Level 1

25 points

Help I Feel like My MB is acting like an Old Dog

Hi there.

I have a black MB - Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Memory: 2 GB
HD - Capacity: 250.06 GB (250,059,350,016 bytes)
Model: FUJITSU MHY2250BH 5400RPM

Anyways, I took a ride on my friends MB a while one. less ram and smaller HD and his version of parallels seems to run 2-3 x of mine. I have gone through and made sure my permissions are good, closed apps so it is bare bones, yet still feel I am being out performed by a technically slower mac. )This is not about envy by the way. Just want the performance I am accustom to)

My HD is pretty full about 80% and when I open up activity monitor under norma use which includes the following apps:

- iTunes
- Safari
- Mail
- Adium
- Skype
- NeoOffice

I have less than 50 MB of my 2GB RAM Free. Wired is at 300 MB or so, Active 1.0 - 1.3 GB, Inactive 500 MB, VM Size is 158.12 GB. (Wow that seem BIG and awkward)

I am hoping for some suggestions on what to do, is it my system I am on 10.6.1 now or my Ram or my HD or this is my Mac learn to live with it?

All the replies are welcome and thanks in advance!

Cheers,

-h

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Sep 13, 2009 6:20 PM

26 replies

Harley G Author

Level 1

25 points

Sep 16, 2009 1:50 AM in response to Pancenter

Pancenter wrote:

Harley G wrote:
Thanks!

Will try that and report back. Appreciate your help!

Cheer,
h

I dunno, sounds to me like you're running low on RAM with all those applications running... this results in swap files being written to your system drive as data is paged in and out of RAM, that would account for the hesitations/freezes.

Running low on RAM, not a lot of clear disk space on a highly fragmented drive would equal slow performance.

To do this next test... shutdown/restart, use you system normally for an hour, have the application you've listed running, run parallels...etc. Now open activity monitor, select "system memory" and check your "page outs" and Swap Used". Post the results...

pancenter-

Hi there Pancenter!

Thanks for your reply. I have posted the results here for you and others to take a look http:// hws . heliohost . org/ (broke the link up). Look forward to your comments.

I have checked with different SW tools and it says my drive is not fragmented, as I expected. Love MAC.

Thanks again for your help and comments!

Cheers,
-h

Harley G Author

Level 1

25 points

Sep 16, 2009 1:54 AM in response to Adam White

Adam White wrote:
One thing that no one has mentioned is the rotational RPM of your hard drive. I have a MB 1,1 which runs almost as fast as my wives MB 5,2. My MB has the 7200rpm HDD while hers is a 5400rpm. I know this could sound minor but I have found it to be a major factor starting applications and how fast they respond to input.

Just .02 worth.

Adam

Hey Adam!

I thought about this.. Is a great point and I agree the fast HD would help. I took a look at the specs on my friends and his HD is the same RPM as mine. He did have a greater ratio of free space and smaller capacity.

Can you comment on the capacity of her HD and how the faster HD affects the heat of the MB?

Thanks,
-h

Harley G Author

Level 1

25 points

Sep 17, 2009 4:42 PM in response to Pancenter

Hi Pancenter,

I posted the information you discussed. Hope you can offer some more suggestions.

Thank you!
-h

Harley G Author

Level 1

25 points

Sep 17, 2009 4:44 PM in response to Lyssa

Hi Lyssa,

I posted the information you discussed. Hope you can offer some more suggestions.

Thank you!
-h

Pancenter

Level 6

14,788 points

Sep 17, 2009 6:16 PM in response to Harley G

Harley G wrote:
Hi Pancenter,

I posted the information you discussed. Hope you can offer some more suggestions.

Thank you!
-h

The link you posted was messed up, I had to guess/edit it until I found the page.

http://hws.heliohost.org/SUSE_Test/Blank.html

Well, yeah....... as time goes on you've run out of RAM and you're writing both
page outs and swap file.

But why on earth are you running all of that cr@p in the first place, not only are you running out of RAM and swapping to the disk, you're also running out of CPU. That's not the way to run a computer efficiently, I'm surprised it runs at all. I counted four or five dashboard clients running.

You're Mac is acting like an old dog because you're mismanaging it's resources.

Sorry to be so blunt but you just can't run everything at once, every computer has limited resources, it's up to the user/owner to learn how to manage them.

pancenter-

Lyssa

Level 8

41,405 points

Sep 17, 2009 6:32 PM in response to Harley G

Pancenter was a bit blunt, but is on the right track.

You've got several RAM-hungry applications running, and it looks like there's not quite enough RAM to go around to keep them happy at all times. You're bound to see things slow down with those applications running. I notice a significant slowdown on my machine once I go below 100 MB free (this is out of 1 GB). I think the best solution is a RAM upgrade, personally.

A snapshot of mine, for reference (yes, I know I have a lot of page outs; my system has been running for several weeks and the RAM upgrade is just beyond my budget for a little while longer):

~Lyssa

Harley G Author

Level 1

25 points

Sep 17, 2009 10:06 PM in response to Pancenter

Thank you for your help.

Harley G Author

Level 1

25 points

Sep 17, 2009 10:10 PM in response to Lyssa

Hi there,

Thanks for the reply. I do think I will try to upgrade the RAM, see if that helps.

Looking back to my origional post this was based on a pretty apple to apples comparison, where another computer was out performing mine which were very similar in specs. Granted I have more RAN hungry widget running then my friend, all of which I use daily. You have given some solid food for thought and not much more to be said.

Thank you again!

I appreciate your support!

Cheers,
-h

Pancenter

Level 6

14,788 points

Sep 17, 2009 11:02 PM in response to Lyssa

Lyssa wrote:
Pancenter was a bit blunt, but is on the right track.

I'm old and grouchy but trying to get over it! 🙂

pancenter-
You know you're old when you've had an email address since 1985.

Lyssa

Level 8

41,405 points

Sep 17, 2009 11:03 PM in response to Pancenter

That e-mail address is older than I am! 😉

btw, you're not too grouchy; I've seen plenty of folks (even around here!) that are grumpier 🙂

~Lyssa

Pancenter

Level 6

14,788 points

Sep 17, 2009 11:32 PM in response to Harley G

Harley G wrote:

Thanks for the reply. I do think I will try to upgrade the RAM, see if that >helps.

Looking back to my origional post this was based on a pretty apple to apples comparison,

Upgrading the RAM will help but managing your system resources in conjunction with more RAM would be best.

You can't compare machines unless it's the same model, same OS, same RAM, running the exact same software configuration you are. All of the Dashboard clients and other software...etc. That's the only way to make a valid comparison.

pancenter-

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Help I Feel like My MB is acting like an Old Dog