Mesh
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The MAC
A buddy of mine has a MAC desktop (sorry I don't know the details/specs except that it has 1GB of Ram) that's about a few years old and would like to improve it's performance without buying new hardware. He has a lot of videos on the machine (which he thinks is slowing his Mac down) that he'd like to burn DVD's and then delete them from the desktop.
This MAC isn't used for audio or anything specific, but rather the general home user stuff and he's not very proficient in software/hardware. However, he's got the latest Mac updates installed.
Are there any tweaks (within the Mac) that need/should be done, or freeware that might improve his system?
Also, what's a good DVD burning utility he could use? (he said it takes a long time to burn DVD's using whatever program that's already installed.....I'm not sure which software??).
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bapu
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Since you provided no details about his MAC this is the perfect noob post for upstairs.   CJ says dump the soundblaster, BTW.
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Bristol_Jonesey
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Don't know the first thing about Mac's - other than they're overpriced.
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Mesh
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bapu
Since you provided no details about his MAC this is the perfect noob post for upstairs.
CJ says dump the soundblaster, BTW.
Aint that the truth.... (I posted it here as I know the moderators would be so insulted with these noob questions that they'd immediately drop it in the chute and eventually end up here.)
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Mesh
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Bristol_Jonesey
Don't know the first thing about Mac's - other than they're overpriced.
That makes 2 ofus!!
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Mystic38
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Old55
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Practice would improve his performance. Sorry. I couldn't help myself.
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The Maillard Reaction
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Burning DVDs takes lots of time... especially if the plan is to fill the entire DVD up with time.
It takes even longer if the file needs to be converted to mpeg2 before you can actually make the burn.
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Mesh
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mike_mccue
Burning DVDs takes lots of time... especially if the plan is to fill the entire DVD up with time.
It takes even longer if the file needs to be converted to mpeg2 before you can actually make the burn.
True that... I suggested that he should get an external backup drive to save all his videos and possibly burn them from there.... I think his plan is to burn these videos onto DVD's, keep them as masters, and make copies of them (purchasing a DVD duplicator) to distribute to friends/family.
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craigb
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bapu
Since you provided no details about his MAC this is the perfect noob post for upstairs.
CJ says dump the soundblaster, BTW.
And AP says to add more RAM. Personally, I like cheese with my MAC.
Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
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slartabartfast
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If the videos are just sitting on his desktop they are not slowing anything down, unless he has so little free space on his hard drive that it cannot swap/work properly. OSX supposedly automatically defragments for files < 20 MB, but if he has a lot of big (video) files, there may be some benefit to defragmenting the drive. But since he should not try that until he has his data backed up, then the copying to DVD or external drive is part of that package. And if he has copies he may as well delete unnecessary files from his computer drive. http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57408131-285/five-tips-for-cleaning-and-speeding-up-your-mac/ The best shot at improving his speed significantly is to add memory. Even for an apple that should not cost too much.
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Rain
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If he has the latest updates installed, your friend has his answer there - OSX 10.6.8 and later require 2 GB of RAM. How many times must Alan Parson say it? RAM is everything!! :P Anyway, unless he is running out of HD space - which of course might affect performance, I don't see how those movie files could affect performance. Other than that, the basic maintenance can't be bad - verify/repair disk and verify/repair permissions. Defragmenting on Mac isn't really as crucial as it can be on the PC. But ultimately, considering that it's an older machine and that it's been in use for quite some time, it might help a bit. For DVD burning, Roxio Toast is probably one of the most common. However, from my personal experience, even though I rarely need to burn DVDs, the default Mac DVD software works just fine. But unless he adds some RAM, I doubt that anything could really help much.
post edited by Rain - 2012/11/01 13:38:27
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Mesh
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Thanks slartabart and Rain!!
I'll definitely recommend those things to him.....or just tell him AP was right!!
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