Macbook running slow

[jnguyen4]

hey, sometimes i run a lot of programs with only 512 mb of memory. my i stat tells me that i only have 5 free mbs and after that it slows down considerably. i close most of the programs but still it is running very slow. then i restart my computer and it does not seem to restart from the apple button. it just stays at my wallpaper image. i have to press and hold down the on and off button. i was wondering what my computer is doing. thanx.

 

[mad jew]

Open up Activity Monitor to see if there's a process using up a lot of your resources (CPU and RAM). Make sure you select All Processes from the drop down menu as opposed to the default My Processes.

Also, when OSX says it has XMB of Free Memory, it doesn't include the Inactive Memory which is effectively 'free' in that any app or process can use it. Intel machine should probably have 1GB of memory to run smoothly but having 512MB shouldn't provoke this sort of behaviour. Do you have at least 8GB of free space on the boot up drive?

 

[machappymeal]

Possibly turn off any Dashboard widgets you don't need? (they can steal a fair bit of memory).

 

[Jomoma]

I highly suguest you up the ram. I was amazed by the difference when I went from 512 to 2gb. even adding a 1gb stick will make a big difference, and I found one for $79 at newegg. I think 512 is too low to run os x well on.