bog things down. An easy test is to create a new user account and see if things are faster in the new account. Or, consider a clean restore of the system and software.

If your hard drive is nearly full, that can also slow things down. Try freeing up disk space by backing up seldom used files to CD/DVD or to an external hard drive. If your desktop is cluttered with files, that can also slow things down. Put them all into a few folders.

OS X craves RAM and although 640 mb is a decent amount, I don't think its the maximum for your PB. Double check on this because removing your 512 mb stick and replacing it with a 1 gb stick of RAM will give you more bang for your buck than any other upgrade.

A faster hard drive, on the other hand, will give more modest improvement in overall performance. If you are comfortable doing it yourself that will save some money, but it is not an easy install on the 12 incher. See ifixit for how.

You might also try some system and disk maintenance utilities, but I am not so well versed in those and will let others here make those recommendations for you.

Good luck

[romeosc]

Also clear caches!

[Madison]

Run disk utility a few times, and download macjanitor and use it. It runs at the Unix level and does a bunch of system maintenance items. Yes, make sure your web browser caches are cleaned out, set the prefs to do it each time you quit.


Good luck,
Tom

[bearcatrp]

I would stick linux on the machine. I have a 12 inch and installed suse 10.2 and is a bit faster. If your not comfortable with linux, format the hard drive and reinstall your programs again. The suggestion to create a second account is a good start to see if it gets any faster. If 640 mb of ram is your max, you might want to sell it and find another 12 inch ( recommend a 1.33 ghz with max of 1.25 gb ram). You can still find them. BTW, do not fill your hard drive more than 75% capacity. Good luck.
Randy

[ipsych]

Hello,

thank you all for you advice. I'll try caches/MacJanitor/etc. first. If this (and even reinstalling the system) doesn't help, I'll guess I'll try a new hard disk drive. I suppose there will be new 12" or 13" Mac Books (hopefully "Pro"'s) sometime soon (within 2007 I hope), then I'll gonna see if I can squeeze one in my budget.

Thanks again,

Daniel

[Aussiemac]

Hello, I just ran Macjanitor & my 15" 133 Powerbook went from a motorised wheel chair to a Alfa Romeo