Slow to respond with 2 GB RAM

Hello to the community,
I have a 20-inch aluminum iMac running on a 2.4 Ghz Intel processor with 2 GB of RAM, and Leopard 10.5.2.
I find the system responds sluggishly when running the following:
- Parallels Desktop (1 GB allotted)
- Robert and Colling bilingual dictionary (running in Parallels)
- Voice recognition software (running in Parallels)
- Word 2003 for Windows (running in Parallels)
- Firefox (running in Leopard)
- PowerPoint (running in Leopard)
- Entourage (running in Leopard)
- Skype (only occasionally running in Leopard)
Now I realize Firefox has memory-hogging issues and any voice recognition demands lots of processing power, so basically my question is:
a) Is it normal to experience slow-downs under such conditions (checking available RAM in Leopard indeed shows less than 100 MB left when running the above programs)?
b) If I upgrade to 3 (or even 4) GB or RAM, will my problem be solved?
Thanks ever so much for your time.

Hi Duane,
Thanks for the quick reply.
Yes, I'm quite sure that shutting down one or several of these applications would free up some RAM, but the reason I listed these programs is precisely because I work with them all the time in parallel.
Undoubtedly, voice recognition needs both RAM and raw processing power, which is why I wanted to know if levelling up to 3 GB of RAM would solve my problem.
I will (hopefully) soon be able to run voice recognition software directly in Leopard, as a product called MacSpeech has been announced and is scheduled for release later this month or early next month.
That will at least allow me to shut down one program in Parallels Desktop. Next step is to buy the PC/MAC version of the bilingual dictionary I use!
So what do you think? Will the extra gigabyte help me run programs more smoothly?
Thanks again for taking the time.

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I havent tried 16G of 1600mhz yet...

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joe_intelIl y a 3 jours
The document does not list all the processor models but it is the correct document for your processor family (http://ark.intel.com/products/family/59136/2nd-Generation-Intel-Core-i7-Processo rs#@Mobile). "1Gb, 2Gb, and 4Gb DDR3 DRAM technologies" refer to SDRAM density, it is not about capacity as it is usually expressed in GB (instead of Gb). SDRAM density depends on the total amount of memory chips on the stick and per side (SDRAM organization). Memory modules rated or sold as 1600 MHz may or may not run at 1600 MHz; this depends on the Serial Presence Detect. If the SPD is 1333 MHz it will run at 1333 MHz by default unless it is configured manually. If the memory runs at 1600 MHz (by SPD or set up manually), the memory controller might be running at a higher clock speed than what it was designed for, this may cause issues along the way.
Recommandation1
B BIl y a 10 heures
Hi JoeThanks for the answer Im feeling optimistic...I installed 16G(2x8) ram on my late 2011 macbook pro this is 1600mhz 1.35v ram.Its working fine for now...Hope it lasts;)

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Slow to respond with 2 GB RAM

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