leopard getting slow

[a2dxb]

Hi everybody,

I am getting very frustrated with leopard on my Mac book 2.0 MHZ. On Tiger it was brilliant you switch on and in max 1 min u r up and running. Not on leopard, it takes at least 3 min to bring you to the login screen and then at least a min to bring the relevant programs on.

Can anybody suggest what I can do to speed this thing up. I have 1 GB RAM, if i increase it to 2 GB would that help ?

Please do not say buy a Mac Book pro

Cheers
Abdollah

[Magnus]

Originally Posted by a2dxb

Hi everybody,

I am getting very frustrated with leopard on my Mac book 2.0 MHZ. On Tiger it was brilliant you switch on and in max 1 min u r up and running. Not on leopard, it takes at least 3 min to bring you to the login screen and then at least a min to bring the relevant programs on.

Can anybody suggest what I can do to speed this thing up. I have 1 GB RAM, if i increase it to 2 GB would that help ?

Please do not say buy a Mac Book pro

Cheers
Abdollah

First let me ask... sounds like you shut down/restart the MacBook in between using it? Is there a particular reason why you don't just let it go to sleep?

You can check login items for your account in the Accounts section of System Preferences. If you have a lot of stuff starting up there, it can take time. Also check with Activity Monitor whether you have a lot of stuff running right after logging in. Also check empty space on your drive. If you only have a few GB, make some room. Mac OS X loves empty space. Upgrading to 2GB will probably help too.

[a2dxb]

Originally Posted by Magnus

First let me ask... sounds like you shut down/restart the MacBook in between using it? Is there a particular reason why you don't just let it go to sleep?

You can check login items for your account in the Accounts section of System Preferences. If you have a lot of stuff starting up there, it can take time. Also check with Activity Monitor whether you have a lot of stuff running right after logging in. Also check empty space on your drive. If you only have a few GB, make some room. Mac OS X loves empty space. Upgrading to 2GB will probably help too.

HI Magnus and thanks for the tips.

I switch between windows and mac because of mainly VOIP and Yahoo Voice. Also I use a colour laser printer that only works on windows so for some projects i have to switch.
I have around 40GB HDD. I will go ahead and upgrade my RAM and see what happens.

Thanks again
Abdollah

[Magnus]

Originally Posted by a2dxb

HI Magnus and thanks for the tips.

I switch between windows and mac because of mainly VOIP and Yahoo Voice. Also I use a colour laser printer that only works on windows so for some projects i have to switch.
I have around 40GB HDD. I will go ahead and upgrade my RAM and see what happens.

Thanks again
Abdollah

If you put in more RAM, you could perhaps also try running your Windows with Fusion or Parallels, thereby minimizing the need to reboot. With either one you can run the Windows from your Bootcamp installation, so you don't even have to reinstall anything.

[hmimthiaz]

You can try using Onyx and clear system and kernel cache.

[a2dxb]

Originally Posted by Magnus

If you put in more RAM, you could perhaps also try running your Windows with Fusion or Parallels, thereby minimizing the need to reboot. With either one you can run the Windows from your Bootcamp installation, so you don't even have to reinstall anything.

I have parallel but slows down my entire system to a level that I have to restart everything. So I have removed it from my Mac entirely.

[hmimthiaz]

Vmware is much better when its comes to memory management. You can give it a try :-D

[Magnus]

To be fair, I think you need to try it again with 2GB of RAM (or more). Then you can tell the virtual Windows to take 1GB, which should mean it runs better.

[a2dxb]

Originally Posted by Magnus

To be fair, I think you need to try it again with 2GB of RAM (or more). Then you can tell the virtual Windows to take 1GB, which should mean it runs better.

Thanks u guys for all your help. Will get back to u after installation of the RAM

[Thamir]

While I totally agree that increasing RAM is absolutely essential, and the most effective way to speed up your mac (or PC), I have noticed myself that Leopard has slowed down noticeably after the last few updates.

I don't know what Apple are doing, but the last EFI update especially has increased my login times on my MBP - which made me resort to switching off my 3D dock, reducing my login items to just the iTunes Helper, and clearing my desktop completely just to get an extra second or two of speed. BTW, the things I just mentioned are also tried-and-tested ways to speed up your boot times.