8 replies to this topic

[nova85]

I have a 2010 mid-year 21" MAC.  I've been into digital photography for about 2 years now.  The computer has gotten slower and slower as a result of installing various photography software packages.  Recently it started to "freeze" on me requiring a reboot.  I ask our IT guy at work if he knew anything about MACs.  He did, and told me increasing the memory would help and is easy to do.  I checked out some Youtube videos on the topic and it did look easy.  I then went to the Apple store to purchase the memory and they referred me to crucial.com (Apple stores do not sell memory).  So I ordered it on-line and it arrived a few days later.  It cost $109 (shipping included) for 16GB (Four 4GB cards). Two 2GB cards were installed originally (4x increase in memory).  It took no more that 5 minutes to install.  AND IT WORKED!!!  Very fast now.  Not bad for a mechanical guy.

[Merco_61]

More memory is nearly always the best way to extend the life of a computer. Too bad that the geniuses at the Apple store didn't inform you that the July 2010 iMac supports 8GB units, so you should have had 20 GB for the same money. (2 sticks of 8 and keeping the 2 2 GB sticks.) 16 GB should work well, but the quality of advice on offer in stores is often less good than it could be. 

 

On another note, Mac shouldn't be in all caps as MAC is an acronym for Media Access Control and nothing else in the computer world. 

 

That aside, congratulations on doing the upgrade. your computer should work for quite a while longer now before you need a new one.

[Nikonite]

BTW for the most part the same speed up via more memory also applies to PCs. Albeit much less expensive than Apple.

[TBonz]

Expense is relative...A Windows laptop with similar equipment (CPU, Memory, Graphics, Disk) is about the same cost as a MacBook.  There are just a wider variety of less expensive options available with Windows systems but they will become obsolete faster...Neither is right or wrong...just what you prefer...

I probably spent as much or more on 2 Windows laptops over 3 years than I did my MacBook that I've now had for over 3 years...

[Nikonite]

For about the last 15 years I have built my own PCs. That option is not even available with Apple. I agree on your "right or wrong", but to me that option alone makes PCs better than Apple. Of course that's just my opinion, but based on sales I am not alone in that opinion. At work I primarily use Apple computers. They're great and I've never had one fail even in the lightning capitol of the world I live in. However, when it comes time to upgrade my computer I'll be building another PC based system and will not even look at Apple. The system I last built with a 3.7 GHz (overclocked) I7, 20 GB memory and a 500 GB SSD cold boots in 6 seconds. It's hard to imagine getting any better than that.   

[TBonz]

Agree...that is one of the nice things about a PC...but that pretty much only works for desktops last I looked...Based on the last sales I've seen, most folks are going for laptops vs. desktops...and yes, there are certainly more Windows Laptops sold than MacBooks but those are mostly lower end systems for people who just want to do email and web browsing...

[Nikonite]

Correct! I have not attempted to build a laptop yet. Although I can say I've practically rebuilt my HP laptop. The monitor failed, the hard drive failed as well as several interface ribbon cables. Needless to say I'm done with HP laptops!

[Ron]

Hoboy... PC/Mac warz!

 

Gosh I've also used'em both and currently have a pretty decent PC workstation with all those fancy bits and stuff. Runs pretty well... but after the sh!tstorm I've endured with this Windows 10 business I'm about ready to go back to Mac. It may be true that you can't tinker with them the way you do PC's... although I'm not really sure about the Mac Pro. That one seems to allow a bit of tinkering. And, in the old days, I did plenty of tinkering on my Macs. Nowadays, I'd rather work with my machine than on it. Maybe I'm getting old, eh? But, if I were of a mind to do any serious PC tinkering... I think I'd make a Hackintosh.

 

--Ron

[TBonz]

Or go for the "Best of Both Worlds" - buy a Mac and run a virtual Windows system on it !