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iMac - Am I expecting too much??

C

Canadianapex

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 15, 2006
5
0
I recently purchased a Dual Intel 20" IMac with the upgraded 256MB video card and 1GB of RAM.
I currently use all iLife applications and also have Office for Mac and MSN Messenger installed.
I am finding when I have multiple applications open, it really lags. I can understand that when I open iPhoto (14000+) pictures, it may take some time but I was expecting less lag.

Am I expecting too much and if I maxed out the RAM (2GB), would I notice a big difference?

Thanks!
 
Canadianapex said:
I recently purchased a Dual Intel 20" IMac with the upgraded 256MB video card and 1GB of RAM.
I currently use all iLife applications and also have Office for Mac and MSN Messenger installed.
I am finding when I have multiple applications open, it really lags. I can understand that when I open iPhoto (14000+) pictures, it may take some time but I was expecting less lag.

Am I expecting too much and if I maxed out the RAM (2GB), would I notice a big difference?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

How many applications open, and which ones?

1GB is really the minimum - No one will tell you not to get another stick of RAM.
 
yellow said:
Do the (intel) iMacs still have the processor throttling in the Energy Saver prefpane?
Click to expand...
Nope. (IIRC... on an MBP now, but I'm pretty sure the iMac at home doesn't have it).
 
i would think this machine would be very snappy. my imac g5 is snappy and my dads imac core duo is even faster.

what apps are they?
 
I guess then the OP should define what "lag" means.
Beachball?
When switching between apps?
Doing tasks? What tasks?
 
Juts look in activity monitor. My guess is iPhoto. 14.000 photos is crazy... Get at least 1.5 GB RAM, even 2 GB, if it absolutely is necessary to have iPhoto open.;)
 
yellow said:
Do the (intel) iMacs still have the processor throttling in the Energy Saver prefpane?
Click to expand...
There is CPU throttling but it's no longer user controlled like the G5's were.

I have 1.5 GB of RAM in my iMac. It runs fast with Office, iTunes, Safari, and Azureus open. Word only takes 18 seconds to open. :p
 
I'm using imac as well and the mac has 2 gbs of ram. Do get 2 gb RAM, it will help a lot. Don'T get me wrong and all but I just can't justify having 14000+ photos in a computer. Surely you don't use them all, at the very least that's beyond my wildest dreams considering you're a home user...
I run iTunes, 10+ safari pages, Word, MSN without any problems. But make sure that you upgrade your ram...
 
I've never had a problem with mine. As stated above, it's got to be the RAM. Upgrade to 2GB and you should see your problems melt away, like swishing JELLO between your teeth.
 
14,000 photos?? :eek:

Use iPhoto Buddy (if it works on Intels) to subdivide the photos into a number of seperate albums.

And get more ram.
 
Needs more RAM, and close iPhoto when you're not using it. I've got nearly 9000 pics on my G4 Powerbook, and it has no problem with 2 GB of RAM. Just takes a second or two to open it, but smooth sailing from there. I can't see 14000 pics being that much different.
 
yellow said:
I guess then the OP should define what "lag" means.
Beachball?
When switching between apps?
Doing tasks? What tasks?
Click to expand...
I think these questions posed by Yellow should be answered before everyone jumps onboard the get more RAM train. 1GB is plenty for most people who use only a few consumer apps at a time.
 
14,000 photos in iPhoto is nuts.

I also don't know if MSN Messenger is UB yet. That, and Office For Mac could be a culprit.

Try closing iPhoto and see how faster the machine responds.

Adding more RAM has to be, next to Repairing Disk Permissions, the second most believed "Fix-It-All"
 
topgunn said:
I think these questions posed by Yellow should be answered before everyone jumps onboard the get more RAM train. 1GB is plenty for most people who use only a few consumer apps at a time.
Click to expand...

agreed. 1 GB is not a ton, but it's what I had on my MB for 2 months, and it ran very well. So I think we need more info about this "lag" before he throws more money at the problem. If he had 512 that would be different, but 1 GB is really not that little.
 
Thanks to all for the answers...I just bought a 1GB stick from NCIX for $130 CDN. (taxes and shipping included) and repaired my permissions..

I will let you all know how it goes when I put the RAM in....
 
You're running at least one memory-hogging Rosetta app (Office) and have an absurd iPhoto database (the iTunes DB starts to crap out around 10,000 songs with 1GB of RAM - iPhoto should as well).
 
perhaps aperture would help manage that many photos.

a better idea would be to delete some, there is no possible way that you have that many photos worth keeping
 
bep207 said:
perhaps aperture would help manage that many photos.

a better idea would be to delete some, there is no possible way that you have that many photos worth keeping
Click to expand...

Or archive them onto dvd's.
 
bep207 said:
perhaps aperture would help manage that many photos.

a better idea would be to delete some, there is no possible way that you have that many photos worth keeping
Click to expand...

He's allowed to have as many photos as he wants. iPhoto is supposed to work up to 250,000 photos, remember?

He should run Activity Monitor and report back to us on exactly what is bottlenecked.
 
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