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    external monitor - slowing macbook down?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by nl74, Aug 6, 2007.

  1. nl74

    nl74 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hello,

    This is probably a stupid question. I have a macbook (white 2.16 2gb ram) which I run alot of time through an external monitor,

    It could be my imagination but I am sure it seems slower than when I run it off of the laptop screen and I am wondering if this could be anything to do with the graphics cards limitations?

    Also I have another post in the main hardware section which I maybe should have posted here. It relates to the installation of more than 2gb of ram on a core 2 duo macbook, and I would appreciate any input.

    Thanks

    Neil
     
    nl74, Aug 6, 2007
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  2. wave

    wave Notebook Virtuoso

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    Are you using the external monitor in addition the the macbook display? that would make you have 2 monitors and it would slow things down. Also running the external monitor at high/higher resolutions then the macbook LCD would make things slower.

    I think I already answered your questions about the more then 2gb in the other thread. But here it goes again. 3gb works and 4gb does not work. 2GB + 1GB is the maximum a core 2 duo macbook can use.
     
    wave, Aug 6, 2007
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  3. KelchM

    KelchM Notebook Evangelist

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    Assuming your not doing anything with 3D, using a second monitor will have little to no effect.
     
    KelchM, Aug 6, 2007
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  4. nl74

    nl74 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I am booting the machine and then once it has started I (with the monitor connected) shut the laptop, wait for it to sleep and then press a key on my wireless keyboard to wake it via the external monitor. Does that make sense?

    Re the ram I think I am comfortable that 3gb will work now. What I am less clear on are the benefits of doing so, I have seen one report (from a commercial site that sells ram funnily enough) that has tested most configuartions and reports a significant improvement from running with 3gb. On the other hand most other places I look seem to be of the view that as it is un-matched that upping it will show no improvement and may even see some apps slow down.
     
    nl74, Aug 6, 2007
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  5. wave

    wave Notebook Virtuoso

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    Does the macbook also slow down if you shut the lid and then open the lid again to run it normal. I have found that things sometimes dont run smooth after having gone into sleep and woken again.

    For the ram it depends. If you make use of 3GB then things will be a lot faster. But if your ram usage is always 2GB or less then things will slow down a little because you lose dual channel. So try to monitor your RAM usage with the activity manager. It shows ram used. If you never use all of the currently installed 2GB then 3GB will be of no use.
     
    wave, Aug 6, 2007
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