Mac running way too slow

[DNoMac]

Carlos, I was hoping you could offer some advice. I have an ibook G4 (40g harddrive). I have about 12 gigs available. I recently dumped a bunch of music and other files that were consuming memory. I was wondering, is there any kind of maintenance I can do that may improve the speed it is running? I usually have a few programs open always (itunes, excel, iCalender), but even closed those hoping to free up the processor. Is there any maintenance I can do to help improve the speed? I know with a pc you can defrag the hard drive, I was wondering if there is something similar I could do with my mac. Worst case scenario, I'll just have to start deleting programs (backed up on external hard drive). Any advice?

[Carlos_E]

Go into Applications/Utilites and run Disk Utility, run repair permissions. After you repair permissions, go under the apple menu to to software update and make sure you're running all of the latest software updates.

You can also pick up TechTools and defrag the hard drive.

http://www.micromat.com/index.php?op...ask=view&id=31

Beyond that, a G4 iBook is a little old. It might be time to upgrade to a Macbook. Let me know if the suggestions help.

[DNoMac]

Go into Applications/Utilites and run Disk Utility, run repair permissions. After you repair permissions, go under the apple menu to to software update and make sure you're running all of the latest software updates.

You can also pick up TechTools and defrag the hard drive.

http://www.micromat.com/index.php?op...ask=view&id=31

Beyond that, a G4 iBook is a little old. It might be time to upgrade to a Macbook. Let me know if the suggestions help.

Thanks Carlos. I'm about to head to the gym, but I will try this as soon as I can. Slow computers frustrate the hell out of me, I'm sure this will help. I would love to upgrade, especially to the Macbook, but not sure if it will fit the budget just yet. Any idea what I could get if I sold the ibook? If i can get a decent price, I just might upgrade. Thanks again for the advice. I'll let you know how it works once I peform the maitenance.

[Carlos_E]

***ends on the model. What year was it new and what is the configuration? Search Ebay for closed iBook auctions with your configuration and see how much they sell for.

[DNoMac]

I got it the end of 2003, so it has a few years on it. It's got a 933 Mhz Power4PC G4 processor with 256MB of memory. The only extra's I have on it is an airport card, everything else was pretty much standard. I wouldn't expect getting a significant amount for it, but if it's decent, I will def upgrade. I'm debating whether or not to stay with Mac or if I should go back to PC. I love my mac, I just never liked the capatability issues, everything seems to be designed for PC's. How is the windows OS for the new Macbook?

[DNoMac]

I ran the operation, I don't think it helped a whole lot. My computer always used to run at a decent speed, it's jsut not there anymore. Maybe it is time to throw in the towel and upgrade. I looked on a used Mac website where the computer was going for around $600. I didn't think it would fetch that price, but thats what it was listed at. Ebay had them a little lower, but they all had a bit of time left on the auction. I began looking into the Macbook, would def like the upgrade, and they aren't as expensive as I thought they were. I guess I was thinking of the Macbook Pro.

[Carlos_E]

Apple upgraded the MacBook last week so you could buy the previous model at a discount and save a little over the lastest model.

Here is the refurb listing.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...ecialdeals/mac