Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Beewee · Dec 14, 2004, 04:59 PM

Just got the new ibook 1.2Ghz it was the standard model with built-in wireless. The comp is only a week old or less, but it seems a little sluggish, it only has 256MB of RAM but opening programs and using safari I seem to get the "beach ball" quite a bit. Is this normal and I'm just being paranoid or could something be wrong?

discotronic · Dec 14, 2004, 05:14 PM

You really need more RAM. OS X is such a memory hog that I don't understand why Apple only puts 256MB stock in almost everything. My iMac G5 did the same thing until I upgraded.

jaimzedup · Dec 14, 2004, 06:35 PM

adding ram will fix your problem

SteveTech · Dec 14, 2004, 07:46 PM

RAM RAM and more RAM. I used my 1.2 Ghz iBook for two days with the 256. Ran out on the third day and put in another 512. It runs great! I'm even running stuff like Photoshop and GoLive on it. All of the other "built in" applications run great with the additional RAM. Surfing is no problem, no spinning beach balls. Pages load quickly. It's defiantly nice to not be tied to my computer desk to work. If I feel like sitting at the kitchen table or surf in bed it's pretty cool.

SSharon · Dec 14, 2004, 08:02 PM

and if the few people here telling you to get more ram isn't enough look at the poll thread about how much ram people add to their powerbooks. 256 just doesn't cut it. I bought my 512 chip before I had my ibook to make sure I wouldn't have to suffer without it.

frogmeister · Dec 14, 2004, 10:17 PM

i bought my G3/800 with 128 megs and thought i would go nuts waiting for things to happen

added a 512 chip and it was like buying a new pc

get all the ram you can fit in there

good luck

Hi I'm Ben · Dec 14, 2004, 11:37 PM

I bought the same model.. before I added the RAM i purchased off newegg that I was waiting for the computer felt like my G3 500 mhz iBook i had previously... with the 512 ram i added it's a completely new machine. It rocks.

Beewee · Dec 15, 2004, 11:48 AM

Thanks to all who posted

Looks like I'll be getting my ibook some grade A "chip candy".
$79 for a 512MB from dealram...not too bad.

HoOn · Dec 15, 2004, 01:36 PM

If you can afford a little more get the 1 Gig. You'll be very Happy!

- John

one sick puppy · Dec 15, 2004, 09:17 PM

Funny, I've been working with PCs for 8 years, and have come to know Windows XP and W2K as ram hogs, but now that I've experienced OSX, Windows XP does quite well in comparison.

Ram hog is an understatement for OSX. I've resisted upgrading my iBook 1ghz for the past 4 months that I've owned it, but I think I'm going to break down.

Sad. My iBook 1ghz/256 with OSX feels about as slow as Windows XP on an early Pentium 2 system... and I barely do anything but take notes at school and browse Worldbook 2004.

hanzo · Dec 15, 2004, 10:19 PM

I think that both XP and OSX are RAM hogs. It seems to be the nature of the OSs these days. Still, OSX seems to perform a lot more reliably when RAM is taxed albeit a slowdown of performance when multiple apps are running. About 512 RAM seems to be the minimum amount a computer needs, wintel or mac...

D'Espice · Dec 16, 2004, 08:08 AM

Originally posted by HoOn:
If you can afford a little more get the 1 Gig. You'll be very Happy!

- John

No he won't. He might just as well lose some money because adding that much RAM really requires you to do professional in order to notice the difference. For everyday use, even 512MB of RAM are enough.

_Farmer_Ted · Dec 16, 2004, 12:29 PM

anyone have links to good ram at an affordable price?

Luca Rescigno · Dec 16, 2004, 12:35 PM

What computer? How much RAM? How much money can you spend?

drive-thru · Dec 16, 2004, 03:05 PM

Get a 512MB stick o' RAM.

Also, go to System Prefs>Energy Saver>Optiions and make sure that your Processor Performance is set to Highest (or Auto for battery power).

_Farmer_Ted · Dec 16, 2004, 04:13 PM

Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
What computer? How much RAM? How much money can you spend?

just bought the 12" ibook.....

SteveTech · Dec 20, 2004, 03:40 PM

Originally posted by _Farmer_Ted:
anyone have links to good ram at an affordable price?

Try www.ramjet.com

artaxerxes · Dec 23, 2004, 08:23 PM

Erm ok.

Lets assume that the problem isn't "just not enough ram". What else might it of been. I don't get beachballing on my 1Ghz machine with 256mb.

Hi I'm Ben · Dec 23, 2004, 10:40 PM

Originally posted by _Farmer_Ted:
anyone have links to good ram at an affordable price?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...155-122&depa=0

iDaver · Dec 24, 2004, 02:15 AM

Originally posted by D'Espice:
No he won't. He might just as well lose some money because adding that much RAM really requires you to do professional in order to notice the difference. For everyday use, even 512MB of RAM are enough.

I just want to add that 384MB on my G3 600 seems fine. I don't do a lot of heavy lifting with it but hardly ever get the spinning beach ball. I'd say 768 would be way more than enough for most people. Gigabyte RAM chips are pretty pricey.

brettcamp · Dec 24, 2004, 03:27 AM

I had 640 in my iBook 600 and it was fine. in my G4 iBook, 768 was plenty. 256 is painful. you can get comparisons of RAM prices at http://ramseeker.com

Mojo · Dec 24, 2004, 03:28 PM

Use Apple's Activity Monitor (in the Utilities folder) to see in real-time how much RAM you are actually using and how many page-outs and instances when your Mac has to write-to-disk.

On my G3 600MHZ iBook with 640MB I did this with all my usual apps open and then I added Photoshop, which is probably the biggest RAM-dependent app I regularly use. Just starting up PS and opening a file sucked up all my reamining available RAM. This convinced me to spring an extra $100 for a 1GB RAM sitck from Newegg for my new G4 1GHZ iBook.

Forbodium · Dec 25, 2004, 08:01 PM

Only $100 for a 1-gig ram upgrade? That�s probably how much my 512MB upgrade cost me a couple years ago. I don�t see what there is to complain about. Get it and smile.

Mojo · Dec 25, 2004, 08:33 PM

I must not have been clear enough in my last post... A 1GB RAM stick cost me $190 vs. around $90 for a 512MB stick, which is why I made the comment about springing an "extra" $100 for 1GB of RAM.

DeathMan · Dec 26, 2004, 05:39 PM

Originally posted by Mojo:
I must not have been clear enough in my last post... A 1GB RAM stick cost me $190 vs. around $90 for a 512MB stick, which is why I made the comment about springing an "extra" $100 for 1GB of RAM.

even still, when I was shopping around for ram 6 months ago, 1gb sticks were in the neighborhood of $500. Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around, you might miss it.

Sophus · Dec 27, 2004, 08:44 PM

Originally posted by artaxerxes:
Erm ok.

Lets assume that the problem isn't "just not enough ram". What else might it of been. I don't get beachballing on my 1Ghz machine with 256mb.

try repair permissions and run maintenance scripts via MacJanitor - would not hurt...

Hi I'm Ben · Dec 27, 2004, 09:09 PM

Originally posted by artaxerxes:
Erm ok.

Lets assume that the problem isn't "just not enough ram". What else might it of been. I don't get beachballing on my 1Ghz machine with 256mb.

Lucky you.

Parrot · Dec 28, 2004, 08:00 AM

I've just purchased a maxed-out 12" iBook (1.2GHz/80G/1.25GM/BT). Pretty fast. Much faster than my old iBook G4 800, which had 640MB RAM fitted. RAM size makes a big speed difference with OSX. Go for the 1G chip, you'll see a benefit.

LukeGX · Dec 28, 2004, 04:05 PM

"1.2GHz/80G/1.25GM/BT"

What does GM/BT stand for?

Parrot · Dec 28, 2004, 09:00 PM

Originally posted by LukeGX:
"1.2GHz/80G/1.25GM/BT"

What does GM/BT stand for?

Typo.

I mean 1.25GB RAM and Bluetooth

LukeGX · Jan 3, 2005, 03:12 AM

"Typo.

I mean 1.25GB RAM and Bluetooth"

K, sorry, should have known.

Randman · Jan 3, 2005, 04:09 AM

On a new machine with at least 512 of ram (I'd say 768 should be the minimum and yes, Apple should include more right off the bat), and if still getting a beach ball, might want to do a clean install. Back up and start fresh. And remember to repair permissions following all of the updates.

culturevulture7 · Jan 6, 2005, 10:35 AM

Again, thanks to this forum, I've upgraded to 768 RAM from newegg and the iBook is screamin! That, the Tuscano sleeve and the new keyboard, all courtesy of discussions here. Thanks for all the help.

Partisan01 · Jan 6, 2005, 11:49 PM

I have a iBook 1.2 with only 256 ram and it seems fine. What I'm wondering is what is the battery life I'd give up by moving up to something like 768? I know it uses battery life to sleep, I never power down, just sleep all the time. Any one have any ideas?

rezrez · Jan 7, 2005, 05:11 PM

Does anyone know how much Ram Microsoft Entourage uses?? I seem to get the beach ball alot when using Safari, and I have Entourage running in the background.

I have a 12" ibook 1.2" with 512MB of Ram...

Or can anyone suggest an alternate email program that works as well and uses less resources?

Thanks all...

Rez

LukeGX · Jan 8, 2005, 09:13 PM

"what is the battery life I'd give up by moving up to something like 768?"

You might loose a little battery life while in sleep mode but you will gain battery life when running the iBook... less writing to the HDD/tasks completed faster...

Hi I'm Ben · Jan 11, 2005, 04:50 AM

Originally posted by rezrez:
Does anyone know how much Ram Microsoft Entourage uses?? I seem to get the beach ball alot when using Safari, and I have Entourage running in the background.

I have a 12" ibook 1.2" with 512MB of Ram...

Or can anyone suggest an alternate email program that works as well and uses less resources?

Thanks all...

Rez

I switched to mail awhile back. Not as pretty, much less resource intensive.

Thraxes · Jan 12, 2005, 08:58 PM

Try Firefox's cousin: Thunderbird.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/

brontobyte.1024 · Jan 15, 2005, 07:05 AM

Originally posted by Beewee:
Just got the new ibook 1.2Ghz it was the standard model with built-in wireless. The comp is only a week old or less, but it seems a little sluggish, it only has 256MB of RAM but opening programs and using safari I seem to get the "beach ball" quite a bit. Is this normal and I'm just being paranoid or could something be wrong?

hey,
i got my iBook almost the same date that you boguht yours i guess. but hey u said urs is 1.2 GHz, but mines a 1.33 GHz one.
but i got mine with 768 RAM upgraded. I got an extra 512MB chip with the 256Mb already there. And i seldom see the bleach ball on my screen.

but i got some problems with the AIRPORT EXTREME.
its not working for longer than 10 metres distance.
anyone knows the rescue way?