The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Does my macbook need more RAM?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by Empulse, Apr 6, 2011.

  1. Empulse

    Empulse Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    372
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Since some months, I have noticed my 2008 Macbook unibody is freezing on a regular basis and is becoming less responsive. The thing is, I don't have extremely heavy programs running. (right now: Firefox, MS powerpoint 2011, preview, skype, iTunes and Vuze).

    Result: no free space available as can be seen in the attachment. My question is whether this is normal or not. Currently I have 2GB 1067Mhz DDR3 in my system. I am thinking of buying a new Macbook in the summer/fall of 2012. Is it worth upgrading the memory and could I possibly use that memory for my new system?
     

    Attached Files:

    Empulse, Apr 6, 2011
    #1
  2. blue68f100

    blue68f100 Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,020
    Messages:
    3,439
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    It sounds like it may be over heating. When was the last time you blew all the dust out of it.

    Install iStat Pro or SMC Fan control and see what temp your running.

    Adding ram may help if your under 4gig.
     
    blue68f100, Apr 6, 2011
    #2
  3. sugarkang

    sugarkang Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    185
    Messages:
    602
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Yes.

    If I run absolutely nothing, OS X likes to use 1.7GB. Right now, your computer is trying to skimp on RAM just to make everything work. If you don't do much, 4GB is fine for the next two years. If you edit film or photo stuff, you'll want 8GB.
     
    sugarkang, Apr 8, 2011
    #3
  4. Adivino

    Adivino Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    49
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Check the RAM with Activity monitor.app (Utilities folder) to know which program is sucking up memory.
     
    Adivino, Apr 8, 2011
    #4