Need more memory?

My computer is running very slow & I've been told I need more memory. How do I know what to buy and where to get it? Also, how do I install it, or do I have to get it done somewhere?

This HP support document should tell you everything you need to know about upgrading your memory on a desktop computer.
However, before you spend time and money adding memory, you might want to try the tips and tricks in this document: Improving System Performance without Adding Memory (Windows 7). It offers some very useful techniques for speeding up your system. (Here's the version for Vista, and for XP/ME/9x). You might find that you don't need to add memory, but even if you still do, the suggestions are great for maintaining a healthy, quick computer.
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What is the best External Hard Drive for a Macbook Leopard 10.5.8? I need more memory for documents, pictures, videos, and music. Thanks!

What is the best External Hard Drive for a Macbook Leopard 10.5.8? I need more memory for documents, pictures, videos, and music. Thanks!

Hi, does your MacBook have Firewire, or just USB?
FW is far faster if you have that.
Avoid Bus powered ones.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
USB only...
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/usb/eliteclassic

HOW DO I KNOW IF I NEED MORE MEMORY

My system seems sluggish at times and locks up on me for a while then resumes.. I have 4GB of 1334MHZ.. Do I need to add 4 to 8 more GB? Will that resolve my issues? I run a lot of stuff at the same time and at times might have 10-15 pages open at a time.

In order to tell if you need more memory open Activity Monitor (located in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder).
Select the System Memory tab at the bottom of the window:
Notice the entries labeled Page outs: and Swap used: if the system is short of physical memory these entries will have increasing numbers in them.
The best way to check this is to first re-boot your machine and log in. The entries should both be zero. Now use your system as you normally do, while occasionally looking at the entries. If either increases then you could benefit from more physical memory.
However other factiors such as a root disk that is short of free space can also cause the sysmtoms you report. So check that also.
regards

Page ins 1.46GB outs ins 87.3MB...do i need more memory?

My macbook has been getting slower and slower, i suspect i need more memory?

they are probably going to strain your hard drive long before you run out of ram. they only load there first part of the audio file and then stream the rest from the disk. you would no better than anyone just how many sounds you are using. do the sums. with the setup you are describing i am doubtful if you are taxing the computer/memory/harddrive all that much. if it was double that then i'd start to get concerned. i think your problem is not memory related - or at least not in the way you think. perhaps faulty RAM? could be.
if it was working fine and then crashed, maybe you just ran across one of the little ol' bugs that still lurk within logic. if that's the case chalk it up to experience and move on - keeping a close eye on it of course.

Do i need more memory for mountain lion?

I'm trying to update to Moutain Lion but get a pop-up box saying that I need more memory. Is this something I need to buy and install?

Mountain Lion requires a minimum of 2 GB of RAM however most users recommend a 4GB or more. Installing RAM is extermely simple and yes you need to buy it. We would need to know the exact model of iMac you own in order to advise which RAM your system needs. I'd recommend contacting a trusted vendor such as OWC (www.macsales.com) or Crucial or your local AASP, each can assist you.

Do I need more memory on my iMac (Mid 2011)?

First and for most I want to make sure that I'm addressing the correct problem that's why I am asking a question that appears to be asked by many people on here. I mainly use my imac 27" to produce music (I use Logic and a LOT of plugins and instruments) and well I always get the following message:
I hate it because I get it everytime Logic reaches a point where a lot of instruments and sounds come in (It's annoying and ruins my work flow). I usually just have logic and chrome open, bc I close everything else to help my situation.
I bought my iMac thinking it would be faster than any laptop and I now realize that it doesn't matter if it's a laptop or a desktop but rather the memory it has and other things included. Anyways what would all of you recommend? What would be most useful to change? Would it just be adding memory (increasing the 4GB)? Thanks for your time!!
<Image Edited By Host>

I would just like to add to what everyone else said about 4GB really not being enough for doing much of anything. Even Safari and Mail can easily run up to the limit.
If you are running up against the memory limit, your computer will start doing what is known as "thrashing". On an OS like iOS, too much memory simply causes running apps to be killed. On Windows and OSX, if you try to use more memory than what is available, the computer will start to use a disk cache as if it was memory. It will try to put the "older" items in memory to the disk. If you need to access that memory, the OS needs to load it back from disk. The problem is that the disk is about 20x or more slower than memory. When your computer is thrashing, it will seem like it is not working at all.
If you are not running against the memory limit, then adding more memory will do absolutely nothing to improve performance. If you are running against the limit, you will be amazed at how much faster your computer will run with the extra memory.
As far as adding memory goes, as others have said, you need to add them in matched pairs. Also as other have said, the 2011 iMac secretly supports 8GB ram cards. (check OWC at macsales.com and they will confirm).
My advice would be to buy two 8GB cards ($109 at OWC) and add them in addition to your two 4GB cards. That will give you a total of 20GB. 20GB is TONS of memory and I am 100% sure that should be plenty for you. More is almost definitely overkill. You could almost definitely get away with adding 2 4GB cards for $50 as well (this would triple the memory you currently have), but memory is getting really cheap, and is a great way to "future proof" your computer.
If you want to see what your computer is doing, try looking at "Activity Monitor". If you start it up, sort the processes by "Real Mem" and you can see which processes are using the most memory (some of the processes will have cryptic names, but you should be able to tell most of them).
Also, click on "System Memory" at the bottom. Look at the "Page Ins" number ... if it is large, that means that you have been running into memory issues and having to "page in and out" memory to / from disk. You can also see what your processes are using currently. I forget exactly how OSX classifies the memory in each category, but Free is memory that is totally free, and "Wired" is memory that is in use. Active is basically memory in use, and Inactive is memory that is not really being used and can be made available for other processes, but I believe its being kept around in case the process that last used it decides it wants it back.

I have an imac OS 10.4.11 and am using Safari 2.0.4. I would like to update this. I have 1 Gb memory. Do I need more memory to update my computer? I would also like to add an airport system and something where I could read word applications.

I have an iMac OS 10.4.11 and am using Safari 2.0.4 I would like to update. I have only original 1 GB memory-do I need more to update?I would also like to add an airport or router and would like to add something where I could open word applications. Is it hopeless?

Thanks. That's a Mid-2007 model with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. You can run any version of Mac OS X on it up to and including Mac OS X Lion, though for Lion you'd need to increase the memory to at least 2GB, something I'd recommend doing anyway; it's inexpensive and often can increase performance. Your iMac can take up to 6GB if RAM; 4GB is probably a good compromise between cost and performance with a 4GB kit costing about $50.00 US from a reliable vendor such as Crucial.
Your system already should have included the Airport wireless networking capability, so all you'd need would be a wireless (WiFi) access point (aka "router" or "base station") and an appropriate Internet connection. Apple's Airport Express and Airport Extreme, and the Time Capsule if you'd like to have a built-in hard drive for backups and extra storage, are good choices for a WiFi access point, but there are a number of other manufacturers.
As to upgrading the operating system, as I said, you can upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, or Mac OSX 10.7 Lion (the most recent release). Apple no longer lists Mac OS X 10.5 on their web site, but if you call the Apple Store you may still be able to purchase a copy. Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is easily available as is Lion though with Lion you'd need the $69.00 USB flash drive installer or you'd need to purchase and install Snow Leopard first (other than on the flash drive, Lion is only available from the Mac App Store which can only be accessed from Mac OS X 10.6.6. or later). Before you decide, I'd strongly suggest you find out what versions of Mac OS X your applications and perpherals will support, either as they or with a free or affordable update. I'd suspect most of your applications and peripheral drivers would need to be upgraded, at least to support Snow Leopard or Lion. If you consider Lion, make sure of your applications; Lion will no longer run PowerPC-only applications, so many older appliations will not run under Lion.
Finally, as to Microsoft Word documents which is what I presume you mean, you can of course just purchase Microsoft Office. There are other ways to work with Word documents, though. If you just need to view Word documents, TextEdit in MOSX 10.6 and 10.7 (and perhaps 10.5; I can't remember) can open and view many Word Documents. For something a bit more capable, you can purchase Apple's Pages, part of the iWork suite and now available separately for Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7, or try one of the open-source solutions such as LibreOffice.
Regards.

Iphone 5 backup and sync with iTunes ..says i need more memory

I just bought more icloud memory for my iphone 5...because it said i needed 1.4 gb of space to backup... It would not let me sync my iphone on itunes. I still can not back up..What should I do? I guess no reason to buy that 10 GB from itunes.

You probably need more free space on your phone, not in your iCloud account. (Additional iCloud storage doesn't increase the space on your phone.)
Check Settings>General>Usage to see how much available space you have. If you need more and your music is in your iTunes library, delete your music by going to Settings>General>Usage>Music, swipe across All Music, tap Delete. Then back up and sync with iTunes, and sync back the music you still want on your phone.

Upgrade from OS X 10.3.9 to Leopard? Do I need more memory?

I only have 256mb of memory and it says min requirement is 512mb. Can I add memory? And if so what is the procedure. I have a 1.8GHz PowerPC G5 with version 10.3.9 and I just purchased Leopard online and I didnt do my research before I purchased it. I haven't gotten it yet, but I just want to make sure that this upgrade is possible and if so, is there anything tricky about uploading the new software? Thank you

Yes, you can add more memory to your computer. The model you have is pre-2005 and can accommodate up to 4 GBs of RAM. Consult your computer's user manual to find out the exact RAM specifications your will need.
You have three choices for installing Leopard: Erase and Install, Upgrade Install, and Archive and Install. The first method obviously involves erasing the drive before installing Leopard. This will remove all your data. An Upgrade Install replaces all the files in your current installation with the new ones needed for Leopard but does not affect any of your other files. An Archive and Install archives your current system into a Previous System Folder and installs a fresh copy of Leopard. This would be the preferred approach as it provides a fresh copy of Leopard as you would get with an Erase and Install, but preserves all your files. This is the method I recommend.
Now, it's important that you make a backup of your current system to another internal hard drive or to an external Firewire drive. This should be a bootable backup just in case you run into a problem installing Leopard, then you can quickly restore your old system with all your files intact. You can make the bootable backup using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You will need a freshly erased backup drive. See the following:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the drive to which you will restore or backup.
Source means the drive you are restoring from or backing up.
After making the backup you can do the Archive and Install:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

Do I need more memory for Parallels/Vista?

Hi, I have a MacBook Pro with a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 1 GB 667 MHz RAM running 10.4.10.
I installed Parallels 3.0 and Windows Vista. I also need to install Office. I would like to have Leopard installed once I am sure Parallels works with it (the Parallels people tell me I should wait a few weeks).
The problem is that when Parallels is running my Mac is sloooooowwwww as molasses in January. Last week it ran like a breeze but this week it's so slow I have to wait 2 minutes for my mouse to respond. The difference being that this week, I actually need to run applications.
Will upgrading the RAM take care of the problem, or will it do nothing for me?

I can vouch for this. Vista is a memory pig. Expect it to use over 512MB of RAM while idling. I've also tried running Windows XP in Parallels on an iMac with 1GB of RAM. With few applications running in OS X, and only doing updates in XP, all available memory is eaten up, and the machine acts like a dinosaur. In my opinion, to effectively run Parallels with Windows 2000 or above, _at least_ 1.5GB of system RAM is required. Anything less, and you're either gimping Windows (by assigning too little memory to the virtual machine) or the entire system (by assigning more memory).
On another note, if you're going to run anything remotely intensive (video or photo editing, or game playing) use Boot Camp instead.

I have a 8GB ipod but I need more memory

DO I HAVE TO BUY A WHOLE NEW IPOD TO GET MORE MEMORY!?

oh, another option is to delete contents on your touch which you don't need or is junk, so that u can free up your memory.

Need more memory, need help

Hi There,
I tried to download some software for my Powerbook and a window opened and said not enough memory. Where do I go to buy memory? I want to buy the Apple Word Version and update to Leopard but don't know if I need to buy 2 or 4GB or MB. What do I do? Do I go to Crucial or NewEgg? My budget is kinda limited as I'm a student currently. My CPU speed is 1.33 GHz, I don't know if you need more info. Thanks in advance for your help.

Nina:
So what brand memory do I buy and where is the most reasonable & reliable place to buy from? NewEgg or Crucial?
The PowerBook G4 behaves better with optimal quality RAM. This module from Crucial is what you need.
Can I install it myself?
Yes, you can with these directions from iFixit.
And will 1GB be enough memory for Apple's Word and Leopard?
It should. When you have installed an additional ! GB module you will have a total of 1.25 GB. That should easily be sufficient.
Don't mean to bombard you with so many quest. ;)*
My pleasure.
cornelius

I've added an external hard drive, do I now need more memory?

Hello,
Ever since I added the external harddrive, I've encountered some problems: one is that my internet access has slowed down tremendously, behaving like a dial up instead of broadband cable.
The other is in iDVD, I get an error message when burning a 1.5 hr dvd. Then iDVD freezes and I must force quit.
I was wondering if the 1 GB ram was enough for the additional harddrive -
I have about 60GB left on my internal hard drive.
I have also run tests on my memory and all have come out ok.
Thank you!
Lisette

"Question: if I were to clone everything over to the external drive, would I need to completely reinstall Mac OSX and all the applications that came with the computer?"
No, when you clone using SuperDuper, everything would be duplicated and then you'd be duplicating it all back. The purpose is to defragment the HDD space. With possible very large files, the unused spaces themselves could get large and your Mac could perceive your HDD as being more full than it actually is. This despite the fact that Tiger automatically defrags. It's just that you may be using very large files, sort of exclusively, so there's no chance for Tiger to fill in.
First check out this current memory problem and the compatibility of your MyBook and its software, if you're using that. Otherwise, you could spend a terrific amount of time and end up only freeing up maybe an extra 10GB on your HDD.
Your page outs are very unfavorable, and indicate a very high demand for additional memory. I'm surprised since you have 1GB, but then I don't know what all you're doing. If this just happened in the last day or two, is it possible that you put a large amount of stuff on the external HD, and that Spotlight is in the process of indexing it? If that is happening at the same time that you're trying to use your entire 1GB of memory for iDVD, then that would be a likely explanation. Or anything like that in the way of multiple app use could be causing it. If that is what's going on, and your RAM is OK, then you'll be deciding about adding memory sooner than I thought!
Edit-
Sorry, also reread your posts, not seeing a reference to the external being firewire. Hope so, and that you're using that and not USB, being much slower. I definitely would not proceed with any cloning without firewire, or without additional RAM, unless you have a lot of spare time. Keep in mind, please, that too slow puts your iMac at some risk. What if there's a storm came up and power went out or worse in the middle of a day's worth of cloning? If you have valuable stuff on your HDD or external, don't be too quick to put it all at risk.
Message was edited by: myhighway

Is my Mac Mini slow because of Leopard...or do I need more memory?

I've had my Mac Mini for 18 months and am a happy convert to Apple, although I still use Windows at work. I recently installed Leopard on my Mac Mini and it seems to run a bit slower, especially when I have a lot open. It has a 1.66 GHz, Intel Core Duo processor, 2 cores, 2MB L2 Cache, 512 MB memory, 667 MHz Bus Speed, etc...not sure what it all means, but that's what I have.
Should I be considering upgrading anything, or checking on anything to speed it up?

Honestly, I'm surprised a 512GB Mini will even run.....
Which just goes to show how easily it has become common currency that Leopard won't run in less than 1Gb, when it fact it's perfectly happy in 512Mb RAM - as long as the user isn't running PPC software, or multiple applications, or expecting fast performance.
And honestly, while maxing out the mini to it's 3Gb limit is going to give best possible performance, it is hardly necessary for a satisfactory user experience. It depends a great deal on what the user needs, and for many that means the the 1Gb base is plenty sufficient. More is better, but not always necessary.

Computer setup for CS5 Master Collection do I need more Memory?

HI! I am looking for some big time guidance. My IT dept. installed CS5 Master Collection on my
desktop. I have a hard time rendering and even in the Media Encoder, as it takes forever for it to finish. I'm thinking I'm not even close to what I need in terms of memory, etc. Below is what I have. Any help would be great!
HP 6005 Desktop
Windows XP- Professional x64 Edition. Version 2003 SP2 ( I know Premier won't run on this system, so we have CS4 Premier Pro on it, it's still slow.)
AMD Phenom X4 B95
2.99Ghz
2.75 GB of Ram
149GB capacity on C drive ( I keep all my files on an external 1TB drive). Currently says I have 103GB used and 45.5 Free.
ATI Radeon HD 4200
Thanks!
P

XP64 is unsupported!
You need a new operating system and a boatload more RAM. That's a low end machine and isn't up to the high end tasks.
With Win 7 you might get away with web design work but forget it for video.
Bob

Need more memory?

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