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If you don't mind installing a small program, I recommend you install iPulse: [link] It can show you CPU usage and memory swapping while the video is playing (of course it'll take up a small amount of CPU and memory itself). Anyway, this should tell you if your CPU is fast enough. And like I mentioned in my edit above, memory swapping while playing a video means you need more RAM.
iPulse also shows network activity, battery and WiFi strength, and other cool stuff, all in a very compact display.
That sounds nifty, tommyrot. At the moment I'm surfing and *ahem* doing perfectly legal but possibly memory-intensive things involving Torchwood, so I'm thinking it'll be easy to see if I'm just trying to do too much at once in about 12 minutes. But it might be fun to install iPulse just to see what it tells me.
Do you have the most recent version of Flash installed? (YouTube uses Flash video, so I wonder if that might be an issue.)
It may be useful to check out Firefox, which seems to handle some browser-type stuff much better than Safari. It may also be a codec-type of problem...
I just dl'd iPulse. Not entirely sure if it's useful for everyday-stuff, but it sure is pretty!
Firefox 2.0 comes out today. But not just yet - I think in a few hours....
[link]
eta: A look at some new features: [link]
I just dl'd iPulse. Not entirely sure if it's useful for everyday-stuff, but it sure is pretty!
I like iPulse and I keep it running all the time on all my Macs. It's great, because if my computer is supposed to do something and it's not, iPulse will tell me at a glance if the CPU is pegged at 100%, if there's no network activity, if it's busy swapping RAM, etc. I wish I had something similar on my work XP machine, as it occasionally seems to freeze up for a bit, and I don't know why. (By the time I can get Performance Monitor open, it's usually all better.)
so true, TR. After three years of using my dell I've more or less figured out what makes it hang, but jeez what a pain it is to wait. Task Manager could be considerably more helpful too.
Improved MacBook Pros have just come out: [link]
Do new printers typically still come with drivers for Mac OS 9?
I want/nned some sort of used PDA for keeping notes about everything, especially sizes of windows and walls and rooms for my house when i go out shopping for things for home improvement.
Any suggestions for a price point and model that would fit these basic needs?
If they were cheap enough both Andi and i could have one.