More Questions about the Slow & Kicky Mac

[Pixie]

So I had a thread a couple of weeks ago about my Dad's Mac notebook which often runs slowly and often kicks me off explorer:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/169728/

In it, a few questions were raised about some of its features. So I've finally had the chance to get to my Dad's computer (the one in question), and here is some info I got off of it.

It is using OS X 10.2.1
Speed: 1 GHz
Memory 1024 MB
(it describes 2 types of DDR SDRAM, both having 512 MB)

My Dad bought the computer between 1-3 years ago, I really don't remember. Does that seem like enough speed and memory to you, or could that be causing the slowness?

 

[jeremy.king]

It is using OS X 10.2.1

Amount of RAM is fine, its the OS version I would take interest in. Can he at least jump to Panther? Many speed improvements were introduced, not to mention overall stability. You should be able to find a copy pretty cheap.

 

[thedude110]

I agree that going to 10.3 would help, but isn't the biggest problem slow web browsing and getting booted from the web?

If so, ditch Explorer and use Safari (I think I described the icon in your prior thread). You could download a browser like Camino (it's free and you'll love it!) if you're comfortable installing new software.

Don't be intimidated by a new web browser -- I guarantee you it's just like Explorer, but faster and easier to use!

 

[croshtique]

That's plenty of RAM, and could easily cope with Tiger.
I have a 1Ghz iBook G4 with only 512Mb of RAM and it runs Tiger fine.

One other thing you might want to check is the amount of hard disc space there is free. And also don't use Internet Explorer - a) Safari is much better and b) it's now no longer supported by Microsoft.

 

[Applespider]

Amount of RAM is fine, its the OS version I would take interest in. Can he at least jump to Panther? Many speed improvements were introduced, not to mention overall stability.

In the meantime, at least run software update and get it up to 10.2.8 which was the final Jaguar version... you might find things improve then.

Oh yes, and use Safari

 

[mduser63]

I think the first thing to do is do what AppleSpider said and update to 10.2.8 via Software Update. That's free and should improve things overall. Also tell him to switch to Safari (or Opera, or Firefox, or Camino or...). I know he doesn't want to switch, but really, Explorer is a dead browser and dead for a reason. It sucks.

If he doesn't mind spending the money, I highly recommend an upgrade to OS X 10.4 Tiger (the most current Mac OS) or at least 10.3 Panther (probably reasonably cheap now). Don't let the fact that they're all OS X fool you. 10.2->10.3 was a big upgrade, and so was 10.3->10.4.

 

[Flowbee]

One more vote for updating OS X to 10.2.8 and getting rid of IE.

Another thing to check is how much free space is available on his hard drive. I have an old Powerbook, and when the drive has less than 1gb available things start to slow down. At less than 500mb, things start to grind to a halt.