[valnos]

Lately my iMac (which runs OS 10.5.8) has been having a lot of problems. I finally ended up erasing the disk and reinstalling everything. It's notably improved, but there still seems to be a bit of slowdown, especially if I have multiple applications open. I used the Disc Repair utility, and it didn't run into any problems (other than something called an ACL which it found but did not expect to find in many files).

My memory for such things isn't always good, but I'm pretty sure it's running slower now than it did a few months ago. Is there anything else I can do here? Thank you.

[Big Mac]

What model iMac?

[chris v]

When it gets slow like that, use Activity Monitor to see how much memory is in use. If all your memory is tied up, the system will page out memory to the hard disk which is much slower than the RAM. You might just need some additional RAM, which can be a cheap & easy fix.

[ibook_steve]

How much RAM? What apps are you trying to run? How much free hard disk space? More info is required here.

Steve

[Strong]

How much RAM does this iMac have? if it's 1GB seriously consider buying more RAM.

Another great way to speed things up would be to upgrade to 10.6, it's considerable faster in my opinion, and only $30. Also consider running Onyx speed the machine up.

[valnos]

I have an iMac with a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, with just a smidgen above a GB of RAM, about a third of it being free. The apps range from InDesign to Safari.

My main worry is that things used to run reasonably well. The computer started going south a week ago, and it seems better now, but still not quite as good as it was before. Do you think RAM would help? Otherwise I might just buy 10.6, since I'll probably end up getting that at some point anyway.

[ibook_steve]

I don't know what "a smidgen" above a GB of RAM is supposed to mean (1 GB? 1.5 GB?), but yes, you need more RAM. Max it out if you can. OS X loves memory and the more apps you have open at the same time, the more RAM it needs so it doesn't have to resort to using virtual memory (hard disk). 10.6 may help, but RAM will be a much more significant upgrade.

Steve

[-Q-]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

10.6 may help, but RAM will be a much more significant upgrade.

This. Dollar for dollar, you'll see much greater improvement in spending money on RAM than 10.6.

[valnos]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

I don't know what "a smidgen" above a GB of RAM is supposed to mean (1 GB? 1.5 GB?), but yes, you need more RAM. Max it out if you can. OS X loves memory and the more apps you have open at the same time, the more RAM it needs so it doesn't have to resort to using virtual memory (hard disk). 10.6 may help, but RAM will be a much more significant upgrade.

Steve

I have something like 1.03 GB.

What kind of RAM should I buy?

[chris v]

Apple Menu > About This Mac > More Info... Memory. Jot down the type and speed in that window, & buy from a reputable dealer, like Other World Computing, or Crucial.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by valnos 

I have something like 1.03 GB.

1024 MB is one binary Gigabyte.

Adobe InDesign will laugh in your face and then smack you on the back of the head if you openly suggest it should run one 1 GB RAM.

[valnos]

Originally Posted by chris v 

Apple Menu > About This Mac > More Info... Memory. Jot down the type and speed in that window, & buy from a reputable dealer, like Other World Computing, or Crucial.

Thanks. It says I have two memory slots, but both of them are identical. Would having two memory slots change what I buy? Sorry for the cluelessness, I've never done this before.

[-Q-]

Originally Posted by valnos 

Thanks. It says I have two memory slots, but both of them are identical. Would having two memory slots change what I buy? Sorry for the cluelessness, I've never done this before.

Ideally, you'd get two of the largest memory chips you can afford and put one in each slot to maximize the amount of RAM you have (and having matched pairs can lead to some performance improvements). But based on the type of iMac you have, it looks like you're officially limited to 3GB of RAM in total* so you would have mismatched chips in both slots. So if you have the funds, purchase a 2GB chip and 1 GB chip

*Ultimately, 4 GB of RAM may be installed, but not all RAM in excess of 3 GB can be used due to the possibility of memory "overlap".

This Apple Support Doc should answer some of your questions.

[jmiddel]

Go OWC and get their 4 Gig kit Apple iMac Memory Upgrades for 17", 20", and 24" Models equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz, 2.0GHz, 2.16GHz, 2.33GHz, 2.4GHz or Core 2 Extreme 2.8GHz, the Micron set is $105.