Macbook Running Extremely Slow- Mountain Lion

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Level 1

8 points

Macbook Running Extremely Slow- Mountain Lion

Lately my Macbook (last generation) is running extremely slow. I'm having to force quit applications numerous times daily, and its kinda getting to the point that i don't even want to use it. Last night, I tried Safe Booting the Mac up- which just made things worse and slower. When I load the dashboard, the screen constantly updates until the picture is correct- which is rediculous! I'll take any suggestions!!

My specs:

13 in. (final generation-mid 2010) Macbook running 10.8.2 (mountain lion)

processor: 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Memory: 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB

is it because im running mountain lion? and that the macbook can't handle that? or maybe that there is a bug? it keeps getting worse by the week~ 😢

MacBook, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Oct 30, 2012 11:19 AM

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Answer 1

BGreg

Level 6

17,552 points

Oct 30, 2012 7:21 PM in response to xjmax360

One contributing to factor to the system performance, or lack of, could be your memory. Both Lion and Mountain Lion have minimum memory required of 2GB, however, a number of people have found they needed to upgrade to 4GB to get reasonable performance.

The other thing to check is free disk space. The system needs a minimum of 10GB, or generally 10%+ of your drive to be free of data for systems usage. The system can really slow down if free space gets minimal.

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Answer 2

xjmax360 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 3, 2012 9:41 AM in response to BGreg

thank you so much!

i definately have more than 10% of my disk space free...

but whats the difference between the (around) 120 GB that i have built in, and 2GB vs 4GB?

also- does apple make that type of memory that can be bought- or will i have to go 3rd party on this?

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Answer 3

Nov 3, 2012 9:56 AM in response to xjmax360

Apple doesn't make any RAM. They buy it from the same manufacturers that third party vendors buy from. But Apple charges double for the same RAM that you can get online.

The 120GB is the hard drive in your MacBook the 2GB is the Random Access Memory.

These are good online stores for Mac compatible RAM

OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade/DDR3_Whi te- They offer Mac tested RAM at very good prices.

Crucial Memory http://www.crucial.com/ - good place to buy RAM from all over the world. They also have an excellent memory selector that allows you to choose memory based on your computer's model

Data Memory Systems http://www.datamemorysystems.com/apple-memory.asp - another good, cheap place to buying RAM if you live in the U.S.

Here are video instructions on replacing the RAM on the White Unibody.
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbook_13_09_unibody_mem/

If you don’t have the tools to open up the MacBook OWC has a set for $5.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/

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Answer 4

BGreg

Level 6

17,552 points

Nov 3, 2012 9:59 AM in response to xjmax360

2GB or 4GB refers to your RAM (Random Access Memory) or semiconductor memory versus the 120GB which is your internal hard drive. The RAM is on cards that can be replaced to increase the amount of memory in your system. Here is the Apple note on how to change your MacBook memory.

You can upgrade your memory, however, Apple charges twice what others do. Apple doesn't make it's own memory, it resells others. For example, in my iMac, it came with Samsung memory.

Two respected and recommended sources for memory are OWC and Crucial. If after reading the note above you don't want to change your memory, you could go to an Apple Authorized Service Provider who could do that for you (Apple won't install memory they didn't sell). This should show you all the service providers in the Baltimore area.

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