If my macbook's memory pressure goes red with just Safari and Word open, is it just a memory issue?
Hello all,
I'd really appreciate any input on this issue. I'm not especially expert with regard to computer systems and software, so I ask that you please bear with me; I'll try to provide the best information I can. What has been happening with my computer is that it has been freezing and crashing, even with only Safari and Microsoft Word open. More information about the system as well as what I've done so far is below.
I have a mid-2012 13-inch Macbook Pro with a 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 memory (two 2 GB cards), and an Intel HD Graphics 4000 card. I am running I have approximately 280 gigs free on my 500 GB Apple HDD. I am running OS X 10.9.3 (13D65), Kernel version Darwin 13.2.0.
In March or April of this year, my computer started seriously slowing down and freezing and crashing. (I think that this was around the time I upgraded to Mavericks, but am not 100% positive.) Since it is my only computer and I'm a PhD student, it took me until May to seriously address the issue. I ran Apple hardware diagnostics and the disk utility (verified the disk; verified & repaired the permissions), and tried uninstalling programs I thought might be causing issues, but nothing improved. Since it didn't appear to be a hardware issue, I decided to do a clean install of Mavericks with a full software update [and didn't use a time machine backup like I'd done in the past; I only backed up files and bookmarks this time and installed new versions of all my programs]. Although my computer ran better for a few weeks, it started slowing down again, and lately has been crashing on a near-daily basis.
After reading through the fora, I re-ran disk utility (disks check out fine; one permission -- for Safari -- seems to refuse to be repaired), re-ran Apple Hardware test twice (no issues found), and have been running the Activity Monitor [I put it in my dock with the bars showing CPU usage]. Today, when my computer started seriously slowing while I had only two programs open (Safari & Microsoft Word), the Activity Monitor icon on the dock showed all four bars at max.
I managed to get a few screencaps of the Activity Monitor:
So, this suggests to me that either (a) I have insufficient RAM to run Mavericks and run basic computer programs, or (b) there is some other issue.
Do you all have any recommendations as to the best way to proceed? I don't have a lot of cash, so I can't really spend money unless it is really warranted. Would it be worth running OnyX first? Or is this a pretty clear indication that I need new RAM? Alternately, are there any other issues that seem likely (an undetected hard drive problem, etc.)?
Thank you!
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.3)
