OS and ram question

My friend just upgraded her OS to 10.6.8 Since upgrading the computer is running really slow. Would something as simple as a RAM upgrade fix this or is the computer never going to be able to run this newer version very well?

For sure a memory upgrade is going to help speed things up somewhat. I would upgrade that machine to 4 GB. That would be 2 x 2 GB modules which you can buy from Crucial or OWC. (Recommended)

Keep in mind there are other things which have an impact on speed besides memory. Hard drive space, startup programs, videos, movies, etc.

I would certainly expect more ram to help with smoother/faster running, being as only 1GB is currently installed. OSX seems to like ram!
What are the specs on the machine and what version was running previously?

Thanks chscag. She's considering upgrading computers. Do you think upgrading the memory would be a good idea or money wasted that could be spent on a new machine?

Not sure what she was running before. This is all of the info I have.

I am not sure about the requirements for 10.6.8 but for 10.7 these are the recommended components:
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, you may download it from the Mac App Store. Please check the System Requirements to see if your mac is compatible:

* x86-64 CPU (Macs with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core i3, Intel Core i5, Intel Core i7, or Xeon processor.)
* At least 2GB of RAM
* Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later (Mac OS X 10.6.8 is recommended)
* 7 GB of free hard drive space is recommended
* AirDrop is supported on the following Mac models: MacBook Pro (late 2008 or newer), MacBook Air (late 2010 or newer), MacBook (late 2008 or newer), iMac (early 2009 or newer), Mac mini (mid 2010 or newer), Mac Pro (early 2009 with AirPort Extreme card and mid 2010 or newer).

Click to expand...

I figure that meeting the requirement of 2gb+ RAM would definitely speed up your machine as it is probably bogged down with background services.

If you are unsure wether you want to spend that money on a RAM upgrade check this out: How to check memory usage on macs

It is a quick tutorial on how to check your memory usage (as the title suggests) and if there is not a lot of left over RAM then you should definitely do an upgrade!

Good luck and I hope it works out for you!
Ljbaumer

P.S. if you need any tips for upgrading RAM there are some great tutorials online so have a quick search for those!

Thanks for the help ljbaumer! I'll forward her that link.