*** 17" MBP with 8gb of RAM is SUPER SLOW

Not sure how this happened but things are so so slow opening and working on my 17" MPB. Bought it about 6 months ago, loaded it up with RAM and it is much slower than my 15" MBP (4gb ram) at both opening and working in programs AND surfing around on the net.
Any advice on how to look to see what's wrong or a program/s to use to clean it up?
Thanks in advance!

1) Check Activity Monitor to see if anything is "hogging" the CPU - see http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1473
2) use "Font Book" (in your applications folder) to check for duplicate or corrupt fonts and disable or remove them.
3) Think about any third party software that installs system extensions that may have been migrated across from your other computer that may require updating for use on the current one. (if you take a peek in the System/Library/extensions folder you may get some idea, but don't go deleting things there).
Cheers
Rod

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2011 MBP with 8GB of RAM, generally slow under Lion, possibly thrashing

I have a 17" 2011 MBP with 8GB of RAM and the fastest CPU available at the time. It came with Snow Leopard, and it was really fast with basically everything I threw at it.
Since the upgrade to Lion, it has a general tendency to get really unresponsive. My workload hasn't fundamentally changed. Rather than just hope it's bugs in Lion that will get fixed, I'd like to see if anyone can advise me on things I might investigate, either to fix things myself, or to be more intelligent about identifying bugs I can report.
One thing I notice is that Time Machine backups will bring the system to its knees. Everything will be going along just fine, and then TM will kick on, and all my apps will stop responding. Once TM has finished, things will slowly come back to normal. There's a lot of disk activity, which I have assumed was swapping. Another thing that causes trouble is that mds (and a whole bunch of mdsworkers) will frequently kick on, and will slow down the system.
CPU load is always quite low, but free memory is always very low. (However, in some OS's Free Memory is misleading, because a lot of disk blocks are cached in RAM, so it's not really "used" either..)
What I can't really distinguish for sure is if the system is slow because of swapping/thrashing (which is what I assume) or if it's slowed down for some other reason related to disk activity.
Here are the apps I typically run:
- NetBeans (which is a pig, taking up over 1GB or real memory)
- Safari (which is also a pig, often taking up more than 1GB between the main Safari process and the Web Content process)
- Sometimes Parallels (2GB for the VM, and probably another 1GB for other stuff, because it's also a pig)
- kernel_task typically reports taking up over 1GB of real memory
- WindowServer also reports using 280MB
- various other small apps like Mail, NetNewsWire, Preview, Terminal, Adium, Smultron, Colloquy, none of which use much memory
I got the 8GB, because I knew I was going to use a lot of memory for stuff, and it was great under Snow Leopard. But with Lion, it just doesn't seem to be enough. Even with all of those huge processes, I can't believe that their working sets are really as big as their virtual and physical memory footprints seem to be. I mean it's not unusual for a process to have 2GB of virtual space but only a few 100MB of real memory, and some of that is shared object libraries, where the same physical memory is mapped into multiple processes. (Have shared object libraries stopped being physically shared under Lion?)
Are other people having similar trouble? Any suggested remedies? Any suggestions on how to investigate so I can see if there are any actual bugs?
I would like to understand why my system went from zippy to slow after I upgraded to Lion. Actually, quite a few things have broken. Time Machine has become a pig, bluetooth doesn't work reliably anymore, airport doesn't connect reliably anymore, and lots of little annoying bugs. But this is common for early point releases of new OS's, so I can't complain too much. But for Lion to have really regressed in memory management is definitely not good.

Safari, for what ever reason, has become a huge memory
pig. The longer you are using it the more memory it
gobbles up.
In Activity Monitor, check the Page outs and Swapped used.
This will tell you how much memory swapping is going on.
As for Time Machine, you may want to set your Parallels
HD image not to get backed up by Time Machine. May
help since it is a huge collection of files. But there have been
issues reported with Time Machine and Lion. I don't
use it myself and opt for the cloning methodology and
seperate data backup strategy. Also, in Spotlight
preferences under the Privacy Tab, I have added
my Windows VM folders, for same reason. Unless you really
need to find something on the windows VM volumes when you
don't have the Windows VM active, it just eats up alot
of disk access time.
For solving airport issues check this article:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20117247-263/fixing-airport-problems-in-os- x/?tag=mncol;txt
For Bluetooth devices, try removing them, and have them rediscovered if you
can.
Hopefully, this gives you a start on cleaning things up.

Mac Mini MID 2011 2.5GHZ with 8GB of RAM from 4GB

Hello Everyone!
So I want to upgrade my Mac Mini MID 2011 2.5GHZ with 8GB of RAM from 4GB.
Mac Mini Hardware Summary
Mid 2011
Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Model Name:     Mac mini
Model Identifier:     Macmini5,2
Processor Name:     Intel Core i5
Processor Speed:     2.5 GHz
Number of Processors:     1
Total Number of Cores:     2
L2 Cache (per Core):     256 KB
L3 Cache:     3 MB
Memory:     4 GB
Kindly suggets to us , 8 GB ,DDR3 1600 MHz Momary will work on same.
Thanks
Ajay Kumar Gola

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_Mac_mini/DDR3_1333
I would opt for one 8 GB stick so you would have 10 GB. total. This says really no practical advantage in dual channel memory
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/1fcs77/discussion_ram_single_vs_dual_c hannel_speed/

I have a 2011 Macbook Pro 15" Snow Leopard Quadcore icore 7 with 8Gb of RAM and Im a Webpage Graphic Designer but why is my Macbookpro is so slow!?

I have a 2011 Macbook Pro 15" Snow Leopard Quadcore icore 7 with 8Gb of RAM and Im a Webpage Graphic Designer but why is my Macbookpro is so slow!?
I'm opening like Skype, AIM, Chrome the Memory Hog, Adobe Photshop and Illustrator... Its so slow! I tried Onyx, CleanMyMac, iFreeMemory or just purging but still i still have to restart to get it back to normal after closing all the applications... im not really impressed with the memory swapping thing,Even though my inactive RAM is like 2GB its so SloW! Anyone knows how to fix this problem?

It's hard to say why your machine is slow, but that machine with 8 GB of RAM should not be slow. Could be any number of possible problems. Try taking a look at the Mac OS X Speed FAQ.

I'm thinking about purchasing a 21.5" iMac. The base model comes with 8GB of RAM, and the RAM is not user-upgradeable down the road. Is 8GB enough memory or should I upgrade to 16GB?

I'm thinking about getting a 21.5" iMac which comes with 8GB of RAM. Unfortunately, the RAM is not user-upgradeable. Do you think 8GB is enough memory, or should I upgrade to 16GB? Besides internet surfing and email, I like to play flash games and listen to internet radio. Occasionally, I might want to stream a movie. I would greatly appreciate any advice you could give me.

For what you list, 8GB should be adequate. I ran with 4GB without any issue for over a year in my iMac i7 before I added RAM, primarily for running Win 7 via Bootcamp.
The tasks that need a lot of RAM are typically video editing/production, heavy-duty photo manipulation (not iPhoto or PS Elements), and professional page layout like Adobe Creative Suite. If you think that, down the road, you may want to delve into those fileds with this computer, by all means get the extra RAM.
I like to play flash games
I didn't try a lot of Flash games while I still had 4GB RAM but those I tried ran without issue and without causing a non-trivial number of page-outs

Satellite A660-11M: Does not start with 8GB of RAM, but works with 6GB

Satellite A660-11M:
I upgraded my RAM from 4GB (2x2GB) to 8GB (2x4GB). When I start the computer I can see in the BIOS it reads the 8GB of RAM. However, when it boots up, it does not go past the blank DOS screen (just before starting Windows).
If I remove one of the 4GB & replace with a 2GB (so I have 6GB in total) it starts ok.
Does anyone know how can I get it to work with 8GB of RAM?

Hey,
To be honest I never heard about SanMax RAM modules...
In my opinion the problems is related to your RAM modules Not compatible to your notebook or defective.
Can you test it with high quality modules from Kingston or pretested modules from an authorized service provider?

How much should I sell a Mid-2010 Macbook without a HDD (with 8GB of RAM) for?

I'm planning on selling my old Mid-2010 MacBook, however it doesn't have a HDD. It does have 8GB of RAM which I installed myself. I'm aware that all one needs to do is buy a HDD and install OSX on it and it will be perfectly functional and therefore hope it will still fetch a couple of hundred pounds or more. Any advice would be greatfully appreciated.

To maximise the profit, I'd buy a hard drive to put in it and I stall a fresh installation from the original discs. HDD's aren't that expensive these days, and this way you'll avoid putting of some people if listed on eBay as you will be appealing to a wider audience.
For the cost of a drive, you'll undoubtedly get a higher return than if you sell as is. IMHO.

Motherboard tampered with? Missing RAM? Very slow

I took my mid-2012 MacBook to be repaired a few weeks ago. The repair place told me the motherboard had failed, however I then took it to an Apple re-seller and they informed me that just the harddrive was broken. The first place initially left the wrong harddrive in my laptop and had installed an older version of OS on it, but the Apple resellers then wiped it, putting the latest version of OS X on it. I'm worried the first people may have tampered with other aspects of my computer seeing as it has been running very slow ever since I got it back. Is there any way to tell if the processor has been changed without taking the computer apart?
Also, just now I've realsied, when I open up "System Information" it's saying there's only 2GB http://imgur.com/EKuszZP, even though the computer came with 4GB http://imgur.com/tSdlRz7 - is there another explantion for this besides them having removed some RAM?
There are no apps on the computer at the moment, all my files are still in a recovered folder on the desktop. The computer also makes quiet whirring noises which it didn't make before. OS X 10.8.5.

If I could add to what Kappy said:
There would normally be two 2GB RAM modules in your machine if it came with 4GB. Either one isn't seated correctly or they possibly swapped the RAM to see if that was your problem and didn't put yours back. Between that and swapping your hard drive and not putting yours back, you obviously shouldn't use those guys to work on a Mac again. If it were me, I'd be demanding my original RAM and drive from them.
On the bright side, both of those are cheap and easy to install on a Classic Mac. 8GB of RAM is going to be in the $50 or less range and a 1TB drive if you needed that much would be < $100.
As for the whirring noise, the first question is do you have a CD or DVD in the internal optical drive? That would make a sound like that. The only other moving parts are in the hard drive or the fans.
The Apple Store would be your best bet as an eval is free, but it sounds like you went to a reseller rather than directly to an Apple store. That's why I thought I'd supplement Kappy.

Which refurbished 15 inch MBP with 8GB RAM and 256GB Storage should I get? Which has a better graphics card for gaming?

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.3GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display $1,599.00
Originally released June 2012
15.4-inch (diagonal) Retina display; 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch
8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage
720p FaceTime HD Camera
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display $1,659.00
Originally released February 2013
15.4-inch (diagonal) Retina display; 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch
8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage
720p FaceTime HD Camera
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.0GHz Quad-core Intel i7 with Retina Display $1,659.00
Originally released October 2013
15.4-inch (diagonal) Retina display; 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch
8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB Flash Storage1
720p FaceTime HD camera
Intel Iris Pro Graphics

If it were me, I'd save the $60 and get the 2.3GHz one. Its only 4% slower in the specs and will be hardly noticeable in use. The only advantage to the newer one is the Haswell processor which might (note that it is only a might) give a little better battery life with a trade-off of 15% in raw performance.

Can the 2012 MBP with 8GB RAM be upgraded later?

I just read that the RAM isn't upgradable in the 2012 MacBook Pro since it's directly soldered to the board. I've already ordered one, thinking I could upgrade it in the future if I needed to along with a larger SSD. Link Below.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/want-to-upgrade-that-retina-macbook-pro-tough -luck/20774
Thanks,

That only applies on the Retina Version.
Other MB Pro's are upgradeable in both RAM and Hard Drive.
If that's the MB Pro you're thinking of buying, then get the 16GB upgrade.
Buy an external drive to save all your files in so the flash drive that it comes with won't get full.
Another advantage of having your files saved in an external drive is privacy and security purposes in case you lose your MB Pro or if you let someone else use it.

Which should I pick? A 2012 Macbook Air with 8GB of RAM, or a 2013 Macbook Air with 4GB of RAM?

My mother bought herself a new computer, and she is letting me choose which one will go to my sister: my 2012 Macbook Air, or her 2013 Macbook Air. My sister does not care at all about performance, but I definitely do. Which would be better to take? Keep in mind, I do like to run video games, and still would like optimal speed for things like running various programs, Specs below.
2013 Macbook Air:
Intel Core i5-4250U @ 1.30 GHz
4GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 5000
2012 Macbook Air:
Intel Core i5-3427U @ 1.80 GHz
8GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 4000

Both computers you are looking at use Intel's integrated video and unless you are going to be compiling a massive program you won't notice a significant difference between the two machines. You'll want 8GB RAM for sure and I strongly recommend the 256GB drive rather than the 128GB drive. You don't fully realize how small a 128GB drive is until you find it full and think "But I hardly have anything on it!"
I found that using a second display has very helpful though today an iPad could fill in for the second display. I liked to have documentation, lab notes, or a Web site open in one screen with the IDE open in the other. That was easier than flipping back and forth between windows.

Should I get my new MBP with 4 GB RAM direct from Apple?

I'm close to buying a new MBP.
I have read all these posts about freezes, particularly likely when using 4 GB RAM, reduced in frequency but not eliminated by Apple's system software upgrade.
I know folks have saved money buy purchasing a machine with 2GB of Apple RAM and then getting a 4GB kit from an external supplier.
But with this problem still kind of a concern, is it just easier to address with Applecare if one buys the 4GB from Apple?
The one flawless external supplier seems to be Kingston, but their 4GB kit for a late 2008 MBP is $170.

Thanks for the posts.
I think that with the particular history of these 15" Macbook pros, I ultimately decided that this was a situation where the Apple-provided 4GB might be worth it, at $135).
It's about $40-45 more than what a 4GB kit might cost at a number of suppliers (and of course, I don't get to take out and hold onto a couple extra 1GB's, which is always a benefit with buying after-market RAM), but it does make it easy to make any freezing-recurrences entirely an Applecare issue.
My current 15" Aluminum G4 PB is the one that had (and has recurrently had, despite 2 logic board replacements for free) bad RAM slots. I think that I might have saved a step and some time if I had Apple-installed RAM.
Without the particular history of RAM-related freezes with the new late 2008 15" MacBook Pro, however, I think one could easily justify just using an external supplier.

So I have a (PC) laptop with 8gb of RAM and I'm running CC on it. I haven't set it up on this before so I'm wondering how much should I set the RAM usage to in performance so I can use it but not ruin this laptop?

I just don't know where specifically to put the RAM at in the preferences option.
I mainly use it for digital painting and sketching on this. (not so much painting on this but digital art)

8 GB is about the realistic minimum for Photoshop nowadays.
Set it to about 70% and go for there. Note that it represents a maximum percentage of your momentarily available RAM after the OS and other running application have grabbed what they need., not a percentage of total installed RAM. It changes continually.
The rule of thumb I follow to figure out scratch space says to figure on 50 to 100 times the size of your largest file ever multiplied by the number of files you have open. I have seen the scratch file exceed 800 GB once, an admittedly rare occurrence, but it often exceeds 200 GB when stitching large panoramas and the like.
As an example—and stressing that I'm aware that others have even more scratch space than I do—I keep two dedicated, physically separate hard drives as my primary and secondary Photoshop scratch disks and a lot of GB free on my boot drive for the OS. I also have 16 GB of RAM installed.
Additionally, if you only have a single HD, i.e. your boot drive, you'd need it to be large enough to accommodate both the swap files of the OS as well as Photoshop's scratch.

IMac 2.8 Ghz, Intel Corei5 with 8gb of ram takes 5 minutes to start up! why so slow???

I ran MacKeeper yesterday to see if I had problems with something, it cleaned up a lot of stuff, but still, this morning it took 5 minutes to start up!

MacKeeper is malware and may the reason for your problems. No maintenance software of any type is needed for OS X, it will maintain itself! OS X is NOT MS Windows and does not require a lot of user intervention to run smoothly. Following Apple's instructions in your owners manual is your best bet!
Please follow the developers instructions for removing MacKeeper immediately!!!!!!!
To solve your startup issues first check System Preferences - Users & Groups - Login Items and remove applications and files that are not needed on startup.
Also if you are running Lion or later (10.7.x) then quit applications prior to shutdown and/or follow the onscreen directions when shutting down. Also please carefully read your owners manual about shutting down your system, Apple recommends putting the system to sleep.
Finally please complete your profile, attempting to help someone when we don't know anything about their system is difficult at best. If you don't know how please click Profile Update for instructions.

My hard drive makes a grinding noise when I turn my mac on. Also my Mac is running very slowly even though it has an i7 with 8GB of RAM.

Please Help!!

olliedog11
Is there a way to fix this?
Yes and no......99.9% NO however.
When a HD dies its like asking about "cleaning a used paper towell"..........no.
$70 for a nice 1TB HD replacement, very easy to do , see videos posted above for you on replacing your HD.
In the future ALWAYS have a HD clone!
HD clones
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).

*** 17" MBP with 8gb of RAM is SUPER SLOW

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